(AP) A report issued Tuesday says Missouri's obesity rate is rising and, without increased government funding and community involvement, there's a fat chance that trend will change soon.

A study by Trust for America's Health lists Missouri as the 13th most obese state in the nation, with 27.4 percent of its adult population obese and 63.3 percent either obese or overweight. Arkansas ranks eighth with an obesity rate of more than 28 percent.
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SPRINGFIELD (AP) -- A judge ordered extra security for the start of a high-profile murder trial. Travis Mack is accused of killing Kenneth Dixon Jr. outside a nightclub in downtown Springfield last year. Prosecutors say the murder was a gang-related payback. More law officers will be in the Greene County Judicial Courts Building to guard against trouble.
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HARTVILLE, Mo. -- Visitation is Wednesday for the familiy of a murdered man from Hartville. The man charged for his murder is also scheduled to appear before a judge on Wednesday. Charles Barnes, 81, is accused of second-degree murder, armed criminal action, and abandonment of a corpse.

John Hamrick, 69, vanished Aug. 12. His truck showed up two days later in Lebanon with bullet holes and blood in it. Officers found Hamrick's body on Friday in the woods near his home.

Detectives say the two men were involved in an ongoing fight over an old road on one of the men's property. If convicted, Barnes could face a 30-year prison sentence.
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CARTHAGE, Mo. -- A woman from Kansas died in an accident in Jasper County. Emmarine Hickles, 78, was going the wrong way on U.S. 71 on Tuesday just north of Carthage when she hit another vehicle head on. Hickels died at the scene.
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From The Kansas City Star: The Catholic Diocese in Kansas City and more than 40 victims of clergy sexual abuse tentatively agreed late Tuesday to settle lawsuits against the church for about $10 million. The settlement, which still must receive final approval by Bishop Robert Finn and two church boards, also requires the diocese to take new steps to prevent further molestation by priests. The settlement could become final by Thursday, lawyers said.
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(AP) LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- The last publicly known widow of a Confederate soldier died on Sunday night. As a teenager, Maudie Hopkins, 93, married an elderly infantryman who had settled in the Ozark Mountains in Baxter County.

Family said Tuesday that Hopkins died at a hospital in Helena-West Helena. Doctors hospitalized Hopkins last week after discovering fluid in her lungs. She died in her sleep.

Hopkins was the only living widow of a Confederate soldier who is publicly known, said Martha Boltz, a Civil War historian who first detailed Hopkins' story in a article in 2004. Boltz said other elderly widows of Confederate soldiers don't want any publicity.
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From the Columbia Missourian: A new haircut and a new wrestling style weren't enough to help University of Missouri alumnus Ben Askren earn a gold medal in freestyle wrestling at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. A two-time NCAA champion for the Tigers, Askren made winning the gold his goal after qualifying for the games in June.

Askren lost his second-round match on Wednesday morning in his 47-kilogram competition in Beijing.
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