ST. LOUIS (AP) — A St. Louis judge ruled Tuesday that testimony from non-staff doctors at Missouri’s only abortion clinic will not be necessary for a hearing that will determine if the clinic can remain open.

Circuit Judge Michael Stelzer agreed to throw out subpoenas for four doctors who worked briefly at the Planned Parenthood clinic in St. Louis during their training. Stelzer’s ruling also set a hearing for Wednesday to consider Planned Parenthood’s request for a preliminary injunction to stop the state from forcing the clinic to close.

Stelzer, citing the limited scope of the upcoming hearing, said the doctors’ testimony “will not be relevant.” He said the subpoenas “would present an undue burden and hardship” on the non-staff doctors.

Messages seeking comment from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services and a spokeswoman for Republican Gov. Mike Parson were not immediately returned.

The ruling is the latest in a legal fight over the facility’s abortion license.

The health department last week declined to renew the clinic’s license to perform abortion procedures, citing concerns about patient safety, including “failed abortions” and legal violations. Stelzer on Friday issued a temporary restraining order to allow the clinic to continue to perform abortions, at least until a decision is made on the injunction request.

The state issued subpoenas to staff doctors and former medical residents who worked at Planned Parenthood’s St. Louis facility, seeking their testimony about what an assistant attorney general called “grave concerns” about patient safety. Clinic leaders said the state’s move is part of an effort by an anti-abortion administration to eliminate the procedure in Missouri.

Planned Parenthood attorney Jamie Boyer said both staff doctors were interviewed by health officials, but other doctors who worked at the clinic are no longer there and declined to speak with investigators.

According to a filing by the former residents’ attorneys, a state health official in an affidavit explained that the dispute is over “whether the same physician must provide informed consent and perform/induce the abortion.”

Hours before the ruling, Stelzer held a brief hearing on the physicians’ request to block the subpoenas. Attorney Russell Makepeace said his two clients were doctors who as part of their residency at a hospital worked 12 days each at the clinic over a four-year period. Neither is currently involved with the clinic.

“They really have nothing to add” to the investigation, Makepeace told the judge.

He also said the doctors are concerned that due to Missouri’s “shifting interpretation” of state statutes, they could face criminal charges for any involvement in abortions.

Assistant Attorney General John Sauer said the state has a right to hear from the doctors because of concerns about the quality of care at the clinic.

About 100 anti-abortion protesters rallied outside the clinic, lauding Missouri Gov. Mike Parson and chanting “Pro-life! Pro-woman!” At times, people driving by honked to show their support. Other drivers cursed at the protesters.

“Pregnancy is not a disease cured by abortion,” speaker Reagan Barklage of Students for Life of America, the group that hosted the rally, told the crowd.

The fight over the clinic’s license comes as lawmakers in many conservative states are passing new restrictions that take aim at the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized the procedure nationwide. Abortion opponents, emboldened by new conservative justices on the Supreme Court, hope federal courts will uphold laws that prohibit abortions before a fetus is viable outside the womb, the dividing line the high court set in Roe.

The number of abortions performed in Missouri has declined every year for the past decade, reaching a low of 2,910 last year. Of those, an estimated 1,210 occurred at eight weeks or less of pregnancy, according to preliminary statistics from the state health department.

Missouri women also seek abortions in other states. In Kansas, about 3,300 of the 7,000 abortions performed in 2018 were for Missouri residents, according to the state’s health department. Illinois does not track the home states of women seeking abortions.

An abortion clinic is located just across the Mississippi River in Granite City, Illinois, less than 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the Planned Parenthood facility in St. Louis. Planned Parenthood’s abortion clinic in the Kansas City area is in Overland Park, Kansas, just 2 miles (3 kilometers) from the state line. State figures show a handful of Missouri hospitals also perform abortions, but those are relatively rare.

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ST. LOUIS (AP) — A St. Louis judge on Tuesday weighed whether physicians from Missouri’s only abortion clinic can be forced to testify amid a legal fight over the facility’s license.

The state issued subpoenas to staffers and former medical residents who worked at Planned Parenthood’s St. Louis facility, according to court documents filed by Planned Parenthood.

