FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) — City officials in Ferguson, Missouri, are pledging their full cooperation with a federal civil-rights investigation into their police department following the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown.

Attorney General Eric Holder was expected to announce the investigation into the department Thursday afternoon at a news conference in Washington.

The north St. Louis County city issued a two-paragraph written statement vowing “our willingness to be transparent and forthright as we continue the process of earning back the trust of our residents and our neighbors in the St. Louis region.”

Brown, who was black and unarmed, was shot and killed on Aug. 9 by a white officer, Darren Wilson.

The statement notes that city officials have already met several times with Justice Department community mediators since the shooting.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal appeals court in Washington has thrown out a ruling that called into question the subsidies that help millions of low- and middle-income people afford their premiums under the president’s health care law.

The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said Thursday that its full complement of judges will re-hear a challenge to Obama administration regulations that allow health insurance tax credits under the Affordable Care Act for consumers in all 50 states.

The announcement diminishes the prospect of Supreme Court review of the issue in the near term. The initial appeals court ruling in Washington came out the same day that a panel of appellate judges in Richmond, Virginia, sided with the administration on the same issue.

MAE ANDERSON, AP Technology Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — The government says Google has agreed to pay full refunds totaling at least $19 million to consumers who were charged for purchases that children made via apps without parental consent from the Google Play app store.

The Federal Trade Commission says since 2011, consumers reported hundreds of dollars of unauthorized charges by children made within kids’ apps downloaded from the Google Play store. The charges range from 99 cents to $200.

The government says when Google first introduced in-app charges to the Google Play app store in 2011, children could buy virtual items just by clicking on popup boxes within an app while they used it. In mid- to late-2012, Google instituted a pop-up box that asked for a password before a payment could be made.

The First Lady made a guest appearance this week in the funny or die video Snackpocalypse

The web site describes the video, “In a world where junk food is king, one girl dared to eat an apple a day.”

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Prosecutors are taking another look at a woman’s claims she was raped at a University of Kansas residence hall last year.

District Attorney Charles Branson said Wednesday that he received new information last week about another encounter between the accuser and the same man. The Lawrence Journal-World  reports that Branson says he will consider that information and determine whether it would make a difference in a charging decision.

He declined to publicly discuss details of the alleged incident — and how those would affect the strengths and weaknesses of the case — because the alleged victim’s family asked him not to.

Branson’s comments came the same day the university’s Student Rights Committee passed a resolution condemning the school’s handling of student complaints of sexual assault.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas farmers are now cutting bountiful fields of corn thanks to timely rains that saved their fall crops.

The five round, steel grain bins at Randy Small’s farm in southeast Kansas are nearly full and the local grain elevator in nearby Neodesha already has about a half million bushels of corn dumped on the ground because it is running out of storage room. And corn harvest has barely begun in Kansas.

Small said Thursday he is probably going to have the best crop he has had in 10 years.

A government report released this week estimated 7 percent of the corn statewide had been cut as of the end of August, with most of the harvest activity in southeast Kansas.

JOHN HANNA, AP Political Writer

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Republican Party is questioning the legality of a Democratic nominee’s withdrawal from the race against three-term GOP U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts.

Democrat Chad Taylor sent a letter to the Kansas secretary of state Wednesday saying he was withdrawing. He issued a separate statement saying he had terminated his campaign, without an explanation.

State GOP Chairman Kelly Arnold issued a statement Thursday questioning whether Taylor complied with a state law allowing nominees to withdraw.

The law says candidates may withdraw if they declare they are incapable of fulfilling the duties of the office.

The secretary of state’s office still listed Taylor as a candidate on its website Thursday.

Roberts’ campaign called Taylor’s withdrawal a “corrupt bargain” between Democratic leaders and a viable independent candidate, Olathe businessman Greg Orman.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — The Springfield City Council is scheduled to take up a controversial proposal to add sexual orientation to the city’s nondiscrimination ordinance.

The council has scheduled a public hearing on the ordinance, and a substitute ordinance, at next Monday’s meeting. The original ordinance would make it illegal to fire someone or deny housing based on a person’s sexual orientation. The substitute would ban discrimination only in housing.

OZARK (AP) – A southwest Missouri city says its insurance deductible has increased by $95,000 after it recently settled a harassment complaint with a former employee.

Last month, Ozark settled a lawsuit with former human resources director Cara Borneman for $78,000. It paid $5,000 out of pocket and insurance paid the rest.
The city’s insurance provider then sent a letter to Ozark, saying its deductible on employee practices coverage would rise from $5,000 to $100,000 starting September 1.

Some alderman say the city still has unresolved issues and they want a human resources consultant to conduct a review.
Borneman filed a sex discrimination lawsuit after her position was eliminated earlier this year.

She tells the Springfield News-Leader she was dismissed after she complained some city officials were spreading false rumors about her.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — State health official say whooping cough cases are increasing across Kansas, with Pottawatomie County particularly hard hit.

The state has recorded 405 confirmed cases of the disease so far this year, compared with 172 in all of 2013. In Pottawatomie County 17 confirmed cases have been reported. Last year, the northeast Kansas county had one case.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports  that all schools within the Wamego School District have had free vaccination clinics for staff members. A clinic for students was held Wednesday at West Elementary, the hardest hit school in the district

The disease, also called pertussis, is a highly contagious respiratory tract infection. It can be prevented by vaccine.