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CHICAGO — Ten people, including four doctors, have been charged with swindling insurance companies out of more than $1.5 million by providing hundreds of patients with allergy shots without proper testing and sometimes under unsanitary conditions, prosecutors announced Thursday.

The indictment returned Wednesday alleges that some patients received the shots without being tested to determine if they were needed and some received shots without being warned about the risks involved.

DES MOINES — The western Iowa city of Manning has shut down one of its drinking-water wells after discovering the water contained the gas additive MTBE and a related compound.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has not established health guidelines for MTBE or its breakdown forms, according to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. Some studies have suggested that inhaling MTBE could lead to some cancers.

By shutting down the well, the city may have prevented the well from drawing in other contaminants that often follow detection of MTBE.

INDIANAPOLIS — Public schools would receive overall spending increases of about 4 percent in each of the next two years under a budget drafted by Democrats who control the House, and it would provide money to begin a phase-in of statewide, full-day kindergarten, party leaders said.

The phase-in of full-day kindergarten is a top priority of Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels, but the Democratic budget would block one of his other key initiatives by prohibiting the Hoosier Lottery from being outsourced to a private entity.

TOPEKA — A proposed "Alexa's Law" for protecting mothers-to-be and their fetuses won first-round approval Thursday in the House, despite questions from abortion-rights supporters about whether it's needed.

The bill, advanced on a voice vote, would make it possible to charge someone with murder, manslaughter, vehicular homicide or battery for killing or harming a fetus. It says the definition of "person" for those specific crimes includes an "unborn child" at "any stage of gestation from fertilization to birth."

ANN ARBOR — The principal owner of the New York Mets has given $12 million to the University of Michigan to fund scholarships, create sports programs and rebuild stadiums on campus.

Fred Wilpon is the major-league baseball team's chairman and chief executive officer. He also owns the Brooklyn Cyclones, a minor-league team, and is a senior partner of SportsNet New York, a regional sports network.

Wilpon played baseball at Michigan until an arm injury cut short his career, the university said in a statement released Thursday. A scholarship grant enabled him to remain at the school and he and his wife Judy graduated from in 1958.

ST. PAUL —The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission voted Thursday to approve a $300 million oil pipeline that would deliver 165,000 barrels of crude oil a day from Canada to refineries south of the Twin Cities.

PUC Executive Secretary Burl Haar said the commission approved both the certificate of need and the actual route for the pipeline, with some modifications and requirements that the company building the line must address issues raised by affected landowners.

Private landowners in the line's path have complained, expressing worries about potential spills, and environmentalists say expanded use of renewable energy sources eventually will make the pipeline unnecessary.

But government forecasts indicate that increased use of renewable energy sources won't fill the state's energy demand.

JEFFERSON CITY — Gov. Matt Blunt embraced a proposal Thursday to create a quasi-governmental agency to administer private health insurance plans for small-business employees — a move intended to reduce the number of Missourians without health insurance.

Under the proposal, businesses would make payments toward a health insurance plan administered by the state-created entity on behalf of their employees. The workers also would pay a share of the premiums for the private health insurance plan of their choice.

"This is a very serious and innovative proposal that will expand access to health care for Missourians," Blunt said at a Capitol news conference.

Health insurers urged caution, however, encouraging the concept but expressing concern about the details and the potential effect on the existing private health insurance market.

The legislation is sponsored by Rep. Doug Ervin, R-Kearney, chairman of the House Small Business Committee. Besides Blunt's support, the bill also has the backing of Republican House and Senate leaders and is co-sponsored by 58 of Ervin's 162 House colleagues.

An estimated 700,000 Missourians lack health insurance.

DONIPHAN — Nebraska farmers shouldn't put all their profit hopes in bushel baskets of corn, an economist says.

Record-high expenses should make farmers reconsider their planting plans even though corn prices are unusually high, said Wells Fargo bank economist Michael Swanson on Tuesday in Doniphan as he shared his economic forecast for 2007.

"Don't go crazy in terms of what you do," Swanson said. "Every year you offer, you might as well offer it like you're getting $1.50 corn. Be that efficient."

Swanson also spoke to some agriculture business students at Hastings College earlier Tuesday and shared the same message: Be prudent and diversify.

"If you look at future prices for ethanol, corn and natural gas — the three big things in the ethanol plant — there's no money left in ethanol," he said. "Four-dollar corn, $8 natural gas and $1.80 ethanol is not a winning combination."

BISMARCK — North Dakota lawmakers may be getting bigger paychecks during the 2009 Legislature, and one legislator says that's no reason to be ashamed.

"I don't feel one bit guilty about spending 1 percent of the budget on the third branch of government," said Rep. Frank Wald, R-Dickinson. "I don't think anybody should feel guilty voting for this.'

North Dakota's House voted 63-29 on Thursday to raise legislators' daily pay during sessions from $125 to $140, which represents an increase from $875 to $980 weekly. When the Legislature is in session, lawmakers are paid for seven days a week, including the five days they will spend taking a midsession break.

The 12 percent increase would take effect in December 2008, when lawmakers take office after the 2008 elections, said Rep. C.B. "Buck" Haas, R-Taylor.

If the effect of legislative pay raises is calculated on an annual basis since 1985, lawmakers' compensation has gone up less than 2 percent annually, Haas said.

COLUMBUS — Gov. Ted Strickland would consider going to the ballot to ask for a tax increase to fund schools if other options for improving the state's education outlook fail, the Democrat said Thursday.

During a speech to Ohio newspaper editors, Strickland said he believes Ohioans could support higher school taxes if they knew exactly what it would buy. He said it would not go against his statements about not raising taxes in the budget he is introducing in March if the question is put to the people.

"The people would be the deciders, would they not, if there was a ballot initiative?" Strickland told reporters after the event. "You can never quarrel with giving the people a chance to decide."

Strickland has said he opposes a constitutional amendment on school funding that is already in the works for the November ballot, which he says is problematic because it is vaguely worded.

PIERRE — The state Senate has approved a measure that would substantially boost state financial aid to South Dakota school districts so they could give teachers a pay raise.

Senators voted 29-5 on Thursday to pass the measure, which also proposes a number of changes in the way state aid is divided among schools.

Before approving the bill, the Senate removed a portion that would have forced some small school districts to merge with nearby districts. Senators said the state should leave such consolidation decisions up to the people who live in each district.

SB157 now goes to the House, which is considering a number of similar measures that would make changes in education financing. Lawmakers hope to reach a compromise on education funding before the main run of the legislative session ends in early March.

MADISON — Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen lobbied legislators Thursday to let him hire more DNA analysts immediately, telling lawmakers he needs twice as many as the governor wants to give him to wipe out the state crime labs' burgeoning DNA testing backlog.

Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle authorized the Department of Justice to begin hiring 15 new analysts in a bill that would make adjustments to the current state budget before it ends July 1. Full funding for those positions would be allocated in the 2007-09 budget.

But Van Hollen, a Republican, wants authorization in the adjustment bill to go after 31 new hires, including 29 analysts. If he can get them on board by July 1, he can eliminate the backlog by 2010, he told the Assembly judiciary and criminal-justice committees.

VICTORIA, British Columbia — British Columbia plans to rely on its forests and agricultural land to help reach its ambitious greenhouse-gas emission targets.

But Environment Minister Barry Penner could not say Thursday how much that would figure into the overall green game plan.

Penner said it's one of the aspects of the green plan that a climate action team will examine.

Premier Gordon Campbell is to head that team.

Penner said to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, a major component of greenhouse gases, more trees must be planted.