The Associated Press

  Prosecutors are moving forward with a case against 23 clergy members involved in a 2014 protest of the Missouri Senate.

Authorities charged the clergy with obstructing government operations and first-degree trespassing after they and a few hundred others protested lawmakers’ refusal to expand Obamacare two years ago. 

Protesters had filled the Senate’s public galleries, chanted and sang before the police arrested 23 of the 100 protestors and clergy members.

    The utility company Ameren Missouri is seeking approval from the state's Public Service Commission to build six public charging stations for electric vehicles between St. Louis and central Missouri.

Ameren Missouri announced the pilot program Monday. Mark Nealon, who is leading the project, said five of the stations will be between St. Louis and Boonville on Interstate 70, and one will be in Jefferson City on U.S. 54.

  Missouri Governor Jay Nixon is defending his record after the head of the state's public defender system appointed him to a case in protest of recent funding restrictions.

Director Michael Barrett in a letter last week said budget cuts have prevented his office from hiring enough public defenders for those who can't afford representation.

So Barrett said he's appointing former attorney general Nixon to represent indigent clients.

  Two police training courses in northwest Missouri have been canceled because of low enrollment.

The Livingston County Sheriff's Office and Missouri Sheriff's Association joined forces to offer the Basic Law Enforcement Training academies in Chillicothe and Kirksville. They were set to begin in August.

The St. Joseph News Press reports the academies have been canceled because too few people were enrolled.

  Missouri Republican candidate John Brunner said he wants to be the first businessman elected governor in 80 years.

The former chairman and CEO of personal care product company Vi-Jon Inc. told The Associated Press his business experience qualifies him to run the state.

If elected, Brunner said he'll support right to work and recruit businesses to come to the state.

Brunner has never held elected office before. He lost to U.S. Rep. Todd Akin in a three-way GOP primary for U.S. Senate.

  Police in Missouri said four teens robbed victims after luring them to a specific location using the new Pokemon Go smartphone game.

Police said Sunday that four teens used the game to draw victims to a spot in O'Fallon, just outside of St. Louis, and then robbed them.

The recently released game sends players to locations to collect various creatures. Police said the robbers used the game to lure victims by putting a "beacon" at a location to draw in players.

 Backers of a school training program designed to respond to situations involving active shooters said budget cuts could hamper the Missouri program.

Lawmakers budgeted $700,000 for the program this fiscal year. But Governor Jay Nixon pared that down to $100,000 following lower-than-expected revenue growth. He said freezing funding was necessary to balance the budget.

  Governor Jay Nixon announced he will not participate in a European Trade Mission because of recent violence, including the shooting of a suburban St. Louis police officer.

Nixon said in a news release Sunday that the week has been quote "sad and difficult, especially for the men and women of law enforcement." He said that the "safety and well-being of all Missourians" is his "top priority."

 The head of a Missouri-based hotel chain that has 35 properties in 16 states said her company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy over the weekend so it could better deal with ongoing legal battles.

John Q. Hammons Hotels & Resorts CEO Jacqueline Dowdy said she doesn't anticipate the company's business operations being disrupted because of the Sunday filing in federal bankruptcy court in Kansas City, Kansas.

The Springfield News-Leader reports the bankruptcy filing puts the brakes on a trial in Delaware that had been scheduled to start in late July.

A U.S. Supreme Court ruling is calling into question whether some Missouri abortion regulations will stand.

  Supreme Court judges ruled 5-3 Monday that some Texas regulations are medically unnecessary and unconstitutionally limit women's abortion rights.

Missouri has similar laws requiring abortion doctors to have privileges at nearby hospitals and clinics to meet hospital-like standards for outpatient surgery.

Spokeswoman Nanci Gonder said Missouri's attorney general is reviewing the ruling.

Governor Jay Nixon has vetoed a wide-ranging bill that would have rendered the conceal-carry process unnecessary in Missouri. In his veto message, Nixon, a Democrat, cited his record on signing bills to expand Missourians’ rights to carry concealed weapons. 

He said the bill passed by Republicans goes too far because it would entirely toss out the conceal-carry process and would have revoked the ability of sheriffs to deny permits to those they think might be a danger to their communities. 

 A former St. Joseph school district superintendent who was overpaid more than $660,000 in pension payments has pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud.

The U.S. attorney's office says 70-year-old Dan Colgan, of St. Joseph, faces one year and one day in prison under the plea he entered Monday in federal court in Kansas City.

Through the plea, Colgan admitted that his salary was improperly inflated to increase his retirement benefits.

He must pay $662,660 in restitution before his sentencing hearing. Colgan is free on bond, and the hearing hasn't been scheduled.

St. Louis police plan to increase their presence at PrideFest events this month in the aftermath of the fatal shootings in Orlando, Florida.

