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Gas prices continue to climb in the metro area and across the country. And there's still no clear reason why.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that gas prices in the St. Louis area are 20 cents higher per gallon than they were this time last year. A gallon of regular unleaded is running more than $3.60 at most stations on the Missouri side of the Mississippi -- up about 50 cents in the last month. Prices are closer to $3.90 in the metro-east.

Several reasons are being given for the jump at the pump, including maintenance at several refineries and early switch over to summer blends. But the paper reports that commodities speculators may be the real force behind the increase, since they now dominate the oil market.

The U.S. Supreme Court will not hear an appeal from former Illinois Governor George Ryan over his 2006 corruption conviction. The justices on Tuesday turned away Ryan's appeal without comment.

Ryan had asked the high court to reconsider his conviction based on a 2010 decision saying honest service fraud requires bribery and kickbacks. Ryan said the jury instructions at his trial were wrong, and that it was never proven that he took bribes.

Ryan was released from prison in recent weeks and is serving the rest of his sentence on home confinement.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. and his wife, Sandra, will appear in federal court today to answer criminal charges in an alleged scheme to spend $750,000 in campaign funds on personal items.

Both have agreed to plead guilty in deals with federal prosecutors. Jackson is charged with conspiracy and his wife with one count of filing false joint federal income tax returns for the years 2006 through 2011 that knowingly understated the income the couple received.