SALINA, Kan. (AP) — Interest in unmanned aircraft, often called drones, is taking off.

In response to the growing demand, the Kansas State University-Salina plans to add a major and two minors focusing on the aircraft. The new courses are scheduled to start in the fall.

The Salina Journal reports the school will offer a new bachelor in engineering technology with an emphasis on unmanned aircraft. That course will emphasize design and implementation of unmanned systems. It will include studies in computer science and electronic and mechanical engineering.

The two minors will focus on flying unmanned aircraft. Students pursing the minors can choose an emphasis in either flight or data acquisition and management.

ST. PETERS, Mo. (AP) — A suburban St. Louis man is accused of having a role in the theft of four city-owned kayaks that police say he admittedly pawned for drug money.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that St. Charles County prosecutors have charged 26-year-old Nicholas Pitchford of St. Charles with stealing and receiving stolen property.

Police say the four kayaks owned by the city of St. Peters for rent were taken May 18 from the 370 Lakeside Park.

The kayaks, valued at $1,200, later turned up at two pawn shops.

Police say Pitchford admitted he bought drugs with the money he got from selling the kayaks.

The investigation continues.

Online court records don’t show whether Pitchford has an attorney.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback is decrying the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling declaring that gay couples have a right to marry anywhere in the country.

The Republican governor issued a statement Friday. He has been a strong supporter of the state’s ban on gay marriage. Voters approved an amendment to the Kansas Constitution in 2005 to reinforce that policy.

But the state’s ban is being challenged in a federal lawsuit filed last year, and preliminary rulings allowed counties to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Most now do.

Brownback said in his statement, “Activist courts should not overrule the people of this state, who have clearly supported the Kansas Constitution’s definition of marriage as being between one man and one woman.”

He said the state would review the ruling further.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A St. Louis County doctor has been sentenced to four months in prison and must repay $145,000 following his conviction for health care fraud.

The sentence for 68-year-old Devon Golding was handed down Friday in federal court. He was convicted in February of three counts of health care fraud and two counts of making false statements related to health services.

In addition to the prison time, he will be on house arrest for eight months.

Federal authorities say Golding wrongly billed patients for medical services he didn’t provide. They say he also allowed a nurse, who isn’t certified as a nurse practitioner, to examine and diagnose patients in his absence.

Golding’s attorney had sought probation and house arrest.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A St. Louis priest who was accused of sexually abusing a boy, only to have those charges dropped earlier this month, is now suing the boy’s parents, police and a victim’s rights group.

The Rev. Xiu Hui “Joseph” Jiang filed suit Thursday in U.S. District Court, seeking unspecified damages, claiming he was unfairly targeted and his reputation damaged. The suit names the boy’s parents by their initials, two police officers, the city of St. Louis, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, and SNAP leaders David Clohessy and Barbara Dorris.

Jiang was accused in two felony counts of abusing a boy under the age of 14. Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce dismissed the charges June 16 but said her office “remains hopeful that charges will be refiled in the future.”

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon has vetoed a bill aimed at revamping the state’s student transfer system.

Nixon on Friday criticized expanded options for virtual schools and said the bill didn’t address key issues with current law.

Failing schools now must pay tuition if students decide to transfer elsewhere. Districts say that’s caused financial hardship as they work to regain accreditation.

Nixon also cited the lack of a tuition cap in his veto. He said without that, schools that are struggling the most would continue to lose resources.

Senate Majority Leader Republican Ron Richard says he’s looking to craft another plan to address the current transfer law. He says lawmakers might try to override the veto, although the bill fell short of the two-thirds majority needed for that in the House.

(AP) – Some Missouri same-sex couples might have to wait to obtain marriage licenses following Friday’s landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision to legalize those unions.

Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon on Friday said he’ll take necessary action to implement the ruling throughout the state.

But the court’s ruling won’t take effect immediately. Justices are giving the losing side about three weeks to ask for reconsideration.

Recorders in the Kansas City and St. Louis areas have been issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples since federal and state-level rulings overturned Missouri’s ban on the practice.

But recorders in other counties were hesitant and said those rulings didn’t apply statewide.

Recorders on Friday appeared to be taking a similarly cautious approach as the U.S. Supreme Court ruling was reviewed.

The Buchanan County Recorders Office was able to start issuing as soon as the ruling was announced Friday.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) —A Kansas judge has blocked the state’s first-in-the-nation ban on an abortion procedure opponents refer to as “dismemberment abortion.”

The decision Thursday from Shawnee County District Court Judge Larry Hendricks came in a lawsuit filed from the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights. The center represents two Kansas abortion providers and argued the law would force women to undergo riskier procedures or forgo abortions.

The judge’s order will stay in effect while he considers the lawsuit further. The new law was supposed to take effect July 1.

It bans a second-trimester procedure that anti-abortion activists call “dismemberment abortion” and was model legislation from the National Right to Life Committee. Kansas was the first state to enact it.

The state’s lawyers argued that there are safe alternative abortion methods.