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A U.S. Supreme Court decision Monday boosted legislative efforts to require Kansas voters to show photo identification at the polls.

But the justices' 6-3 decision also indicates the state would have to provide free voter identity cards to those who don't have acceptable identification.

Both sides in the Kansas debate over voter identification found something to like in the ruling, which upholds Indiana's voter-ID law.

The court decision clears a potential legal hurdle that may have kept some legislators from supporting Senate Bill 196, its chief proponent said.

But the ruling also signals that the justices are sensitive to the burden that photo ID requirements place on voters who don't drive, a leader of the opposition says.

This was a South Broadway sting with a twist.

Eight women were arrested Monday evening on 13 different offenses, including several sex crimes.

The sting was set up after detectives took a look at postings on Craigslist.org, a classified and forum site.

"Some of the women were familiar to us" because they had been arrested in the past for prostitution, said Capt. John Speer, commander of the Patrol South Bureau.

"We contacted these women and set up a meeting," Speer said. "These women negotiated for sex during the meeting, and were then arrested and booked" into jail.

A drug bust in Mulvane resulted in 11 arrests Tuesday, including two at Mulvane High School.

Mulvane Police Chief Dave Williams said those arrested included a 21-year-old woman and 10 males ranging in age from 16 to 21.

They were charged with possession and sale of marijuana, amphetamines, cocaine, heroin, morphine, oxycontin, and depressants.

The high school students were taken into custody after they were pulled from their first-period classrooms by their principal, Williams said. A third high school student was arrested at Mulvane Academy, the district's alternative high school.

Williams said the investigation by Mulvane police and the Sumner County Sheriff's Office began in September.

Ted Burnett's capital murder trial will go on next week in Wichita as planned.

Sedgwick County District Judge Ben Burgess denied a request to move the trial to another county Monday morning.

A pool of some 500 jurors have been summoned for the trial. Lawyers are scheduled to begin questioning potential jurors May 5.

Burnett has contended he's not guilty of strangling Chelsea Brooks, a 14-year-old who was nine months pregnant when she disappeared from a Wichita skating rink in June 2006.

Prosecutors say Burnett killed Brooks, after being hired by Elgin Robinson, the purported father of the unborn child. Robinson faces trial in September.

Two men have been arrested in connection with the shooting of a coworker at a manufacturing plant in Valley Center early this morning.

The three men got into an argument outside of the National Plastics Color plant in the 100 block of West Industrial, Sedgwick County Sheriff's Capt. Mike Oliver said.

Michael Lawrukiewicz, 26, was shot in the chest at about 4:17 a.m., got into a vehicle and drove a short distance before crashing through a fence and striking a gas meter, Oliver said.

It's not clear what the argument was about, Oliver said.

Lawrukiewicz underwent surgery at Via Christi Regional Medical Center-St. Francis Campus and is in critical condition, he said.

Undersheriff Bob Hinshaw announced Tuesday that he is entering the race for Sedgwick County sheriff.

Hinshaw, 50, becomes the fifth candidate for the seat being vacated by two-term sheriff Gary Steed and the fourth Republican to enter the race.

Hinshaw has been with the sheriff's office for 29 years and was appointed undersheriff by Steed in June 2006. He holds a bachelor's degree in administration of justice from Wichita State University and a master's degree in business law from Friends University.

During his career, Hinshaw has filled a number of positions, including the high-profile jobs of commander of the department's criminal investigations division and major in charge of the Sedgwick County Jail.

In a news release issued late Tuesday, Hinshaw said, "My experience and education makes me the most qualified for the office of sheriff, and I look forward to continuing to serve the community in which I was born and raised."

Amid accolades Tuesday from supporters and criticism from opponents in both parties, former congressman Jim Slattery launched his bid to become the next U.S. senator from Kansas.

Slattery, who has been running since last month, made his formal announcement in stops across the state, including the Wichita Hilton Airport Hotel.

The Democrat blamed incumbents of both parties for economic instability, high fuel prices, low-mileage cars and the Iraq war.

"I cannot in good conscience continue to sit on the sidelines and watch career politicians lead our country in the wrong direction," he said.

Slattery represented the 2nd District in Congress from 1982 to 1994, when he lost a race for governor.

A 76-year-old retired doctor will spend nearly three years in federal prison for unlawfully dispensing prescription drugs through an Internet pharmacy he owned in Wichita.

U.S. Senior Judge Wesley Brown sentenced Wilbur D. Hilst to 33 months at a hearing Thursday morning.

