WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge has rejected a request to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt in a document dispute tied to a failed law enforcement program called Operation Fast and Furious.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said in an order Monday that the effort from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee was “entirely unnecessary.”

The committee sought a contempt sanction against Holder, saying the Justice Department had failed to comply with an August order directing it to provide Congress certain documents that are at the center of the dispute.

Jackson denied the request but did order the Justice Department to produce to the committee “non-privileged” documents by Nov. 3.

Justice Department spokesman Brian Fallon said the department was “pleased that the court had rejected the committee’s latest stunt.”

KANSAS CITY (AP) – Same-sex marriage advocates hope Missouri will stop fighting the unions after the Supreme Court cleared the way for their expansion.

An order issued Monday turned away appeals from five states seeking to prohibit gay and lesbian marriages, effectively making gay marriage legal in 30 states.

Although Missouri isn’t among those states, it has been moving in that direction. On Friday, a circuit judge ordered the state to recognize same-sex marriages legally performed in other states.

Two pending Missouri cases focus on the legality of issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

American Civil Liberties Union Attorney Tony Rothert said the state should stop defending its same-sex marriage ban after the recent court actions. His organization reached out to Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster, who didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A North Carolina drugmaker says it is providing an experimental antiviral drug for patients with Ebola, an emergency step authorized by the Food and Drug Administration.

Chimerix Inc. says physicians sought federal permission to use company’s drug, called brincidofovir, which is in late-stage testing for other types of viruses. The company did not identify the physicians making the request.

Last Tuesday doctors in Dallas diagnosed the first U.S. case of Ebola in a man who recently arrived from Liberia.

Brincidofovir is an oral antiviral drug being tested to fight more common viruses, including one that infects patients undergoing bone marrow transplants. Laboratory tests suggested it might also fight Ebola.

Two other experimental drugs developed specifically for Ebola have been used in American patients. None have been approved by the FDA.

 

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Tea party movement icon and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has endorsed the re-election of Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts and is planning to help his fellow Republican kick off a four-day bus tour.

The Roberts campaign announced Cruz’s endorsement Monday. It also said that Cruz plans to travel Thursday to Wichita to launch the bus tour, which includes stops in 11 communities.

Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn also is planning to join Roberts for five bus-tour events Thursday and Friday.

Roberts is seeking his fourth term in the Senate and is in a tough race against independent candidate and Olathe businessman Greg Orman.

Orman’s campaign said campaigning with Cruz shows that Roberts is, in its words, “an enthusiastic participant in a broken system” in Washington.

By Bryan Thompson, KPR

TOPEKA — The University of Kansas Medical Center will receive $10 million in federal funding to compare the effectiveness of obesity treatment models in rural communities.

The money is from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, which was created through the Affordable Care Act. Professor Christie Befort’s study will track approximately 1,400 patients in rural Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa and Wisconsin.

They’ll each be assigned to a weight loss program. Some will be in a traditional fee-for-service model. Some will be treated through a patient-centered medical home. The rest will receive weight-loss management by phone. Their weight loss after two years will be measured to see if one model is more effective than the others.

The study is one of two obesity-focused studies that PCORI selected to explore ways to reduce disparities in health care and outcomes for people who are disproportionately affected by obesity.

Nearly 20 percent of Americans live in rural communities. Rural residents suffer disproportionately from obesity, and have less access to effective weight loss programs.

“The results of this study have the potential to immediately influence how the treatment is delivered,” Befort said. “If the treatment approaches tested in this study meet the needs of rural patients, they could easily be adopted by other physicians, and have potential to affect payment policies, treatment guidelines and training of practitioners.”

The project – officially named the Midwestern Collaborative for Treating Obesity in Rural Primary Care – will last five years. Befort worked with a patient advisory panel to shape the treatment approaches and engaged with rural primary care providers, insurers, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the National Committee for Quality Assurance and state health departments.

“Obesity affects nearly 35 percent of the American adult population, and underserved populations, such as low-income and rural individuals, are at highest risk due to disparities, such as limited access to weight-management services,” said PCORI Executive Director Joe Selby. “This study will take a patient-centered approach to finding strategies that best address these patients’ needs, and we look forward to its progress and working with KU to share the results.”

KANSAS CITY, KAN. – A man from Belize who used the alias “Popeye” to peddle methamphetamine on the streets of Overland Park was sentenced Monday to nine years in federal prison.

John Michael Hernandez, 41, pleaded guilty to one count of distributing methamphetamine and one count of unlawfully re-entering the United States after being convicted of an aggravated felony and deported.

In his plea, he admitted he was using the alias “Popeye” in December 2013 when he began selling meth to undercover investigators working with the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.

In a series of transactions, he sold them more than a pound of methamphetamine.

After he was arrested, Homeland Security Investigations used the Automated Biometric Identification System (IDENT) and the integrated Automated Fingerprint System (AFIS) to determine Hernandez had previously been convicted of robbery in Los Angeles and deported from the United States to Belize in 2009.