COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Around 150 protesters have gathered on the University of Missouri campus in Columbia as part of ongoing demonstrations over matters of race and discrimination at the college.

 

For months, black student groups have complained of racial slurs and other slights on the overwhelmingly white campus, and they’re now calling for President Tim Wolfe to step down. Student groups and black members of the football team are calling for Wolfe to step down over the way he has handled matters of race and discrimination on the campus, and one black graduate student is on a hunger strike.

Those gathered late Sunday near Jesse Hall prayed for the hunger-striking student, among other things. They also chanted, sang songs and read a Bible verse. Organizers at one point called student-athletes forward to lead a prayer. At least 20 tents were set up, and many planned to camp out overnight amid temperatures that had dropped into the low 40s. Students huddled together, wrapped in blankets.

Two graduate student organizations at the University of Missouri are calling for walkouts in solidarity with protesters who want the system president to resign. The Steering Committee of the Forum on Graduate Rights and the Coalition of Graduate Workers called Sunday for the actions. The organizations say walkouts by student workers on Monday and Tuesday will send a message of support for protesters seeking the removal of President Tim Wolfe.

The group Concerned Student 1950 and black members of the football team are calling for Wolfe to step down over the way he has handled matters of race and discrimination at the flagship school of the four-campus system. One black graduate student is on a hunger strike. That student, Jonathan Butler, has also cited the removal of graduate student health care subsidies as a concern.

Wolfe has given no indication he intends to leave the position, but he issued a statement Sunday saying that “change is needed.” The graduate committee criticized Wolfe’s statement, saying he and the administration are doubling down on “business as usual.”

The governing body of the University of Missouri system has set a special meeting amid the ongoing protests. The Board of Curators announced in a statement it will meet Monday at 10 a.m. on the system’s Columbia campus. According to an agenda provided in the statement, part of the meeting will be closed to the public. The statement says Missouri law allows the group to meet in a private “executive session” to discuss topics such as privileged communications with university counsel or personnel matters.

A university system spokesman didn’t immediately respond to questions about whether the group would address the status of University of Missouri System President Tim Wolfe. Wolfe has been the target of protests by students, including 32 black football players who announced they will not participate in team activities until he is removed. One black graduate student is on a hunger strike.

The chairman of a Missouri House higher education committee says University of Missouri System President Tim Wolfe should resign. Poplar Bluff Republican Steve Cookson said in a statement Sunday that Wolfe “can no longer effectively lead” and should leave his post. The GOP lawmaker says the recent events are just the latest problem at the University of Missouri system, which he says has been “slipping behind over the last few years in everything from faculty productivity, to fiscal health … to national rankings.”

A former Democratic state lawmaker and former chairman of the University of Missouri’s Board of Curators defends President Tim Wolfe’s campus leadership. Longtime lawmaker Wayne Goode said Wolfe is “one of the best managers I’ve ever worked with.” Goode also said Wolfe has “very strong support on the board,” though he declined to indicate whether he had spoken with anyone on the board or with Wolfe.

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon says the University of Missouri must address concerns over “racism and intolerance.” The Democratic governor issued his statement on Sunday. Nixon’s statement says the concerns must be dealt with so that the school is “a place where all students can pursue their dreams in an environment of respect, tolerance and inclusion.”

U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill says the University of Missouri Board of Curators needs to “send a clear message” to the students at the Columbia campus that they’ll address racism. McCaskill, a graduate of the state’s flagship campus, said in a statement Sunday that she’s “confident my university can and will do better in supporting an environment of tolerance and inclusion.”

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Missouri Sen. Kurt Schaeffer has raised objections to a study seeking to understand why a law requiring a 72-hour waiting period for abortions is effective.

Schaefer, who’s seeking the GOP nomination for Missouri attorney general, is accusing the university of violating a state law making it illegal to “encourage or counsel a woman to have an abortion not necessary to save her life.”

The Columbia Daily Tribune reports lawmakers in 2014 passed the law requiring a 72-hour waiting period for an abortion.

Mary Kogut, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri, says the study is designed to find out what happens to women who decide not to have an abortion, not to figure out better ways to persuade them to have one.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Republican Party attempt to limit the number of debates in Missouri’s gubernatorial primary has fallen through because not all candidates agreed to the plan.

State Republican Party Chairman John Hancock had proposed a limit of between five and eight forums sponsored by local Republican groups. The state party would have taken applications from potential hosts and selected the sites and dates.

The party declined to say Friday which candidates rejected the limits.

There are five announced Republican gubernatorial candidates for 2016 — Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, state Sen. Bob Dixon, former House Speaker Catherine Hanaway, businessman John Brunner and former Navy SEAL officer Eric Greitens.