Hilst, of Wewoka, Okla., pleaded guilty in December to one count of conspiracy to unlawfully distribute controlled substances.

Hilst admitted in his plea that he operated Red Mesa Pharmacy and filled orders that customers placed on two Web sites, Inegra Rx and SafeTrustProcessing.

The Web sites had contracted with doctors around the country to approve online orders based on customers' answers to questions, but without seeing or examining patients.

A Wichita police officer suffered minor injuries after colliding with a pickup while he was responding to an emergency call early Thursday.

The officer struck the pickup at about 12:40 a.m. at Harry and Woodlawn, and the pickup struck a car. The officer, an eight-year veteran, was treated for minor injuries at Wesley Medical Center and released, police said.

Two people in the pickup were treated and released from Via Christi Regional Medical Center-St. Joseph Campus. A man and woman in the car hit by the pickup refused treatment.

Patrol East Lt. Jeff Allen said the officer had activated his lights and siren in response to an "officer in trouble" call.

"Indications were the officer went through a red light, which is legal" when lights and sirens are on, he said.

Adair, Tyrone C. and Barnett, Davette L., both of Wichita.

Adeisa, Mobolaji A. and Ojo, Oluwasey A., both of Wichita.

Beard, Ryan S. and Boyd, Whitney L., both of Fairway.

Beavers, Preston D. and Martinez, Mary Ann S., both of Wichita.

Breton, Carlos J. and Carrillo, Sandra, both of Wichita.

Prosecutor Marc Bennett pointed at Ted Burnett and asked the woman in the jury box if she could impose the death penalty.

"We're not talking hypotheticals, what we're asking is... if you could consider giving this man, sitting here in the white shirt, death?" Bennett said.

"It would be difficult," she said. "But I could consider it."

That is the question facing potential jurors in Burnett's capital murder trial, which began Monday.

From a pool of 500 possible jurors, 12 will be chosen to decide Burnett's case.

Ted Burnett smoked pot a few times with the teenage boy who had been hanging around his apartment complex.

That boy, Everett Gentry, would later testify in court, implicating 51-year-old Burnett in an alleged murder-for-hire scheme that will have him on trial for his life this week.

Jury selection begins today for Burnett's capital murder trial in the killing of Chelsea Brooks, who died nine months pregnant at age 14. The trial could span nearly three weeks.

Gentry's credibility on the witness stand is expected to be central to the trial. His testimony provides prosecutors with the main link between Burnett and Elgin Robinson, the father of Brooks' unborn child.

Robinson, Gentry says, agreed to pay Burnett $500 to kill Brooks -- who had just completed eighth grade at Allison Middle School -- in June 2006. Robinson, then 20, feared he would face rape charges because of her age.

Through the first three months of the year, Sedgwick County has billed 17 cities for more than $956,000 for housing their inmates in the Sedgwick County Jail.

So far, the county has collected less than $16,000.

Last month the Sedgwick County sent "demand letters" to the eight cities that have refused to pay the roughly $2.09 hourly fee that the county started charging Jan 1 for housing city inmates in the county jail. Among those refusing to pay is the city of Wichita, which the county says owes $869,087.59.

The letters say the county will pursue "all legal remedies" in its efforts to collect the fees. But county Public Safety Director Bob Lamkey, who oversees the fee program, said the county hasn't decided whether to take the matter to court.

Wichita made its position clear in a March 3 letter from City Attorney Gary Rebenstorf.

How jurors decide the death penalty is a controversial issue that has sparked debate from Kansas trial courts to the U.S. Supreme Court.

It's no wonder that potential jurors find it difficult to understand.

The most lengthy explanations at this week's jury selection for Ted Burnett's capital murder trial focus on the process of imposing the death penalty.

Burnett, charged with killing 14-year-old Chelsea Brooks, could face death if convicted. Because he is innocent in the eyes of the court, his public defenders say they're uncomfortable explaining the law.

But lawyers say they have to discuss capital punishment with jurors to know if they can be fair.

The shooting of a Wichita man next to an east Wichita barber shop Tuesday appeared to stem from a dispute in a parking lot several weeks ago, police said Wednesday.

Franklin Williams, 27, was shot more than once "in the lower extremities" at about 1:50 p.m. in the 1800 block of East 13th Street, Lt. Jeff Easter said. Williams underwent surgery at Wesley Medical Center and is expected to survive.

Williams told police he did not know the name of the shooter, but that the man had gotten mad at him over "a driving issue," Easter said.

The shooter confronted Williams again in the parking lot of Adrian's 2 Hip Hop Barber & Beauty Shop.

