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Another group of Fort Riley soldiers will come home from war this weekend.

Post officials said about 150 soldiers from the 116th Military Police Company will be back in Kansas after a 15-month deployment to Iraq.

Specific information about the return and where they were serving in Iraq wasn't immediately released.

About 3,000 Fort Riley soldiers are still deployed, including members of the 1st Infantry Division's combat aviation brigade.

Later this year, the division's 2nd Brigade Combat Team will deploy for a year to Iraq.

With a trial approaching, most defendants in the federal case against a Kansas group that claims to be an American Indian tribe have deserted their self-described "grand chief" to make deals with prosecutors.

The latest defection came Thursday as Chuck Flynn, one of the so-called tribal chiefs, pleaded guilty to harboring illegal immigrants. In exchange for the plea, prosecutors agreed to a proposed sentence of a year and a day in prison.

Prosecutors contend the Kaweah Indian Nation defrauded legal and illegal immigrants across the nation by telling them tribal membership conferred U.S. citizenship and would allow immigrants to obtain other documents and benefits, including Social Security cards.

Prosecutors claim the tribe is fake. But even if it were real, tribal membership would not make someone a U.S. citizen.

Last year, federal prosecutors charged 11, including the grand chief and the Wichita-based tribe, in a 17-count indictment. Charges have since been dismissed against one defendant, and three have pleaded guilty to varying charges.

Westar Energy will pass out energy-efficient lightbulbs Saturday as part of its Energy Drop event from noon to 2 p.m. in the parking lot of New Market Square at 21st and Maize Road.

Westar will pass out more than 750 bags, each containing a free compact fluorescent lightbulb, a reusable bag and information about energy efficiency.

Westar spokeswoman Gina Penzig said she hopes people's desire to lower their energy costs attracts them to the giveaway.

Penzig said Westar is trying to accomplish that by suggesting more efficient sources of light and energy, such as compact fluorescents.

They are coil-shaped lightbulbs that use about 75 percent less energy than incandescent bulbs. They last up to 10 times longer than traditional bulbs and produce about 75 percent less heat, which can help cut cooling costs, according to energystar.gov.

city of WICHITA BUDGET HEARING

District advisory board members voiced concerns about fire station staffing, downtown policing and the length of the grass in Wichita city parks at a televised budget hearing Thursday evening.

Bob Schreck said he wants the city to keep at least two vehicles and five firefighters at all fire stations. And he is circulating a petition with nearly 500 signatures on it to pressure the City Council to do so.

The proposed budget calls for two stations -- 13, in far north Wichita and 18, in northeast Wichita -- to lose one of their two trucks.

Fire Chief Ron Blackwell has said the department should still be able to reach its goal of arriving at 90 percent of its calls in seven minutes or less. Many other departments across the nation use that standard.

Implant studies show scientists any reactions

On the fifth floor of Hubbard Hall at Wichita State University lives a tiny village of 48 mice who, in the family sense, have always been really close to each other.

They are lab mice, the products of hundreds of generations of mouse incest, a breeding practice that has made them genetically identical and therefore perfect for medical experiments.

Scientist Paul Wooley is fond of them.

Wooley and his collaborators are people with a mission -- the mice could help Wichita invent not only new medical implants but an entire industry to manufacture them, complete with thousands of jobs.

Wichita City Council members have selected Slavin Management Consultants to help them find candidates to become the next city manager.

Slavin helped find former City Manager George Kolb, who was forced to resign late last year after about 3 ½ years on the job.

The decision came after a 10-minute private meeting of council members Thursday.

Slavin proposed finding qualified candidates within 60 to 90 days and charging up to $21,613 for its services, according to its proposal.

The firm, which boasts conducting more than 225 city/county manager searches in its history, will conduct background searches in addition to other examinations intended to make sure a candidate is qualified and has a clean background.

An electrical company owned by the Harvey County sheriff and his wife has billed that county for more than $29,000 worth of electrical work, most of it no-bid.

The biggest share of those public expenditures --$20,081 -- was work that the business did for the office the sheriff oversees.

Sheriff Arlis "A.J." Wuthnow says the work that Arlis Electric did over the 15 months he has been sheriff was a bargain. He didn't seek bids, he said, because much of the work was troubleshooting and "unbiddable."

Another electrical company said it would have liked the option to bid. Mitchell Smith, owner of RM's Auto Electric in Newton, said, "If you're in public office, then you can't steer... any of the government's business that you have control over to a business that you have a financial stake in."

Smith said he has been reluctant to talk about the issue but says it gets at the core of governmental ethics.

A Harrah's casino near Mulvane would produce at least $50 million more in gambling revenue annually by the third year of operation than its competitors in Wellington, a consultant hired by the state's casino review board said Thursday.

Will Cummings of Cummings Associates told the board he projects Harrah's will earn $202 million annually after it's up and running, Marvel Gaming $151 million and Penn National Gaming $143 million.

Cummings' presentation came at the end of a day spent mostly on Penn National's proposed casino in Cherokee County. The Sumner County applicants will have a chance to respond to his report today as the board enters a second day of meetings.

Other consultants will talk about the economic impact of the proposals, their impact on local governments, the potential market for amenities and the financial viability of the companies. The board plans to select one casino developer for each county next month.

Cummings' revenue estimates were millions of dollars under projections by the three Sumner County applicants. Harrah's projects $272 million, Marvel $230 million and Penn National $214 million.

A police officer is usually not the first responder at the scene of a fire, not usually the one to go in and rescue someone from a burning building.

But on Thursday morning, Wichita police Officer Victor Trillo pulled an elderly woman from a burning house in southwest Wichita -- and then received a tug on the pants by a defensive pit bull as thanks.

