NFL Briefs: Broncos prevail, Colts continue hot streak

DENVER (AP) — Nose tackle Shelby Harris picked off Ben Roethlisberger’s 2-yard pass to Antonio Brown in the end zone with 1:03 remaining to seal Denver’s 24-17 win over Pittsburgh that snapped the Steelers’ six-game winning streak Sunday.

The Broncos (5-6) used four takeaways to counter a 97-yard touchdown toss from Roethlisberger to JuJu Smith-Schuster.

Roethlisberger was 41 of 56 for 462 yards, but he was intercepted twice and the Steelers (7-3-1) lost two fumbles in losing for the first time since September.

Phillip Lindsay rushed for 110 yards and the game-deciding touchdown on just 14 carries for Denver, which also ended the Chargers’ six-game winning streak last week and would have snapped Houston’s five-game roll were it not for a missed field goal as time expired.

 

COLTS 27, DOLPHINS 24

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Andrew Luck threw three touchdown passes, Adam Vinatieri kicked a 32-yard field goal as time expired and Indianapolis beat Miami for its fifth consecutive victory.

Indianapolis (6-5) scored 13 points in the final 8½ minutes to erase a 10-point deficit. It’s the longest win streak for the Colts since 2014.

Miami (5-6) has lost 10 of its past 11 on the road, perhaps none more frustrating than this one. The Dolphins picked off Luck twice, recovered a fumble and partially blocked a punt on their way to a 24-14 lead.

It still wasn’t enough to derail the resurgent Luck, who was 30 of 37 for 343 yards. He also had the first catch of his NFL career, a 4-yard reception on fourth-and-1 late in the first half. Luck capped that drive with a 1-yard TD pass to Jack Doyle.

 

SEAHAWKS 30, PANTHERS 27

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Russell Wilson threw for 339 yards and two touchdowns and Sebastian Janikowski kicked a 31-yard field goal as time expired to lift Seattle to a come-from-behind victory over Carolina.

After Graham Gano missed a 52-yard field goal with 1:40 left in the game that would have given the Panthers the lead, Wilson moved around in the pocket until finding Tyler Lockett downfield for a 43-yard completion, setting up the winning kick.

The victory puts Seattle (6-5) firmly in the hunt for a wild-card spot in the NFC, while the Panthers (6-5) are reeling after losing three straight and having their 10-game home winning streak snapped.

Lockett finished with five catches for 107 yards and a touchdown, while David Moore had four receptions for 103 yards and a score.

The Panthers spoiled a record-setting performance from Christian McCaffrey, who had a franchise-record 237 yards from scrimmage. He had 17 carries for 125 yards and 11 catches for 112 yards, becoming the first Carolina player to surpass 100 yards in both receiving and rushing in the same game.

Cam Newton finished 25 of 30 for 256 yards with two touchdown passes and one interception in the end zone. He ran for 63 yards on eight carries.

 

BROWNS 35, BENGALS 20

CINCINNATI (AP) — Baker Mayfield threw a career-high four touchdown passes in another growing-up-fast performance, and Cleveland ended one of the NFL’s longest streaks of road futility with a victory over Cincinnati, which lost quarterback Andy Dalton to a thumb injury.

Cleveland (4-6-1) got its first road win since 2015, emphatically snapping a streak of 25 straight road losses that was one shy of the Lions’ NFL record. The Browns also ended a run of seven straight losses to their intrastate rival.

And just as a Browns safety predicted, it wasn’t even close.

The Browns surged ahead 28-0 as former head coach Hue Jackson watched helplessly from the opposite sideline. Jackson couldn’t win with the Browns — only three wins in two-plus seasons. Nor could he couldn’t beat them as a special defensive assistant with the Bengals (5-6), who lost for the fifth time in six games.

 

EAGLES 25, GIANTS 22

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jake Elliott kicked a 43-yard field goal with 22 seconds remaining, and Philadelphia rallied for a victory over New York.

The defending Super Bowl champions trailed 12-0 early and were down 19-14 in the fourth quarter before Carson Wentz made key throws and undrafted rookie Josh Adams delivered big runs.

