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The Westminster Fire Department was called to an icy lake yesterday because a pet was in trouble.  The crew from Station #1 donned ice rescue gear and were able to reach the dog and bring it to safety.

Fire rescue crews ask dog owners to keep their pets on a leash, but if a dog gets into trouble, call 911.  Don't attempt a rescue by yourself.

Photo courtesy of Westminster Fire Dept.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Amylin Pharmaceuticals won approval Friday for its long-delayed diabetes drug Bydureon, a next-generation treatment that requires fewer injections than the company's 7-year old diabetes medicine, Byetta. Bydureon is a once-a-week version of Byetta, which is taken twice a day to control blood sugar. Amylin executives say the new drug's convenient regimen will give it a competitive advantage in the marketplace. However, after multiple delays it enters a crowded market, including one diabetes treatement in the same class that has shown superior results. The Food and Drug Administration approval comes after two rejections in 2010, when the agency asked Amylin to conduct a new study of the drug's effects on the heart's rhythm. News of the costly delay sent company shares tumbling more than 50 percent and contributed to the eventual breakup of Amylin's long-standing partnership with Eli Lilly and Co. The companies ended their collaboration in November, with Amylin paying $250 million and agreeing to take over full responsibility for both Byetta and Bydureon. Analysts generally expect Bydureon to generate $940 million in sales annually by 2016, though Deutsche Bank analyst Robyn Karnauskas says the drug must post $1.2 billion annually to turn a profit. Karnauskas points out in a note to investors that Amylin currently has $2 billion in long-term debt and only $210 million in cash. She says Bydureon's approval should give the San Diego company greater flexibility to refinance its debt. Bydureon is part of the broader GLP-1 class of drugs, which work by increasing the body's insulin production. People with type 2 diabetes are unable to properly break down carbohydrates, either because their bodies do not produce enough insulin or because they've become resistant to the hormone, which controls blood sugar levels. These patients are at higher risk for heart attacks, kidney problems, blindness and other serious complications. Diabetics often require multiple drugs with different mechanisms of action to control their blood sugar levels. Diabetes affects more than 25 million people in the U.S., or roughly 8 percent of the population. Amylin executives say the convenience of the Bydureon's weekly regimen should give it a competitive advantage, but Amylin reported disappointing results last year for it against Novo Nordisk's Victoza, a daily injection approved in January 2010. On average, Bydureon reduced blood sugar levels in diabetics less than Victoza, which uses a different mechanism of action. A monthly series of Bydureon injections is expected to cost $323, compared with $291 for the older Byetta. Bydureon was co-developed with Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly, which also helped co-market Byetta. Both drugs are scheduled to transfer to Amylin by the end of 2013. Alkermes, based in Waltham, Mass., created Bydureon's formulation technology, which gradually releases the drug over the course of a week.

FARGO, N.D. (AP) - A judge has delayed a ruling on a lawsuit to block a North Dakota law that would restrict the use of drugs to cause abortions.

During a hearing Friday, East Central District Judge Wickham Corwin was sympathetic to some key arguments by the law's opponents.

Corwin says the law bans using a combination of two drugs to cause an abortion. He says that's likely to be a burden for women who want to end their pregnancies.

The Red River Women's Clinic in Fargo is challenging the law. The clinic is North Dakota's only abortion provider.

An attorney for the clinic says the drugs are safe.

Supporters of the law contend that it does not ban the use of drugs for abortions. They say it's intended to protect a woman's health.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - A Tennessee Republican lawmaker is defending comments he made on a satellite radio show about the origins of AIDS and how it's transmitted.

Sen. Stacey Campfield was interviewed Friday by Michelangelo Signorile, editor-at-large of Huffington Gay Voices, on Signorile's radio show on SiriusXM's LGBT channel, OutQ, according to The Knoxville News Sentinel.

The subject was Campfield's so-called "Don't Say Gay" bill that would ban public schools from teaching about gay issues.

During the discussion, Campfield said HIV and AIDS originated from a man having sex with a monkey and that "it is virtually ... impossible to contract AIDS through heterosexual sex."

Campfield told the newspaper that some of his comments on the show were taken "out of context." He added that "I'm not a historian on AIDS ... but I've read and seen what other people have read and seen and those facts are out there."

TRINIDAD, Colo. (AP) - Students at Trinidad High School are upset about possible staff and program cuts and a proposal that would require them to pass statewide standardized tests in order to graduate.

About 200 students walked out of school for 45 minutes Friday in protest.

The Trinidad Chronicle-News reported that some of the students faulted superintendent Manual Rodriguez for decisions he's made since taking over last summer. Rodriguez was at the walkout and told students that the things their concerned about are the result of decisions made by the prior administration.

Up to six teachers could be laid off under the budget scenarios being considered by the school board. The school band could also be cut.

The students returned to class in time for second period but face disciplinary action.

An apparent plot to bomb a Utah high school has been stopped. Investigators say two teens were behind the plan.

18-year-old Dallin Morgan and a 16-year-old were arrested Wednesday at Roy High School, about 30 miles north of Salt Lake City, after police were alerted to the plot by a fellow student who had received a troubling test message. Charges include possession of a weapon of mass destruction.

Authorities say the pair had detailed blueprints of the school and had planned to try to steal a plane at a nearby airport after their attack. There are reports that one of teens had shown interest in the attacks at Columbine High School in Colorado.

Police had initially said no explosives were found. The charge filed Friday includes conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction, not necessarily possessing one.

Torey Kuznicki was sentenced to 40 years in prison this afternoon in death of Michael Hopkins of Pueblo West in June of 2010.

Hopkins was shot in his home during a middle-of-the-night burglary. Kuznicki was 16 at the time. 

Kuznicki pleaded guilty to 2nd degree murder.  The forty year sentence was the maximum allowed.

A decision by a lower court ruling that the Stolen Valor act is unconstitutional has been reversed by the10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The law makes it illegal to lie about being a war hero.

The earlier decision by a district judge said the act violated the First Amendment. In reversing the decision the appeals court ruled that making false statements is not always protected by free speech.

The Colorado case involves Rick Strandlof, who was arrested after claiming he was wounded in Iraq as a Marine and had received military medals. His lawyers have acknowledged the claims were false.

Strandlof's attorneys have not yet said if they will appeal.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Obama administration is expanding its signature foreclosure-prevention program to try to help those with heavy debt loads avoid losing their homes.

The Home Affordable Modification Program will also be extended through 2013.

The three-year old program has strived to help those at risk of foreclosure lower their monthly payments. But it has failed to help more than half of those who have applied lower their payments on a permanent basis. Many have complained that the program is a bureaucratic nightmare.

The government has tried several different approaches to help struggling homeowners.

A Fort Carson soldier has been charged with murder in the death of SPC. Brandy Fonteneaux, who found dead in the barracks the morning of January 8.

Sgt. Vincinte L. Jackson 576th Engineer Company, 4th Engineer Battalion, was charged with an Article 118, murder with premeditation.

Jackson was placed in pretrial confinement Jan. 20 at the Fort Carson Criminal Justice Center.

Fonteneaux was "found with stab wounds" according to Chris Grey with the U.S. Army CID although it was not disclosed where she was found on base.