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A St. Louis jury has awarded $38.5 million to 16 residents of Herculaneum who alleged negligence by the former owners of a lead smelter in the eastern Missouri town.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the verdict on Thursday was only for compensatory damages. The trial that began three months ago continues Friday with a hearing about punitive damages against Texas-based Fluor Corp., Virginia-based A.T. Massey Coal and Doe Run Investment Holding Co.

The number of Missouri households led by same-sex partners has increased by more than 60 percent over the past decade.

New figures from the U.S. Census Bureau show Missouri had more than 15,000 households led by someone living with a same-sex partner. Of those, slightly more than 7,000 involved male partners and 8,200 were female partners. There were children in about one-quarter of those households.

The latest round of population information was released late Wednesday.

Good morning! Here are some of today's starting headlines:

Heat wave decreases flood threat on Missouri River

The heat wave that's plagued Missouri for most of July has had a positive side effect:  it's lessened the flood threat along the Missouri River between Kansas City and St. Louis.

Mark Fuchs is a hydrologist with the National Weather Service office in St. Louis.  Fuchs said the extreme high temperatures have dried up the soil along the Missouri River's tributaries.

Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri says Republicans need to offer more compromise regarding a plan on how to handle raising the debt ceiling.

McCaskill says Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's proposal includes spending cuts larger than the rise in the debt ceiling and no increased taxes.

She says those were the requirements Speaker of the House John Boehner put forward at the start of the debate. But he has come up with his own plan that McCaskill says is similar, but with a catch.

The St. Louis Cardinals have traded outfielder Colby Rasmus and three other players in a three-team deal that gives them pitchers Edwin Jackson, Octavio Dotel and Marc Rzepczynski.

The deal announced Wednesday also gives the Cardinals outfielder Corey Patterson and three players to be named later or cash considerations. Besides Rasmus, Toronto also gets pitchers P.J. Walters, Trever Miller and Brian Tallet from the Cardinals.