POPLAR BLUFF, MO (AP) - A southeast Missouri bank employee is facing federal charges for allegedly embezzling nearly $400,000 from the bank.

The Poplar Bluff Daily American Republic (http://bit.ly/10RIFas ) reports that 38-year-old Leslie Ann Eastwood Kirby of Poplar Bluff was arrested last week and is being held at a federal facility.

Authorities say the discrepancy was discovered during an internal audit, and the FBI was alerted. Kirby worked as a bank teller supervisor at the First Midwest Bank in Poplar Bluff.

ST. LOUIS (AP) - Corn growers across the Midwest have made up for lost time in a big way from a slow start to planting season after a waterlogged spring.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture says 71% of the corn crop in key grain states is sowed. That's up from just 28% a week ago, though the pace remains behind the average of the previous five years of 79%.

Huge strides are being made in Iowa, where the 71% of the state's corn crop is in the ground is more than quadruple where it stood a week ago.