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DIXON, Ill. (AP) - The Lee County state's attorney says she decided to drop state charges against former Dixon Comptroller Rita Crundwell because a second trial after her conviction in federal court would not result in additional jail time or restitution.

Crundwell admitted in the federal case that she stole nearly $54 million in public money from the northern Illinois city over some two decades that she served as its bookkeeper.

The Lee County prosecutor, Anna Sacco-Miller, said Tuesday that any sentence in the state proceedings would be served concurrently with the nearly 20 years that Crundwell received in February in the federal case. As a result, she says, the expense to taxpayers of a second trial cannot be justified.

The charges can be refiled if Crundwell's appeal of her federal sentence is successful.

CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) — A St. Louis man is facing charges for potentially exposing police officers to the virus that causes AIDS.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that 42-year-old David Williamson is charged with exposing another person to HIV infection for an incident that happened last May in St. Louis County.

Prosecutors say a Clayton officer responded to a report of a possible drunk-driving suspect slumped behind the wheel of a car. Authorities say Williamson refused to get out.

Williamson struggled with two officers, causing cuts to their skin and his. Williamson was taken to a hospital and told a doctor he was HIV-positive.

Clayton police declined to comment on the condition of the officers but both remain on duty.

Williamson is jailed on $25,000 bond.

ST. LOUIS (AP) - The last two of 24 members of an outlaw biker gang indicted on charges ranging from racketeering to robbery to murder have been sentenced.

Anthony "Blade" Robinson of Chicago was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to life in prison without parole. He was convicted of murder last year. Meanwhile, Jerry "Angel" Peteet of Gary, Ind., was sentenced to 23 years in prison for racketeering. He is a former lawyer for the club.

The 2011 indictment named members of the Wheels of Soul gang. Prosecutors say the violent gang members were involved in drive-by shootings, armed robberies, drug dealing. The gang was headquartered in Philadelphia but had 400 members in 25 states.

Most of the men charged in the indictment pleaded guilty.

KINLOCH, Mo. (AP) — The owner of a salvage yard in the impoverished St. Louis County town of Kinloch — a man who also owns Kinloch City Hall — is accused of receiving stolen property.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that 37-year-old Robert Hill Junior has been the subject of a lengthy investigation. Police say his business, Complete Auto Recycling Services, knowingly purchased six stolen vehicles in 2011.

Hill declined comment.

Hill purchased the City Hall building and several other properties in Kinloch over a seven-month period in 2011 and 2012. He allowed city officials to use City Hall for about a year. But later, he was accused by the city of failing to pay the money he had promised for the properties.

The city now operates at Kinloch Learning Center.

   The FBI has released images of two suspects connected to the Boston Marathon Bombing.

   Officials say the suspects are armed and dangerous and no one should approach them or try to apprehend them.

   The FBI says no piece of information is too small.

   More FBI pictures, including higher quality photos can be found here. 

PLATTE CITY, Mo. (AP) - A judge has refused to order Gov. Jay Nixon to testify in the third murder trial of a northwest Missouri man.

Platte County Circuit Judge Owens Lee Hull Jr. denied the motion by lawyers for Mark Woodworth following a brief hearing Thursday.

Mark Woodworth is facing a retrial for the 1990 killing of Cathy Robertson, a neighbor in Chillicothe.

Woodworth sought to depose Nixon about his knowledge of a series of letters between state and local prosecutors, a Livingston County judge and Robertson's husband.

Nixon was the state's attorney general when Woodworth was indicted by a Livingston County grand jury two decades ago. The case was handled by a special state prosecutor, Kenny Hulshof, after the Livingston County prosecutor refused to press charges.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The mother of a Newtown, Conn., shooting victim is making a deeply personal plea from the White House for all Americans to take action on gun violence.

Francine Wheeler's 6-year-old son, Ben, was killed inside Sandy Hook Elementary School. She's stepping in for President Barack Obama to deliver the president's weekly radio and Internet address. She is the first person to deliver the address other than Obama or Vice President Joe Biden since the two took office in 2009.

Wheeler says thousands of families are drowning in her family's grief and asks for help to do something, in her words, "before our tragedy becomes your tragedy."

In the Republican address, congresswoman Jackie Walorski of Indiana criticizes Obama's budget blueprint as a blank check for more spending and debt.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Officials say a state employee was fired after an investigation found he had taken sexually explicit photos and a video of himself at work and emailed inappropriate images.

The Illinois Executive Ethics Commission reported Friday that the Illinois Department on Aging fired John Hastings in December. Hastings was responsible for authoring computer code and inputting data for agency programs.

An executive inspector general's investigation found 225 pornographic images on his state computer. There were 13 explicit images and a video of a man identified as Hastings.

The heavily redacted report indicates Hastings took at least some of the photos at work and sent an inappropriate image to a female co-worker.

The report says Hastings acknowledged the wrongdoing. A phone number could not be located for him

A jury has recommended life in prison for the 20-year-old St Louis man  who was convicted for his part in the death of Vietnamese man during a 2011 knockout game attack.

20-year-old  Elex Murphy has been found guilty of second-degree murder, first-degree assault and two counts of armed criminal action for the attack on 72-year-old Hoang Hguyen and his 59-year-old wife.

The morning attack happened last April in the 3800 block of S. Spring. Police said the Nguyens were attacked as they walked home after shopping at a nearby grocery market.

The victims were punched and kicked repeatedly by a group of young adults.    The elderly man fell to the ground after being beaten and suffered a severe head injury. He died at a local hospital a short time later.

The teens ran when a car approached.

Days later, Elex Murphy was arrested and charged. No other teens have been arrested.

 ST. LOUIS (AP) - A Missouri man has been sentenced to two years of probation for aiming a laser pointer at a police helicopter.

Michael Brandon Smith, formerly of O'Fallon, was also ordered Thursday to perform 40 hours of community service during sentencing in U.S. District Court.

The incident happened May 18, 2012. A Metro St. Louis Air Support Police helicopter was responding to a burglary report at a St. Charles County school when the aircraft was struck several times by a green laser beam.

Federal prosecutors say that when the beam struck the glass of the helicopter the vision of the pilot and a second person in the chopper was impacted, and the helicopter had to pull away from the search.

Smith pleaded guilty in November.