Adams scored on a 1-yard touchdown run and ran up the middle for the 2-point conversion to put Philadelphia ahead 22-19.

After the Giants tied it on Aldrick Rosas’ third field goal, a 29-yarder, the Eagles controlled the ball for 5:27.

Coach Doug Pederson went for a fourth-and-1 at the Giants 42 and Wentz completed a 12-yard pass to Nelson Agholor right before the two-minute warning. Adams ran three times and Elliott made the go-ahead kick.

The Giants started at their 34 with 16 seconds left but couldn’t do much.

The Eagles (5-6) stayed in the mix in a mediocre NFC East. The Cowboys and Redskins are tied for first place at 6-5. The Giants fell to 3-8.

 

PATRIOTS 27, JETS 13

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Tom Brady threw two touchdown passes and became the NFL’s career leader in total yards passing in regular-season and playoff games, leading New England over New York.

Brady also reached 3,000 yards passing for the 16th season, tying Peyton Manning for second in NFL history behind Brett Favre’s 18. The New England quarterback surpassed the mark early in the fourth quarter with a 17-yard completion to a diving Josh Gordon.

Brady has 79,416 yards after going 20 of 31 for 283 yards in the victory that clinched the Patriots (8-3) their 18th straight season with a .500 record or better. That ranks second in NFL history to only Dallas, which had 21 in a row from 1965-85.

Brady had just one TD throw in his previous three games, but connected with Rob Gronkowski and Julian Edelman against the AFC East-rival Jets (3-8). Rookie Sony Michel ran for a season-best 133 yards and a TD, and the Patriots had 216 yards rushing to improve to 3-3 on the road this season.

 

CHARGERS 45, CARDINALS 10

CARSON, Calif. (AP) — Philip Rivers tied the NFL record for consecutive completions and set marks for the most to start a game and the highest percentage in a game and Los Angeles rolled over Arizona.

The 15-year veteran completed his first 25 passes and was 28 of 29 for 259 yards and three touchdowns in three quarters. It was also his 11th straight game with multiple TD passes.

Rivers completed 25 straight passes in the first 2½ quarters, tying Ryan Tannehill’s mark from 2015. The Dolphins QB completed his last seven passes against the Tennessee Titans in on Oct. 18, 2015, and then his first 18 the following week against the Houston Texans.

Rivers tied the mark with a 4-yard touchdown pass to Keenan Allen midway through the third quarter. He had his only incompletion on the next possession when he was rushed and was unable to connect on a short pass to Austin Ekeler.

Rivers did break Mark Brunell’s record for most completions to start a game. Brunell had 22 straight for the Washington Redskins against the Houston Texans on Sept. 24, 2006. Rivers’ 96.8 percent accuracy surpassed Kurt Warner’s 92.3 percent, which was set in 2009 when he went 24 of 26 for Arizona against Jacksonville.

The Cardinals (2-9) jumped out to a 10-0 lead with scores on their first two possessions before the Chargers (8-3) scored touchdowns on six of seven possessions.

 

RAVENS 34, RAIDERS 17

BALTIMORE (AP) — Rookie quarterback Lamar Jackson ran for a touchdown and threw for a score, Terrell Suggs returned a fumble 43 yards for a TD and Baltimore ran past Oakland.

Cyrus Jones took a punt 70 yards for a touchdown to help the Ravens (6-5) win a second straight game for the first time since September.

Gus Edwards rushed for 118 yards as part of an effective ground game that enabled Jackson to pass just enough to keep the Raiders (2-9) off guard — and off the field. Baltimore expanded a three-point halftime lead to 27-17 with two run-heavy touchdown drives that consumed a total of nearly 16 minutes.

With starter Joe Flacco out for a second straight game with an injured right hip, Jackson cut down on his rushing attempts, threw more often and got the same result — a victory. After carrying 27 times for 117 yards last week in his NFL starting debut, Jackson ran 11 times for 71 yards and went 14 for 25 for 178 yards and two interceptions.

Suggs clinched it with 5:55 left, lumbering down the right sideline after Oakland’s Derek Carr was sacked by Matthew Judon and lost the ball on a fourth-down play.

