TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas regulators have given final approval to a rate increase for the state’s largest electric company that will cost most households in its territory between $5 and $7 more a month.

The Kansas Corporation Commission approved an order Thursday raising Topeka-based Westar Energy’s rates by $78 million annually. It ratifies an agreement among the company, the commission’s staff, a state consumer advocacy agency and some of Westar’s largest customers.

Westar’s rates will rise about 4 percent and the increase will take effect for customers’ November bills. The utility has nearly 700,000 customers.

Westar initially proposed a $152 million increase in its annual rates, largely to cover costs it already has incurred for improvements at power plants. Other parties argued for a rate increase of less than $56 million.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A woman has been sentenced to 18 months of probation for a mass transfer of emails that include information about 317 patients.

The Wichita Eagle reports that 55-year-old April Galvan, of Mulvane, was sentenced Wednesday for seven counts of felony computer fraud. Galvan was fired in June 2013 from her job as the business manager for Cypress Surgery Center.

In anticipation of losing her job, she forwarded emails from her work computer to her personal email account. The breach was discovered in an audit soon afterward.

During trial, Galvan said she feared legal backlash from Cypress about an incident that involved fraudulent insurance billing. She says she forwarded the emails to her personal account to protect herself.

Galvan’s defense attorney says he plans to appeal.

OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — A suburban Kansas City transport van driver has been ordered to stand trial in the sexual molestation of a young woman who is developmentally disabled.

The Kansas City Star reports that 74-year-old Terry Mize Curry was bound over for trial Wednesday on the felony charge of aggravated sexual battery after waiving his preliminary hearing.

Johnson County court documents say that surveillance video captured Curry sexually assaulting a 20-year-old woman last September. The woman was a participant in a program for young adults with special needs operated by the Olathe school district. Curry was a driver for the company that contracted with the school district to provide transportation.

The charge says the woman was unable to give consent to sexual contact because of “mental deficiency or disease.”

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas regulators have given final approval to a rate increase for the state’s largest electric company that will cost most households in its territory between $5 and $7 more a month.

The Kansas Corporation Commission approved an order Thursday raising Topeka-based Westar Energy’s rates by $78 million annually. It ratifies an agreement among the company, the commission’s staff, a state consumer advocacy agency and some of Westar’s largest customers.

Westar’s rates will rise about 4 percent and the increase will take effect for customers’ November bills. The utility has nearly 700,000 customers.

Westar initially proposed a $152 million increase in its annual rates, largely to cover costs it already has incurred for improvements at power plants. Other parties argued for a rate increase of less than $56 million.

BONNE TERRE, Mo. (AP) — A bald eagle is on the mend after being rescued by a Missouri state lawmaker.

The Daily Journal newspaper in Park Hills, Missouri reports that Rep. Linda Black, a Republican from Bonne Terre, was checking on cattle Tuesday when she spotted the injured eagle near the edge of a field. The eagle was flapping his wings but couldn’t fly.

She contacted Tyler Harding of the Missouri Department of Conservation. Harding, Black and a third person surrounded the adult male eagle and used a blanket to move him into a crate.

The eagle was taken to a rehabilitation expert in Bollinger County.

The cause and extent of the injury wasn’t clear, but Harding says there are no broken bones and the eagle should recover.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A St. Louis County man is dead after allegedly barging into a home and threatening his ex-girlfriend and another man in a shooting that could fall under a Missouri law that gives people leeway in use of deadly force inside their homes.

St. Louis County police told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that 41-year-old Joel Wright was shot once in the head about 10 p.m. Tuesday in the town of Winchester.

The 31-year-old man who shot him was arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder. He was released when prosecutors declined to immediately charge him in a case that may fall under Missouri’s “castle doctrine” law.

Police spokesman Shawn McGuire says Wright had made threats against the couple earlier in the evening.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska officials say they’ve received 870 applications for online voter registration over a 24-hour period.  Secretary of State John Gale says the applications were received online at the state’s new registration Web site. Fifty-nine counties in the state received registrations.

Nebraska is the 24th state to enact an online voter registration system, following Pennsylvania, Hawaii and Massachusetts earlier this year. Nebraska’s website is also available in Spanish.

Gale says he’s very pleased with the numbers. He says registration takes a few minutes to complete.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A Springfield City Council member is at the center of a recall effort over his response to topless rallies at which women protest unequal rights.  Councilman Justin Burnett successfully pushed for a change in Springfield’s indecent exposure ordinance in response to the Free the Nipple movement.

A Facebook group called “Remove Justin Burnett from City Council” has nearly 1,000 members, while a group in support of Burnett has almost 1,500 members.

Opponents need to collect about 1,900 signatures on a petition to put Burnett’s recall on a ballot.  If the effort is successful, voters will decide next March whether he should be removed from office.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A judge has ordered a former employee of a mid-Missouri tech company and his wife to pay damages of $10 million for stealing trade secrets and partnering with a Chinese firm to sell knockoff products to unsuspecting buyers, including the U.S. Navy.

Franklin County Associate Circuit Judge Robert Schollmeyer this month awarded Rolla-based Brewer Science $8.4 million in punitive damages and $1.6 million in compensatory damages.

The judge ruled against former Brewer Science engineer Hai Xuan and his wife, Hong Sheng, along with their company, Best Tools LLC.

Schollmeyer determined that the couple partnered with a Chinese manufacturer to make and distribute spin coater machines using Brewer Science technology.

The couple’s whereabouts are unclear. They didn’t show up at the court hearing and did not return messages seeking comment.