They all participated in a forum last week in Jefferson City.

Attorney General Chris Koster is the only Democrat planning a gubernatorial bid.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence for a convicted serial killer who stuffed several of the bodies of his female victims into barrels.

The ruling Friday in the case of John E. Robinson Sr. marks the first time justices have upheld a death sentence since Kansas reinstated capital punishment in 1994.

Robinson was sentenced to death for killing two women in Kansas, in 1999 and 2000. The justices upheld his death sentence in a 415-page ruling that also addressed numerous technical arguments raised by Robinson’s attorneys.

Robinson also was convicted for the 1985 death of a third young Kansas woman whose body was never found. Robinson, now 71, was sentenced to life in prison for killing four other women and a teenage girl in Missouri.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Supreme Court is hearing arguments in a school funding case on the same day state officials and university economists are meeting to issue new tax collection projections.

The new forecast coming out Friday is expected to be more pessimistic than the existing one, which could create challenges if the state is ordered to spend more on its schools.

A Shawnee County District Court panel found in June that the state’s newly enacted strategy for financing 286 school districts and cuts to state aid for low-income school districts were unconstitutional. The Supreme Court granted Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt’s request for a stay on the order while pursued an appeal.

Schmidt and Gov. Sam Brownback say the judicial panel in the school finance case overstepped its constitutional authority.

DETROIT (AP) — Ford Motor Co. and the United Auto Workers union have reached a tentative agreement on a new four-year contract.

The UAW said the agreement was reached Friday morning. The contract covers 53,000 workers at 22 U.S. plants.

No details were released, but the contract is expected to mirror deals reached with General Motors and Fiat Chrysler. Those contracts eliminate a two-tiered wage system at U.S. plants over eight years. They also give pay increases to longtime workers for the first time in a decade.

Fiat Chrysler workers approved their contract last month. GM workers are still voting but are expected to pass their agreement this weekend.

UAW leaders from Ford’s plants will meet Monday in Detroit. If they vote to approve the agreement, the union will release details.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A prosecutor wants a state appeals panel to overturn a Missouri judge’s ruling releasing a man accused of sexually assaulting an infant.

Cole County Circuit Judge Patricia Joyce on Oct. 23 granted a defense motion to release Aaron Michael Fisher after his public defender argued that Fisher’s constitutional right to a speedy trial had been violated.

Fisher had been charged in 2009 with two counts of forcible sodomy of a 5-month-old girl. He was scheduled to stand trial Nov. 23 until the judge granted the motion to release Fisher.

The Kansas City Star reports Miller County Prosecutor Ben Winfrey has filed notice he’ll ask the Missouri Court of Appeals’ Western District in Kansas City to overturn Joyce’s ruling.

Joyce’s secretary said Friday the judge can’t comment on her cases.

FESTUS, Mo. (AP) — A man who called in a bomb threat last year against an eastern Missouri elementary school has been ordered to spend four years in prison.

KMOV-TV reports that 24-year-old James Rhodes of Cadet was sentenced in Jefferson County.

Authorities say Rhodes called in the bomb threat involving Festus Elementary School on Aug. 19 of last year. But authorities managed to acquire the caller’s cell phone number.

Investigators say a co-defendant, 23-year-old Michael Asher of Hillsboro, has pleaded guilty to making a terroristic threat and is to be sentenced Nov. 13.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri House members and staff must now undergo annual sexual-harassment training.

The move follows allegations that a former lawmaker sexually harassed interns and another exchanged sexual texts with one.

A House panel voted 6-1 Thursday to implement the policy.  It’s the only vote needed to enact the requirement.  The Administration and Accounts Committee also expanded who is required to report alleged harassment.

The training requirement comes months after former Democratic Sen. Paul LeVota resigned amid allegations that he sexually harassed interns, which LeVota has denied. It also follows the resignation of former Republican House Speaker John Diehl after he admitted to exchanging sexually charged text messages with an intern.

Lawmakers and others have generally praised the policy change and related ones the committee adopted as a step forward.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The shigellosis outbreak that began in the Kansas City area in July continues to spread.

The Jackson County Health Department has seen 62 cases so far this year, bringing the total in the metro area to more than 400.

Most of the cases have been within city limits and aren’t counted among the Jackson County cases because the department covers parts of the county outside Kansas City and Independence.

More than half of the Jackson County cases occurred in October. The county typically sees fewer than 10 cases each year.

Shigellosis is an infectious intestinal disease caused by bacteria transmitted by people who have symptoms, including abdominal pain, fever, watery diarrhea, vomiting and fever.

Most of the region’s cases have been associated with child care facilities and elementary schools.