MATT HAMILTON, Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Officials say a broken water pipe that flooded parts of the UCLA campus has been shut off after releasing millions of gallons of water.

Los Angeles Department of Water and Power assistant general manager Jim McDaniel says the pipe was shut off around 7 p.m., some 3 1/2 hours after it broke under Sunset Boulevard and began spewing water onto the nearby campus.

McDaniel says an estimated eight to 10 million gallons were released. He says the entire city of Los Angeles uses 55 million gallons per day.

Workers had to slowly close three valves to safely shut off the 93-year-old pipe.

The mayor’s office said in a statement that water service and quality were not affected by the break.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Republican incumbent Ron Estes has a big fundraising advantage over his Democratic challenger in the Kansas state treasurer’s race.

Estes’ re-election campaign filed a finance report this week showing that he raised more than $12,000 from January through July 24, on top of the nearly $43,000 he had at the start of the year.

Estes spent about $21,000 for his campaign, leaving him with nearly $34,000 heading into the fall.

Democrat Carmen Alldritt is a former Harper County treasurer and launched her campaign in early June.

She raised only $1,450 by July 24, and the Kansas Democratic Party covered her $1,360 filing fee.

Alldritt reported spending about $1,100, leaving her with $313 at the end of the period.

Estes is seeking his second four-year term.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Tuesday by a vote of 233 to 190, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 4315 “The Endangered Species Transparency & Reasonableness Act.” This legislation is a package of four separate bills focused on common sense and specific updates to the Endangered Species Act (ESA), including a requirement for the federal government to disclose to affected states prior to listing, protecting taxpayer dollars by placing caps on attorney’s fees, and requiring the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to track, report to Congress, and make available to the public information on funds used to respond to lawsuits. Congressman Tim Huelskamp (KS-01), an original co-sponsor of all four bills, issued the following statement:

“Western Kansas specifically has seen and continues to see major disruptions as a result of the listing of the Lesser Prairie Chicken earlier this year. Farmers, ranchers, oil and gas producers, and our electric cooperatives are facing tremendous uncertainty and costs because of this federal mandate. It is even so silly that the federal bureaucrats identified specific times of the day that no oil and gas activity can take place in certain areas – for fear it might disturb the bird. This one-size-fits-all policy is costing jobs and hurting Kansas families. We must protect the rural way of life and the Kansas economy from the massive grips of these bureaucrats and their attorneys.

“I salute my colleagues for joining me in passage of the ESA Transparency Act. Although this is only one step in the right direction, it is an important one in reforming an ESA that does not work. There must be transparency and accountability at the federal level—especially because of the overreach we continue to see from the Obama Administration. This bill sends a message to the USFW and their liberal environmental allies who are targeting hundreds of other species to list under outrageous “sue and settle” agreements — we will fight to protect our economy and our jobs.”

DETROIT (AP) — The four-door Mini Cooper Countryman was the only one of 12 cars to earn a top rating of “good” in new frontal crash tests.

The Nissan Leaf, Nissan Juke, Fiat 500L and Mazda5 wagon fared the worst in tests performed by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

The frontal test, introduced in 2012, replicates what happens when 25 percent of a car’s front end strikes a rigid object at 40 miles per hour.

The Chevrolet Volt, Ford C-Max, Mitsubishi Lancer, Scion FR-S and Subaru BRZ all got the second-highest rating of “acceptable.” The Hyundai Veloster and Scion xB got “moderate” ratings.

The Volt was the only car in the group to earn the institute’s “Top Safety Pick Plus” rating, because it has an optional front crash-prevention system.

KANSAS CITY (AP) – President Barack Obama feasted on barbecue with four people who wrote him letters in a trip to highlight the struggles of working families in America’s heartland.

Obama’s dinner was at Arthur Bryant’s, a Kansas City self-serve barbecue joint. The president ordered a half slab of ribs, beans, lard-cooked fries and a Bud Light, but was disappointed to hear the restaurant was sold out of cole slaw.

The White House said the Kansas City letter writers included a man who thanked Obama for student loan help he received, a single mother who described her challenges raising children and running a business, a teacher in a GED program and a woman who is active in her neighborhood association.

The dinner came roughly 48 hours before Congress is set to go on a five-week break. Obama plans to criticize Congress for inaction in a speech Wednesday at the historic Uptown Theater in Kansas City.

OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — A 22-year-old Kansas man is facing life in prison after pleading guilty to premeditated first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of another man in September.

The Kansas City Star reports Christopher Lamont Shelton-Jenkins on Tuesday admitted shooting 21-year-old Brandon Holmes at an Overland Park apartment.

Prosecutors say the Kansas City, Kansas, man was a roommate of Shelton-Jenkins’ wife, who found the body after the shooting. Shelton-Jenkins told investigators he wanted to kill Holmes but someone beat him to it.

He later told detectives he had set up the killing but was not the one who pulled the trigger.

A gun matched to bullets at the crime scene was found later hidden on property near the Shelton-Jenkins family home.

He is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 3.