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SIKESTON, Mo. (AP) - A 97-year-old southeast Missouri resident has died after catching himself on fire while smoking a cigar.

KFVS-TV reports that John Yount of Sikeston died Tuesday. A relative told police that Yount had frequently fallen asleep while smoking and apparently caught himself on fire while smoking a cigar.

Sikeston police arrived at Yount's home to find him with severe burns. He was taken to a hospital in Cape Girardeau, then transferred to St. Louis, where he died later Tuesday

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - The Missouri Supreme Court has rescheduled oral arguments in a case stemming from a state law that allows students to transfer out of unaccredited school districts.

The case was scheduled to be heard Wednesday. But the court agreed to move it to March 5 because of this week's snowstorm.

The school transfer case was filed by families who were paying to send their children to public schools in suburban Clayton when St. Louis lost accreditation in 2007. They argued St. Louis should pick up the tab.

But the St. Louis district is no longer subject to the law after regaining provisional accreditation last year. Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster has argued that the change in St. Louis' accreditation status makes the case largely moot.

Dyanthony Proudie faces multiple charges, including murder in the first degree for allegedly killing Ebony Jackson.

Police say that he and Jackson had reconnected recently. While Jackson and was running a bath at Proudie's apartment, police say the 40 year old shot Jackson in the head. Proudie then allegedly took her body and stuffed it in the trunk of her car.

Police found Jackson's son abandoned in the hallway of a Breckenridge Hills apartment complex on January 4 and Jackson's body on January 8.

Proudie has previous convictions in 1990 for Burglary and 1992 for Assault in the 2nd Degree. He was also on probation for multiple offenses in 2012.

No word on if Prosecutors will seek the death penalty.