(We retopped this post at 11:35 a.m. ET.)

Saying that last week's mass shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., could have been prevented or stopped if there had been armed, trained security personnel on site, officials of the National Rifle Association on Friday called for Congress to appropriate funds to put police officers in every American school.

If you're a student at the halfway point of the academic year, and you've just taken stock of your performance, perhaps you have reason to feel proud of yourself.

But a recent study suggests some of the pride you feel at having done well — especially in science — may be unfounded. Or at least your sense of your performance may not be a very accurate picture of how good you actually are.

There are two positive economic signals to pass along this morning:

-- The Census Bureau says orders for durable goods rose 0.7 percent in November from October. That follows a 1.1 percent rise in October from September and is the sixth increase in the past seven months.

The House has backed off a vote on Speaker John Boehner's "Plan B" bill, which deals with the tax portion of the fiscal cliff.

After passing a measure to thwart automatic cuts on defense spending, the House abruptly went into recess, which NPR's Tamara Keith notes was a signal that the Republicans did not have enough votes to pass the tax measure.

Boehner released a statement on the vote Thursday night:

The Kentucky Public Service Commission has accepted a settlement agreed to by all the parties in a rate increase case filed by Louisville Gas and Electric and Kentucky Utilities.

In what’s being called the largest investigation ever conducted by the Electronic Crime Branch of the Kentucky State Police, seven suspects are now under arrest on child exploitation charges.

State troopers and detectives from seven posts served search warrants covering central and eastern Kentucky. Seven suspects were arrested and charged with possession and distribution of matter portraying the sexual performance of a minor.

Rep. John Yarmuth, a Democrat representing the Third District, will serve on next year’s House Budget Committee and the House Education and Workforce Committee.

In a statement, Yarmuth says the committee assignments will allow him to continue working on middle class issues that reflect fairness and shared responsibility.

The Education and Workforce Committee oversees federal programs at all levels of education and its expected to take up legislation to rewrite the No Child Left Behind law next year.

A state audit has found spending and management problems at a Lexington nonprofit agency that provides mental health care, including the management of two state-owned facilities.

Auditor Adam Edelen says in the report that executives at Bluegrass Regional Mental Health-Mental Retardation Board awarded themselves benefits worth millions of dollars without scrutiny from the agency's board of directors.