// a href = ./ //

   JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - Republican senators have made it clear that there will be no Medicaid expansion in Missouri this session.

   The Republican-led Senate voted down a Democratic attempt Monday night to insert $890 million of federal funds into Missouri's budget to expand Medicaid eligibility to an estimated 260,000 lower-income adults.

   The vote was just the latest in a series of similar defeats in the Missouri Legislature for the Medicaid expansion backed by Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon and called for under President Barack Obama's health care law.

   But this vote carried a bit more weight. That's because it ensured that neither the Senate nor the House version of the budget includes the Medicaid expansion. Under legislative rules, negotiators cannot insert money into the final budget that wasn't in either chamber's plan.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri lawmakers have given final approval to a bill that would renew tax credits for charitable causes but end them for international adoptions.

The legislation sent Wednesday to Gov. Jay Nixon would reinstate tax credits for food pantry donations that expired in 2011 and for donations to pregnancy resource centers and child advocacy centers that expired in 2012.

It also renews tax credits for surviving spouses of deceased public safety officers and for people who improve their homes to be accessible to the disabled.

But the bill halts state tax credits for people who adopt children from other countries or other states. It keeps adoption tax credits in place only for Missouri children with "special needs."