 

BILLS 24, JAGUARS 21

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Josh Allen scored the go-ahead touchdown on a 14-yard run in the fourth quarter, and the Bills beat the Jaguars in a game marred by a fight that led to the ejections of Jacksonville running back Leonard Fournette and Buffalo defensive end Shaq Lawson.

Fournette scored twice to tie it at 14 in the second quarter. He finished with 95 yards on 18 carries before he was thrown out with 2:57 left in the third.

Allen also threw a 75-yard touchdown pass to Robert Foster in the rookie quarterback’s first game since missing four with a sprained throwing elbow. Rookie receiver Isaiah McKenzie scored on a 6-yard run off a sweep, and Buffalo (4-7) came off its bye week off to win consecutive games for the first time this season.

The Jaguars (3-8) dropped their seventh consecutive game in their longest losing streak since a nine-game slide in 2016, which led directly to Gus Bradley being fired and replaced by current coach Doug Marrone.

 

BUCCANEERS 27, 49ERS 9

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Jameis Winston threw for 312 yards and two touchdowns to help Tampa Bay snap a four-game losing streak.

Winston, benched last month after turning the ball over 11 times in 14 quarters, completed 29 of 38 passes without an interception.

The fourth-year pro, who’s shared the starting job with Ryan Fitzpatrick, tossed scoring passes of 6 yards to Cameron Brate and 28 yards to Adam Humphries on a play he extended by scrambling to his right before throwing back toward the center of the field.

Tampa Bay (4-7), meanwhile, had four sacks and forced a turnover on defense for the first time in eight games, with Ryan Smith and Isaiah Johnson coming up with the team’s first interceptions since a loss to Pittsburgh on Sept. 24.

Matt Breida rushed for 106 yards for the 49ers (2-9).

Bitter taste may make you drink more coffee

CHICAGO — Marilyn Cornelis has been thinking about coffee for most of her life. As a child, the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine preventive medicine professor watched her father down cup after cup — “a couple of pots a day” and made a game of daring her siblings to lick the spoon he used to stir it. “It was so bitter to us,” she says, her voice still registering a little of the face-twisting shock.

That reaction to bitter tastes is universal, and it’s coded into our DNA — at a time when human beings needed to constantly seek food to sustain life, an aversion to bitter tastes kept people from jamming poisonous things into their mouths as they sought to stave off hunger. Humans who hated bitter tastes lived to forage another day, which gave them the opportunity to spawn descendants, who are currently standing in line at Starbucks.

Cornelis, whose academic research has centered on genetics and caffeine for her entire career, is sometimes among them, she admits, though it takes some milk and sugar to get her to down the bitter brew. “I still can’t drink it black,” she says. Yet, in research published by Cornelis earlier this month, she and colleagues at the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute in Australia found that people who are genetically predisposed to be sensitive to the bitter taste of caffeine drink more coffee than those who are less sensitive or those who are sensitive to other bitter tastes such as quinine.

Cornelis says the finding was surprising. “Typically, humans avoid bitter tastes, and caffeine is one of those compounds, but people who were genetically sensitive to the taste of caffeine actually drank more coffee. So it might be that when you taste caffeine, you have learned to link that to the stimulant effects of caffeine.”

In other words, the desire for the stimulant effects of caffeine is so strong, we are willing to seek out a bitter taste in order to get it.

That stimulant-seeking behavior is controlled by different genetic variants — those that control the body’s ability to metabolize caffeine. If your genes are programmed to metabolize caffeine efficiently, you will burn through its stimulant effect more quickly, which is why you’ll spend more time at the office coffee pot than colleagues. “We are all sort of constantly titrating our own caffeine levels,” says Cornelis.

But a genetic test for coffee junkies isn’t what researchers are after. Instead, studying caffeine and genetics may one day unlock some of the mysteries of caffeine’s protective effects on general health and diseases like diabetes and heart disease.

Large-scale studies have shown a link between lifespan and coffee consumption — people who drink around four cups per day live longer, and as scientists work to understand those effects, they may be able to harness that knowledge to combat disease.

