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.”

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A conservative group is targeting Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon with new ads in support of a ballot measure limiting the governor’s budget-balancing powers.

The Missouri Club for Growth says it began airing TV ads Monday in support of proposed Constitutional Amendment 10 on the November ballot.

A Nixon spokesman says the governor opposes the amendment because it could weaken safeguards against overspending.

The new ads accuse Nixon of “playing political games” with budget cuts.

The Club for Growth declined to reveal the funding source for the ads.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Officials in Oklahoma have been talking about whether to institute “tornado days” in which classes would be called off when the threat of tornadoes is unusually high.

The Wichita Eagle reports their Kansas counterparts say they haven’t even considered such a move, which could create more problems than it solves.

Nine schoolchildren were killed in May 2013 when a tornado tore through Moore, Oklahoma. A researcher says prior to that, the last tornado death during a school day in Oklahoma came in 1930.

Schools in Mississippi and Alabama have tornado day policies in place, but it’s not likely the practice will spread to Kansas. Wichita school officials say part of the reason is that they’re reluctant to encourage parents to come get their children during tornado warnings.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has turned away appeals from five states seeking to prohibit same-sex marriages, paving the way for an immediate expansion of gay and lesbian unions.

The justices on Monday did not comment in rejecting appeals from Indiana, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin.

The court’s order immediately ends delays on marriage in those states. Couples in six other states should be able to get married in short order.

That would make same-sex marriage legal in 30 states and the District of Columbia.

But the justices have left unresolved for now the question of same-sex marriage nationwide.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — Police say two men have been arrested at Levi’s Stadium on suspicion of assaulting two other men in a bathroom before the San Francisco 49ers game against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Santa Clara police Lt. Kurt Clarke says the assault took place Sunday in a bathroom on the 300 level of the stadium shortly before kickoff.

The San Jose Mercury News reports the victims, who weren’t identified, were transported to a hospital. Clarke didn’t have information about their conditions or the nature of their injuries.

Clarke says two suspects, whose names weren’t released, have been arrested on suspicion of felony assault.

In Southern California, police are looking for three men suspected of brutally beating a man in the Angels Stadium parking lot after the Angels’ playoff game Friday night.

DETROIT (AP) — Chrysler is recalling more than 31,000 full-size commercial vans to fix a problem with the headrests.

The recall covers 2014 Ram ProMaster vans. The company says the headrests can exceed the maximum allowable gap between a person’s head and the head restraint. The company says it doesn’t know of any crashes or injuries from the problem.

Dealers will replace the headrest for free. Owners will be notified next month about when they can bring the vans in for repairs.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Republican Sen. Pat Roberts plans to have an event with a U.S. Chamber of Commerce leader as his race for re-election in Kansas heats up.

The event Monday afternoon is at the Kansas Chamber of Commerce offices in Topeka. U.S. Chamber Senior Vice President Rob Engstrom also is participating.

The Roberts campaign said the national business group would make an announcement but was not more specific.

The 78-year-old Roberts is seeking his fourth, six-year term but is in a tight race with independent candidate Greg Orman. The 45-year-old Orman is an Olathe businessman and co-founder of a private equity firm.

The two candidates had a debate scheduled Wednesday in Overland Park, and Roberts planned to kick off a four-day bus tour Thursday in Wichita with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — The Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Twitter are teaming up on a $10 million project to better understand social networks and figure out new ways to benefit from them.

As part of the five-year partnership, Twitter will provide full access to its real-time, public stream of tweets, as well as the archive of every tweet ever posted.

The new Laboratory for Social Machines based at MIT’s Media Lab will focus on the development of new technologies to make sense of patterns across the broad span of public mass media and social media — and not just Twitter.

The goal is not just to understand how people think and use social media but also to understand how networks can be used to increase accountability and transparency and understand public opinion.