LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A Lawrence teenager accused of killing his grandmother will be tried as an adult.

Douglas County District Court Judge Kay Huff ruled Monday that 17-year-old Jaered Long will be tried as an adult on a first-degree murder charge. He is suspected of stabbing his 67-year-old grandmother, Deborah Bretthauer, to death at her apartment in December.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports that Long was 16 when his grandmother died. He lived in the apartment with her.

As an adult, Long faces a life sentence if he is convicted.

MALCOLM RITTER, AP Science Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — A study in mice finds that Zika virus infection ravages male mouse testes, and sharply reduces sperm counts and fertility.

That raises a new concern about a possibly overlooked threat to people from the virus. But experts say it’s not at all clear that the same thing happens in men.

Experiments found testes of infected mice shrank about 90 percent by weight, while their output of useful sperm fell by three-quarters on average, and often more. Researchers found that the virus attacks the anatomical structure where sperm are made and reach maturity.

Testosterone levels also fell.

The mouse results appear in a paper released Monday by the journal Nature.

SALINE COUNTY -Law enforcement authorities in Saline County are investigating a suspect for alleged robbery and kidnapping.

Just before 4:30pm. on Saturday, the suspect entered Dallas Liquor, 965 N. Broadway in Salina and purchased two cans of beer, according to Police Captain Mike Sweeney.

As he was exiting the store a clerk observed the suspect picking up two bottles of whiskey.

The clerk confronted the suspect and told him not to return to the store.

Approximately 20 minutes later, the suspect, identified as Richard Brazo, 54, did return and demanded money from the clerk, according to Sweeney.

Brazo allegedly grabbed the clerk by the throat and forced him behind the register. He then fled the store on foot with an undisclosed amount of cash.

Sweeney said police were notified and an officer on patrol observed a man fitting Brazo’s description entering the Hawthorne Apartments, 715 N. 9th Street, and arrested him.

The male clerk was treated by EMS for scrapes on his forearms and scratches and redness on his neck.

Brazo was booked into the Saline County Jail on requested charges that included aggravated robbery, aggravated kidnapping, misdemeanor theft and felony obstruction, according to Sweeney.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Republican U.S. Rep. Kevin Yoder raised more than $508,000 in cash contributions in October for his re-election in the 3rd Congressional District of Kansas.

The fundraising came as the national Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee was spending nearly $1.1 million to help Democratic challenger Jay Sidie.

Federal Election Commission reports also showed Monday that a Republican super-PAC has spent more than $734,000 to help Yoder.

But Yoder also is fundraising aggressively. He’s raised about $328,000 since Oct. 20, and the total includes more than $67,000 from fellow Republicans in the House or Senate.

Sidie has raised more than $105,000 in October. His total includes $15,000 from House Democrats.

Democrats see Yoder as vulnerable because he’s backing GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump and because Republican Gov. Sam Brownback faces a political backlash.

ROXANA HEGEMAN, Associated Press

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A man accused of plotting to bomb a western Kansas apartment complex where 120 Somali immigrants live says federal prosecutors didn’t share their evidence with his defense attorney until 10 minutes before a detention hearing.

Patrick Stein called The Associated Press from jail on Monday. Stein said he could not now respond to the government’s accusations until he talks with his attorney because jailhouse calls are monitored and recorded.

The government presented text messages and other evidence during an Oct. 21 detention hearing.

Prosecutors say that information was provided to the defense as soon as it was available.

Stein and two others have pleaded not guilty to conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction in a plot to bomb a Garden City apartment complex.

By Dan Margoiles

A Kansas City, Kansas, home health care agency and its owner will pay $1.8 million to settle allegations that it paid kickbacks in return for referrals of Medicaid patients to the agency.

Best Choice Home Health Care Agency Inc. and its owner, Reginald B. King, will pay the federal government just over $1 million and the state of Kansas $788,220 to resolve the case, according to court documents unsealed on Monday.

The case was filed under the False Claims Act by the recipient of the kickbacks, Christopher Thomas of Parkville, Missouri. The act allows citizens to sue on behalf of the government and collect a portion of any recovery if the government decides to intervene, which it did in this case.

Although Thomas was the recipient of the illegal kickbacks, he’ll collect $43,178, according to a news release from the Justice Department. That represents 10 percent of the federal share of the settlement, minus the kickbacks he received.

Typically, whistleblowers are entitled to anywhere from 15 to 30 percent of the total recovery in a case. But that share is reduced if the whistleblower himself took part in the fraud.

Thomas’ attorney could not be reached for comment. A call to King at Best Choice’s office was not returned.

Thomas filed his lawsuit under the False Claims Act in May 2013. However, because the act requires that such cases be filed under seal unless and until the government intervenes, it was not made public until Monday.

According to the court documents, here’s how the scheme unfolded:

Best Choice, which was located at 6625 State Avenue until June 2012 and then at 1232 North 79th Street, offered home health care services to Medicaid patients with head injuries. Thomas worked there as an office assistant before setting up his own business, Vision Group Transport Service. The business transported patients from their home to health care facilities.

Around July 2010, King offered to pay Thomas to refer clients to Best Choice. Thomas, who also briefly worked as a case manager at Best Choice while operating Vision Group Transport, accepted.

From about July 2010 to Jan. 25, 2013, Thomas referred more than 100 clients to Best Choice. In return, King paid Thomas and Vision Group $58,000.

Besides paying Thomas, King also paid a former employee for referrals. And according to Thomas, other employees of Best Choice, including relatives of King, falsified the number of hours they worked for clients.

One employee was working at a QuikTrip when he claimed to have performed work as a transitional living specialist (TLS). Another worked full time for Time Warner Cable while reporting up to 80 hours per week of TLS services. Yet another claimed to have performed TLS services for a client who was incarcerated or homeless at the time.

Documents on file with the Kansas Secretary of State’s office show that King, a resident of Shawnee, incorporated Best Choice in 2001.

The Justice Department news release said the claims resolved by the settlement “are allegations only and there has been no determination of liability.”

A spokesperson for the Justice Department could not be reached for comment.

Dan Margolies, editor of the Heartland Health Monitor team, is based at KCUR. You can reach him on Twitter @DanMargolies.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — An official with the Kansas secretary of state’s office says it has determined that ballot selfies are legal in the state after all.

Elections Director Bryan Caskey said Monday that the office has re-examined a state law that makes it a felony to disclose a ballot’s contents and concluded it applies to election officials but not voters themselves.

Ballot selfies are illegal in some states . Federal judges have struck down bans in Indiana and New Hampshire.

A secretary of state’s office spokeswoman said earlier this month that taking selfies at a polling place is legal but “a picture of the actual ballot violates Kansas law.”

Caskey said repeated questions led the secretary of state’s office to further review the law.

He says, “There’s not a law that prohibits it.”

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kansas City police say a 3-year-old boy who died last week was accidentally shot by his 5-year-old brother.

Police say Jermone L. Green was shot Thursday at the townhouse where he lived. Efforts to revive him were unsuccessful.

Investigators are trying to determine how the 5-year-old got hold of the gun. Several adults were inside the residence when the shooting occurred.

The Kansas City Star reports that the case has been forwarded to the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office, which will determine whether criminal charges will be filed.