But Cornelis says her research simply shows that those who are sensitive to the taste of caffeine are naturally attuned to finding it, in an effort to get that little extra burst of energy. They still may like the taste of something sugary better — which brings us back to the coffee shop.

The genius of Starbucks, says Cornelis, isn’t that it is perfectly positioned to take advantage of human genetics or eons of learned experience. “Where Starbucks is really keyed in,” she says, “is that the bitterness of coffee can be easily masked. It’s all about ‘What else do you want in your drink?’”

Court News

DISTRICT COURT
Judge Daniel Creitz

Civil cases filed:

Wells Fargo Bank N.A. vs. Jesse L. Folk Jr. and Kimberly E. Folk, mortgage foreclosure

Madeline N. Pace vs. McClain W. Clark, protection from abuse

State of Oklahoma vs. Anthony Watkins, other domestic

State of Kansas vs. Maisy Hale, other domestic

Kyria Ruby vs. Hushee Her, protection from abuse

Jason L. Cole vs. Ashley A. Stevens, petition to determine paternity

Patricia A. Fail vs. Kenneth E. Sprague, divorce

 

MAGISTRATE COURT
Judge Tod Davis

Convicted of no seat belt and fined $30:

Darrell L. Yocham d/b/a Yocham Oil Co., Colony

Mindy D. Rehmert, Moran

Frank M. Lord, Uniontown

Convicted of speeding:

Christopher J. Noe, Arma, 60/45, $208

Steven R. Ellis, Caney, 74/55, $207

JaQuon J. Dean, Tulsa, Okla., 87/65, $231

Reynaldo L. Ramirez, Okmulgee, Okla., 62/45, $195

Jeremiah L. Groff, Olathe, 75/65, $153

Brian A. Hayes, Shawnee Mission, 75/65, $153

Macias A. Ricardo, Tulsa, Okla., 94/65, $294

Lonnie Brachter, Buffalo, 65/55, $153

Sarah L. Stogsdill, Iola, 55/45, $153

Linsey M. Jackman, Colony, 80/55, $258

Cameron M. Weeks, Du Quoin, Ill., 65/55, $153

Convicted as follows:

Matthew G. Goltry, Humboldt, expired tag, $228

Mark E. Pehenger, Quincy, Ill., disobey traffic control device, $183

Ryan K. Howard, Parsons, failure to yield, $183

Kathryn V. Works, Humboldt, defective headlamps, $108

Austin R. Sicka, Iola, failure to yield, $183

Rachel J. Debler, Chanute, failure to yield, $183

Kristi L. Hoard, Fredonia, driving on wrong side of road, $183

Cases deferred with fines assessed:

Nikolaos Z. Peterson, Iola, possession of drug paraphernalia, $553

Destiny L. Burney, Iola, sell cigarettes or tobacco to a minor, $683

Failed to appear:

Kiri Boyer, Iola, possession of methamphetamine, possession of drug paraphernalia

Ryan A. Sallee, Chanute, distributing methamphetamine within 1,000 feet of a school, using communication facility in commission of a felony drug transaction, fleeing and eluding law enforcement, driving while suspended

Joseph R. Griffiths, Savonburg, possessing methamphetamine, possessing drug paraphernalia, driving while suspended

Garrett R. Tomlinson, Iola, possession of methamphetamine

Contract cases filed:

Feuerborn family Funeral Service LLC vs. Linda S. Shaw

Feuerborn family Funeral Service LLC vs. Tamara Call

Feuerborn family Funeral Service LLC vs. Robert B. Smith Jr.

Feuerborn family Funeral Service LLC vs. Donovan Settlemyer and Melinda Martin

Absolute Resolutions Investments LLC vs. Angela M. Beagle

Allen County Hospital vs. Melvin R. Akin

24 killed in Afghan explosion

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An explosion ripped through a mosque inside an Afghan army base in the country’s volatile eastern Khost province as today’s prayers were drawing to a close, killing 27 soldiers and wounding 57, the military said.

The blast may have been set off by a suicide bomber or a remotely detonated bomb but nothing was officially confirmed and details were sketchy. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the explosion.

