WASHINGTON (AP) — The House has passed a bill to temporarily shore up funding for transportation programs and prevent a shutdown in highway and transit aid to states at the end of this month.

The legislation passed by a 312-119 vote on Wednesday.

Senate Republicans are trying to cobble together a longer-term bill that could provide transportation money for several years.

The House bill would funnel $8 billion to keep transportation going through Dec. 18 while lawmakers work on a long-term bill.

Congress is under pressure to act quickly.

Authority for transportation programs expires on July 31 and the balance in the federal Highway Trust Fund is forecast to drop below $4 billion, the minimum cushion needed to keep money to flowing to states without interruption.

DETROIT (AP) — Toyota is recalling 625,000 Prius hybrid vehicles worldwide because they can stall without warning.

In the U.S., the recall affects 109,000 Prius V wagons from the 2012 to 2014 model years. The Prius V is known as the Prius Plus and Prius Alpha in other markets.

Toyota says the software settings in the hybrid and motor control units could cause them to overheat. If they are damaged, the vehicles will go into a “safe” mode and shut down.

Toyota recalled the Prius sedan last year for the same issue.

Vehicle owners will be notified. Toyota dealers will update the software for free.

UPDATE CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Scientists have released the first up-close images ever of Pluto and its big moon Charon. And they say they’re amazed.

The long-awaited images were unveiled Wednesday in Maryland, home to mission operations for NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft.

A zoom-in of Pluto reveals an icy range about as high as the Rockies. To the scientists’ great surprise, there are no impact craters. On Charon, deep troughs and canyons can be seen.

The images were collected as New Horizons swept within 7,700 miles of Pluto on Tuesday, becoming Pluto’s first visitor in its 4.5 billion-year existence.

Scientists didn’t know until Tuesday night — when the spacecraft phoned home — that the encounter was a success.

New Horizons already is 1 million miles beyond the dwarf planet, and 3 billion miles from Earth.

OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — A suburban Kansas City animal control officer says she was skeptical when a man called to report a 4-foot-long carp in a drainage ditch.

But Jamie Schmidt, a school resource officer with the Olathe, Kansas, Police Department, soon found herself wrapping up the 60-pound dead fish in trash bags and using a lift to get it into her truck. It was actually 3 ½ feet long.

The Kansas City Star reports the man found the carp Friday in the ditch near an elementary school. Schmidt, who is filling in as animal control officer while the regular one is on maternity leave, thinks it came from a nearby lake after heavy rains.

Schmidt says it was easier to haul the fish away dead than had it still been alive.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A new report from a group of retired military leaders says the nation’s obesity epidemic is causing significant recruiting problems for the military. One in three young adults nationwide is too fat to enlist.

The report released Wednesday by a group calling itself Mission: Readiness is promoting healthy school lunches to combat the problem. It notes 29 percent of teenagers in Kansas are overweight.

Obesity is among the leading causes of military ineligibility among people ages 17 to 24. Others are a lack of adequate education, a criminal history or drug use.

All those put together mean 71 percent of Kansans are ineligible for military service.

The military has also seen a 61 percent rise in obesity since 2002 among active duty forces, driving up health care and other costs.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A new Missouri policy will stop a Department of Revenue practice of awarding certain contracts partially based on how much money is promised to come back to the state.

Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon on Tuesday announced he will let the measure take effect without his signature. Bills Nixon doesn’t sign or veto automatically take effect.

Businesses and nonprofits run offices that issue vehicle and driver’s licenses and collect a fee for each transaction. At issue is an agency policy to award such contracts in part based on how much of profits bidders pledge to give back to the state.

Lawmakers have criticized the policy as disadvantaging nonprofits that typically return profits to their community.

The competitive bidding process was put in place in 2009 to eliminate political patronage.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Sexual education classes in some Missouri schools soon must include information about the dangers of online sexual predators and sexting.

Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon on Tuesday signed legislation adding the instruction requirement for sex education courses taught at public and charter schools.

Missouri does not require schools to teach sex education. But schools that opt to teach those classes must provide medically and factually accurate information.

The new sex education guidance is set to take effect Aug. 28. Schools with instruction on sex education then must teach students about sexual predators and how to be safe online.

The legislation also calls for those classes to provide information about the consequences of sending sexually explicit or graphic text messages, commonly known as sexting.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The red polka dot dress that Shirley Temple wore in a 1934 movie has sold for $75,000 at an auction in Kansas City.

The auction Tuesday included more than 500 of Temple’s childhood belongings, including hundreds of dolls and toys, and dozens of her costumes. The auction was organized by Maryland-based Theriault’s auction house for Temple’s estate.

Shirley Temple Black, who died in February 2014 at the age of 85, starred in more than 80 films. As an adult, she also served in the United Nations General Assembly and later became U.S. ambassador to Ghana.

Temple’s baby grand Steinway also sold at the auction for $45,000.

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has reduced flows from Tuttle Creek Lake since a 15-foot sinkhole was found near the lake.

The sinkhole on the east side of outflow tubes at Tuttle Creek Lake measures 15 feet in diameter and 8 feet deep.

Engineers reduced outflows from the lake from 19,000 cubic feet per second to 6,200 when they noticed the hole forming last week. They also closed the gates on the east side of the lake’s dam. They have since increased outflows.

Brian McNulty, operations manager for Corps of Engineers, says the sinkhole likely formed as a result of recent high water levels and outflows from the lake and doesn’t indicate any structural problems in the dam.