Region/state digest 04/03/05

Search for Zalma man in Texas called off

HARDINCOUNTY, Texas -- Officials with the Hardin County, Sheriff's Department have called off the search for Billy McGee, 44, who is wanted on meth-related charges in Cape Girardeau. The hunt for McGee went on for more than a week following a shootout between Texas police and McGee's accomplice, 19-year-old Josh Rogers, on March 25. Rogers surrendered to Texas authorities on March 28 and remains in jail there. McGee was believed to have been hiding in a patch of woods in Hardin County, about 100 miles northeast of Houston. Both McGee and Rogers are from Zalma, Mo.

Blunt says he has no living will but plans to

BRANSON, Mo. -- In a state that drew national attention for right-to-die cases long before Terri Schiavo, Gov. Matt Blunt said Friday he does not have a living will. Blunt, responding to a reporter's question, said he intends to get a living will. "It's on a list of resolutions," the 34-year-old governor said. He did not speak to what his own choices would be.

Prosecutors threaten to send autopsies elsewhere

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Prosecutors in four northwest Missouri counties are threatening to send autopsies elsewhere to avoid work by a deputy medical examiner whose credibility has been questioned in the past because of alcohol problems. The prosecutors from Clay, Platte, Cass and Clinton counties wrote a letter to Jackson County Executive Katheryn Shields asking that she take steps to "eliminate" problems associated with Thomas Gill. The prosecutors did not specify what they wanted Shields to do.

-- From staff, wire reports