President Ashraf Ghani condemned the attack in a statement as “anti-Islamic and inhumane.” He also wanted to know how the army’s security was breached, demanding a swift investigation and the officials responsible held accountable.

It was the latest in a relentless, near-daily onslaughts in Afghanistan, where the Taliban regularly target Afghan military and police forces throughout the country.

“There were soldiers lying everywhere and the smoke was so thick, it was difficult to see,” said Abdullah, a spokesman at the base. Like most Afghans, he uses only one name. He spoke to The Associated Press by phone from the base.

The dead and wounded were rushed to a clinic within the army base, while the more seriously wounded were taken to a nearby hospital.

Sakhi Sardar, head of the hospital in Khost said most of the wounded were being treated for devastating shrapnel wounds.

The defense ministry deployed four helicopters to the Ismail Khel district where the attack occurred to ferry the worst of the wounded to hospitals in Kabul.

The explosion came just days after a suicide bomber killed 55 religious scholars gathered in the Afghan capital, Kabul, to celebrate the holiday marking the birth of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad. The Taliban denied involvement in that bombing, which also wounded 94 people.

After 17 years and billions of dollars spent training and arming Afghanistan’s military, it is struggling against an emboldened Taliban insurgency that holds sway in nearly half of the country. As well as the Taliban, Afghan troops are also battling an audacious Islamic State affiliate which has been particularly brutal in its attacks against Afghanistan’s minority Shiites.

Elsewhere in Afghanistan on Friday, hundreds of protesters blocked roads in northern Parwan province to denounce the death of three people who they say were civilians, killed in an operation against the Taliban earlier on Friday.

The protesters said the operation by Afghan special forces involved a NATO airstrike in the Jebul Siraj district that killed the three.

However, NATO spokeswoman U.S. Sgt. 1st Class Debra Richardson said no NATO or American activity took place in Parwan in the past three days. The provincial governor’s spokewoman, Wahida Sakhar, said Parwan officials were negotiating with the protesters and promised an investigation into the incident.

Afghan special forces called in a NATO airstrike during an operation Wednesday against the Taliban in eastern Logar province. Ten people died but it’s unclear how many were civilians.

Jayhawks to clash with Vols for NIT title

NEW YORK (AP) — Top five teams Kansas and Tennessee were tested in the NIT Season Tip-Off semifinals. Both passed and will face off in the championship game tonight.

Dedric Lawson had a double-double with 26 points and 12 rebounds to lead No. 2 Kansas to a 77-68 win over Marquette in the second semifinal of the NIT Season Tip-Off on Wednesday night. Earlier in the evening, No. 5 Tennessee topped Louisville 92-81.

Marquette (3-1) led by as many as 12 in the first half before taking a 47-38 lead into the break. Then came the Jayhawks run.

“Coach got on us,” said Dedric Lawson of Bill Self’s halftime message. “I won’t tell you the word he used, but coach got on us about being tough and going out there and defending our man. We had a couple adjustments in the second half and that helped us out in the 22-0 run.”

Marquette went 0-of-10 from the field to start second half as Kansas (4-0) retook the lead in commanding fashion. The Golden Eagles finally scored a basket nine minutes into the second half on Joey Hauser’s 3-pointer to make it 60-50. His brother, Sam Hauser, led the Golden Eagles with 20 points while Markus Howard had 18 points

“It definitely brought some awareness for us to see what we can do defensively, because that was a great offensive team that had great shooters, a great point guard and a great wing that could make shots,” Lawson said. “I think that was a pretty good offensive team, so to hold them to all those stops was pretty good for us going forward.”

The Jayhawks got 16 points from Lagerald Vick while Devon Dotson chipped in with 10 points, four assists and three steals.

In the first semifinal, Grant Williams scored 24 points and the Vols had five players in double figures to beat the Cardinals.

Admiral Schofield added 20 points for the Vols (4-0), who shot 54 percent from the field. The win was the 664th of Tennessee coach Rick Barnes’ career. It moved him past John Wooden on the all-time Division I wins list.

“It means I’ve been around a while,” Barnes said.

