LOS ANGELES (AP) – A judge is considering whether to grant a new trial to the first openly gay Los Angeles police officer.

Former Sgt. Mitchell Grobeson wants a rehearing of a discrimination suit that sought up to $4.4 million in damages. A jury ruled for the city last year.

A Superior Court judge on March 25 took under submission Grobeson’s motions for a new trial and reinstatement to the LAPD.

Grobeson did two stints with the LAPD in the 1980s and 1990s before retiring on a psychological disability.

The LAPD settled a previous suit by Grobeson in 1993 by promising to improve its hiring and training of gay officers.

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) – A former aide to Rep. Dana Rohrabacher who pleaded guilty to allegations that he sexually molested two teenage boys was sentenced March 25 to three years in prison.

Jeffrey Ray Nielsen of Ladera Ranch received the sentence as part a plea deal. He will have to register as a sex offender, and give up his license to practice law, Orange County Senior Deputy District Attorney Colleen Crommett said.

Nielsen pleaded guilty on Dec. 7 to two felony counts of lewd acts upon a child in connection to the molestation of a 14-year-old boy he met over the Internet, and a 13-year-old boy Virginia boy he befriended while working in Washington, D.C.

Nielsen was working for a national law firm when he was arrested in 2003 after the older boy told a classmate about the alleged relationship. The classmate told school officials who, in turn, notified police.

Nielsen was charged with six felonies, and during trial the boy testified he had consensual sexual encounters with Nielsen.

Nielsen acknowledged on the witness stand that he chatted with the boy on a gay chat room and later met him on three occasions. But he insisted they never had sex.

The trial ended last year with a deadlocked jury. Prosecutors later sought a retrial by introducing allegations that Nielsen molested the 13-year-old boy when he was renting a room from the boy’s parents in northern Virginia. At the time, Nielsen was an aide in the Washington, D.C. office of Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach.

Prosecutors said the additional evidence led Nielsen to agree to plead guilty.

ATLANTA (AP) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will consider whether to expand use of a vaccine intended to prevent cervical cancer to women aged 27 to 45, the vaccine maker said March 26.

Gardasil, made by Merck, currently is approved for use in girls and women ages 9 through 26 to block four types of human papillomavirus, which can cause cervical cancer and genital warts.

A decision is expected this summer.

There are dozens of different types of HPV, but those targeted by the vaccine – types 6, 11, 16, and 18 – account for more than 70 percent of all cases of cervical cancer.

In asking the FDA to expand the use of Gardasil, Merck noted that women remain at risk of becoming infected with HPV throughout their lives. The government estimates that more than 6 million Americans each year get a new infection of HPV.

Gardasil is given in three shots over a six-month period.

Experts emphasize that the vaccine is purely preventive. It does not cure an existing HPV infection, but can prevent future infections. That’s one reason it is recommend that girls get the vaccine before they are sexually active.

Merck spokeswoman Kelley Dougherty said that an advisory committee would consider whether to urge testing for HPV infection before getting the vaccine.

However, she noted that commercially available tests do not differentiate between the types of HPV.

She said researchers found that few adult women were infected with all four HPV types, so getting the vaccine would protect them from any of the four they had not contracted.

Currently Gardasil is the only cervical cancer vaccine on the market. It has racked up about $1 billion in sales since its June 2006 U.S. launch. GlaxoSmithKline is awaiting approval of its own vaccine, Cervarix.

NEW YORK (AP) – New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn says Madison Square Garden and the Rangers need to do more to stop anti-gay slurs from being used at hockey games.

A group of gay hockey fans told The New York Times that they’re most upset by the chant at fan Larry Goodman. He calls himself “Dancin’ Larry” and often dances during breaks in the game.

Quinn said she hopes to meet with Garden or Rangers officials soon to discuss remedies.

After letters of complaint from Quinn and The New York City Gay Hockey Association, the Rangers posted a warning on its scoreboard. It said fans engaging in offensive language and behavior would be tossed out.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – A former University of Wisconsin-Platteville student has settled a civil lawsuit alleging two men beat him up because he was gay.

Brett Timmerman’s lawsuit claims he walked into a sandwich shop in Platteville in July 2005 when Oden Waite and Enove Urias made anti-gay remarks to him, put him in a headlock and took him to the ground. Timmerman claims Waite spit on him twice.

Timmerman’s attorney, Jim Madigan, says he reached the deal with Waite’s attorneys last week. He says the settlement calls for terms to remain secret.

Timmerman’s lawsuit against Urias remains active in Grant County.

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Food and Drug Administration said Thursday recent data show patients taking HIV drugs from GlaxoSmithKline and Bristol-Myers Squibb may have increased risk of heart attack.

FDA said data pooled from a 33,000-patient study of HIV patients showed those taking Glaxo’s Ziagen and Bristol-Myers’ Videx had a greater chance of heart attack than patients on other medications.

Labeling changes could be needed for the drugs, FDA said, though it stressed it is still working with incomplete data. The agency does not have information on heart attack risks of two other drugs in the class of virus-fighting medications.

In an announcement posted to its Web site, FDA said it would make recommendations on the drugs after it completes its review.

Until then, doctors should weigh the risks and benefits of the drugs for patients, the agency said.

Glaxo and Bristol reviewed their clinical trial data on the drugs and both said they found no increased risk of heart attack.

Company representatives could not immediately be reached by phone.

Shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. rose 15 cents to $21.35 while shares of GlaxoSmithKline rose 58 cents to $42.55 in afternoon trading.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Health regulators have warned doctors about a possible link between a Johnson & Johnson HIV drug and potentially fatal liver damage.

The Food and Drug Administration said March 21 it has received reports of drug-induced hepatitis in patients taking J&J’s Prezista, which is used in combination with another HIV drug ritonavir.

The agency highlighted the risks in a message to doctors posted on its Web site.

J&J and FDA added new warnings to Prezista’s label earlier this month.

The new labeling indicates that 0.5 percent of patients in the original trials of the drug showed hepatitis. Since the drug was approved, FDA has received additional reports of the liver illness, some of which were fatal.

Most of the reported problems were in patients with advanced HIV who were taking multiple medications, according to the label.

FDA cleared Prezista in 2006 for use in patients who don’t respond to treatment with other antiretroviral drugs.