(AP) – Citing federal budget restrictions, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources has turned down a permit request from a northwest Missouri business that sought to process horses for meat.

The DNR said in a letter Thursday to David Rains, owner of Rains Natural Meats in Gallatin, that the agency has denied Rains’ permit request for his proposed horse slaughter operation because the new federal budget withheld funding for required federal inspections of the slaughtering process.

The resumption of commercial horse slaughter in the U.S. was effectively blocked last week when President Barack Obama signed a budget measure that stops the U.S. Department of Agriculture from spending money for inspections necessary for slaughterhouses to ship horse meat interstate and export it.

Rains didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment Thursday.

(AP) — Volunteers are planning to resume searching this weekend for a Kansas State employee who hasn’t been seen since Sunday.

KMAN reported the search for 56-year-old Jane Peterson will begin at 10:15 a.m. Saturday at the Tuttle Cove on Tuttle Creek Lake, north of Manhattan.

Peterson, of St. George, was reported missing Sunday by her family. Her pickup truck was found Monday evening near the Tuttle Cove area.

Dozens of soldiers from Fort Riley and law enforcement officers conducted an unsuccessful search Tuesday for Peterson, who works in the physics department at Kansas State.

(AP) – Missouri lawmakers are considering whether to permanently block a proposal that could allow more ethanol to be blended into gasoline.

The Senate rules committee held a hearing Thursday on a resolution that would prevent stations from selling fuel containing 15 percent ethanol.

The state Agriculture Department proposed the rule last year allowing E15 gas to be sold. But a legislative panel delayed the proposal in October, citing a 2006 state law that requires a 10 percent ethanol blend. The department says it has legal authority to allow higher concentrations of ethanol.

The House and Senate would likely need to pass the resolution by early March to permanently halt the department’s proposal. That would require Gov. Jay Nixon’s approval, but lawmakers have the ability to override a veto.

On Wednesday, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation and other law enforcement agencies served a search warrant at 210 West 10^th, in Garnett, Kansas along with an arrest warrant for Damon Griffin.

The search warrant was issued in reference to an incident of Domestic Violence Battery and Aggravated Assault allegedly occurring at that location the prior evening.

After a short standoff, Damon Griffin surrendered to KBI agents and Coffey County Sheriff’s Deputies without incident.  Griffin was booked into the Franklin County Detention Center on charges of Aggravated Assault, Battery (Domestic Violence), and Criminal Possession of a Firearm.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Anderson County Sheriff’s Office, Garnett Police Department, Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, Ottawa Police Department, and the Coffey County Sheriff’s Office also participated in the arrest.

(AP) — A Missouri Senate panel has endorsed an income tax cut for businesses and individuals.

The legislation backed Thursday by the Senate Ways and Means Committee would gradually reduce Missouri’s top individual income tax rate from 6 percent to 5 percent over a decade. It also would phase in a 50 percent deduction over five years for business income reported on individual income tax returns.

The incremental tax cuts would take effect only as long as Missouri’s net general revenues rose by at least $100 million over the high mark from the previous three years.

The legislation also grants an additional $1,000 tax deduction to people with incomes below $20,000.

The committee’s approval of the legislation means it could be one of the first measures debated this year in the Senate.