WASHINGTON (AP) — Sleep deprived Americans have a new option to address hard-to-treat nighttime breathing problems: a first-of-kind device that keeps airways open by zapping them with an electrical current

The Food and Drug Administration approved the pacemaker-like device from Inspire Medical Systems for sleep apnea patients who have trouble with the current standard of care: machines that blow air through a bedtime mask.

One of the main causes of sleep apnea is that the tongue and throat muscles relax too much during sleep, often blocking breathing and waking the person up. Sufferers loose crucial sleep time and are at higher risk for car accidents, heart attack and stroke.

Inspire’s device treats the problem by stimulating a nerve that controls key airway muscles so that they stay in place and don’t block breathing.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review the Kansas Supreme Court’s indefinite suspension of his law license.

In a filing Monday, Kline’s lawyers contend the Kansas court selectively applied rules governing attorney conduct in deciding the ethics case arising from his investigations of abortion providers.

The Kansas Supreme Court sanctioned Kline’s law license in October 2013. The court found that as attorney general and later as Johnson County prosecutor, Kline repeatedly misled or allowed subordinates to mislead others, including a Kansas City-area grand jury, to further his investigations.

An Indiana man has been indicted on charges of using the Internet to sexually exploit a minor girl in Douglas County, Kan., U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said today.

Brett J. Williamson, 35, Ft. Wayne, Ind., is charged with three counts of producing child pornography and three counts of enticing a minor to engage in an unlawful sexual activity. The indictment alleges that in February and April 2012 Williamson enticed the girl to send him photos of herself engaged in sexual activities.

Williamson is being held in the Douglas County Jail.

If convicted, he faces a penalty of not less than 15 years and not more than 30 years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000 on each count of producing child pornography; and a penalty of not less than 10 years and not more than life and a fine up to $250,000 on each count of enticing a minor. The Lawrence Police Department and the FBI investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kim Martin is prosecuting.

A woman who killed three people in a drunken driving crash in 2005 is having her parole in Kansas revoked after being accused of driving drunk in Oklahoma.

Kansas Department of Corrections spokesman Jeremy Barclay says 36-year-old Jennifer Lyn Adams is in custody and will be brought back to Kansas. She was arrested in October in Bixby, Okla., on DUI, drug possession and other charges.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports Adams pleaded guilty in Sherman County in 2005 to three counts of involuntary manslaughter. She admitted being drunk when she was involved in a crash on Interstate 70 that killed three Goodland women.

She spent six years in a Kansas prison before being paroled in July 2011 and moving to Oklahoma, where her parole was transferred.

The Shawnee County commission agreed to pay $150,000 to the survivors of an inmate who died while in the county prison.

The commission voted Monday night to pay the settlement to the family of 34-year-old John Bradley Rippee, who died in November 2009 at the jail.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports the family alleged in its lawsuit that Rippee was given several of his medications without proper clearance before he overdosed on the medicine. The family also alleged the jail did not provide proper medical attention that would have saved Rippee’s life.

County counselor Rich Eckert says Rippe died of cardiac arrest. He said the county might have prevailed in court but fighting the lawsuit would have been too costly.

Hundreds of people have gathered for a candlelight vigil for two Topeka police officers who were shot to death while investigating a suspicious car outside a grocery store.

The crowd at Monday night’s event included dozens of uniformed law enforcement officers, as well as Gov. Sam Brownback and Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt.

Family members of the slain 50-year-old police Cpl. David Gogian and 29-year-old officer Jeff Atherly also were present.

The officers died Sunday night after being shot by a passenger in the car they were investigating. The 22-year-old suspect died Monday morning after being shot in a confrontation with officers.

Topeka resident Janet Rice rode a shift with Atherly in May after finishing a 13-week citizens’ course on policing and described him as polite and patient.

Lawrence police are investigating reports that members of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity at the University of Kansas abused and killed a turkey at a party.

Police said Monday they received a report of possible animal cruelty at a party that drew about 150 people Friday night.

The Kansas City Star reports witnesses said the some fraternity members broke the turkey’s cage, chased the animal, choked it and broke its wing and a leg.

Police say they were told a fraternity member killed the bird to end its suffering.

A message left after hours for the Beta Theta Pi Foundation and Administrative Office wasn’t immediately returned.

The university said in a statement that the fraternity’s national chapter and the KU Interfraternity Council also are investigating the complaint.

A 19-year-old Topeka man who was left a paraplegic after an accident that killed a passenger in his car is scheduled to be sentenced to prison this week.
Hunter Hillmer is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday for reckless second-degree murder for a March 19 accident that killed 15-year-old Madison Naill. He also was convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol and aggravated battery for injuries sufferd by a second passenger.
State corrections officials said paralyzed inmates are housed at various facilities, and are kept in the general population.
Corrections department spokesman Jeremy Barclay says the state pays only slightly more to house a paralyzed inmate, mostly to buy necessary equipment.
Barclay said several paralyzed inmates might be transferred to Oswego when it reopens next month.

Officials of a northeast Kansas school district say a young pupil who brought unfired .22-caliber bullets to school meant no harm.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports the bullets were found Thursday night and Friday morning on a school bus and inside Jay Shideler Elementary School in southwestern Topeka. The school is part of the Auburn-Washburn district.

No details about the child were released. But a district spokesman says the pupil is in the primary grades, meaning kindergarten through second grade.

The spokesman says law enforcement officers were consulted, and the pupil and his or her parents have been counseled about safety.

A 7-month-old girl was a bit of a medical mystery after being admitted to a Hutchinson hospital Saturday when an area of her jaw swelled up larger than a golf ball.
Luckily, a doctor at Hutchinson Regional Medical Center discovered the problem when she pulled a 2-inch black feather out of young Mya Whittington’s neck area.
The girl at some point likely swallowed or inhaled the feather, which then pierced the inside of her cheek or throat. The feather was trying to force its way out of her body, which caused the swelling.
Doctors say the girl probably had been in a lot of pain for quite awhile. But her mother, Emma Whittington, says her daughter cried only when nurses poked her.