The Joplin Globe, Joplin, MO

Kansas: Tight credit slows down business development
WICHITA, Kan. — It’s harder, much harder for businesses and entrepreneurs to find financing in Wichita and across the nation. A year removed from the national economic collapse, the commercial credit cycle in Wichita has tightened so much after aviation layoffs that good deals aren’t getting done.
Oklahoma: OU, TU hoping to create joint medical program
OKLAHOMA CITY — The University of Oklahoma and the University of Tulsa hope to create a joint four-year community medical education program. When OU regents meet Tuesday in Norman, they will consider a proposal to begin planning how the two schools can create such a program in Tulsa, according to an agenda item posted on OU’s Web site.
Missouri: State ordered to pay $152,000 to janitorial company
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — A Missouri trial judge Wednesday ordered the state to pay $152,000 for illegally terminating a janitorial company’s state contracts when the firm was targeted by an immigration sting. Cole County Judge Richard Callahan concluded the company could not have known some employees were illegal immigrants and ordered the payment for breach of contract.
Kansas: National Guard to close 18 armories
TOPEKA, Kan. — The latest round of state budget cuts have prompted the head of Kansas’ National Guard to do his own version of base realignment and closure. Maj. Gen. Tod Bunting plans to close 18 of the state’s 56 National Guard armories. The moves will save nearly $157,000 in the fiscal year that ends June 30, and more than $260,000 in the following year.
Oklahoma; Regulators approve ‘OU Spirit’ wind farm plan
OKLAHOMA CITY — The University of Oklahoma’s plan to power its Norman campus with wind energy was approved Wednesday by the Oklahoma Corporation Commission. The three-member commission, which regulates utilities and the oil and gas industry, voted unanimously for the “OU Spirit” wind farm project.
Missouri: Home buyers could be eligible for tax break
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missourians who buy a house in 2010 could get a property tax break. Gov. Jay Nixon and State Treasurer Clint Zweifel, both Democrats, proposed Tuesday having a state housing commission pay the property taxes for several thousand low- and moderate-income people who buy a house next year.
Oklahoma: GOP chief Jones sues over lost elections
OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma Republican Party Chairman Gary Jones has filed a lawsuit against convicted former Auditor and Inspector Jeff McMahan and others alleging they used fraudulent campaign finance practices to cheat Jones out of being elected state auditor and inspector.
Kansas: State agencies confront cuts in budget
TOPEKA, Kan. — Gov. Mark Parkinson’s $259 million in cuts to the Kansas state budget doesn’t mandate layoffs or furloughs of state employees, but some officials say it may be just a matter of time. Legislators began digesting the cuts Tuesday, hearing from state budget director Duane Goossen, who outlined what he called an “unprecedented situation” marked by four years of declining state tax collections.
Missouri: Fire board meeting produces anger, arrests
BEVERLY HILLS, Mo. — Three people, including a state lawmaker, were arrested after tempers flared at a fire board meeting in a St. Louis suburb that included a vote to pay severance packages worth more than $780,000 to attorneys and the fire chief.
Kansas: Governor makes more budget adjustments
TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas Gov. Mark Parkinson announced $259 million worth of spending cuts Monday, reducing funds for highway maintenance and education to shore up a troubled state budget. The cuts are the fifth such reduction for the state budget year, which ends June 30.
Oklahoma: More delays mar poultry waste pollution trial
TULSA, Okla. — One of the most closely watched environmental cases in years has turned into legal purgatory as the trial of Oklahoma’s lawsuit against the Arkansas poultry industry is marred by delays and squabbling attorneys. The pauses continued Monday, when U.S. District Judge Gregory K. Frizzell called a recess before 10 a.m. to read a document he’d been handed only minutes earlier.
Missouri: Slaying suspect said hobby was ‘killing people’
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — On an Internet site, 15-year-old Alyssa Bustamante listed her hobbies as “killing people” and “cutting.” It may have sounded like a teenage exaggeration, but authorities say she fulfilled her words.
Kansas: Loss of federal acres hurts hunters’ public access
WICHITA, Kan. — Some of the nation’s best hunting for pheasant, quail, turkey and deer today can be found in the vast Kansas prairie. With nearly 97 percent of the land in the state privately owned, the 271,000 hunters who come here each season have had to depend mostly on a popular state walk-in program that pays landowners to let people hunt on their land.
Oklahoma: Senate GOP caucus calls for December special session
OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma Senate Republican Caucus on Thursday urged Gov. Brad Henry to convene a special session of the Legislature in December, a month earlier than the Democratic governor had proposed.
Missouri: Police say teen dug grave anticipating murder
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Blessed with a Friday off school, 15-year-old Alyssa Bustamante dug two holes in the ground to be used as a grave, authorities said. For the next week, she attended classes, all the while plotting the right time for a murder, they said.
Kansas regents: State needs to consider taxes
TOPEKA, Kan. — Two members of the board overseeing Kansas’ higher education system said Wednesday that the state needs to consider raising new tax revenues because of its budget problems.
Oklahoma: Drugs, ammo found at home with four bodies
OKLAHOMA CITY — Police found guns, knives and a small amount of marijuana in the burned home where four people — including a prostitute featured on an HBO reality series — were found shot to death earlier this month, a search warrant affidavit filed Wednesday says.
Missouri: Relatives of family doubt sex-abuse claims
LEXINGTON, Mo. — If the tales they told police are true, a group of children in rural Missouri grew up in a house of horror, where some were raped by relatives, then told to write down their memories in little glass jars and bury them in the ground.
Kansas: Governor says lawsuit threat not being considered
TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas’ governor said Tuesday that the threat of a lawsuit over education funding won’t influence the spending cuts he’ll make to keep the current state budget in balance. Gov. Mark Parkinson plans to announce next week how he’ll make nearly $260 million in cuts and other budget adjustments.

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