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JEFFERSON CITY, MO. (AP) -- A Missouri Senate panel has eliminated funding for several state programs. But some senators would have liked to ax more.

The largest item eliminated in the budget last week by the Senate Appropriations Committee was the Career Ladder program that pays teachers extra money for after-school tutoring.

The panel also voted to end state funding for life sciences research, grants to buy library books, aid to large-animal veterinary students, youth tobacco prevention programs, and the Scholars and Fine Arts academies for high school students.

Republican Sen. Jim Lembke, of St. Louis, tried to eliminate funding for several other programs. He says his failure shows the
truth of a Ronald Reagan observation that government programs are the closest thing to eternity on earth.

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