(AP) — After years of increases, testing for colon cancer may be leveling off.

A large government survey of older adults last year found about two-thirds had gotten the recommended screening. That’s the same level as 2010, and the first year in a decade of no increase.

Last year’s survey included cellphones for the first time, which may have affected results. But other research has suggested the increase in screening is slowing down. Health officials say it’s not clear why.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the report Tuesday. It’s based on a national telephone survey of more than 200,000 adults ages 50 to 75.

(AP) — Prosecutors have filed charges against a man accused of trying to abduct an 8-year-old girl from her bedroom in Aurora, Colo.

Twenty-six-year-old John Stanley Snorsky was charged Tuesday with several counts including kidnapping, burglary and assault.

The attempted abduction happened early in the morning on Oct. 28. According to police, the girl escaped by pinching Snorsky and running away.

Investigators say his DNA was found on the girl’s clothing.

Snorsky had been on parole for a burglary conviction. He was arrested the day after the attempted abduction on an unrelated charge and later linked to the kidnapping case.

It’s not clear if he has a lawyer.

(AP) — A big new study says older men who use testosterone supplements may face increased risks for heart attacks, strokes and death.

Those risks were seen in veterans with low testosterone levels and other health problems. They were in their 60s on average.

The authors and other doctors say the results aren’t conclusive, but do raise concerns about widely used and heavily marketed testosterone gels, patches and injections.

Men in the study who used the products were about 30 percent more likely than nonusers to have one of the bad outcomes.

The results were published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

(AP) — Authorities are investigating the deaths of an elderly couple in their home near McCool Junction in southeast Nebraska.

Neighbors noticed smoke coming from the home between 9:30 a.m. and 10 a.m. Saturday as they were delivering breakfast to Myron and Charles Bailey. The neighbors called the fire department.

Arriving firefighters found a small fire in the home’s living room and the Baileys’ bodies in a bedroom. The couple were believed to be in their 80s.

York County Attorney Candace Dick says investigators think the fire started accidentally overnight and was just smoldering when neighbors arrived.

Dick says nothing suspicious has been found, but autopsies have been ordered.

(AP) — A government-funded study shows that teens seeking weight-loss surgery have a startling number of health problems that used to be seen only in adults.

Half the teens had at least four major illnesses linked with their excess weight. Three out of four had cholesterol problems; almost half had high blood pressure or joint pain; and many had diseased livers or kidneys.

Complications were uncommon during the first month after surgery.

There’s no official data yet on how much weight they lost, but anecdotal reports suggest these kids are now doing well.

The study involved more than 200 teens operated on a few years ago at five U.S. centers. Results were published online Monday in the journal JAMA Pediatrics.

(AP) — The southeast Nebraska village of Malcolm is celebrating the acquisition of its very first ambulance.

Malcolm Fire & Rescue held an open house on Sunday to show off its shiny red rescue vehicle. The volunteer department used $172,000 in tax dollars for the ambulance, which has been in use for almost a month.

Malcolm resident Teena Hicken told the Lincoln Journal Star (https://bit.ly/HFbbsn) that the department “does a wonderful job, and I’m glad they have this piece of equipment.”

The village of about 380 sits 11 miles northwest of Lincoln. Chief Dale Heidtbrink says the volunteers responded to 280 fire or rescue calls last year.

(AP) — Federal safety authorities have cited a roofing company and proposed $70,000 in penalties for a worker’s fatal fall from one Omaha roof to another.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration says JMA Roofing committed one repeat violation and one other-than-serious safety violation. OSHA says in a news release that the worker was replacing a rooftop rubber membrane on July 17 when he fell to the top of an adjacent building.

OSHA says JMA didn’t ensure that its workers were using fall protection — a violation that OSHA says the company also committed in 2010.

A company representative didn’t immediately return a call Monday from The Associated Press.

(AP) — Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert says the city is sending layoff notices to 19 firefighters in an effort to cuts costs.

Stothert says in a news release Monday the layoffs are needed because the fire department is $6.2 million over its 2013 budget. She says the cuts could be avoided if the firefighters union agrees to change its contract.

The layoffs would be of probationary firefighters and would be effective Jan. 4.

Stothert says the city won’t lay off firefighters if the union reduces the 2014 paramedic training class from 48 to 12 members. The no-layoff pledge would continue through 2015 if the department stays within its 2014 budget.

Fire union president Steve LeClair says the union is considering Stothert’s proposal but needs assurances about future staffing.

If you’ve traveled to Omaha in the last ten years, you’ve no doubt found yourself using some choice four-letter words when you hit the construction in between Lincoln and Omaha.  Good news…it’s almost done!

According to the Nebraska Department of Roads (NDOR), all six lanes of Interstate 80 between Nebraska’s two largest cities will be open to traffic by Friday.

The final portion of the project, which cost $400 million, between Waverly and the 56th Street exit in Lincoln will be completed this week.

NDOR spokeswoman Mary Jo Oie told the Associated Press that after this week, the speed limit for most of the stretch between Lincoln and Omaha will be 75 mph.

The project widened 42 miles of the interstate in phases over the past decade with federal funding paying most of the cost.

NDOR plans to widen I-80 between Lincoln and York to six lanes, but the project hasn’t been funded and likely won’t begin for several years.

 

(AP) — The parents of a Northern California teen fatally shot by a sheriff’s deputy have filed a federal civil rights lawsuit.

The parents of 13-year-old Andy Lopez alleged in their lawsuit filed in San Francisco federal court on Monday that Sonoma County Sheriff’s deputy Erick Gelhaus wrongfully shot the teen on Oct. 22 in a modest Santa Rosa neighborhood. The lawsuit says that Gelhaus and the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department deprived Lopez of his civil rights and seeks unspecified damages.

Investigators have said the deputy opened fire after Lopez refused orders to drop a toy assault rifle he was carrying. The lawsuit and the parents’ attorney called Gelhaus’ actions “super reckless” and alleged that the teen was a victim of police abuse.

Attorneys for Gelhaus and the county didn’t return phone calls Monday.