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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - State lawmakers are hoping that new incentives can help Missouri compete for big-time sports events.

The House gave final approval Wednesday to legislation authorizing up to $3 million annually in subsidies for cities, counties and nonprofit groups that host amateur sports events such as college basketball tournaments.

The bill is the first one of the 2013 session to make it to Gov. Jay Nixon.

Missouri has a long history of hosting sports events. Kansas City, for example, is hosting the Big 12 basketball tournament this week and games for the NCAA men's basketball tournament next week.

But supporters of the legislation say Missouri has been losing bids for future events to states offering incentives.

Missouri's bill would provide tax breaks equal to $5 for every ticket sold to the events.

Missouri's attorney general is looking for new ways to curb mathamphetatime use in the state.

At a news conference today, attorney general Chris Koster will outline initiatives against "smurfing," a practice that involves recruiting people to purchase medicines containing pseudoephedrine.

The campaign calls partly for Missouri pharmacies to display warnings at cash registers letting would-be smurfers know their actions have serious consequences.

Two Nevada companies have agreed to pay Missouri $41,500 in penalties for violating the state's no-call law for telemarketers, according to the Missouri attorney general's office.

Attorney General Chris Koster said in a statement that his office received more than 175 complaints about the companies, Firebrand Group SL and Worldwide Commerce Associates. Consumers reported that the companies were trying to sell services such as cruise packages and tax services.

In addition to the cash penalty, the companies have agreed to stop making telemarketing calls to any consumer in the state of Missouri who has placed his or her phone number on the Missouri do-not-call list without the consumer's express consent, Koster's office said.

Missourians can sign up for the do-not-call hotline on Koster's website at ago.mo.gov or by calling (866) 662-2551.

St. Louis, MO - AP - Missouri will get about $324,000 from a multistate settlement with Google over its collection of emails, passwords and other sensitive information transmitted on unprotected wireless networks.

Attorney General Chris Koster said Tuesday that he had signed on to the $7 million settlement between Google and several dozen states.

The settlement ends an inquiry dating to 2010. Google revealed at the time that company cars taking street-level photos for its online mapping service also collected personal data transmitted over wireless networks that didn't require passwords.

Koster says Google agreed in the settlement to destroy all data collected from unsecured wireless networks and not to collect such information in the future.

Google didn't acknowledge any wrongdoing in the settlement.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Some Missouri senators are raising concerns that legislators wouldn't have much control over a proposed 1-cent sales tax for transportation projects.

The Senate began debate Tuesday on legislation that would ask voters to approve a dedicated sales tax for highways and other transportation needs. But some senators expressed concern that the money would go straight to the Department of Transportation without need of legislative approval in the budget process.

The sales tax is estimated to raise nearly $8 billion over 10 years. Ten percent of the proceeds would go to local transportation needs. The tax would be resubmitted to voters after 10 years for potential renewal.

When the increased sales tax is in effect, the gas tax rate would be frozen and existing roads could not become toll roads.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Health care workers could refuse to participate in procedures or research that violates their religious, moral or ethical principles under a measure passed by the Missouri House.

The House sent the measure to the Senate Tuesday with a 116-41 vote.

Workers seeking to invoke the so-called conscience protection would have to provide reasonable notice.

The measure would also bar discrimination against all medical personnel for opting out of certain procedures or research. It would apply to abortions, sterilizations, embryonic stem-cell research, assisted reproduction and contraception. Hospitals, clinics and medical or nursing schools also could refuse to perform procedures that violate the institution's conscience.

Some Democrats who voted against the bill said it could negatively impact patient safety.

House members approved similar legislation last year.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Officials who oversee Missouri's driver's licenses are assuring that none of the personal documents supplied by applicants are shared with a private contractor.

Revenue Department officials told a House committee Monday they began requiring documents such as birth certificates and concealed weapons endorsements to be scanned into a state computer system as part of an effort to deter fraud.

Lawmakers raised questions about the process after a southeast Missouri man filed a lawsuit last week challenging the new procedures.

Revenue officials said the digital copies of documents are kept by the department, and only basic information about the applicant is forwarded to a contractor that makes the licenses.

Several dozen lawmakers are backing a bill that would bar Missouri from keeping copies of the documents.

REPUBLIC, Mo. (AP) - A southwest Missouri high school teacher says the state should add bass fishing as a high school sport.

Jim Huson, a teacher at Republic High School, says a proposal to add the sport will be on the spring ballot for high school administrators. He says bass fishing would become a sport if it gets approval from 50 percent, plus one, of the administrators.

KY3-TV reports approval would allow students to fish for state and national championships.

If approved, schools could have up to two boats with two students fishing in each boat. Teams would have a five-fish limit, and the team with the five heaviest fish wins.

TROY, Mo. (AP) -- Snow geese have been turning up in eastern Missouri in record numbers recently.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the snow geese have apparently been driven southeast to the St. Louis area by heavy snow in northern and western Missouri where they usually stop over on the way back to their nesting grounds in the Arctic.

Local experts estimate that in some cases as many as 50,000 of them have converged on a single field.

Wildlife biologist Eric Merritt says however that the influx won't last much longer. Merritt says the geese will be heading north again soon.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - The Missouri House has approved legislation aimed at increasing the transparency of initiative petitions that bypass the Legislature to put proposed laws or constitutional amendments on statewide ballots.

Sponsors of the petitions must gather signatures from registered voters for their proposal to qualify for the ballot.

Under the House legislation, the secretary of state's office would offer a public comment period after a proposal is submitted. For those proposals that actually qualify for the ballot, the Joint Committee on Legislative Research would hold a public hearing.

The bill would also make it a misdemeanor to intimidate or obstruct someone who is trying to sign an initiative petition.

The House approved the measure Thursday on a vote of 151-3. It now moves to the state Senate.