KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- A Springfield man was charged Wednesday with setting a fire that killed his fiancee's three children and critically injured their grandfather inside the family's home....

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- A northeast Kansas man has pleaded guilty in Missouri to a fraud scheme that prosecutors say forced low-income homeowners into bankruptcy....

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Concerns of early spring flooding in Missouri eased Wednesday as the Mississippi River crested north of St. Louis and the Missouri River began to fall, but forecasters said the risk of flooding remains high....

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Missouri lawmakers have received hundreds of money-saving and money-making suggestions from the public as the state struggles with a revenue shortage....

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- The Missouri House endorsed legislation Wednesday that would shield more than one-quarter of Missouri's public school districts from a midyear funding cut caused by state budget troubles....

CHICAGO (AP) -- A woman feared she'd never see her young child again unless she complied with her husband's scheme to sell her sexual services on Craigslist, authorities said Wednesday.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) -- An angry letter and a bag of Golden Flake chips were taped inside Major Bashinsky's abandoned car when it was found near downtown Birmingham.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The $75 million heist at a pharmaceutical warehouse in Connecticut this week was just the most audacious example of a growing phenomenon: Thieves are stealing large quantities of prescription drugs for resale on the black market.

SPARKS, Nev. (AP) -- Workers at a Nevada research lab were checking on a primate room when they came across a ghastly sight: Thirty dead monkeys were essentially cooked alive after someone left the heater on. Two others were near death and had to be euthanized.

SEATTLE (AP) -- Authorities in Washington state on Wednesday resumed their search for a woman who appears to have abandoned a van on a remote Puget Sound beach over the weekend and disappeared with her 8-year-old son.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- The U.S. Marine Corps' investigation of the February death of an Indiana Marine in Afghanistan concludes that he was fatally shot when an Afghan security contractor fired shots at a group of Marines.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- A series of children's textbooks on Islam contains misleading and inflammatory rhetoric about the religion, inaccurately portraying its followers as inherently violent and deserving of suspicion, according to a Muslim civil liberties group.

GALLATIN, Tenn. (AP) -- Two bank robbery suspects, including one dressed in a green leprechaun costume, were shot dead after a St. Patrick's Day chase and shootout with police in Tennessee, authorities said.

NEW YORK (AP) -- All the world from the Sydney Opera House to the Empire State Building turned Irish, or at least Irish for the day, as revelers marked St. Patrick's Day with bagpipes, dancing, emerald lights and green body paint in a flurry of celebration.

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. (AP) -- The attorney representing a jogger accused of yelling at police and citizens during his runs through Portsmouth, New Hampshire said an order barring his client from the city while he is free on bail is unconstitutional....

ALTUS, Okla. (AP) -- A Mangum woman has been arrested for allegedly sending a text message about illegal drugs to a drug task force agent. A warrant was issued for the woman for possession of a controlled substance and unlawful possession of a controlled drug with the intent to distribute. A Jackson County jailer said Wednesday the woman wasn't in custody....

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. (AP) -- Some drivers in Newport Beach said they were left flat after a spike strip fell out of a police car and punctured their tires. A police report said the strip, which is designed to slow down fleeing drivers, fell out of a police officer's Chevy Tahoe on Feb. 27. The report said the officer had checked out the vehicle but forgot to close the back door before leaving the police station....

THIBODAUX, La. (AP) -- A 25-year-old man did not take his inability to get more beer well. Lafourche sheriff's spokeswoman Lesley Hill Peters said the man was accused of breaking furniture and throwing a beer bottle at a woman after she refused to give him car keys so he could buy more beer on Monday night. The Courier reported Wednesday that the man admitted to deputies he'd been drinking before the argument with the alleged 29-year-old victim....

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Police said a man broke into a Pittsburgh home and climbed into bed with its owner, apparently because he was drunk and cold following a rap concert. Homeowner Frank Fontana says he was in bed when the man climbed in about 5:30 Wednesday morning. Fontana says he asked whether it was a woman who has keys to his home - and he grabbed a baseball bat when a deep male voice answered, "No, it's not."...