BILOXI, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi’s largest Army National Guard unit has a new commander, but he’s from Kansas.

Col. Jason Nelson took charge of the 155th Armored Brigade Combat Team on Saturday in Biloxi.

Nelson takes over command from Col. Ralph D. Ferguson, who led the unit during a nine-month deployment to the Middle East as part of Operation Spartan Shield. The trip to Kuwait was the unit’s third deployment to the Middle East since 2001.

WLOX-TV reports Nelson deployed with the unit to Kuwait as deputy brigade commander.

The Tupelo-based brigade has units in McComb, Senatobia, Starkville, Amory, Monticello and Meridian, as well as Kansas City, Kansas. Integrating the Kansas portion of the unit has taken four years.

Ferguson has been named deputy commander of the Kansas-based 35th Infantry Division.

FINNEY COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities were investigating a suspicious package and had asked residents to stay away from the 1200 -1400 Block of North 8th Street in Garden City, according to police.

Authorities did not believe it to be a threat to or related to Abe Hubert Elementary School, 1205 A Street.  The area is secured as a precaution. 

Authorities have released no additional details on the investigation but expected to road to be closed for an extended period of time.

KANSAS CITY (AP) — Authorities say two men have been killed in a shooting in the parking lot of Kansas City community center.

Police say gunfire erupted around 6:30 p.m. Sunday after the Brush Creek Community Center closed for the night. One victim died at the scene and another at a hospital.

Police identified the men as 28-year-old Cortez Seals and 29-year-old Marcus Neal. It wasn’t immediately clear what sparked the shooting. Police are investigating.

PINAL COUNTY, AZ — Members of a group from Kansas are recovering after they were rescued during a hike in the Arizona heat.

Just before 7:30p.m. on August 22, the Pinal County Sheriff’s office received a call from a hiker on the Flat Iron Trail in Lost Dutchman State Park requesting help, according to Sheriff Mark Lamb.

When the Superstition Arizona Search and Rescue team arrived, they learned that it was a group of 44 fitness instructors from Kansas that needed assistance due to the heat which reached 106 degrees.

State Parks spokeswoman Michelle Thompson said the hikers didn’t begin their hike until 3 p.m. and they were advising against making the hike that time of day “but they insisted.”

Rescue personnel and Lost Dutchman State Park rangers helped most of the hikers walk back to the park from a trail on an adjacent national forest.

Two of the hikers were extracted by the DPS Ranger Helicopter and two were led out by UTV. One of those was transported by ground to the hospital.

KANSAS CITY (AP) — Critics of a new Missouri ban on abortions at or after eight weeks of pregnancy are asking a judge to block the law from taking effect this week.

Attorneys for Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union head to court Monday to ask U.S. District Judge Howard Sachs to put the law on hold while their legal challenge against it plays out in court. They face a tight deadline: The law is set to take effect Wednesday.

Planned Parenthood and ACLU lawyers in a court filing wrote that unless Sachs blocks the law, it will severely limit access to abortion and prevent the “vast majority of patients from obtaining the constitutionally protected medical care they seek.”

“As a result, some patients will be prevented from obtaining abortion care entirely, and be forced to carry their pregnancies to term against their will_for some, even in the face of significant health risks that nevertheless would not qualify as a ‘medical emergency’ under the Bans,” attorneys wrote.

They added that other patients will seek abortions out of state or “outside the medical system,” despite health risks.

The law includes exceptions for medical emergencies, but not for rape or incest. If courts don’t uphold the eight-week ban, the bill includes a series of less-restrictive bans ranging from 14 weeks up to 20 weeks. The bill also bans abortions based solely on race, sex or a diagnosis indicating the potential for Down syndrome.

Attorneys for the state argue that courts have allowed limits on abortions based on the gestational age of the fetus, although similar abortion restrictions in North Dakota and Iowa have been struck down by judges. In court documents, they told the judge that the state’s goal is “protecting fetal life” as well as protecting women.

Federal law allows states to prohibit abortions after fetuses are viable outside the womb, which can be from 24 to 28 weeks.

Missouri’s bill also includes an outright ban on abortions except in cases of medical emergencies, but that would take effect only if the landmark 1973 U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion nationwide is overturned.

Missouri already has some of the nation’s most restrictive abortion regulations. Just one clinic in the state performs abortions.