(AP) — An 82-year-old man died after an apparent farming accident this week in east-central Kansas.

Marion County authorities say Eldon Andres was working on a tractor Tuesday near Peabody when it moved forward, knocked him to the ground and stopped on top of him.

Marion County authorities had received a report that Andres was missing. While on their way to the scene, deputies learned the man’s body had been found.

(AP) — A business conditions index for nine Midwest and Plains states has dropped after rising the previous two months.

The overall Mid-America Business Conditions Index plunged to a growth neutral 50.0 in October from 54.8 in September.

Creighton University economist Ernie Goss oversees the survey, and he says the partial government shutdown and slower business activity for firms tied to agriculture pushed overall economic conditions lower for the month.

The survey results are compiled into a collection of indexes ranging from zero to 100. Survey organizers say any score above 50 suggests growth, while a score below that suggests decline.

The survey covers Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota.

A Barton County woman was injured in Thursday night crash with a deer.

According to the Kansas Highway Patrol twenty-five year old Kristin Mari Roat of Hoisington was driving a 2011 Kia passenger car north on US 281 8 miles north of Great Bend when the vehicle collided with a deer.  The vehicle came to rest on the east shoulder. Roat was transported to the hospital in Hoisington. She was wearing a seat belt.

(AP) — A consumer advocacy agency’s top attorney says he’ll petition the Kansas Corporation Commission to rethink new policies that would let continue holding some discussions in private.

David Springe of the Citizens’ Utility Ratepayers Board says the new KCC policies wouldn’t comply with the Kansas Open Meetings Act.

CURB is a state agency represents small businesses and residential customers before the KCC, which regulates utilities. KCC officials declined to respond to Springe’s criticism.

Springe objects to the new policies because the commission still could have private discussions, although action would come in public.

The commission rewrote its policies after scrutiny of a practice in which members meet individually to approve rate increases without holding a public hearing.

 (AP) — Safety workshops were held this week in Kansas for people who work around combustible grain dust.

The workshops in Effingham were sponsored by the Kansas City chapter of the Grain Elevator and Processing Society. More than 60 grain industry employees from the region attended the sessions.

The  classes were conducted around the second anniversary of an explosion at a Bartlett Grain facility that killed six people. A moment of silence was held in honor of the victims.

Kingsly Ambrose, assistant professor in milling/grain processing at Kansas State university, said the workshops are intended to increase awareness of grain dust and its explosiveness. He says it takes the dispersal of billions of fine dust particles to create the devastating explosions.