"It was crazy," Trillo said later in the day while recalling the rescue.

The officer was passing by on his way to his first police call of the day at about 7:30 a.m. Thursday when he saw fire spouting over the roof of a house near MacArthur and Gold streets in southeast Wichita.

Trillo called dispatch and found out that fire units were en route, then stopped his car and got out. He saw a woman and her two children outside the house, and asked whether anybody else was inside.

Wichita Water Department workers this evening are repairing three water main breaks that are impeding traffic and disrupting service to several homes.

A break in a main at Douglas and Hampton has disrupted service to several homes in Eastborough while reducing traffic on Douglas to one lane in each direction.

A break in a main at Maple and Martinson in west Wichita has disrupted service to several homes in the area and caused some buckling of the streets. Barricades have been set up while repairs are made.

A break in a main near Central and Oliver is forcing crews to shut off water to homes on Glendale between Douglas and Kellogg.

Repairs of all the breaks are expected to be completed by Friday morning.

Penn National Gaming officials reasserted their commitment to build a casino in Cherokee County and said they don't plan to walk away from it if the company doesn't get the contract to build one in Sumner County as well.

Steve Snyder, Penn National's senior vice president of corporate development, told the state's casino review board Thursday that the company isn't trying to gain leverage on the state by threatening to walk away from Cherokee County if it doesn't get the Sumner County contract.

Economic downturns in the gambling business and competition from a $301 million casino that just opened next to its site by the Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma have forced Penn to change strategy, he told the board on the first of a two-day hearing to review consultant reports on casino proposals for Cherokee and Sumner counties.

"I understand the appearance of leverage," Snyder said. "The world has changed and we're reacting to that changing world the best we know how. We are not about to abandon the resources and commitment we've already made to the state of Kansas."

Two consultants hired by the board to forecast the amount of gambling revenue from the state's casinos said earlier in the day that the tribal casino may be too big to enable a Kansas casino to succeed in the southeast Kansas market. The tribal casino has a large advantage with a lower tax rate in Oklahoma, 6 percent compared with the 22 percent Penn would have to pay in Kansas.

Wichita City Council members this afternoon selected Slavin Management Consultants to help them find candidates to become the next city manager.

Slavin helped find former City Manager George Kolb, who was forced to resign late last year after about 3 ½ years into the job.

The decision came after a private meeting of council members that lasted about 10 minutes.

Mayor Carl Brewer could not say how much the contract is worth because the city continues to negotiate with Slavin.

The city had a much less extensive consulting contract with Mercer Group Inc., which recommended former Sunrise, Fla., City Manager Pat Salerno.

A slumping national economy and potential competition from other states has altered the gambling landscape in Kansas as a state board is preparing to pick developers for each of four resort casinos.

State-owned casinos and slot machines at dog- and horse-racing track are allowed by an expanded gambling law passed last year in hopes of eventually generating $200 million a year for the state.

But two prospective developers have pulled out of the competition for casino contracts, and a third's position may leave one area, southeast Kansas, without any proposal. Both tracks allowed to have slots failed to negotiate a deal with the Kansas Lottery and neither expects to be operating by next month.

State and industry officials and consultants say they aren't alarmed because developments reflect decisions made by individual developers for various reasons. But the economy underlies them all.

"The economic downturn and the credit crisis is affecting everyone and the casino operators are re-evaluating their proposals," said Nick Danna, senior gaming analyst for Sterne, Agee and Leach Inc., based in Birmingham, Ala.

Someone fired gunshots today that struck two occupied houses in the 1800 block of North Jackson, police said.

Although no one was injured, six people were in one home that was hit, and a seventh person was in the second home, police said. The victims, ranging from 11 months old to 57, were asleep.

The shooting occurred about 4:05 a.m.

Officers found bullet holes in the houses.

Police said any motive for the shooting was unknown.

A 3-year-old boy and his 6-year-old sister have been taken into protective custody after a man saw the 3-year-old "walking down the street with a dirty diaper," a Wichita police report said.

The man saw the boy in the 2100 block of West Grant about 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, police said. Police found the boy's mother in the 2200 block of South Bonn, and she didn't know the boy was missing, a police report said.

The siblings were taken to Wichita Children's Home, and their father was to be interviewed by the state Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services, the report said.

A Wichita police officer responding to a house fire crawled through a wall of smoke and rescued a 75-year-old woman as he was being attacked by a pit bull, police said today.

The officer, V.W. Trillo, was not injured; the woman was taken to a hospital burn unit in serious condition, police spokesman Gordon Bassham said.

The house fire occurred about 7:30 a.m. today in the 500 block of West MacArthur. Trillo was one of the first people on the scene, before firefighters arrived, Bassham said.

Trillo went into the home to look for possible victims and encountered thick smoke as he crawled into a kitchen, where he found the 75-year-old woman.

As he took her out of the home, he came under attack by a pit bull. Relatives and neighbors subdued the dog, Bassham said.

Folks in the area may not spot Maxwell Smart over the next few days, but Wichita figures to see plenty of 99s, forecasters say.

Temperatures are going to reach the upper 90s through the weekend and may well hit triple digits on Saturday. At least there should be some breeze to offer modest relief: forecasters say southerly winds will turn gusty, surging to about 25 miles an hour.

The long-term forecast calls for the heat to ease early next week.

Check Kansas.com for updates.

None of the Powerball tickets sold matched all six numbers drawn Wednesday night, so the jackpot will grow to an estimated $64 million.

The winning numbers were 11, 14, 35, 41 and 52, with a Powerball of 2.

Players were vying for a grand prize of $54.1 million.

Three tickets matched the first five numbers but not the Powerball. Two were sold in New Hampshire and one in Oregon.

Those tickets are worth $200,000 each.