Trailing 77-70 with 6:51 left, Louisville coach Chris Mack got called for a technical foul when he didn’t like an over-the-back call on Dwayne Sutton. The Cardinals could never recover, trailing by as many as 15.

“I complained during the game, so I’m not going to again complain now,” Mack said. “I thought when Dwayne got the ball it was completely clean. It’s basketball. I shouldn’t have received the technical. That’s my fault. It’ll be the last one of this year.”

Jordan Nwora had 23 points and 10 assists to lead Louisville (3-1).

While Kansas could vault itself into the No. 1 ranking with a win after No. 1 Duke’s loss to No. 3 Gonzaga, Self sees it as litmus test for a team ripe with underclassmen.

“We need this game more than Tennessee needs this game, because we’re young and we’re not as tough as we need to be and we’ll have to tough (tonight) with the way they play or they could certainly make us look really bad, so I think it’s a great game for our guys to see where we’re at without question.”

Saints win 10th straight; Cowboys, Bears prevail

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Drew Brees made Atlanta pay for losing track of his inexperienced receivers, and New Orleans’ defense halted several promising Falcons drives with forced fumbles they could not afford.

Tommylee Lewis and Austin Carr each caught his second career touchdown pass, rookie tight end Dan Arnold and rookie receiver Keith Kirkwood each grabbed their first, and the Saints won their 10th straight game with a 31-17 victory Thursday night that eliminated Atlanta from contention in the NFC South.

All four players entered the NFL as undrafted free agents within the past three years.

They also had combined for zero touchdowns this season before Carr caught the first of his career last Sunday.

“It says a lot about taking advantage of the opportunity,” Brees said. “It’s fun to watch them grow and gain confidence. We’re building chemistry, which typically takes time, right? But they’ve been thrust into this role.”

Meanwhile, the Falcons (4-7) lost three fumbles inside the Saints 20 — tough for any team to overcome against streaking New Orleans (10-1) this season.

Atlanta quarterback Matt Ryan was stripped by safety Marcus Williams on a third-and-2 from the Saints 3 and Williams recovered to end Atlanta’s opening drive. Julio Jones was stripped by linebacker Alex Anzalone after a catch on the New Orleans 17, and safety Vonn Bell recovered in the final minute of the second quarter to preserve a 17-3 lead going into halftime.

New Orleans’ defense, which had a season-high six sacks, continued to come up with big plays in the second half. Anzalone broke up a fourth-down pass in the third quarter and linebacker A.J. Klein intercepted a pass tipped by defensive tackle Tyeler Davison in the fourth.

Klein’s interception gave the Saints possession on the Atlanta 22, setting up Kirkwood’s diving 4-yard TD catch.

With about four minutes left, cornerback Marshon Lattimore stripped Calvin Ridley on the Saints 1 after a 29-yard completion that looked as though it would end in a touchdown. Defensive back Eli Apple recovered that one.

 

COWBOYS 31, REDSKINS 23

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Amari Cooper had a 90-yard touchdown catch while finishing with 180 yards receiving and two scores and Dallas pulled even with Washington atop the NFC East.

Cooper had the most yards receiving for the Cowboys on Thanksgiving, along with the longest catch of his career and Dak Prescott’s longest completion in his three seasons. Cooper’s other TD was a 40-yarder.

Ezekiel Elliott ran for 121 yards with a score as the Cowboys (6-5) won their third straight game since their first home loss, to Tennessee in the Dallas debut of Cooper following a trade. Dallas beat Washington for the eighth time in nine Thanksgiving games, and second in three seasons.

The Redskins (6-5) lost for the third time in four games in Colt McCoy’s first start in four years coming off Alex Smith’s season-ending leg injury.

The former Texas Longhorns star threw three interceptions to offset two touchdown passes. McCoy won his two previous starts at the home of the Cowboys, one for the 2009 Big 12 championship and the other his most recent NFL victory with the Redskins in 2014.

 

BEARS 23, LIONS 16

DETROIT (AP) — Chase Daniel made the most of his chance to fill in for Mitchell Trubisky, having the best day of his journeyman career.

Daniel set career highs with 230 yards passing and two touchdowns to keep Chicago rolling with a win over Detroit.

