Carbon monoxide is a highly toxic gas that can be created from the use of generators or the burning of fuels such as wood, propane, or natural gas. In the winter with houses closed up and heaters running, carbon monoxide alarms are very important.

Hays Fire Chief Gary Brown says residents who cannot afford an alarm, should contact the department. He also suggests CO or smoke alarms as practical Christmas gifts.

The Agriculture Department is responding to criticism over new school lunch rules by allowing more grains and meat in kids’ meals.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told members of Congress in a letter Friday that the department will do away with daily and weekly maximums of meats and grains. Several lawmakers wrote the department after the new rules went into effect in September saying kids aren’t getting enough to eat.

School administrators also complained, saying set maximums on grains and meats are too limiting as they try to plan daily meals.

“This flexibility is being provided to allow more time for the development of products that fit within the new standards while granting schools additional weekly menu planning options to help ensure that children receive a wholesome, nutritious meal every day of the week,” Vilsack said in a letter to Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D.

The new guidelines were intended to address increasing childhood obesity levels. They set limits on calories and salt and phase in whole grains. Schools must offer at least one vegetable or fruit per meal. The department also dictated how much of certain food groups could be served.

While nutritionists and some parents have praised the new school lunch standards, others, including many conservative lawmakers, refer to them as government overreach. Yet many of those same lawmakers also have complained about hearing from constituents who say their kids are hungry at school.

Though broader calorie limits are still in place, the rules tweak will allow school lunch planners to use as many grains and as much meat as they want. In comments to USDA, many had said grains shouldn’t be limited because they are a part of so many meals, and that it was difficult to always find the right size of meat.

The new tweak doesn’t upset nutritionists who fought for the school lunch overhaul.

Margo Wootan, a nutrition lobbyist for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, says the change is minor and the new guidance shows that USDA will work with school nutrition officials and others who have concerns.

“It takes time to work out the kinks,” Wootan said. “This should show Congress that they don’t need to interfere legislatively.”

Congress has already interfered with the rules. Last year, after USDA first proposed the new guidelines, Congress prohibited USDA from limiting potatoes and French fries and allowed school lunchrooms to continue counting tomato paste on pizza as a vegetable.

The school lunch rules apply to federally subsidized lunches served to low-income children. Those meals have always been subject to nutritional guidelines because they are partially paid for by the federal government, but the new rules put broader restrictions on what could be served as childhood obesity rates have skyrocketed.

School kids can still buy additional foods in other parts of the lunchroom and the school. Congress two years ago directed USDA to regulate those foods as well, but the department has yet to issue those rules.

Montana Sen. Jon Tester, a Democratic among the lawmakers who wrote to USDA about the rules, praised the move.

“Schools need flexibility to make sure kids get the nutrition they need to focus on their studies,” he said.

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback hasn’t dropped the idea of canceling a promised decrease in the state’s sales tax as a budget-balancing option next year.

But the proposal faces bipartisan legislative resistance.

Brownback called on legislators this week to reconsider unsuccessful proposals he offered previously to offset massive income tax cuts he wanted as an economic stimulus. His ideas included keeping the sales tax at its current rate of 6.3 percent.

The sales tax is scheduled to drop to 5.7 percent in July 2013.

The state boosted the sales tax in 2010 to protect public schools and social services, and lawmakers pledged that most of the increase would be temporary. The increase occurred before Brownback took office.

Brownback and legislators now face closing a projected $328 million budget shortfall.

Three of four conservative Republican Congressmen stripped of their plum committee assignments are demanding answers.

U.S. Reps. Tim Huelskamp of Kansas, Justin Amash of Michigan, and David Schweikert of Arizona made the request in a letter sent Friday to Speaker John Boehner. They said they wanted a written explanation by the close of business Monday.

Those three lawmakers, along with Rep. Walter Jones of North Carolina, lost their assignments last Monday after they bucked party leaders on key votes. Jones’ name isn’t on the letter.

Meanwhile, Huelskamp sent another letter Friday to Boehner requesting that he be reseated on the budget and agriculture committees, citing his “expertise and experience.”

Huelskamp sent copies of the letters to the media. He says he and the people of Kansas “deserve answers.”