WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett says a Wichita police officer was justified when he shot and killed a man in April.

Bennett announced Wednesday that investigators found that 30-year-old David Zehring ignored commands to stop before he ran toward a sheriff’s deputy with a knife. The shooting occurred April 10 after a police chase.

Bennett says Zehring was not affected by two Taser shocks before he “aggressively approached” the Sedgwick County deputy, prompting the police officer to shoot.

The Wichita Eagle reports video from the officer’s car confirmed Bennett’s account. Neighbors told police Zehring had made disturbing comments about police in the weeks before the shooting. And Bennett said Zehring’s family indicated he “had deteriorated or certainly changed” after he suffered a head injury in a traffic accident.

MANHATTAN- A Kansas man was injured in an accident just before 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday in Riley County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2008 Ford F 350 driven by Michael A. Perry, 57, Manhattan, was westbound on 6800 block of Anderson Avenue 8 miles west of Manhattan

The vehicle drifted across the double yellow lines into the south ditch, vaulted over a creek bed and struck a large tree.

Perry was transported to the University of Kansas Hospital.

The KHP reported he was properly restrained at the time of the accident.

GARDEN CITY, Kan. (AP) — Veterinarians at a southwest Kansas zoo have euthanized a 23-year-old red panda who suffered from arthritis.

The Lee Richardson Zoo in Garden City says the red panda named Firecracker was put down this week because of health complications of old age. Zookeepers say the animal lived for 23 years and 4 months.

Firecracker was transferred to Garden City in 2000 from the National Zoo in the District of Columbia.

The pandas are indigenous to east Asia. They have red and white markings and bushy tails. They grow to about the size of a house cat.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The reward for information leading to the arrest in the beating, rape and burning of a Wichita woman has doubled.

Crime Stoppers is offering a $5,000 reward in the case of a 36-year-old woman who was assaulted in Fairmount Park Friday near the Wichita State University campus. She was burned on over 55 percent of her body and remained in critical condition on Wednesday.

Wichita Deputy Police Chief John Speer tells the Wichita Eagle that two tow-service businesses helped increase the reward.

The woman’s identity hasn’t been released. Police say she was not associated with the university.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Gay couples in Kansas can get married, but the state isn’t yet allowing them to change their last names on their driver’s licenses.

The Wichita Eagle reports that state government agencies under Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s direction aren’t yet changing their policies on recognizing marriages. They include the Department of Revenue, which issues driver’s licenses.

Brownback spokeswoman Eileen Hawley said Wednesday that changes will not be made while the state defends its ban on gay marriage as the federal courts consider a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union.

The U.S. Supreme Court has said the state can’t enforce its ban while the lawsuit proceeds, but marriage licenses aren’t being issued to same-sex couples in some counties.

Equality Kansas Executive Director Tom Witt called the administration’s stance outrageous.

The Associated Press

Yahoo may be getting more serious about search again.

Mozilla is dropping Google as the default search engine for its Firefox browser, replacing it with Yahoo for U.S. users on their computers, phones and tablets.

Yahoo had farmed its search engine out to Microsoft five years ago.

There have also been tensions between Mozilla and Google, with the search giant’s Chrome browser stealing market share from Firefox for years.

Mozilla and Yahoo said in a statement Wednesday that they have agreed to a five-year partnership that is a “framework” for other possible product integrations and deals.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The U.S. attorney’s office says it has collected more than $11.4 million this year from criminal and civil actions in Kansas.

That includes $5 million collected in criminal cases and $6.4 million collected in civil actions.

U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said in a news release Wednesday that his office works hard to be good stewards of taxpayers’ money. He noted that the collections almost equaled his office’s total budget of $11.9 million.

Grissom cited as an example an investigation of a cancer clinic in Kansas this year. The Hope Cancer Institute and Dr. Raj Sadasivan agreed to pay $2.9 million to make up for false claims they submitted to Medicare, Medicaid and other federal programs.

On the national level, the Justice Department collected $24.7 billion.

BELOIT- A Kansas man was injured in an accident just before 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday in Mitchell County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 1998 Ford F150 driven by Rex L. Henningsen, 86, Beloit, was southbound on Kansas 14 one mile north of Beloit.

The driver did not realize a John Deere tractor pulling a swather driven by Adams, Jeremy D. Adams, 29, Beloit, was a slow moving vehicle.

The truck rear-ended the farm implement.

Henningsen was transported to Mitchell County Hospital. Adams was not injured.

The KHP reported he was not wearing a seat belt.