ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. (AP) — A 61-year-old St. Louis County woman is dead after firing shots at police officers who entered her home after she shot a neighbor three times. Sheilah Huck had reportedly been acting irrationally outside her home Saturday before shooting the other woman who was loading her two children into a car.

Police haven’t identified the 35-year-old neighbor, who is expected to survive.

St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar says members of a tactical operations unit entered Huck’s home at 4:20 p.m. after she didn’t respond to officers. He says Huck fired three rounds at police with a handgun from 8 to 10 feet away, and two of the officers returned fire and killed her.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Two cases headed to Kansas appellate courts next week are expected to put the judges in a political spotlight that could have an impact on their careers.

All 14 judges of the Kansas Court of Appeals on Wednesday will hear the state’s appeal of a lower court ruling striking down a new abortion law.

The next day the state Supreme Court will consider a case regarding the court’s own power to supervise lower courts. A majority of the jurists will be up for retention votes next year.

Some experts are predicting those elections will draw a flood of money from outside interest groups seeking to change the makeup of those courts.

Last year Governor Sam Brownback campaigned against the retention of two Supreme Court justices.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas lawmakers and corrections officials are looking for ways to address overcrowding in state prisons as the adult population is expected to be nearly 1,700 inmates over capacity by the middle of the next decade.

The Legislature has taken some measures to address shrinking bed space, but it has not been enough to curb growth. The Wichita Eagle reports that as of Friday, the state’s men’s prisons were 99 inmates above capacity.

There are a number of options lawmakers will consider when they convene in January, including housing more inmates in county jails, building additional jail space, reducing sentences for lower-level crimes and increasing the amount of time an inmate can cut from a sentence for completing rehabilitation programs.

PICHER, Okla. (AP) — Thousands of people returned to an Oklahoma ghost town for a Christmas parade years after its residents moved out of the mined-out area.

The Joplin Globe reported Saturday’s “Coming Home for Christmas” parade featured dozens of entries and drew many former residents who grew up in the town.

Picher was the center of the EPA’s Tar Creek Superfund site.

The 40-square-mile area also included portions of Missouri and Kansas and was one of the world’s most productive regions for lead and zinc.  Polluted lead waste, sinkholes and a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers study that found dozens of homes in peril of collapsing into old mines prompted a federal buyout.

Most residents had left by 2009, but some former residents still return each year for a school reunion.

BAYARD, Neb. (AP) — Authorities are investigating a man’s death after a Western Nebraska farmer found his body sealed inside a 55-gallon barrel.

The farmer spotted the barrel floating in a creek about four miles east of Bayard on Friday afternoon. He called the Morrill County Sheriff’s office after opening the barrel and seeing the body inside.

Sheriff Milo Cardenas says there were no signs of trauma on the body, and it appears the man had been dead for only a couple days. An autopsy will be done Monday.

Morrill County Attorney Travis Rodak says it’s clear foul play was involved in the death because the lid was screwed on the barrel.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Disputes over the Republican River continue to cost Nebraska millions in legal expenses despite a new promise of cooperation with fellow river states Kansas and Colorado.  The Nebraska attorney general’s office is seeking another $1.2 million from lawmakers to defend the state against a class-action lawsuit filed by farmers.

They also seek to hire consultants for its ongoing settlement negotiations with Kansas.  The budget request to lawmakers reflects lingering costs for the state as it works to secure a long-term agreement with Kansas and meet its obligations under the Republican River Compact.

Farmers within the Frenchman Cambridge Irrigation District in southern Nebraska are seeking $219 million in damages for lost water that was diverted downstream to Kansas in order to comply with the river compact.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A south-central Kansas lawmaker has sent an email to constituents criticizing media coverage of the rights of gay couples in the state’s foster care system.

Republican Sen. Forrest Knox from Altoona said in the email sent Wednesday that the media prioritizes gay rights over the needs of foster children.

Knox chairs a special committee on foster care that last month reviewed research by Catholic priest and sociologist Donald Paul Sullins on the fitness of same-sex couples to foster. Sullins’ research has been disputed by scientific organizations, including the American Psychological Association.

Knox told the Wichita Eagle that he believes the research shows that traditional nuclear families best meet foster childrens’ needs.

The Kansas Department of Children and Families has repeatedly said it does not discriminate against same-sex couples.

BROOKLYN, Ohio (AP) — A Cleveland-area teen who police say ran away with a Missouri man who later held her captive for weeks has been reunited with her family.

The 15-year-old returned home Thursday night, two days after authorities found her in a home about 40 miles west of St. Louis.

Investigators said Friday that they were able to discover the missing teen’s location by tracking Facebook messages.

Prosecutors say one message said: “I haven’t hurt her, I don’t plan on it, but she keeps crying.”

Christopher Schroeder of Marthasville, Missouri, has been charged with transporting a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity and statutory rape. Court records show he told authorities he thought the girl was 18.

His court-appointed attorney declined to comment on Friday. Schroeder is due in court Monday.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A state audit has found that a Kansas City charter school was overpaid about $4.3 million in the two years before it closed because administrators inflated student attendance.

State Auditor Nicole Galloway said Friday that Hope Academy reported a 97 percent attendance rate when the actual rate was about 32 percent. The audit also found that students received credit for classes in which they weren’t participating and for unapproved activities outside of the classroom.

The school operated from 2009 to 2014.

When the problems were identified, the state began withholding payments, reducing the amount the school was overpaid to $3.74 million.

Galloway provided a copy of the audit to the Missouri State Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The agency didn’t immediately return a phone call from The Associated Press.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Two Republican Missouri lawmakers want to allow concealed carry of firearms on college campuses.

State senators this past week filed legislation to lift the current ban on concealed carry at higher education institutions.

A bill filed by GOP Sen. Brian Munzlinger, of Williamstown, also includes a provision that would allow colleges to opt out. They would need to apply with the state Department of Public Safety and staff all building entrances with security guards and weapons detectors.

The proposed legislation comes amid debate over how to prevent campus gun violence following last month’s shooting at Umpqua Community College in Oregon.

Supporters say lawful gun owners should be allowed to bring weapons on campuses for protection. Some Democratic lawmakers blasted the Missouri bills and said guns won’t prevent more shootings.