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Scott Ford’s center pivot irrigation system in his south-central Nebraska field can draw water from the Platte River. But this year, the third-generation corn and soybean producer said he relied more on pumping groundwater.

“Last year, three-quarters of the water through that pivot was surface water,” Ford said. “This year, with allocations and continued drought, it was the other way around.”

Columbia Regional Airport and American Airlines announced Wednesday they are adding another daily nonstop flight between Columbia Regional Airport and Chicago O’Hare.

The new flights will begin on April 2. American Flight 3376 will take off in Columbia at 6:00 a.m. and arrive in Chicago at 7:05 a.m. The returning flight 3737 will head out of Chicago at 6:35 p.m. and return to Columbia at 7:45 p.m.

A proposal to circumvent thousands of potential student transfers in the Kansas City area will be considered by the state legislature next year.

If passed, the proposal would allow local school districts to set class sizes and student-to-teacher ratios, and once reached, those districts could not be forced to accept transfer students from unaccredited school districts. The bill has been pre-filed by Democratic Senator Paul LeVota of Independence.

A group of eight Missouri lawmakers are calling upon Gov. Jay Nixon and Attorney General Chris Koster to investigate concerns raised about Education Commissioner Chris Nicastro.

The lawmakers made the request Wednesday following a The Kansas City Star report. The report disclosed emails that raised questions about the selection of CEE-Trust as a consultant. The Indianapolis-based firm's bid for developing an improvement plan for the Kansas City district and other struggling schools was nearly three times higher than the closest competitor.

St. Louis and Kansas City are two of 25 cities to get a perfect score on the 2013 Municipal Equality Index. The MEI is conducted by the Human Rights Campaign, which works for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality.

The MEI is the nation’s only rating system of LGBT inclusion. The study looked at 291 cities across the nation, including five in Missouri, rating each city with a score of one through 100. Cathryn Oakley is the author of the index. She said she is very impressed with Missouri

The state of Missouri is still awaiting a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on whether it can proceed with the execution of death row inmate Allen Nicklasson.

Nicklasson had been scheduled to die by injection at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday for the 1994 murder of businessman Richard Drummond, who was shot to death after he stopped to help when a car carrying Nicklasson and two others stalled in central Missouri.

A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay over concerns about Nicklasson's legal representation.

Gov. Jay Nixon wants Missouri's universities to freeze undergraduate tuition next year while also proposing more state funding.

The governor says the budget he recommends next year will include an additional $36.7 million for public universities. The 5 percent funding increase would be distributed using a performance-based funding system.

Nixon announced the proposal Wednesday at Missouri State University in Springfield.

The governor called for a tuition freeze at four-year schools for Missouri undergraduates in the 2014-2015 academic year.

Missourians now can donate unclaimed property held by state government directly to charities that support military veterans, medical research, children's education and other causes.

Treasurer Clint Zweifel announced the donation program Wednesday at the state Capitol. He says people regularly have asked to donate their unclaimed property and that the new program gives Missourians a "quick, easy and simple" way to do so.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reports 4,124 Missouri residents have selected a health insurance plan through the federally run online marketplace healthcare.gov.

The department released the figures Wednesday. HHS said the insurance exchange had more than 31,000 applications from Missouri through Nov. 30. The applications sought coverage for nearly 63,000 people.