Three milk snakes were stolen overnight from their display cases in Kansas University’s Museum of Natural History and officials theorized they had been taken for sale to collectors. The snakes were considered valuable because of their coloring.

Starting with a choir singing spirituals and ending with three petition drives, a town meeting to discuss the effects of federal budget-cutting on local social programs attracted about 150 people.

A Topeka contractor hired by the city to work on a housing rehabilitation project here not only left town without paying about $5,600 in bills but also defaulted on a $9,000 bank loan using the project as collateral. Officials were pursuing the issue through normal channels and hinted arrests might be in order.