WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A group that wants to lower fines for marijuana possession in Wichita says it has collected enough signatures on petitions to put the issue to a public vote in April.

Esau Freeman, leader of Kansas for Change, says the group plans to present the petitions to election officials next week. The same group was a few signatures short on its first effort to get the issue on the ballot in November.

The Wichita Eagle reports that if the signatures are approved, Wichita residents would vote April 7 on a proposal to impose a $50 fine for first-offense marijuana possession. It would be enforced with a summons or citation rather than an arrest. The conviction would be expunged if an offender has no further legal problems for a year.

CONNIE CASS, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Today’s young Americans are more serious about giving back than their parents were, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll.

Those under age 30 now are 10 percentage points more likely than young people 30 years ago to say citizens have a “very important obligation” to volunteer, even as young people’s commitment to other civic duties such as voting, serving on a jury or staying informed has dropped sharply.

Twenty percent of adults under 30 volunteered in 2013, up from 14 percent in 1989, according to census data analyzed by the Corporation for National and Community Service. It seems likely that the Millennials’ volunteering rate will climb higher, because past generations have peaked in their 30s and 40s, when many parents give their time to schools, youth groups or community improvement.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Union Station in Kansas City is planning a New Year’s celebration that will feature big band, swing jazz.
Performer Dave Stephens and his band will headline the festivities. Besides live music, party-goers will be treated to swing lessons, a balloon drop and a midnight champagne toast.
Doors open at 8 p.m. Wednesday. Union Station Kansas City is a historical landmark that reopened to the public in 1999.

ATLANTA (AP) — The U.S. Ebola response coordinator called the mishandling of materials that led to a lab technician’s possible exposure to the virus “unacceptable.”

Ebola Response Coordinator Ron Klain told CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday that the incident at a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention carried no risk to the public because of protocols and procedures that are in place.

Klain says the CDC technician, who may have come into contact with a small amount of live virus during an experiment, is monitored daily and shows no signs of infection.

Klain also said the FDA has approved widespread testing in West Africa of a vaccine to prevent Ebola. He says tens of thousands of people will get the vaccine. The program begins in three to four weeks.

KANSAS CITY (AP) – Five people have died after a tractor-trailer crashed into a stopped car on Interstate 435 in Kansas City.

The Kansas City Star reports that that the crash happened around 5 p.m. Saturday after the car came to a halt in the lane closest to the shoulder and was rear-ended. Investigators are trying to determine why the car stopped.

The collision killed a 24-year-old woman, a 17-year-old girl and three other youths, ranging in age from 6 months to 2 years. Police didn’t immediately release any other details about the victims.

Southbound lanes of I-435 were closed for about four hours while police investigated the wreck. Kansas City Police Sgt. Bill Mahoney says the truck driver tested negative for drugs and alcohol.

FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) — The Ferguson Police Department has suspended a spokesman after he referred to the Michael Brown memorial as “a pile of trash.”

A statement the city provided to The Associated Press on Sunday didn’t identify the officer who made the remark to The Washington Post. The newspaper attributed the comment to Officer Tim Zoll.

The memorial at the site of Brown’s death was damaged last week after a car apparently hit it.

Zoll doesn’t have a listed number and couldn’t be reached by the AP.

The city says the spokesman denied making the comment, but later admitted that he’d misled his bosses.

He has been placed on unpaid leave while “disciplinary proceedings” begin.

City officials said negative remarks about the memorial “do not reflect the feelings of the Ferguson Police Department.”

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The second annual Three-State Beef Conference is scheduled next month in Iowa, Missouri and Nebraska.

Topics titles include “Financial Impacts of Fertility and Infertility in the Current Cattle Market.”

On Jan. 15 there will be two sessions in Nebraska. The first will be at the Gage County UNL Extension Center in Beatrice. An evening session will be held at the UNL Ag Research and Development Center near Mead.

The registration fee is $25 per person. For more information or to register, contact Paul Hay, phay1@unl.edu, 402-223-1384 or Lindsay Chichester, lchichester2@unl.edu, 402-624-8030 or go online at http://extension.iastate.edu/feci/3StBeef/.

LIBERTY- Law enforcement authorities are looking for a wrong way driver responsible for an accident that ocurred just before 4:30 a.m. on Sunday in Clay County.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported an unknown vehicle was traveling the wrong direction southbound on Interstate 35, struck a 2001 Ford passenger vehicle head-on and fled the scene.

The driver of the Ford Megan N. Ronimous, 18, Kansas City, was transported to Liberty Hospital.

No additional details on the other vehicle are available.

JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – Missouri lawmakers have mixed opinions about whether they can use a new constitutional amendment to override some of Gov. Jay Nixon’s budget cuts when they go into session in January.

Voters in November approved an amendment that allows the Legislature to reverse a governor’s spending restrictions by a two-thirds vote in both chambers – just as it already can do on a governor’s vetoes.

Nixon currently is restricting about $700 million of spending as a result of actions he took when the budget year began last July.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Kurt Schaefer believes the new amendment could be cited to overturn Nixon’s spending restrictions.

But incoming House Budget Chairman Tom Flanigan believes the amendment can’t be used to reverse an action that occurred before voters adopted the amendment.