Associated Press

The University of Missouri-Kansas City has received an $8.3 million, five-year federal grant to study certain aspects of aging.

The grant from the National Institute on Aging will go toward building on new evidence about how bones and muscles communicate and could lead to new ways to treat aging bones and muscles.

The Kansas City Star reports that the research team will be led by Lynda Bonewald, director of the bone biology research program at the UMKC School of Dentistry.

Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster reports raising more than a half-million dollars during the past quarter for his re-election campaign.

Candidates filed reports with the Missouri Ethics Commission laying out their fundraising activities from April through the end of June.

Koster, a Democrat, reported that his campaign raised $572,000 during the past three months and had nearly $2.4 million in available cash at the start of July.

Gov. Jay Nixon is building a big bank account for his re-election campaign.Finance figures released Monday show Nixon raised $2.1 million from April through June and had $7.6 million in his account at the start of July. 

Nixon's campaign said it was his strongest fundraising quarter this election cycle and that his bank account is twice as large as it was at a similar point in July 2008. 

The wealth of businessman John Brunner has allowed him to easily outspend his rivals in Missouri's Republican U.S. Senate primary.

Missouri agriculture officials are using social media to share information about this summer's lack of rain, extreme heat and wildfires.

The University of Missouri Extension is encouraging people and groups to post on a Facebook page devoted to the drought. It's the latest effort to use Facebook to respond to disasters.

Facebook pages also were set up after last year's flooding and the tornados in Joplin and Branson.

Missouri utility regulators are warning people of a scam claiming that President Barack Obama is providing credits on utility bills through a new federal program.

The Missouri Public Service Commission says the scam, which gained national attention last week, has also targeted some residents in Missouri.

Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder will lead a newly formed state committee reviewing Missouri's disaster recovery efforts and preparedness for future challenges.

The committee was created by Republican House Speaker Steven Tilley. It also includes lawmakers, a Joplin city council member, an official from a health care company and a Jasper County official.

A former USA Today editor and a Pakistani reporter who risked his life to cover the news are among this year's winners of the Missouri Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism.

The winners include former USA Today editor Ken Paulson, current president of the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University. Umar Cheema, an investigative reporter for the Pakistani newspaper The News, who also worked for The New York Times, also was honored.

Activists have submitted a petition that seeks to decriminalize marijuana in Springfield.

The Springfield News-Leader reported that petitions with more than 2,500 signatures were submitted Friday to the Springfield city clerk.

Assistant City Clerk Anita Cotter says about 2,100 valid signatures are needed to move the petition forward to City Council, which could pass the petition or submit it to a vote.

Show-Me Cannabis Regulation board member Maranda Reynolds says the group continues collecting signatures in case some of the ones it submitted aren't useable.

Missourians could be able to get some criminal misdeeds expunged from their records.

Under newly approved state legislation, people could ask the courts to erase their criminal history after 10 years for a misdemeanor and after 20 years for a felony. Those seeking to have criminal records expunged would need to have completed their prison terms, probation and parole. They also would need to have paid restitution and not have committed another crime.

About a dozen offenses would be eligible, such as passing a bad check, fraudulent use of a credit device and trespassing.