At issue is a lawsuit pre-emptively filed by Planned Parenthood last week in an attempt to ensure continued abortion services. St. Louis Circuit Judge Michael Stelzer intervened just hours before the clinic’s license was set to expire Friday.

The state health department had refused to renew Planned Parenthood’s license over concerns with “failed abortions,” compromised patient safety and legal violations at the clinic.

Agency officials also wanted to interview seven physicians at the clinic. Planned Parenthood said two staff doctors agreed to interviews with health officials, but others who worked at the clinic are no longer there and declined to speak with investigators.

Attorneys for the state wrote in their response to Planned Parenthood’s lawsuit that “grave questions remain unaddressed because the physicians who provided the relevant care have refused to participate in interviews.”

According to a filing by the former residents’ attorneys, a state health official in an affidavit explained that the dispute is over “whether the same physician must provide informed consent and perform/induce the abortion.”

Stelzer on Tuesday held a brief hearing on the physicians’ request to block the subpoenas. Attorney Russell Makepeace said his two clients were doctors who as part of their residency at a hospital worked 12 days each at the clinic over a four-year period. Neither is currently involved with the clinic.

“They really have nothing to add” to the investigation, Makepeace told the judge.

He also said the doctors are concerned that due to Missouri’s “shifting interpretation” of state statutes, they could face criminal charges for any involvement in abortions.

Assistant Attorney General John Sauer said the state has a right to hear from the doctors because of “grave concerns” about the quality of care at the clinic.

Stelzer was expected to rule on the request to throw out the subpoenas sometime Tuesday.

The fight over the clinic’s license comes as lawmakers in many conservative states are passing new restrictions that take aim at the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized the procedure nationwide. Abortion opponents, emboldened by new conservative justices on the Supreme Court, hope federal courts will uphold laws that prohibit abortions before a fetus is viable outside the womb, the dividing line the high court set in Roe.

The number of abortions performed in Missouri has declined every year for the past decade, reaching a low of 2,910 last year. Of those, an estimated 1,210 occurred at eight weeks or less of pregnancy, according to preliminary statistics from the state health department.

Missouri women also seek abortions in other states. In Kansas, about 3,300 of the 7,000 abortions performed in 2018 were for Missouri residents, according to the state’s health department. Illinois does not track the home states of women seeking abortions.

An abortion clinic is located just across the Mississippi River in Granite City, Illinois, less than 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the Planned Parenthood facility in St. Louis. Planned Parenthood’s abortion clinic in the Kansas City area is in Overland Park, Kansas, just 2 miles (3 kilometers) from the state line. State figures show a handful of Missouri hospitals also perform abortions, but those are relatively rare.

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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A judge on Tuesday is set to weigh whether physicians from the state’s only abortion clinic can be forced to testify amid a legal fight over the facility’s license.

The state issued subpoenas to staffers, contractors and former medical residents who worked at Planned Parenthood’s St. Louis facility, according to court documents filed by Planned Parenthood.

At issue is a lawsuit pre-emptively filed by Planned Parenthood last week in an attempt to ensure continued abortion services. St. Louis Circuit Judge Michael Stelzer intervened just hours before the clinic’s license was set to expire Friday.

The state health department had refused to renew Planned Parenthood’s license over concerns with “failed abortions,” compromised patient safety and legal violations at the clinic.

Agency officials also wanted to interview seven physicians at the clinic. Planned Parenthood said two staff doctors agreed to interviews with health officials, but that others who are contractors or no longer work at the clinic would not talk.

Attorneys for the state wrote in their response to Planned Parenthood’s lawsuit that “grave questions remain unaddressed because the physicians who provided the relevant care have refused to participate in interviews.”

According to a filing by the former residents’ attorneys, a state health official in an affidavit explained that the dispute is over “whether the same physician must provide informed consent and perform/induce the abortion.”

Stelzer on Tuesday will hold a hearing on the case, including on the physicians’ motion to block the subpoenas.

The fight over the clinic’s license comes as lawmakers in many conservative states are passing new restrictions that take aim at the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized the procedure nationwide. Abortion opponents, emboldened by new conservative justices on the Supreme Court, are hoping federal courts will uphold laws that prohibit abortions before a fetus is viable outside the womb, the dividing line the high court set in Roe.