"It's so out of the norm... to argue and escalate to the point of a gunfight," said Brian Withrow, a criminologist at Wichita State University. "That's pretty remarkable."

The Kansas Supreme Court unanimously ruled Tuesday that while a citizen-petitioned grand jury is constitutional, a group investigating a Wichita abortion clinic can't form a grand jury to go on a "fishing expedition" for patient records.

Abortion rights supporters and opponents both applauded the ruling, which allowed a grand jury to continue investigating George Tiller's Women's Health Care Services clinic, but required oversight from a trial judge.

Abortion opponents have used citizen grand juries to launch investigations against clinics in Wichita and Johnson County.

The court's order provided Sedgwick County District Court detailed instructions for how to review a subpoena for thousands of patient records from Tiller's clinic.

Troy Newman of Operation Rescue West, one of three abortion opponents who helped collect more than 7,000 signatures to impanel the Wichita grand jury, said he was pleased the court upheld the process.

The fight for about 270 uncommitted Democratic Party superdelegates shifted into a higher gear Wednesday, but few of the party insiders were ready to pledge their allegiance to Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton.

"I try to keep an open mind and am really trying to be alert, because a lot of things are going to happen in the next month," said Helen Knetzer of Wichita, the president of the National Federation of Democratic Women and one of Kansas' nine superdelegates.

Still, the pressure is on for the party leaders, activists and lawmakers who could decide the Democratic nomination to make up their minds and end the long and increasingly taxing race.

Party leaders talked privately throughout the day to unpledged members of Congress at the Capitol, urging them to announce decisions before the final primaries on June 3.

"If this goes beyond that," said Rep. Mike Honda, D-Calif., a party vice chairman, "it could lead to the perception that the superdelegates are wagging this dog" and make voters in Democratic

A stalking law signed by the governor Friday already is fueling debate over how much impact it will carry.

The parents of Jodi Sanderholm, for whom the law is nicknamed, say it might have saved their daughter.

Legal observers wonder how much it aids law enforcement.

Cindy Sanderholm said the measure, known as "Jodi's law," may make it easier for police to act on stalking reports.

"Hopefully this will help protect more people, so someone won't have to go through what we did," Cindy Sanderholm said Friday, as she prepared for her son's wedding.

A man forced an acquaintance into the trunk of a car early Thursday morning, then drove around using the victim's ATM card to withdraw money before releasing him unharmed, police said.

Authorities were alerted by two women who called 911 at about 4:20 a.m.

They reported that they were riding with an acquaintance when they heard pleas for help coming from the trunk of the car, Patrol South Lt. E.J. Bastian said.

When they first heard sounds coming from the trunk, Bastian said, the driver told the women he had put his pit bull in the trunk.

But when they heard the muffled words "Help me" and what sounded like someone hitting or kicking the back seat, the women became frightened and jumped out of the car when the driver stopped at an intersection, Bastian said.

A brief chase through southwest Wichita Thursday resulted in police firing two shots at a fleeing vehicle and one of two suspects being hit with a Taser during his arrest.

Lt. Joe Schroeder said the chase started at about 10:30 p.m. after the car was pulled over on a traffic violation near McCormick and Seneca.

As officers approached the car, Schroeder said, the car sped off, striking a police car and nearly striking the officers.

Both officers fired at the car but no one was hit, Schroeder said.

Schroeder said the car was finally stopped at Glenn and McCormick when the driver and passenger, who resisted arrest, were taken into custody.

A Sedgwick County district judge said Thursday that a citizens grand jury investigating a Wichita abortion provider may have to issue new subpoenas for patient records.

Judge Paul Buchanan did not rule on whether he would enforce or reject the subpoenas to George Tiller's clinic in light of a Kansas Supreme Court decision earlier this week. The state's highest court outlined specific findings Buchanan would have to make before ruling on the order for more than 2,000 patient records and limiting the scope of the grand jury's request.

During the hearing, the judge indicated that revised subpoenas may need to be issued.

Abortion opponents collected more than 7,000 signatures to impanel the grand jury. Kansas is one of only a handful of states that allows residents to petition for a grand jury investigation.

Prosecutor Ann Swegle of the Sedgwick County District Attorney's Office, who is advising the grand jury, told the judge the panel would agree to seek a sampling of 50 records per year for the past five years.

Nine Kansas children have died from cars backing over them in the past nine years, and five of those have happened in Wichita.

That includes Justin Jack McElhaney, the 2-year-old killed when a Ford SUV driven by a family member backed over him in the 1200 block of North West Street on Sunday.