The NFC North-leading Bears (8-3) sealed their fifth straight victory with Kyle Fuller’s interception in the end zone with a little more than a minute left.

Detroit (4-7) has lost four of five, plummeting to last place in the division.

Chicago broke a 16-16 tie on Eddie Jackson’s 41-yard pick-6 with six minutes remaining. It was Jackson’s second consecutive game with an interception returned for a touchdown. It’s also the fifth career defensive touchdown for the 2017 fourth-round pick.

UN: Ebola in Congo now infects newborn babies

LONDON (AP) — The World Health Organization says a worrying number of the newest Ebola cases amid Congo’s ongoing outbreak are in patients not usually known to catch the disease: babies.

In an update published this week, the U.N. health agency reported 36 new confirmed cases of Ebola, including seven in newborn babies and infants younger than 2 years old. Six cases were reported in children aged between 2 and 17 and one case was in a pregnant woman.

While Ebola typically infects adults, as they are most likely to be exposed to the lethal virus, children have been known in some instances to catch the disease when they act as caregivers.

Few cases of Ebola in babies have been reported, but experts suspect transmission might happen via breast milk or close contact with infected parents. Ebola is typically spread by infected bodily fluids. WHO noted that health centers have been identified as a source of Ebola transmission, with injections of medications “a notable cause.”

WHO called Congo’s current epidemic “complex and challenging.” Congo’s health ministry says there are 346 confirmed cases, including 175 deaths, in what has become the worst Ebola outbreak in the country’s recorded history.

The outbreak has been plagued by security problems, with health workers attacked by rebels in districts where the virus has been spreading. Earlier this month, Ebola containment operations were paused after seven U.N. peacekeepers and 12 Congolese soldiers were killed, but all activities have resumed.

The increasing number of cases in children and health workers — 39 health workers have been infected to date — suggests outbreak responders are having major problems stopping the virus in health clinics and convincing people to seek help when they develop symptoms. This is the first time this part of Congo has faced an Ebola outbreak.

Replacements for Kelly, Rogers to be picked soon

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Two groups of local Democratic activists are meeting next week to fill the Kansas Senate seats previously held by Gov.-elect Laura Kelly and Lt. Gov.-elect Lynn Rogers.

Precinct committee members of Kelly’s former Topeka-area district are scheduled to meet Thursday.

In the Wichita district Rogers represented, precinct committee members are scheduled to meet Dec. 1.

Kelly and Rogers resigned from the Senate earlier this month after their ticket won the governor’s race over Republicans Kris Kobach and Wink Hartman.

Kelly has served 14 years in the Senate and Rogers, two years.

The new senators will serve the remaining two years of the four-year terms until the 2020 elections.

Kobach faces voter probe

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Supreme Court has cleared the way for a grand jury investigation of Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s handling of voter registrations before the 2016 election.

The Lawrence Journal-World reported the court late Tuesday denied Kobach’s second request to review a June ruling of the Kansas Court of Appeals. The lower court had said Douglas County District Court must summon the grand jury to investigate.

A Lawrence man, Steven Davis, who gathered enough signatures to force the investigation contends Kobach’s office didn’t register some people who tried to register online or at state driver’s license bureaus.

Kobach has called the allegations politically motivated.

Elections Director Bryan Caskey said the allegations stem from now fixed technical problems that occurred during the transfer of information between computer systems.

County attorney quits, cites sheriff of bullying

GREAT BEND, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas prosecutor is planning to resign, saying the sheriff has been acting like a “bully” since he was acquitted of a misdemeanor for allegedly slapping a handcuffed man.

The Wichita Eagle reports that Barton County Attorney Amy Schartz Mellor said in a news release Tuesday that she plans to step down next month. The release cites a letter from Sheriff Brian Bellendir that states his intention to try to have Mellor removed from office.

After Bellendir’s acquittal last week, he called the case a “politically motivated witch hunt.”

The defense said Bellendir slapped the suspect in a propane theft on the back of the head as someone would do a child. Bellendir says that was a mistake, but didn’t rise to the level of mistreatment of a confined person.