(AP) – A federal appeals court has cleared the way for companies in New Mexico, Missouri and Iowa to resume domestic horse slaughter.

In an order Friday, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver removed an emergency injunction that had blocked the plants from opening.

The Humane Society of the United States and other animal protection groups appealed after a federal judge in Albuquerque rejected their lawsuit alleging the Department of Agriculture failed to conduct proper environmental studies when it issued permits for the slaughterhouses.

An attorney for Valley Meat Co. of Roswell, N.M., and Rains Natural Meats of Gallatin, Mo., says by lifting the stay, the appellate court is saying it’s unlikely the protection groups would win their appeal.

Still, attorney Blair Dunn says it could be months before the court makes a final ruling on the animal protection groups’ appeal.

The U.S. Senate Finance Committee has approved the bipartisan “Excellence in Mental Health Act,” introduced by U.S. Senators Roy Blunt (Mo.) and Debbie Stabenow (Mich.) to expand access to community mental health services and strengthen the quality of care provided.

“This is an important step forward as we work to fix America’s mental health policies,” said Blunt. “We’ve got a model that works to solve these important problems. It’s time for Congress to act.”

The bill was included as an amendment to the so-called “doc fix” (SGR) bill that permanently reforms the way doctors are reimbursed by Medicare. The version of the Excellence in Mental Health Act voted for in committee today would establish pilot programs in 10 states to strengthen and improve access to care.

“Strengthening mental health services isn’t partisan. It is an important issue that touches all of our families in some way,” said Stabenow. “Our bipartisan bill expands access to care and improves quality of care so people living with mental illness can get the treatment they need. Instead of merely talking about this issue in the wake of tragedies, it is time for Congress to finally take action.”

 (AP) — The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission is inviting bird-watchers to its 114th annual Christmas Bird Count.

The event begins Saturday at locations around the state and runs through Jan. 5. Tens of thousands of participants across the country participate in the Christmas Bird Count to provide critical data on bird population trends. The data collected also allows researchers and biologists to study the long-term health and status of bird populations.

The event caters to bird-watchers of all experience levels. Anyone with questions should call the park at 402-755-2284.

(AP) – A 24-year-old man has died after being pinned beneath the bucket a front-end loader at a Kansas City area business.

The Kansas City Star reports authorities identified the victim of the Thursday accident as Michael B. Fisher of Blue Springs.

Sgt. Ronda Montgomery, spokeswoman for the Jackson County Sheriff’s office, said the cause of death hasn’t been determined and the accident remains under investigation.

According to initial reports, Fisher was helping place a glass door on the loader at a Blue Springs business when the bucket lowered on top of him. Montgomery said he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Topeka police are asking for the public’s help in their investigation into a quadruple homicide earlier this month.

Four people were found killed on Dec. 1. One victim, 45-year-old Carla Jean Avery was found shot behind a restaurant about a half-mile from her home and later died. When police went to her home, they found the bodies of her 43-year-old brother, Eric Christopher Avery; her 56-year-old ex-husband, Marvin Louis Woods; and another woman, 34-year-old Tamesha Lee.

Police haven’t publicly listed any suspects.

On Friday police released videos showing a child riding a bike and a 1995 maroon Crown Victoria that drives through a stop sign Dec. 1. Police want to talk to them and to a pedestrian and a man on motorcycle in the video.

 

(AP) — Toyota will seek to settle hundreds of lawsuits involving alleged unintended acceleration problems in its vehicles, according to a U.S. District Court filing in California

A motion filed Thursday by Toyota and plaintiffs asks for an order to establish an “intensive settlement process” in personal injury, wrongful death and property damage cases.

A Toyota spokeswoman tells the Los Angeles Times (http://lat.ms/1fquDFZ) the process will make resolution of pending cases more efficient.

Many of the hundreds of cases filed nationwide have been consolidated in courts in California.

In October, an Oklahoma jury became the first in the country to find Toyota liable in an unintended acceleration lawsuit, awarding $3 million in damages.

Toyota recalled millions of cars, starting in 2009, but has denied that electronics played any role in the problem.

10 p.m.  (AP)— Sheriff identifies student who opened fire in Colorado school as Karl Halverson Pierson, 18

8 p..m  (AP) — A student gunman at a suburban Denver high school apparently left two Molotov cocktails behind.

Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson says one of the devices found Friday at Arapahoe High School detonated but the other didn’t.

Robinson says the shooter wounded two students at Arapahoe High School in Centennial before apparently killing himself. One of them was hospitalized in serious condition. The other had minor gunshot-related injuries.

The sheriff says the shooter was armed with a shotgun and looking for a teacher he identified by name when he approached the school.

 

3:09 p.m.  Sheriff says the suspect in Friday’s shooting at a Colorado High School is dead of an apparent self inflicted gun shot wound.

Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson said Friday that the shooter was a student at Arapahoe High School in Centennial. He says another student was wounded when he confronted the armed student and was shot.

Officers found another injured student while securing the school.

 

3:05 p.m.(AP) — Police were responding to a report Friday of a shooting at a high school in suburban Denver, state emergency officials say.

Colorado division of emergency management spokeswoman Micki Trost said her director went to Arapahoe High School in Centennial. There weren’t any more immediate details.

Police were outside the school, and students were seen walking toward the school’s running track with their hands in the air. Television footage showed students being patted down.

The school is about 8 miles east of Columbine High School in Littleton, where two teenage shooters killed 12 classmates and a teacher before killing themselves in 1999.

 

2:49 p.m. (AP)— A hospital spokesman says a student is in critical condition after reports of a shooting at a school in suburban Denver.. Jason Dunkel, spokesman for Littleton Adventist Hospital, says the student was in surgery Friday.

 

2:30 p.m. (AP) — Colorado emergency officials say police are responding to a report of a shooting at a high school in suburban Denver.

State division of emergency management spokeswoman Micki Trost said Friday that her director went to Arapahoe High School in Centennial. There weren’t any more immediate details.

Police were outside the school, and students were seen milling around on sidewalks.

The school is about 8 miles east of Columbine High School in Littleton, where two teenage shooters killed 12 classmates and a teacher before killing themselves in 1999.

 

 

(AP) – The Missouri State Highway Patrol has launched an investigation after human remains were found in central Missouri.

The patrol said in a release Friday that a human bone fragment was found near the Missouri River. The patrol did not specify where or when the fragment was found.

Capt. Sarah L. Eberhard, director of the patrol’s Division of Drug and Crime Control, said the patrol is investigating with the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office and the Gasconade County Sheriff’s Office.