JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Running afoul of Missouri’s open government laws could carry a smaller financial penalty but no longer require proof the law was knowingly broken under legislation before a Senate committee.

Officials or agencies now can pay up to $5,000 for a purposeful violation and up to $1,000 for a “knowing” violation. The Senate legislation would reduce the amount of the lesser penalty to $100 and no longer require a violation be committed “knowingly” for there to be punishment.

Organizations representing cities, counties and other local governments are critical. They question levying penalties against people who can be volunteers and who accidently violate an open meeting or public records requirement while servin

FRANK ELTMAN, Associated Press

STONY BROOK, N.Y. (AP) — With the cost of a public education up 27 percent in the past five years, some students are being forced to choose between eating and learning.

That’s why many colleges have established their own food pantries. A group called the College and University Food Bank Alliance says about 50 member food banks have sprung up on campuses across the country, most of them in the last few years.

Stony Brook University on Long Island started a food pantry last fall, handing out bags of staples such as pasta, fruit, vegetables, tuna and breakfast bars.

Food bank officials say the profiles of recipients vary from undergraduate students who have opted for cheaper meal plans to people dealing with unexpected hardships to students raising children while struggling to pay tuition.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Roy Blunt (Mo.) and Kelly Ayotte (N.H.) are calling on Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler to move forward with the implementation of the Remote Areas Fund (RAF), a $100 million fund created by the FCC within the Universal Service Fund (USF) to ensure that Americans living in the most remote and unserved areas can obtain key communications services.

“States like New Hampshire and Missouri stand to benefit from the immediate implementation of this important program and the broadband services it will bring to American consumers in the most rural and  unserved areas,” wrote Blunt and Ayotte, who are Senate Commerce Committee members. “Please provide us an update as to how the Commission plans to implement the $100 million annual RAF portion within the Universal Service Fund this year.”

USF is funded through fees users pay on their phone bills. The program aims to advance telecommunications services in rural schools, libraries and health care facilities. RAF was supposed to be implemented by the end of 2012, and Blunt and Ayotte say that continued delay in its roll-out could mean that important broadband services are being denied to the unserved Americans who need these services most.

5:40 p.m. FridayTOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas medical board plans to appeal a court order overturning its revocation of a doctor’s license over her referrals of young patients for late-term abortions.

5:10 a.m.  TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas medical board members will consider appealing a court order overturning their revocation of a doctor’s license over her referrals of young patients for late-term abortions.

The State Board of Healing Arts’ special Friday night meeting comes a week after a Shawnee County judge ruled in the case of Dr. Ann Kristin Neuhaus

Judge Franklin Theis said Neuhaus kept inadequate records but that the board failed to show she provided inadequate mental health exams.

Theis ordered the board to reconsider its sanctions, but it could appeal to the state Court of Appeals.

The board revoked Neuhaus’ charity-care license in 2012 over exams in 2003 for 11 patients, ages 10 to 18.

Neuhaus provided second opinions to the late Dr. George Tiller needed under a Kansas law for terminating the pregnancies.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — An assistant band teacher at a Kansas City private school has been charged with molesting an 11-year-old student who says he inappropriately groped her on several occasions.

Jackson County prosecutors say 53-year-old Tod Barnard of Independence was charged Friday with two counts of second-degree child molestation and two counts of third-degree assault.

Barnard told a detective that he had fallen into the girl once, but denied intentionally doing so.

The Jackson County prosecutor’s office says it’s unclear whether Barnard has an attorney.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Missouri could be on pace to see a record number of executions in 2014, with two more inmates now on the verge of execution dates.

The Missouri Supreme Court on Thursday issued show cause orders in the cases of Leon Taylor and Michael Worthington. The orders give attorneys for the two men until April 14 to show why an execution date should not be set.

Jeffrey Ferguson is scheduled to die March 26 for abducting and killing a teenager in St. Charles County in 1989. Several other inmates have exhausted court appeals.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri commission has approved tax credits to build low-income housing after delaying their issuance last year.

The Missouri Housing Development Commission unanimously endorsed issuing about $14 million in tax credits Friday for about 1,600 housing units.

Republican Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, who cast the lone “no” vote against delaying the tax credits in December, voted Friday to move forward with the projects. He says the delay potentially jeopardized funding for the developments.

Commission executive director Kip Stetzler says he is not aware of any financial concerns caused by the delay.

JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – The Missouri transportation department plans to donate a park and war monuments to Jefferson City.

The city’s Historic Preservation Commission learned Tuesday that the state will donate Blue Star Memorial Park and a Spanish-American War Memorial to the city, after the state surveys the property.

The Jefferson City News-Tribune reports the roadside park between the U.S. 50 Expressway and Missouri Boulevard was built in the early 1950s.

The life-sized statue memorializes more than 10,000 Missourians who served in the 1898 Spanish-American and Philippine-American wars and the U.S. involvement in the Boxer Rebellion. It was donated in 1967 by the Sons of Spanish-American War Veterans Association.