COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — The University of Missouri will have the smallest class of new students this fall since 2006, according to recent projections that show the loss of new enrollments could be 50 percent or higher than previous predictions.

The interim vice provost for enrollment management says that as of last week, more than 4,700 students had paid a $300 enrollment deposit, which was refundable through Sunday. That’s a more than 22 percent decline from this year’s total of nearly 6,200 students.

This fall’s enrollment will include about 4,800 new freshmen if the projected pattern holds. The university enrolled just more than that amount in fall 2006.

After earlier projections in February, interim chancellor Hank Foley instructed campus divisions to cut their budgets by 5 percent, including a hiring and wages freeze.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri voters could get to decide whether to re-impose limits on the money flowing to political candidates and committees.

Supporters of campaign contribution limits said Wednesday they had submitted more than 272,000 petition signatures to try to get a proposed constitutional amendment on the November ballot.

The measure would cap donations to candidates at $2,600 per election. Contributions to political parties would be capped at $25,000.

Missouri currently has no limits on political giving. Wealthy donors routinely give five- and six-figure checks to candidates.

Voters approved campaign contribution limits in 1994. But those were overturned in court, and limits passed that same year by legislators ultimately were repealed in 2008.

The secretary of state’s office has until August to determine whether the new measure has qualified for the ballot.

FORT SHAFTER, Hawaii (AP) — A new commander is taking over as the leader of Army soldiers in the Pacific.

Lt. Gen. Robert Brown is succeeding Gen. Vincent Brooks as the commander of U.S. Army Pacific. Brooks is becoming the new commander of U.S. Forces Korea.

Brown will lead about 80,000 soldiers from Washington state, Alaska and Hawaii to Japan.

Brooks will hand over command to Brown during a ceremony at U.S. Army Pacific headquarters in Hawaii on Wednesday. Brown will be promoted to a four-star general just before the ceremony.

The West Point graduate comes to Hawaii from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas where he commanded the U.S. Army Combined Arms Center. He experience commanding the I Corps in Washington state and serving as a U.S. Army Pacific plans officer and U.S. Pacific Command staff officer.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri Supreme Court judges have ruled against what some called a tax loophole for doughnut holes.

The high court unanimously ruled Tuesday that the Krispy Kreme doughnut maker doesn’t qualify for a lower sales tax typically applied to grocery stores.

Groceries are taxed at 1 percent, while food at restaurants or otherwise made to be immediately eaten is taxed at 4 percent.

Krispy Kreme from 2003-2005 paid the 4 percent tax, but later tried to get a refund for doughnut sales. The company argued the doughnuts should be taxed at 1 percent because it said customers don’t always eat them immediately after purchasing them at Krispy Kreme shops.

Judges said that would allow a tax loophole for the doughnut-hole maker that wasn’t intended by lawmakers who created tax policies.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A former police officer for the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Kansas City, Missouri, is accused of sexually abusing two girls in Kansas.

Sean Acree, 38, of Mission, Kansas, was arrested Monday and was being held in the Johnson County jail on $250,000 bond.

He is charged with five felony counts, including aggravated indecent liberties with a child and indecent liberties.

A Veterans Affairs spokesman says Acree had been a training sergeant for the VA police but resigned last month. He made his first court appearance on Tuesday and is scheduled for another next week.

It was unclear after business hours Tuesday if Acree had obtained an attorney.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri lawmakers have advanced a “personhood” measure that backers say will protect the unborn and opponents say could ban abortion.

House members voted 112-36 Tuesday to give the legislation initial approval.

If passed by the Legislature, it would ask voters to decide whether to add “unborn human children at every stage of biological development” to a state constitutional provision that protects people’s “right to life.”

Republican backers say it’s needed to protect the unborn.

Democratic opponents say it could ban abortion, including in cases of rape, incest and in which the life of the mother is at risk. Democrats also said it could bar contraception, which some Republicans disputed.

The measure needs another House vote before it could head to the Senate. The deadline to pass legislation is May 13.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas woman who took her children to perform for occupiers during the armed takeover of an Oregon wildlife refuge says authorities have removed seven of the children from her home and arrested her for assaulting an officer.

Jail officials told The Kansas City Star Odalis Sharp of Auburn was booked into the Shawnee County jail Friday for battery of an officer and interfering with a law enforcement officer. No charges had been filed as of Tuesday morning.

Sharp and her children, who have a family gospel band, traveled to Oregon to support the 41-day occupation at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge earlier this year. She says the arrest and removal of the children happened after a dispute involving her landlord.

Neither the state Department of Children and Families nor the local prosecutor could be reached for comment.

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WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Justice Department lawyer says an anti-abortion activist intended to intimidate a Kansas doctor by suggesting in a letter that someone might place an explosive under her car.

Angel Dillard’s civil trial began Tuesday in Wichita. The federal government is suing her under a law aimed at protecting women’s access to abortion services and is seeking damages, financial penalties and an order of protection keeping her away from Dr. Mila Means.

One of Dillard’s attorneys told jurors that the government is trying to shut down free speech about matters with which it disagrees.

Dillard sent the letter to Means in 2011, when Means was training to provide abortions. At the time, there hadn’t been any doctors providing abortions in Wichita since the 2009 killing of Dr. George Tiller by an anti-abortion zealot.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Tourism Commission’s chairman says he’s alarmed by a new state audit that uncovered questionable spending practices within the independent state agency.

Chairman John Chapo says the commission is “extremely concerned” by the findings and will take steps to correct them.

The commission went into closed session during its meeting Tuesday, but took no immediate action after the meeting was reopened.

The audit released last week found that Nebraska tourism officials used state money to reimburse a marketing firm for alcohol and cigarettes, accepted meals from contractors and paid $44,000 in speaking fees for a 90-minute speech by a corporate executive.

In addition, a contractor for the agency hired the daughter of the commission’s director for a promotional photo shoot near Valentine.