The number of abortions performed in Missouri has declined every year for the past decade, reaching a low of 2,910 last year. Of those, an estimated 1,210 occurred at eight weeks or less of pregnancy, according to preliminary statistics from the state health department.

Missouri women also seek abortions in other states. In Kansas, about 3,300 of the 7,000 abortions performed in 2018 were for Missouri residents, according to the state’s health department. Illinois does not track the home states of women seeking abortions.

An abortion clinic is located just across the Mississippi River in Granite City, Illinois, less than 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the Planned Parenthood facility in St. Louis. Planned Parenthood’s abortion clinic in the Kansas City area is in Overland Park, Kansas, just 2 miles (3 kilometers) from the state line. State figures show a handful of Missouri hospitals also perform abortions, but those are relatively rare.

NEWTON COUNTY— One person was injured in an accident just after 2:30a.m. Tuesday in Newton County.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2005 Honda motorcycle driven by Robert A. Reneau, 57, Neosho, was southbound on Spurgeon Road six miles south of Joplin. The motorcycle struck a deer in the road and the ejected the driver.

Reneau was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to Parkers Funeral Home in Joplin. He was wearing a helmet, according to the MSHP.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The new top immigration official signaled Tuesday his agency is looking to step up deportations of families who are in the United States illegally, actions that would likely run into logistical hurdles and face strong public opposition.

Mark Morgan, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said the agency would continue to prioritize deportations of people who have criminal histories, but that no one should be exempt from enforcement.

“That will include families,” he said at a roundtable with ICE officials and reporters.

The comments by Morgan, who took over the position last week, show a willingness to embrace a part of President Donald Trump’s tough immigration agenda that past officials had balked at. Morgan is a former head of Border Patrol who was fired by Trump early in his presidency, but then returned to his good graces after regularly defending Trump’s immigration policies on Fox News.

ICE is the agency tasked with enforcing immigration law in the interior of the U.S. Part of its mission is to arrest immigrants in the U.S. illegally.

More than 200,000 migrant families have been released into the country since Dec. 1. A massive backlog of immigration cases means they will be in the country for years before their cases are decided. Morgan said generally people who have been ordered removed by a judge stop showing up for court dates, meaning ICE officers must search for them in order to deport them.

It’s a difficult effort. There is little room to detain families while they wait for travel papers to be deported — federal family detention centers can house up to about 2,500 people, but are already full. Children cannot be detained longer than 20 days, which means ICE officers would need to have much of the paperwork completed before they took a family into custody or risk having to release them and lose them into the interior again.

ICE resources, much like other border agencies, are strained. They are detaining about 52,000 single adults but are funded for only 45,000. Minors who cross the border alone are turned over to Health and Human Services, which manages their care.

And the treatment of children and families in government custody has been a continued political flashpoint , after the Trump administration separated children from parents at the southern border last year. The move prompted outrage and criticism that the U.S. was abandoning its humanitarian role and harming children.

Morgan on Tuesday called on Congress to OK the $4.5 billion in supplemental funding requested by Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan to fund bed space and humanitarian aid for strapped border facilities. He said a lack of law change by Congress has exacerbated the border problems.

On Monday, Congress sent a $19.1 billion disaster aid bill to Trump for his signature, but lawmakers failed to agree on Trump’s $4 billion-plus request to care for thousands of mostly Central American migrants held at the border, so that money was not included.

“Congress has absolutely failed in this area,” Morgan said. “It’s unsustainable and nobody should want this.”

Immigration has deadlocked the Democrats and Republicans for decades, but Trump’s hardline efforts and border wall push have only exacerbated the divide, especially after the Trump administration separated more than 2,500 children from their parents at the border as part of its zero tolerance policy to prosecute anyone caught crossing the border illegally.

But in recent months, more than 100,000 people have been crossing the border, highs not seen for more than a decade, when the people coming were mostly men from Mexico who were easily returned over the border.

RAYTOWN, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri man has pleaded guilty to shooting up a car carrying four women from a wedding and killing one of them.

