WASHINGTON (AP) — A Supreme Court justice has blocked implementation of portions of President Barack Obama’s health care law that would have forced some religion-affiliated organizations to provide health insurance for employees that includes birth control.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s decision came Tuesday night after a different effort by Catholic-affiliated groups from around the nation. Those groups rushed to the federal courts to stop Wednesday’s start of portions of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

Sotomayor acted on a request from an order of Catholic nuns in Colorado, whose request for a stay had been denied by the lower courts.

Sotomayor is giving the government until Friday morning to respond to her decision.

A north-central Missouri man who admitted molesting a 13-year-old boy has been sentenced to 53 years in prison.

Gary Dennis Foster was sentenced in Boone County Circuit Court to 30 years for statutory sodomy plus 23 years for sexual exploitation of a child.

Assistant Boone County prosecutor said at Monday’s proceeding she was pleased the case ended without the boy having to travel from northeastern Missouri to testify in court.

Investigators said Foster was a friend of the boy’s family. Evidence showed he took the boy in the spring of 2012 to rural Boone County, where he molested the victim and took sexually explicit photos and videos.

A southwest Missouri prosecutor has ruled that officers were justified in using deadly force in two separate incidents during 2013.

Greene County prosecutor Dan Patterson issued the rulings Tuesday.

One shot grazed a detective, and the officers returned fire.

Greene County sheriff’s deputies shot and killed 33-year-old Joshua Ford on Dec. 1 after a homeowner reported a suspicious man near the town of Bois D’Arc (BOH’ dark). The deputies said Ford charged them with what he claimed was a gun. It turned out to be a cellphone wrapped in a piece of clothing.

(AP) — A Friday court hearing is set on the latest effort to block a Roswell company from resuming domestic horse slaughter.

State District Judge Matthew Wilson in Santa Fe has issued a temporary restraining order preventing Valley Meat Co. from opening before he can hold the initial hearing on New Mexico Attorney General Gary King’s lawsuit against the plant.

It is the latest in a series of stops and starts for Valley and a Missouri company, which have been preparing to open in the coming weeks after a federal judge threw out a lawsuit by animal protection groups and a federal appellate court lifted a stay on operations pending the group’s appeal.

Following the federal court rulings, King stepped in this month with a lawsuit saying Valley Meat’s operations would violate state laws related to food safety, water quality and unfair business practices. Although the meat would not be sold domestically, it would be processed and shipped to other countries for human consumption and use as animal and zoo food.

Valley Meat attorney Blair Dunn calls the lawsuit frivolous and was preparing a response Tuesday challenging the state district court’s jurisdiction in the matter.

Meantime, Valley owner Rick De Los Santo said he has been working with state environment department officials to get the proper permits for removing wastewater in hopes of opening in the next week or two.

He said he is planning to initially only slaughter horses under contract with a larger Canadian slaughterhouse, which he said will supply drug-free horses from their feedlots.

“A big deal with Gary King is that we are going to be putting drugged meat into the food chain,” De Los Santos said. “…. The (company) actually buys the horses and puts them in the feedlot and has them graze there for 180 days to ensure there is no drug residue. … So I think that is the best way to do it, especially at the beginning. People think, oh they are going to be buying horses here and there, and they are going to be stealing little girls’ ponies. It’s not that way at all.”

(AP) – Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon is renewing his push to expand Missouri’s Medicaid health care program to cover more lower-income adults.

The Democratic governor said Tuesday that he hopes lawmakers who rejected a Medicaid expansion in 2013 will reconsider in 2014 as they see federal dollars start flowing to other states that have expanded eligibility.

Republican legislative leaders have said they are reluctant to expand eligibility without first overhauling the Medicaid program to make it more efficient and effective.

Nixon said he’s open to many of those proposals, such as penalties for Medicaid patients who make unnecessary emergency room visits. He’s also open to an expanded use of managed care policies.

States that expand Medicaid eligibility for adults can receive enhanced federal funding beginning in 2014.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A United flight made an unscheduled landing in Omaha after the pilot became ill.

United spokeswoman Karen May said Tuesday that Flight 1637 was on its way from Des Moines to Denver on Monday night when the decision was made to set down in Omaha. The co-pilot landed the Boeing 737 without incident just after 9 p.m., and May says the pilot was taken to a local hospital.

May says United put up the passengers overnight in Omaha, and they’re scheduled to complete their travel later Tuesday. May says there were 154 passengers and six crew members aboard the original flight.

May said Tuesday that the captain “is OK.” She wouldn’t provide other information about him or her.