Fifty people died in the shooting early Sunday at a gay nightclub. In a statement, organizers of the St. Louis event say PrideFest will go on as planned June 24 through June 26 at Soldiers Memorial in downtown St. Louis. Several other events are taking place throughout the St. Louis region this month.

JEFFERSON CITY - Lobbyists could spend up to $40 a day per lawmaker on meals under legislation pending in the Missouri Senate.

Republican Sen. Dave Schatz unveiled the proposal Wednesday that would ban most gifts to lawmakers and public officials but still leave them with a healthy limit for meals.

Lobbyist spending currently has no limit in Missouri.

Backers say the proposal is a step forward, but critics say it doesn't go far enough. House members previously had approved a ban on lobbyist gifts except for meals offered to all lawmakers and statewide officials.

JEFFERSON CITY - The Missouri Legislature has passed a bill reviving a tax break for small businesses that add employees.

The bill given final approval Wednesday by the House allows businesses with fewer than 50 employees to claim a $10,000 tax deduction for each job they create that pays at least their county's average wage. Those businesses could claim a $20,000 deduction if they also cover at least half the cost of their employees' health insurance premiums.

The bill now goes to Gov. Jay Nixon.

ST. LOUIS - The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to halt Earl Forrest's execution hours before the Missouri man is scheduled to die by injection.

The court issued its ruling without comment today. Forrest is scheduled to die tonight at the state prison in Bonne Terre for the 2002 killings of Harriett Smith and Michael Wells in a drug dispute and Dent County Sheriff's Deputy Joann Barnes in a shootout that followed at Forrest's home.

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat, denied a clemency request earlier today.

JEFFERSON CITY - A proposal to legalize medical marijuana has again failed in the Missouri House.

Lawmakers voted down the measure today, 85-71. The legislation would have allowed doctors to recommend marijuana for patients suffering from debilitating illnesses, such as AIDS or epilepsy.

The proposal also would have created a licensing regime for commercial marijuana growers and retailers.

House lawmakers killed a similar measure in April after scaling it back to only cover hospice patients.

COLUMBIA - A Missouri hospital that helped stop a competing effort to build a psychiatric hospital two months ago has proposed a $21 million facility to fill the necessity for more inpatient psychiatric services.

The Columbia Daily Tribune reports that a hearing on the application of CenterPointe Hospital's proposed 72-bed psychiatric hospital in north Columbia is scheduled for July 11.

JEFFERSON CITY - Missouri voters could get to decide whether to re-impose limits on the money flowing to political candidates and committees.

Supporters of campaign contribution limits said Wednesday they had submitted more than 272,000 petition signatures to try to get a proposed constitutional amendment on the November ballot.

The measure would cap donations to candidates at $2,600 per election. Contributions to political parties would be capped at $25,000.

KANSAS CITY - Airlines serving Kansas City International Airport want to replace the facility's three existing terminals with a single terminal airport.

The Kansas City Star reports that the airlines tried to convince local officials and residents Tuesday that both the timing and the cost is right for the project.

JEFFERSON CITY - A contested Missouri measure, SJR 39, to protect businesses that deny services for same-sex weddings has been voted down.

The measure failed to advance Wednesday on a 6-6 vote in a House committee. It had previously passed the Senate.

The legislation drew opposition from LGBT-rights activists and some business leaders, who cited economic backlash in other states with laws perceived as discriminatory toward lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

JEFFERSON CITY - An Ameren Corp. subsidiary has won conditional approval to build a high-voltage power line across 95 miles in northeastern Missouri.

The Missouri Public Service Commission approved the power line Wednesday on the condition that the company gets consent from county commissions to cross roads. The project runs from Palmyra to the Iowa border.

Some property owners raised health concerns and claimed the power line would violate a 2014 Missouri constitutional amendment creating a right to farm by taking land out of production.

COLUMBIA - The plan for a two-story, 14,000-square foot building near the Islamic Center's mosque was announced in August. It was expected to cost about $2 million and provide nine classrooms on the top floor for the Islamic School of Columbia.

Plans also included administrative offices, a multipurpose room, a kitchen, a free health clinic and space for Friday prayers.

The new school was expected to open for the 2016-17 school year.

JEFFERSON CITY - About 26,000 Missouri residents have lost government food stamp benefits for failing to meet work and job training requirements.

Requirements that took effect at the start of this year limited some adults to three months of benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, unless they spent 80 hours a month in work or job-skills programs.

The requirements apply to able-bodied adults ages 18 through 49 who don't have children or other dependents in their homes.

JEFFERSON CITY - Missouri lawmakers appear uninterested in Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback's proposal to end the business "border war" between the two states.

Brownback last week offered to reduce his state's efforts to lure jobs away from the Missouri side of the Kansas City metropolitan area if Missouri's lawmakers would in turn weaken a law they approved in 2014 addressing the issue.