DAVID CRARY, AP National Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — The Boy Scouts of America have ended a blanket ban on gay adult leaders while allowing church-sponsored Scout units to maintain the exclusion because of their faith.

The new policy, aimed at easing a controversy that embroiled the Boy Scouts for years and threatened the organization with lawsuits, takes effect immediately. It was approved Monday by the BSA’s 80-member National Executive Board in a teleconference.

The stage had been set for Monday’s action on May 21, when the BSA’s president, former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, told the Scouts’ national meeting that the long-standing ban on participation by openly gay adults was no longer sustainable. He said the ban was likely to be the target of lawsuits that the Scouts were likely to lose.

MILAN (AP) — Italy’s antitrust authority has fined travel planning website TripAdvisor 500,000 euros ($600,000) following complaints of improper business practices lodged by a national hoteliers’ association and a consumer protection agency.

The antitrust authority said Monday that TripAdvisor had failed to adopt controls to prevent false reviews, while at the same time promoting the site’s content as “authentic and genuine.”

It’s given TripAdvisor 90 days to present a remedy.

The Federalberghi federation of hoteliers welcomed the decision, citing the numerous examples of “defamatory” reviews that have appeared on the site.

A U.K. regulator has previously said that TripAdvisor must stop claiming that all the reviews on its British site were written by independent travelers, and therefore reliable.

GALATIA, Kan- A Kansas woman was injured in an accident just before 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday in Barton County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a  2013 Kia Soul driven by Jean Ellen Edwards, 59, Otis, was southbound on 176th Street three miles west of Galatia.

The vehicle was traveling at rate of speed too great for the road conditions.

The driver attempted to turn left on NW 230 Road and entered the south ditch coming to rest in a field.

Edwards was transported to Clara Barton Hospital  in Hoisington.

The KHP reported she was properly restrained at the time of the accident.

(AP) — Lawrence police say they have located a 19-year-old woman whose disappearance led to the discovery of a 52-year-old man’s body at the Lawrence home they shared.

Sarah Brooke Gonzales McLinn’s family reported her missing earlier this month. When police went to the home where McLinn had been living they found the body of Harold M. Sasko. McLinn and Sasko’s vehicle were missing.

Lawrence police Sgt. Trent McKinley said in a release late Sunday that a Florida law enforcement agency contacted Lawrence police Saturday saying they believe they had found McLinn.

McKinley says Lawrence detectives flew to Florida on Sunday and confirmed that McLinn had been located. He says McLinn appears uninjured and Sasko’s vehicle has also been located. The investigation into Sasko’s death remains ongoing.