27-year-old Deandre Jackson, of Raytown, was convicted Monday of second-degree murder and nine other felonies in the November 2016 shooting that killed Maryanna Pennington and wounded three others.

Court records say their car broke down near a Kansas City cemetery after they left a wedding. They were calling for help when Jackson shot up the car. More than 30 shell casings were found at the scene.

A witness told police that Jackson’s girlfriend was in an altercation with Pennington a few hours before the shooting.

Jackson’s sentencing is set for Aug. 6.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas commission voted Monday to give state employees a break on health insurance rates after they endured years of significant increases.

Packed house for Kansas State Employees Health Care Commission. #ksleg #ksins #ksgov #ksgop #kansas #insurance pic.twitter.com/qhdrnmNzwJ

— Vicki Schmidt (@VickiSchmidtKS) June 3, 2019

The Kansas Employees Health Care Commission voted unanimously to either reduce state employees’ rates 6% for plans that include spouses, families or retirees, while keeping other plan rates flat. At the same time, the state will increase its contribution to the state insurance fund by 4.5%, The Topeka Capital-Journal reported.

Under former Gov. Sam Brownback, the state reduced contributions by 8.5 % in 2015 to secure cash to balance the state budget, then imposed rate increases from 2016-18 of 36.7 %, 30.4 % and 31.7 % for employees with spouses or families participating in the state insurance plan.

“There was no way an employee could have begun to plan for those types of increases,” said Kansas Insurance Commissioner Vicki Schmidt, a Republican who was elected in November.

As the state shifted the burden of supporting the health care fund to employees, fund reserves dropped from $195 million in 2014 to a low of $24 million in 2017. After Monday’s decision, the reserve balance is expected to increase from $48 million to $52 million next year.

“You can argue pretty conclusively the reason the balance slipped so low is the state lowered its contributions substantially at a time when expenses were going up,” said Duane Goossen, the interim secretary of administration under Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat.

Cheryl Buxton, president of the Employee Advisory Committee, which includes current and former employees who are active in the health insurance plan, said employees will be pleased with the combination of decreased health insurance costs and a pay increase the Legislature included in the new state budget.

Commissioners expressed interest in passing along more savings but long-term forecasts suggested modest increases would be needed to maintain a targeted reserve balance as health costs rise.

“I would not support getting wild and crazy with minus 30% increases,” Schmidt said. “We have to be responsible, I understand. We’re adulting now.”

The committee also approved savings for employees using a high-deductible plan. After the deductible is met, employees will pay 10% of health costs instead of the current 20% rate. And employees who leave state jobs will be allowed to keep their health insurance through the end of the month. During Brownback’s administration, workers lost their insurance the day their employment ended.

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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Gov. Laura Kelly’s administration is considering changes — and possible reductions — in health insurance premiums for state employees after three years of steep price increases.

State employees faced insurance premium increases of more than 30 percent for three consecutive years during Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration. That came while millions of dollars in state payments were diverted from the health insurance fund to help balance the state budget.

Kelly said she was troubled by mismanagement of the state employee health insurance plan during the last administration. She says her administration has been reviewing options to help give state employees some relief.

The Kansas State Employees Health Care Commission is meeting Monday to consider reductions or no increase for employees’ 2020 health insurance rates.

VERONA, Mo. (AP) — Lawrence County authorities are investigating vandalism at cemetery that damaged or destroyed about 50 headstones, some dating back to the 1800s.

The sheriff’s department says vandals hit the Lee Cemetery near Verona on Friday.

The Lee Cemetery Association is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible.

The sheriff’s office is adding an additional $1,000 reward.

KANSAS CITY, KAN. – A Kansas man was sentenced Monday to four years in federal prison for helping to move 168 pounds of marijuana from one house to another to keep police from finding it, according to U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister.

Felipe Cano-Porras, 32, Kansas City, Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute marijuana. Law enforcement had a house in the 900 block of Riverview in Kansas City, Kan., under surveillance when Cano-Porras and another man came out.

In the house, investigators found 186 pounds of marijuana in suitcases, 704 grams of methamphetamine, three firearms and more than $25,000 in cash.

In his plea, Cano-Porras admitted he and another moved the marijuana, the methamphetamine, the guns and the cash into the house from another residence.