Deaths and injuries from similar accidents occur an average of 50 times a week across the country, according to Kids and Cars, a national nonprofit based in Leawood.

The thousands who are injured or die each year have similar stories to Sunday's:

• Most children who die from vehicles backing over them are between the ages of 1 and 2.

Now you know

Follow these tips to keep children safe from vehicles backing up:

• Walk around and behind a vehicle before moving it.

• Know where your kids are. Make children move away from your vehicle to a place where they are in full view before moving the car.

• Make sure another adult is properly supervising children before moving your vehicle.

Judge Bryce Abbott sometimes has to measure blood-alcohol levels of people who stand before him in Wichita Municipal Court to answer charges of driving while intoxicated.

That's right: They come to court drunk.

"They'll say, 'But I haven't had anything to drink since last night,' " Abbott said between court hearings last week. "That's probably the wrong thing to say, because it tells me you must have been pretty drunk last night."

In the past year Abbott and judges in the Sedgwick County District Court have been using ankle bracelets that monitor alcohol use of people who have been ordered to abstain from drinking as a condition of their probation.

Their application is up to the judge's discretion, though the bracelets generally are used for repeat offenders who have had problems with alcohol.

The price of gasoline has gotten so high that people have begun to steal used cooking oil.

"There's somebody, or multiple people, out there stealing our cooking oil," said Ben Healy of Healy Biodiesel in Sedgwick.

Healy's company converts used vegetable cooking oil into biodiesel, and he has contracts with more than 100 restaurants in and around Wichita to pick up their old oil.

But thieves have been cutting into locked storage areas behind restaurants since mid-March and stealing the vegetable oil, he said. While he doesn't have a precise number, Healy said, the total stolen is in the thousands of gallons.

"It's getting to where it's hurting us pretty bad," Healy said.

Service honors officers killed

The memories of her husband, Wichita police Lt. Jack Galvin, come every day. For Mary Galvin, there is no forgetting.

And she thinks it's important that the community remembers people like her husband -- law enforcement officers who were killed in the line of duty.

The community did just that Tuesday at the annual Law Enforcement Memorial Ceremony. Hundreds of law enforcement officers and others gathered at Wichita City Hall to pay tribute to the 26 Wichita police officers and Sedgwick County sheriff's deputies.

"For family members, you don't ever forget. You live with that every day," Galvin said after the ceremony. "So it's nice that once a year that you know that the community and fellow officers, everybody can come together and remember. Remember those, because they shouldn't be forgotten."

If events go as expected, jury selection will wrap up today, the eighth day of Ted Burnett's capital murder trial. But the lawyers know not everything goes as planned.

A juror who arrived 30 minutes late for Tuesday's afternoon session was the latest hitch, as lawyers needed to qualify only a few more for the final jury pool.

The woman, a state employee, almost got a visit from the sheriff for not responding to a summons. But she arrived, as other jurors waited.

The court recessed for the day still needing four people for the final pool of 42 needed to pick a jury. Questioning resumes at 9 a.m. today.

In the first round, jurors answer questions about potential biases, and lawyers explain the trial process and some basic tenets of the law. Those questions take place in groups of 15 to 25.

Someone hit 2-year-old Daytona Robertson hard enough to cause severe swelling of her brain, an autopsy report says.

Daytona, whose stepmother is charged with killing her, would have turned 3 today.

She died Feb. 27 after suffering "blunt force trauma of the head," said the report, filed in Sedgwick County District Court.

The autopsy also found head injuries "suggesting a component of shaking."

Citing other reports, the autopsy report gave a timeline: Daytona had been with her stepmother, Katie Robertson, on Feb. 22 when she "became lethargic and lost interest in eating. Later the stepmother noticed seizure-like activity and contacted 911." Daytona "was reported to be fine" earlier that day, the autopsy report said.

Two men who were arrested in the death of Wichita businessman James Collins this week were charged Thursday with first-degree murder.

District Judge Eric Yost set bond for Shannon Bogguess, 24, and Kedrin Littlejohn, 18, at $250,000 each, and ordered them to return to court for a preliminary hearing May 29.

The men also were charged with one count each of aggravated robbery, aggravated kidnapping and aggravated assault. An additional charge of criminal possession of a firearm was filed against Bogguess.

Wichita police said Collins, the 55-year-old owner of Marquee Motorcars at 2938 E. Douglas, was shot in the leg shortly before 8 a.m. Monday and then abducted from his business in a black Hummer that was being serviced there.

Police said the men drove to the 500 block of South St. Francis, where Collins managed to get out before he was shot a second time and then run over.