AFFTON, Mo. (AP) — Thousands of people have signed a petition pressing to rename a park in Missouri’s St. Louis County after a police officer shot and killed earlier this month.

KSDK-TV reports that Dawn Oppy and Kathy Bosch launched the idea to rename Clydesdale Park in honor of late St. Louis County police officer Blake Snyder.

Snyder was 33 when he was fatally shot Oct. 6 after answering a disturbance call. A second officer returned fire, injuring the 18-year-old suspect, Trenton Forster. Forster is charged with first-degree murder.

The county’s parks website shows that the park first opened in 1976 as Gravois Creek Park and was renamed Clydesdale Park in 1983.

Changing the name in Snyder’s honor would require county approval.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Democrats and moderate Republicans have boosted their campaigns for the Kansas Legislature by attacking GOP Gov. Sam Brownback’s fiscal policies.

They’re also setting up a debate over a big tax increase next year.

The goals they’re presenting to voters include increasing aid to public schools, undoing cuts in higher education and protecting highway funding.

Following through would force lawmakers to consider undoing key parts of Brownback’s tax-cutting legacy and raising taxes by hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

Ongoing budget problems have fueled a backlash against Brownback’s allies ahead of the Nov. 8 general election. Democrats hope to shrink GOP supermajorities in both chambers so they can form governing coalitions with moderate Republicans.

The scenario is plausible because 14 conservatives lost legislative seats in the August primary.

(AP) – Expect to pay more to heat your home this winter than you spent last year.

That’s the message from government analysts who sifted through forecasts for a colder winter and slightly higher energy prices.

The Energy Department said Thursday that household bills from October through March are likely to be higher for all four main heating fuels — natural gas, electricity, heating oil, and propane.

Consumers got a break last winter, when temperatures were mild. Government meteorologists are expecting a colder winter this time in the Northeast, Midwest and South.

HOUSTON (AP) — Blue Bell is facing another round of recalled products, but believes a “robust” testing program implemented following last year’s listeria contamination is creating safe treats.

The current recall involves a third-party supplier’s chocolate chip cookie dough that was potentially contaminated with listeria. Texas-based Blue Bell and supplier Iowa-based Aspen Hills Inc. expanded their initial recalls this week.

State inspection records show testing increased at Blue Bell’s flagship Brenham creamery after last year’s recall.

Various preliminary tests from December 2015 through July indicated the presence of listeria in some non-food contact areas, including a break room and a floor drain. The company did additional cleaning and repairs to correct that, but no recall was needed.

Experts say the current recall isn’t likely to bring about a substantial loss of customers despite more regulatory and public scrutiny.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A judge says the winner of a Hot Lotto jackpot can continue a lawsuit that contends he would have won millions of dollars more if the prior drawing had not been rigged by a lottery vendor.

Iowa District Court Judge Karen Romano refused to dismiss the case Wednesday. The suit is the first against the Multi-State Lottery Association over a jackpot-rigging scandal inside the organization.

Romano says the association and the Iowa Lottery aren’t immune from the lawsuit filed by Larry Dawson of Webster City, Iowa.

Dawson won a Hot Lotto jackpot worth $9 million in May 2011. He argues that the jackpot should have been worth $25.5 million had the prior jackpot in December 2010 not been fixed by then-association security director Eddie Tipton.

BOSTON (AP) — The public is getting a rare peek at first and early editions of some of William Shakespeare’s most beloved plays.

The Boston Public Library is commemorating the 400th anniversary of the Bard’s death with “Shakespeare Unauthorized,” a free exhibition that opens on Friday.

The library holds a copy of the so-called “First Folio,” the earliest published collection of Shakespeare’s works.

Early “quartos,” or booklets for individual works like “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” ”Hamlet” and “The Merchant of Venice,” are also among the highlights of the exhibition.

Jay Moschella, the library’s rare books curator, calls the collection “one of the greatest cultural treasures of Boston.”

The last time the library showcased many of the materials was 100 years ago.

The exhibition runs through March 2017.

CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) — Hundreds of police officers from around the country turned out to pay their respects for a fallen St. Louis County officer.

The funeral for 33-year-old Blake Snyder was Thursday in Chesterfield. Ten pallbearers carried the flag-draped coffin inside the Family Church, followed by Snyder’s widow, Elizabeth, and their 2-year-old son.

In addition to the large crowd at the funeral, hundreds of others lined the lengthy funeral procession route to a cemetery in Godfrey, Illinois. Massive American flags flew from fire truck ladders along the 50-mile route.

Snyder was fatally shot Oct. 6 after answering a disturbance call in south St. Louis County. A second officer returned fire, injuring the 18-year-old suspect, Trenton Forster, who remains hospitalized. Forster is charged with first-degree murder.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — The Missouri Department of Higher Education has launched a new effort aimed at increasing the odds of college students graduating on time and leaving them with less debt.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the state’s “15 to Finish” initiative encourages college students to take 15 credit hours each semester.

The department is teaming up with the national nonprofit Complete College America to provide the state’s two- and four-year colleges with promotional materials and plans to personalize the idea for each campus.

The organization estimates that less than one-third of students in Missouri public schools are taking 15 credit hours every semester. The same research found that nearly 60 percent of students are taking 12 hours a semester, the minimum to receive federal financial aid.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — More money has been spent since last year on broadcast TV ads for Missouri’s gubernatorial election than in any other state.

An independent analysis by the Center for Public Integrity released Thursday shows an estimated $27.5 million has been spent on ads aired so far.

Republican political newcomer Eric Greitens has spent an estimated $8.4 million on more than 20,800 ad spots. Democratic Attorney General Chris Koster has spent about $6.2 million on more than 14,700 spots.

University of Missouri-St. Louis political scientist Dave Robertson says the competitive race to replace Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon is a magnet for money.

He said the stakes are high: the Legislature likely will be Republican, so the fate of GOP policies such as right to work likely depend on the next governor’s party.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri federal appellate court that ordered Missouri to reveal its supplier of lethal injection drugs has reversed its decision, ruling that the provider can remain secret.

A three-judge panel with the 8th U.S. Circuit Court overturned its Sept. 2 ruling that the state must disclose its pentobarbital supplier to two Mississippi death-row inmates suing for the information.

At that time, the panel rejected Missouri’s claim that revealing how it gets pentobarbital could crimp its supply of chemicals for future executions.

But the 8th Circuit granted Missouri a rehearing and found Thursday that the state has made a more persuasive case about the hardship it and the supplier would face if the identity were revealed.

An attorney for the Mississippi inmates says their legal team is weighing its options.