From the Wire

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- The economy continues to improve in nine Midwest and Plains states, but business remains slower than before the coronavirus pandemic began, according to a monthly survey of business leaders released Thursday.

ARNOLD, Mo. (AP) -- Twenty-seven years after the owner of a suburban St. Louis liquor store owner was killed, police believe they've finally solved the case.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Kansas City police are investigating after a decomposing body was found in a home on the city's south side.

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- A federal judge in St. Louis has sentenced a Pennsylvania man to two years and four months in prison for possessing equipment used to skim credit card information at gas pumps.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Kansas City officials on Wednesday introduced another attempt to reduce crime in the city, with a focus on increasing community involvement, breaking down barriers between groups, and helping those involved in criminal activity find a new path.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) -- The father of a bullied Missouri junior high student was charged Wednesday with making a terrorist threat after allegedly saying he would shoot everyone in the school office, police said.

A federal judge on Wednesday tossed out a federal rights lawsuit filed by St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner and blasted her claims that she was the victim of a coordinated and racist conspiracy aimed at forcing her from office.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- The American Civil Liberties Union on Wednesday filed a federal lawsuit against a Missouri court order allowing some Kansas City area evictions to continue during the coronavirus pandemic.

DETROIT (AP) -- The former president of the United Auto Workers pleaded guilty Wednesday to an embezzlement scheme, saying he suspected that union dues were being used for golf, lodging and fancy meals but "deliberately looked away" and enjoyed the bounty.

GILLETTE, Wyo. (AP) -- A federal court said it would uphold a Federal Trade Commission decision to block a proposed merger between two leading Wyoming coal companies.

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- The co-founder of a suburban St. Louis public relations firm has admitted in federal court that she stole nearly $800,000 from the company.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Police in Kansas City, Missouri, are investigating a fatal shooting at a dollar store.

CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) -- A wrongful death lawsuit claims that a Missouri man died at a 2019 Dave Matthews Band concert after being hit by a chair thrown by an employee of the venue in St. Louis County.

WOOD RIVER, Ill. (AP) -- A 14-year-old boy fleeing police in a car he had allegedly stolen from a southwestern Illinois dealership died after it collided with another stolen car officers were also pursuing, police said.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- The police chief in Missouri's largest city says his department would have to cut staff by 400 people, close divisions and eliminate services to meet proposed budget cuts due to the coronavirus.

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Most of St. Louis' Black aldermen say they oppose a Nov. 3 ballot proposal that would make future elections for mayor, alderman and other city offices nonpartisan.

CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) -- A St. Charles man has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, admitting he was street racing with another driver when he slammed into a 73-year-old woman's SUV, killing her.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- Kentucky’s attorney general acknowledged that he never recommended homicide charges against any of the police officers conducting the drug raid that led to Breonna Taylor's death, and said he didn't object to a public release of the grand jury's deliberations.

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Nine people charged with misdemeanor trespassing after a racial injustice protest in a private St. Louis neighborhood in June will not be prosecuted, city officials said Tuesday.

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- St. Louis police spent nearly $14 million on overtime while struggling to fill 100 vacant positions, an audit has found.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits declined last week to a still-high 837,000, evidence that the economy is struggling to sustain a tentative recovery that began this summer.

MADRID (AP) -- Madrid and its suburbs prepared Thursday to enter a soft lockdown that restricts trips and out of the Spanish capital following a weeks-long political turf fight that experts say has prevented an effective response to the coronavirus in Europe's latest infection hot spot.

LONDON (AP) -- Ireland’s Supreme Court has ruled that bread sold by the fast food chain Subway contains so much sugar that it cannot be legally defined as bread.

NEW YORK (AP) -- It's been four years since Rihanna released an album but the singer is working hard on recording new music.

SILVER SPRING, Md. (AP) -- U.S manufacturing grew at a slightly slower pace last month, continuing a rebound from spring's coronavirus recession.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- The NFL postponed Sunday's Pittsburgh Steelers game at Tennessee until later in the season after one additional Titans player and one personnel member tested positive for COVID-19.

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Chrissy Teigen said she and John Legend are in "deep pain" following her miscarriage, which she announced in a heart wrenching social media post.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A California with vastly different political preferences and demographics is voting on whether to allow affirmative action in public hiring, contracting and college admissions -- nearly a quarter century after voters outlawed programs that give preference based on race and gender.

ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Greek police used tear gas Thursday to disperse violently protesting state high school students who have organized scores of school strikes in response to classroom overcrowding during the coronavirus pandemic.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- An Ohio death row inmate who is Black is seeking a new trial based on allegations that some white jurors used racial slurs in describing him during their deliberations over his fate, according to arguments before a state appeals court.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. consumer spending slowed in August and personal income fell as a $600 weekly benefit for Americans who are unemployed during the pandemic expired.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- US construction spending increases 1.4% in August, led by strong gain in single-family home building.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- The Dubai-based construction company that helped build the world's tallest building and other engineering marvels in the United Arab Emirates announced Thursday it would enter liquidation, the final step in a long collapse from the country's economic crisis a decade ago hastened by the coronavirus pandemic.

PRAGUE (AP) -- A record surge of new coronavirus infections in the Czech Republic in September has been followed by a record number of virus patients being hospitalized, putting the nation's health care system under serious pressure for the first time in the pandemic.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Wall Street is rising again in Thursday morning trading with hopes that Washington can get past its partisanship to deliver more support for the economy.

JOHANNESBURG (AP) --

ZAMBOANGA, Philippines (AP) -- Philippine troops rescued a man who was held captive by suspected Abu Sayyaf militants after he managed to escape during a gunbattle, the military said Thursday.

WARREN, Mich. (AP) -- A 24-year-old white man accused of firing shots into the home of a Black suburban Detroit family who put a Black Lives Matter sign in their front window asked for forgiveness during a court hearing Thursday.

LONDON (AP) -- Google will pay publishers $1 billion over the next three years for their news content.

FRANKFURT (AP) -- German police say French urban climber Alain Robert faces a criminal investigation and fine after scaling one of Frankfurt's tallest buildings Thursday.