TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts is getting a somewhat reluctant endorsement from his former Republican primary challenger, Milton Wolf.

In a message posted Thursday on his campaign Facebook page, Wolf urges his supporters to set aside their differences with Roberts and vote for the Republican incumbent in next Tuesday’s election.

Roberts is in a close race with independent candidate Greg Orman.

Wolf criticized Roberts as out-of-touch during the primary. But his Facebook message says Roberts’ election could be the deciding factor on whether Republicans take control of the Senate, which he says could put other “solid constitutional conservatives” in positions of power.

If Roberts is re-elected, Wolf writes that he will “hold his feet to the fire” and continue to “see to it that Kansans have alternatives to failed leadership.”

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — An institute at the University of Kansas that serves lifelong learners is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports that the Osher Institute offers classes on a variety of subjects, including movies, politics, history, arts, sports and technology. The courses generally consist of three two-hour sessions, taught by local experts.

Three thousand people took classes at the Osher Institute last year.

The institute also hosts special events, such as a recent overnight trip to the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas.

Topics planned for the spring include mental health care reform in America and the history of railroads during the Civil War. In the spring, the center also plans to start offering day-long sessions.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Wichita man has pleaded guilty in a drunken-driving car crash that killed his passenger.

The Wichita Eagle reports 56-year-old Melvin Day pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter on Thursday in connection to the March death of 54-year-old Kevin Donn Sr.

Donn died after the car slammed into a tree. Witnesses tell police the vehicle was speeding when the driver swerved to avoid crashing into a mail truck.

A Sedgwick County District Attorney spokesman says Day’s blood alcohol content level was nearly 3.5 times higher than the legal limit of 0.08 at the time of the crash.

Day is scheduled to be sentenced in December.

OXFORD, Pa. (AP) — A suburban Philadelphia group trying to solve the Amelia Earhart mystery has new reason to think a piece of aluminum found on a Pacific atoll came from her lost plane.

The Philly.com website reports Thursday that rivet holes on the 2-foot-wide piece seem to match the design of a window patch made on Earhart’s plane before her 1937 flight.

Ric Gillespie of Oxford heads The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery. The group of experts and enthusiasts has made 10 trips to the remote Pacific atoll of Nikumaroro where some think Earhart’s Lockheed Electra went down.

Gillespie says he’s more convinced than ever after inspecting a similar Electra being restored in Kansas.

He and other experts and enthusiasts will return to the island in June for another research trip

KINGMAN- A Kansas man was injured in an accident just before 4 p.m. on Thursday in Kingman County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2011 Hyundai Sonata driven by, Benjamin P. Wahlers, 38, Wichita, was eastbound on U.S. 54 six miles east of Kingman. The vehicle rear-ended a semi.

Wahlers was transported to Wesley Medical Center.

The driver of the semi and a passenger from California were not injured.

The KHP reported all were properly restrained at the time of the accident.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach predicts turnout for Tuesday’s elections will be about 50 percent, even without more than 20,000 people on a suspended voters list because they haven’t provided proof of citizenship.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports Kobach on Thursday predicted about 872,000 people will vote out of about 1.74 million registered voters. The prediction is based in part on the pace of advance voting and high interest in the gubernatorial and U.S. Senate races.

Kobach’s Democratic challenger Jean Schodorf says the prediction probably is accurate, but notes it’s lower than in previous midterm elections. Turnout in 2006 was 52 percent, and in 2002 it was 53 percent.

Kobach’s numbers indicate a little less than 9 percent of all registered voters already have cast ballots through advance voting.

CHICAGO (AP) — Hospital doctors and nurses say there are a lot of people turning up at the E-R, thinking they have Ebola.

At a medical conference in Chicago, they’ve been swapping stories — including one about an Ohio woman who thought she had Ebola simply because her husband had worked in Dallas, but not with the Ebola patient. Then there was a New Mexico woman who sought ER testing for Ebola because she had visited Africa two years ago. And two patients in Alabama were worried they were infected after traveling through an airport in Atlanta, the same city where Ebola patients were treated.

Even though the chances are astronomically higher that people actually have the flu or some other bug, Ebola can’t always be automatically ruled out. So a patient with the flu could trigger a full-court press in the ER — with the patient being isolated, and ER staff grabbing the hazmat suits.

Doctors say it’s one reason why it’s especially important for people to get their flu shots this year. Fewer flu cases could mean fewer Ebola false-alarms tying up staff and resources in busy emergency rooms.

STACY A. ANDERSON, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — High school and college students are competing for Michelle Obama to come to their schools to share her wisdom as they move on to higher education and adulthood.

The first lady announced on Thursday two graduation video contests as part of her Reach Higher initiative, which encourages students to take their studies and training past secondary school.

To enter the first, high school students, teachers and administrators create a video that urges students to file a Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA.

The second contest— the Near-Peer Mentoring College Challenge— asks college officials and student groups to submit a video that shows peer-mentoring and college-immersion programs offered on their campuses for incoming students.

Mrs. Obama will speak at the winners’ commencement ceremonies next spring.