MUSKOGEE, Okla. (AP) — Muskogee County's top prosecutor has ruled that an officer was justified when he fatally shot a man at a restaurant last week. District Attorney Orvil Loge said in a letter to Muskogee Police Chief Johnny Teehee on Tuesday t...

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Supreme Court has cleared the way for a grand jury investigation of Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach's handling of voter registrations before the 2016 election. The Lawrence Journal-World reported the court l...

PRATT, Kan. (AP) — A man shot by police earlier this month near the small Kansas town of Pratt has died. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation says 38-year-old Rene Prieto died Wednesday in a Wichita hospital, where he had been treated since the s...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The chief prosecutor in one of Missouri's largest counties says she wants to be the next chairwoman of the Missouri Democratic Party. The Kansas City Star reports that Jackson County prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said W...

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas man jailed for more than a year in a murder case now faces charges in another death. The Lawrence Journal-World reports that 21-year-old Steven Drake III of Lawrence was charged this week with vehicular homicide in c...

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — As a legislator, Scott Schwab supported Secretary of State Kris Kobach's successful efforts to give Kansas some of the nation's toughest voter identification laws. When Kobach ran for governor this year, he endorsed his fellow con...

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A judge is barring an attorney from representing the man charged with fatally shooting three people and wounding two others in downtown Lawrence. The Lawrence Journal-World reports that Douglas County District Court Judge S...

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A judge has found sufficient evidence for three men to stand trial in a double homicide in Topeka. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that 19-year-old Matthew Hutto, 31-year-old Richard Showalter and 41-year-old Bradley S...

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A homeless man who robbed a Topeka credit union and then waited nearby until he was arrested has entered a guilty plea. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that 63-year-old Robert Charles Frazier pleaded guilty Tuesday to one c...

GREAT BEND, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas prosecutor is planning to resign, saying the sheriff has been acting like a "bully" since he was acquitted of a misdemeanor for allegedly slapping a handcuffed man. The Wichita Eagle reports that Barton County A...

CAPE GIRARDEUA, Mo. (AP) — Southeast Missouri State University has suspended a fraternity after it violated rules on alcohol. The Southeast Missourian reports that the campus' Pi Kappa Alpha chapter is barred from participating in activities with o...

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico regulators announced a $2.2 million fine Wednesday against a Texas-based oilfield driller and waste disposal company, though it was unclear whether the company could be compelled to pay. The New Mexico Oil, Minerals a...

HOTAN UNITY NEW VILLAGE, China (AP) — In this corner of China's far west, rows of identical white concrete houses with red metal roofs rise abruptly above the sand dunes of the harsh Taklamakan Desert. A Chinese flag flutters above the settlement, a...

DENVER (AP) — An endangered Mexican wolf escaped from a Colorado wildlife center where it had been taken to breed with other captive wolves, authorities said Wednesday. The year-old, captive-born male got out of an enclosure at the Colorado Wolf a...

NEW YORK (AP) — A boost in construction equipment sales drove profit higher for Deere & Co. in the fourth quarter, but the results fell short of Wall Street expectations. The weaker-than-expected results sent shares lower as the market opened, but t...

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A southeast Missouri farmer has been indicted on federal charges of illegally applying a weed killer blamed for drifting and damaging crops in neighboring fields. A 53-count federal indictment was announced Tuesday against Bobby D...

DENVER (AP) — Colorado is getting $20.2 million to help prevent flooding and mudslides following this year's wildfires. Sen. Michael Bennet and Gov. John Hickenlooper announced the Emergency Watershed Protection grants for work to protect c...

NEW YORK (AP) — Avoid all romaine lettuce, but don't worry about your turkey. With two food poisoning outbreaks making headlines before Thanksgiving, the messages about what's safe to eat can be hard to keep straight. Here's what you should know b...

The photos from doctors came quickly and in succession: blood-stained operating rooms, blood-covered scrubs and shoes, bullets piercing body parts and organs. The pictures on Twitter were an emotional response to a smackdown by the powerful gun...

LONDON (AP) — In the battle for online privacy, Google is a U.S. Goliath facing a handful of European Davids. The backlash over Big Tech's collection of personal data offers new hope to a number of little-known search engines that promise to p...

COLTS NECK, N.J. (AP) — A family of four whose remains were found at the burned-down ruins of their New Jersey mansion was slain before the home was set ablaze, authorities said Wednesday, hours after the mansion owner's brother was arrested on s...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Northern California authorities said Wednesday that they have cracked a 45-year-old murder case using the same publicly available DNA database that led to the arrest of alleged serial killer Joseph DeAngelo. Officers arrested J...

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A rarely seen shark embryo. Corals up to 7 feet (2 meters) high. Sponges with sharp edges. These were among the hundreds of findings reported by U.S. scientists who have wrapped up a 22-day mission exploring waters a...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — It all comes down to the final six minutes of a six-month journey to Mars. NASA's InSight spacecraft will enter the Martian atmosphere at supersonic speed, then hit the brakes to get to a soft, safe landing on the alien r...

(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.) (THE CONVERSATION) Since their invention more than 100 years ago, airplanes have been moved through the air by the spinning surfaces of...