JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Three initiative petitions to increase Missouri’s minimum wage have been approved for circulation.

Secretary of State Jason Kander on Tuesday announced supporters of all three now can begin collecting signatures.

The petitions need to be signed by at least 5 percent of legal voters in six of the state’s eight congressional districts to make it onto a ballot.

All three petitions propose increasing the state’s minimum wage, which is adjusted to changes in cost of living.

The minimum wage in effect for 2015 is $7.65 an hour.

The petitions propose upping that to $9 per hour. One would increase that $1 a year until 2023, when it reaches $15 an hour. The other two would increase the minimum wage $1 a year until it reaches $11 or $12.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — An 18-year-old man faces a preliminary hearing this month on a hate crime charge after a University of Missouri residence hall was vandalized.

Bonne County authorities charged Bradley M. Becker with second-degree property damage motivated by discrimination after the vandalism at the Mark Twain Residence Hall. A swastika was burned into the ceiling of a stairwell twice in April and someone once wrote “You have been warned.”

The Columbia Daily Tribune reports Becker’s attorney, Columbia-based Jeffrey Hilbrenner, was not available for comment Tuesday.

Becker is listed in an online directory as a freshman health science major.

The preliminary hearing is scheduled for June 23.

NEW YORK (AP) — Apple is recalling its Beats Pill XL speakers after a customer reported getting burned when it overheated.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission says there were eight reports of the speaker’s battery overheating. One person’s finger was burned and another reported damage to a desk.

Apple says customers can apply for a $325 refund on its website. They can also elect to receive Apple Store credit for the same amount.

The CPSC says about 222,000 of the speakers are in the U.S., and 11,000 are in Canada. They were sold at Apple’s stores and websites since January 2014. It was also sold at other retailers.

Beats, which also makes headphones, was bought last year by Apple Inc. for $3 billion.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The state budget director says Missouri’s general revenue collections are up 7.5 percent compared with 2014.

Budget Director Linda Luebbering on Tuesday reported revenues are up to $7.87 billion this year. The state brought in $7.32 billion last fiscal year.

That’s slightly down from the 7.7 percent year-to-date growth shown when revenues last were assessed through April.

Collections in May increased compared with collections this time last year. Those are up 5.7 percent, from roughly $614 million to nearly $650 million.

Corporate income and corporate franchise tax collections grew more than 44 percent last month.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — At least eight civil rights advocacy groups want to meet with Missouri’s top law enforcer to discuss his office’s latest findings that black drivers are 75 percent more likely to be stopped in the state than white drivers.

Attorney General Chris Koster released a yearly report Monday showing that the racial disparity in traffic stops involving blacks and whites surged to its highest level since the state began compiling data 15 years ago.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports groups including the Organization for Black Struggle, the Don’t Shoot Coalition and Empower Missouri are calling on Koster to bring experts together to discuss best ways to combat racial profiling.

Monday’s report was Missouri’s first since the racial unrest that followed last summer’s Ferguson police shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers are seeking answers from the maker of defective air bags and federal regulators as they focus on the biggest auto-safety recall in U.S. history.

Japan’s Takata Corp. agreed last month to declare 33.8 million air bags defective. Faulty inflators inside the air bags are responsible for six deaths and over 100 injuries worldwide. A top Takata executive and the head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are answering questions at a U.S. House hearing Tuesday.

Lawmakers want to know how the replacement inflators being installed are different so that they won’t suffer the same defect, and how long all the repairs will take.

The chemical that inflates the air bags can explode with too much force, blowing apart inflators and sending shrapnel into the passenger compartment.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A $2,500 reward is being offered for information leading to arrests in the shooting death of a 3-year-old boy killed in his Kansas City home by gunfire from the street.

Amorian S. L. Hale died Sunday when someone sprayed his house with bullets. A bullet entered the child’s bedroom and hit him in the head.

Family members are imploring people to help identify his killer. Authorities said Tuesday the reward in the case has grown to $2,500 and so far, police have received 23 anonymous tips.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

VALLES MINES, Mo. (AP) — Charges are pending against a would-be truck thief in eastern Missouri after the victim climbed on a tractor to chase him down.

KTVI-TV reports that police credit Zanescot Kester with not only catching the suspect, but recovering two stolen trucks.

Kester was in a rural area on May 21, loading wood into his pickup with his tractor. He was moving a log when he noticed the truck pulling away.

Kester hopped onto the tractor and gave chase, calling the sheriff’s department in the process.

Police say the suspect took Kester’s truck to try and free another pickup that was stuck. It turned out that truck had been stolen, too.

Kester cornered the suspect until police arrived. Both he and the other victim have their trucks back.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The first “smart” home gadgets that can be controlled by Apple’s Siri, the voice-activated digital assistant, are going on sale this week, just days after rival Google announced its own software for Internet-connected home appliances and other gadgets.

Apple announced its “HomeKit” project a year ago, but it’s taken this long for home gadget-makers to produce light switches, power plugs and wireless hubs that meet Apple’s criteria for compatibility and security.

The new products could be an important step forward for the concept of “connected homes,” in which appliances, thermostats and even door locks communicate wirelessly and can be controlled with a smartphone app. While other companies have similar products, analysts say Apple’s popularity could persuade more consumers to try them.