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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - Missouri House members have approved a trio of measures that could reduce taxes for some businesses.

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Representatives on Wednesday passed bills that would create new incentives for the construction of computer data centers and investors in high-tech, startup businesses. Both of those measures now go to the Senate.

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   The House also gave initial approval Wednesday to a bill that would gradually reduce the state's corporate income tax rate from its current 6.25 percent to 4.25 percent by 2016. The bill also would make Missouri's individual income tax brackets subject to annual inflationary adjustments, potentially reducing future taxes for some people. Another provision seeks to increase Missouri's tax collections from Internet sales.

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   All told, the measures could reduce Missouri's revenues by tens of millions of dollars annually.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - The Associated Press has learned that authorities are calling the death of Menard Correctional Center inmate Tuesday night "suspicious."

It is the third such death of a Menard inmate in less than two months.

Randolph County Coroner Randy Dudenbostel (DOO'-dihn-bahs-sul) told The Associated Press that the 35-year-old man was declared dead in his cell in the prison's segregation unit at 10:36 p.m. Tuesday. The man had a cellmate even though he was in a segregated cell.

Neither Dudenbostel nor Department of Corrections spokeswoman Stacey Solano (soh-LAH'-noh) would identify the man. Dudenbostel says an autopsy is scheduled for Thursday.

Solano says the prison was locked down Wednesday during an investigation.

Tuesday's inmate death is the third suspicious death at Menard since Jan. 31

A standoff with a suicidal man in Granite City ended peacefully this morning.

The police say the man barricaded himself in his home and told officers he had weapons and explosives. The situation started around 4 AM and officers took him into custody just before 11 AM. The man was taken to the hospital and a bomb squad searched the home for explosives.