(AP) — U.S. malaria cases are at their highest level in four decades, mostly from Americans bringing home an unwelcome souvenir from their travels.

Malaria is not a big problem in the U.S. — there were only 1,925 cases in 2011, including five deaths. But cases were up 14 percent from the previous year, and the most since 1971.

Nearly all the cases were Americans or foreign travelers bringing it into the country. About two-thirds were infected in Africa, where malaria is common.

Malaria is a deadly tropical disease spread by mosquitoes. It’s treatable when caught early.

Travelers can protect themselves by taking malaria drugs before and during a trip. Only a fraction of the 2011 cases took the right drugs.

Health officials released the numbers Thursday.

(AP) — A central Ohio woman accused of faking a cancer diagnosis for her 4-year-old son has been indicted on felony charges of child endangerment and theft.

Authorities allege 31-year-old Emily Creno, of Utica, shaved her son’s head in a scheme that convinced him and others he was dying and bilked people out of donations.

Creno was arrested in September and charged with child endangerment. She’ll be arraigned Tuesday on the updated charges filed Thursday in Licking County court.

Creno’s attorney, Christopher Cooper, had filed court paperwork to pursue an insanity plea on the original charge and a competency evaluation for his client.

Cooper said Thursday he hadn’t seen the new indictment and couldn’t comment on it.

Court records show Creno’s son underwent various medical testing and monitoring that found no problems.

(AP) — Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is criticizing U.S. states that refuse to issue Defense Department identification cards — and the benefits that go with them — to same-sex spouses of military members at National Guard facilities.

In remarks prepared for delivery in New York on Thursday evening, Hagel says these states are violating their obligations under federal law. And he says they are creating hardship and inequality by forcing legally married gay partners to travel to federal military bases to get the ID cards to which they are entitled.

Hagel does not name the states, but the Pentagon has cited nine: Texas, Indiana, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Oklahoma, South Carolina and West Virginia.

Same-sex spouses of military members became eligible Sept. 3 for the same benefits as opposite-sex spouses.

(AP) — Ten children and a school bus driver have been rescued after the bus they were in toppled into a southern Kansas creek swollen by heavy rain.

Butler County Sheriff Kelly Herzet (HUR’-zeht) says the children climbed through a roof hatch to await rescue Thursday afternoon as the bus lay on its side, half-submerged.

County 911 director Chris Davis said the Douglass School District bus apparently went off a bridge about 4 p.m. Thursday.

Herzet said the oldest children were 13 and helped the younger ones through the hatch. Rescuers used a line to help them to safety.

The driver was taken to a hospital to be checked for hypothermia. One child was seen being put inside an ambulance, but the sheriff says all 10 were turned over to their parents.

(AP) — Some Lincoln students have experienced a firsthand civics lesson in watching their teacher take an oath of American citizenship.

Students in Teresa Barta’s Spanish language class gathered in the back of the classroom on Wednesday as she repeated the words so many immigrants have recited.

The 34-year-old Barta grew up in the Canary Islands, which have become an autonomous community of Spain. She met her future husband, Paul Barta, at an airport in southern Spain in 1998. He went on to graduate from Doane College and then attend Creighton Law School while he and Teresa exchanged emails.

In 2003 she moved to the United States and they married. She became a teacher and eventually joined the staff at Southeast High School in fall 2012.

(AP) — A 28-year-old woman has been given two to four years in prison for stabbing her boyfriend at the apartment they shared in Grand Island.

Apollonia Decoteau was sentenced Wednesday in Hall County District Court.

Decoteau had pleaded no contest to domestic assault for the May 19 attack on Jose Garcia-Hilario. Prosecutors dropped a weapons charge in exchange for her plea.

Authorities say Decoteau has a criminal history that dates back to 2001 and is described in a presentencing report as a high risk to commit another crime.

Her attorney says Decoteau has drinking and drug problems.

(AP) — A 21-year-old man has been given 20 to 36 months in prison for setting fires in Fremont.

Tyler Maple was convicted and sentenced on Tuesday after pleading no contest to two counts of felony arson. Prosecutors dropped two other charges in exchange for Maple’s pleas.

Prosecutors say Fremont police received reports of four separate arson cases on Aug. 6, including the burning of a Salvation Army bus and a car. No injuries were reported.

Two other Fremont men also face charges related to the fires.