(AP) — Something new is cropping up on farms across America: solar panels, windmills and systems that convert manure to electricity.

The move toward renewable and efficient energy is growing as farms and other rural businesses look for ways to cut costs and boost sometimes uncertain bottom lines.

But an increasingly popular federal program that helps fund such investments faces an uncertain future in the next farm bill.

Some conservative groups want to eliminate the Rural Energy for America Program, saying it unfairly favors renewables over coal and other traditional energy sources. The House version of the farm bill strips all mandatory funding for the program, while the Senate version retains much of it.

Supporters say rural areas need government incentives because of high poverty rates, business closures and a dwindling population.

(AP) — More than a thousand people gathered in a small Colorado mountain town Saturday to remember five members of the same family who were killed by a massive rock slide on a popular hiking trail. Two of the victims were 10-year-old Baigen Walker and 22-year-old Paris Walkup, both of Birch Tree, Mo.

Monday’s slide across the trail to Agnes Vaille Falls in south-central Colorado’s San Isabel National Forest also killed 46-year-old Dwayne Johnson, 45-year-old Dawna Johnson and their 18-year-old daughter, Kiowa-Rain Johnson, all of Buena Vista.

The slide also injured 13-year-old Gracie Johnson, who attended Saturday’s memorial in Buena Vista. She told rescuers her father saved her when he jumped on top of her as boulders began to crash down around them.

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(AP) — The Pentagon is ordering most of its approximately 400,000 furloughed civilian employees back to work.

The decision by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is based on a Pentagon legal interpretation of a law called the Pay Our Military Act.

That measure was passed by Congress and signed by President Barack Obama shortly before the partial government shutdown began Tuesday.

The Pentagon did not immediately say on Saturday exactly how many workers will return to work. The Defense Department said “most” were being brought back.

A bag tossed onto the roof of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Joplin contained incendiary material in what police are calling a failed arson attempt.

Surveillance video at the center shows a person dressed in a hooded sweatshirt approach the back of the building around midnight Wednesday and throw the bag on the roof.

Police Lt. Matt Stewart declined to describe the bag or what was in it. He also declined to say whether there were any communications that explained the motivation for the attempt.

A similar device was used in a failed arson attempt at the Islamic Society of Joplin’s mosque July 4, 2012.

(AP) — A new report says enrollment is down this fall at the 19 community colleges in Kansas.

The report for the Kansas Board of Regents says statewide community college enrollments are down 3.82 percent, which is a drop of 3,095 students from last fall. The total number of students at the colleges was 77,829 when classes started.

The largest statewide decline was at Kansas City Kansas Community College, which lost 911 students from last fall, a 12.77 percent drop to a total 6,575 student population.

The Board of Regents’ head count is based on the first 20 days of the fall semester. Enrollment may go up as students sign up for a second eight-week schedule and for online courses.

AP) — The National Weather Service says as many as nine tornadoes hit an area covering northeast Nebraska and northwest Iowa Friday evening.

Meteorologist Mike Fuhsin the service’s Sioux Falls, S.D., office says damage assessment crews were touring the area Saturday morning to determine exactly how many tornadoes there were. No deaths have been reported, although minor injuries occurred in Nebraska.

Fuhs says preliminary reports show two tornadoes in northeast Nebraska around 6 p.m. Friday, including one that left a path of destruction near Wayne and Macy, and one just five miles north of Emerson.

In Iowa, Fuhs says it appears there were tornadoes north and south of Sioux City, as well as those west and north of Hinton, east of Moville, at Quimby and one south of Cherokee.

(AP) — Videos and photos taken by the public and posted online show the extensive damage wrought by tornadoes in northeast Nebraska and northwest Iowa.

The images show a number of businesses, including a farm implement showroom and a grain elevator at Wayne, Neb., destroyed. Many other businesses and homes stretching from Wayne to Cherokee, Iowa, are missing roofs and sections of walls. Windows in buildings and vehicles have been smashed. A semitrailer and tractor can be seen overturned in some photos.

The National Weather Service says at least six, but as many as nine tornadoes ravaged the region as a powerful storm cell moved through the area Friday night.

No deaths were reported, but 15 people in and around Wayne were treated for injuries.

Photos courtesy of the Iowa Storm Chasing Network