Wildlife refuge to be renamed after former Senator, Governor A national wildlife refuge in southeastern Arkansas will be renamed after former Gov. and U.S. Sen. Dale Bumpers in a ceremony planned in St. Charles. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will host a renaming ceremony Friday afternoon for the White River National Wildlife Refuge after Bumpers, a Democrat who was Arkansas' governor during the early 1970s before serving four terms in the U.S. Senate. Bumpers, his ...

Missouri House votes to expand sales tax exemptions Pizza parlors, doughnut stores and other restaurants could get a tax break under legislation passed by the Missouri House. The bill would grant a sales tax exemption on the electricity used to produce food that is sold to customers at restaurants, bakeries, grocery stores and convenience stores. The Department of Revenue estimates the proposed tax break could reduce total state revenues by between $4 million and $20 ...

Saving green on green appliances Many people have a little extra money after getting their tax returns.  A perfect time to purchase those bigger priced items. In Missouri shoppers can save on appliances during the 6th Annual Show-Me Green Sales Tax Holiday. Those who purchase new Energy-Star qualified appliances will not have to pay state sales tax.  The 4.225% tax break kicks off tomorrow and goes through next Friday. Appliances like washing ...

Blues beat Blackhawks 4-3 in 3 OTs ST. LOUIS (AP) — Alexander Steen scored at 26 seconds of the third overtime to give the St. Louis Blues a 4-3 victory over the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday night. Steen beat Corey Crawford off a pair of short passes from Steve Ott and David Backes to cap the longest overtime game in franchise history. Ryan Miller blanked the Blackhawks after Patrick Kane ...

Man arrested, stolen cars found after long standoff Greene County Sheriff’s deputies are sorting through what they found after a standoff ended late Thursday night. Deputies, Springfield Police officers and U.S. Marshals went to a home in the 2000 block of west farm road 96 near Kansas Expressway and I-44 to arrest a man wanted on multiple warrants. Officers say when they arrived the man ran into a house where he then barricaded himself ...

Warm and sunny for Friday Friday and Saturday will both be mostly sunny and warmer. We stay dry throughout the day on Sunday but will have increasing cloud cover. ...

French President Hollande's top aide resigns
PARIS (AP) — The French president's top adviser has resigned following allegations of a past conflict of interest, striking a new blow to the already unpopular Francois Hollande.

Vice-principal of South Korea school in ferry disaster commits suicide
By Jungmin Jang and Ju-min Park MOKPO/JINDO, South Korea (Reuters) - The vice-principal of a South Korean high school who accompanied hundreds of pupils on what turned out to be a disastrous ferry trip has committed suicide, police said on Friday, as hopes faded of finding any of the 268 missing passengers alive. Kang Min-gyu, 52, had been missing since Thursday.

Algeria's Bouteflika set for re-election, foes cry fraud
By Patrick Markey ALGIERS (Reuters) - Algeria's President Abdelaziz Bouteflika appeared set to win re-election for another five years on Friday after a vote opponents dismissed as a stage-managed fraud to keep the ailing leader in power. Sitting a wheelchair, Bouteflika cast his vote on Thursday in a rare public appearance since suffering a stroke last year that has raised doubts about whether, after 15 years in power, he is fit enough to govern the North African oil state. Official results were scheduled to be released later on Friday by the interior ministry, but Bouteflika's allies on Thursday were already claiming a landslide victory for the veteran of Algeria's independence war. Bouteflika, 77, was already widely expected to win with the backing of the ruling Front de Liberation Nationale (FLN) party, which has dominated the political system since independence from France in 1962.

Belarus signals interest in resolving row with Uralkali
MINSK/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko signaled to Russian potash producer Uralkali on Friday that he was interested in ending a nine-month dispute that has hurt both sides. Uralkali, the world's largest potash producer, left a powerful trading joint venture with Belarus in July, triggering a slump in potash prices and a row with Belarus, which eventually led to a change in the company's owners. "The main thing is that we get out of all this mess together ... with minimum losses," Lukashenko said at a meeting with new Uralkali co-owner Dmitry Mazepin, local state agency Belta reported. It was the first public meeting between Lukashenko and Mazepin after the Russian tycoon's firm Uralchem bought a stake in Uralkali in late 2013.

Labour Party hires Obama strategist for 2015 poll
By Michael Holden LONDON (Reuters) - Labour Party has hired David Axelrod, the U.S. strategist who helped President Barack Obama win two presidential terms, to help with its campaign for the 2015 election, the party said on Friday. Axelrod plans to replicate tactics he used in the Obama campaigns in 2008 and 2012 to win Britons over to Labour and its leader Ed Miliband, focusing on the wealth gap and the "squeezed middle". Prime Minister David Cameron hopes an expected full-scale recovery in Britain will translate into poll success next year while Miliband argues that most Britons are still facing a cost of living crisis. "That is how we won in the U.S., Barack Obama articulated a vision which had, at its core, the experience of everyday people.