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Residents and businesses in the Wichita area will be encouraged to reduce air pollution to keep the city within recently tightened ozone standards under a resolution passed by the City Council on Tuesday.

"It's going to be real important that we get the word out that citizens can make a difference," Kay Johnson, Wichita's director of environmental services, told the council.

Going out of compliance would subject residents and businesses in the area to strict pollution control measures, costing the city an estimated $10 million, she said.

An air pollution monitor in Peck, just south of Wichita, is measuring smog levels slightly above the Environmental Protection Agency's 75 parts-per-billion limit.

That means the entire Wichita area could be considered out of compliance with the federal Clean Air Act.

A Sedgwick County court employee has been fired for filing to run for public office.

Genine Ware, a lawyer in the 18th Judicial District Court trustee's office, was terminated last week shortly after she filed papers to run as a Democrat for county clerk.

Ware ran afoul of Kansas Court Personnel Rule 5.16b, a little-known regulation that restricts off-duty political activities of court employees.

Under the rule, court employees are allowed to run for nonpartisan offices, but are prohibited from seeking any partisan position other than precinct committee member.

Filing for a prohibited office is considered an automatic resignation under the rule.

A 30-year-old homeless man faces four criminal charges linked to assaults on women in downtown Wichita over a three-week period.

Timothy J. Thompson is accused of attacking four women between May 19 and June 11, said Georgia Cole, a spokeswoman for the Sedgwick County District Attorney's Office.

Thompson is charged with two counts of sexual battery -- one May 19 and one June 11 -- one count of rape for an incident June 6 and one count of attempted rape June 11.

His bond was set at $100,000, and his preliminary hearing scheduled for July 1.

Wichita Police Lt. Troy Livingston said authorities knew of only two incidents when they sought the public's help in identifying a man believed to be connected to two assaults on Douglas downtown.

A Johnson County judge chastised District Attorney Phill Kline on Tuesday for not cooperating with defense attorneys in the Kelsey Smith case, but declined to impose sanctions requested by the defense.

Edwin Hall, 27, of Olathe is charged with capital murder in the kidnapping, rape and slaying of the 18-year-old Smith, who disappeared on June 2, 2007, from a Target parking lot in Overland Park. Her body was found four days later near a lake across the state line in Missouri.

Defense attorneys told District Judge Peter Ruddick that they still hadn't received a Target store video or follow-up reports on 1,100 leads. Ruddick responded that he had never handled a murder case that required so many hearings to get evidence to the defense.

"How long have they been asking for the video?" Ruddick asked Kline.

"Very early on," Kline responded.

A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld a 24-month prison sentence for David Wittig, a former Westar Energy Inc. executive convicted in 2003 of bank fraud.

It was the third time the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had considered the sentence against Wittig, former chief executive of the Topeka-based utility. The three-judge panel based in Denver had earlier rejected sentences of 51 and 60 months as too harsh.

Wittig served a little over a year in prison before being released on appeal, meaning he likely would have to return to finish out his sentence. An attorney for Wittig didn't immediately return a phone call for comment Tuesday.

The panel in 2006 had recommended a sentence of no more than six months, but said in its ruling that U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson provided adequate reasoning that a longer sentence was required because of the seriousness of the crime and because Wittig's co-defendant was sentenced to five years.

"Though a 24-month sentence was certainly not the only reasonable sentence the district court could have arrived at, we discern no abuse of discretion," the court said.

A former Hutchinson man who disappeared 20 years ago before going on trial for a fatal traffic accident has pleaded guilty, a month after being arrested re-entering the country.

Miguel R. Rangel Zubia, 41, entered the plea Friday to one count of aggravated vehicular homicide in the death of his pregnant wife, Sanjuana Lorena Velazquez, 28. She was killed on New Year's Day in 1988.

Zubia was originally bound over for trial in June 1988 but disappeared before it started, prosecutors said.

In exchange for Friday's plea, Reno County District Attorney Keith Schroeder agreed to dismiss the charge of failing to appear.

Since the crime took place in 1988, Zubia will be subject to that year's sentencing laws.

Child-exploitation investigators found something unsettling when they recently took a 30-day snapshot of files being shared through computers in Missouri.

More than 7,000 computers were trading known images of child pornography. The Kansas City area accounted for more than 700 of those computers, which used peer-to-peer software similar to that used to trade music.

"These are really horrific things," said Capt. Paul Carrill of the Platte County Sheriff's Department. "It's commonly referred to as 'kiddie porn,' like they're children in bathing suits. But in law enforcement, they're called 'child rape images.' "

The Western Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force conducted the survey in March after a year of preparation. Investigators searched for people who traded images of children whom the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children had identified as known victims of child pornographers.

Carrill, who leads the task force, said his investigators were sorting through the leads, preparing subpoenas and search warrants and assigning priorities to high-volume offenders.

A Wichita police sergeant and two officers have been suspended with pay pending an investigation into a report that the three made inappropriate comments while at a party.

Chief Norman Williams said Friday in a statement that the investigation by the department's Professional Standards Bureau arose from a citizen's complaint about the officers' conduct while they were off duty.

Williams would not disclose the nature of the allegations, but he said the department takes all complaints seriously.

"Such allegations have been and always will be thoroughly investigated and, if necessary, officers will face the appropriate discipline," he said in the statement.

Williams said no further information would be released until the investigation is complete.

In a decision affecting every juvenile criminal case in Kansas, the state Supreme Court has guaranteed juvenile defendants the right to a trial before a jury.

The court ruled Friday that young defendants should be afforded the protections of a jury because the distinctions between juvenile and adult justice have eroded over the past 20 years as lawmakers cracked down on juvenile crime.

The decision sent a shockwave through the juvenile justice community. Prosecutors and judges said the likely result is more juries, longer trials and higher expenses.

"This is huge," said state Sen. Phil Journey, R-Haysville.

But Journey, a criminal defense attorney, said the ruling is justified.

Sedgwick County Republican Party Chairman Kelly Arnold has ruffled a few GOP feathers with an unsolicited e-mail inviting voters to join his campaign for county clerk.

Campaign Notebook has heard from several local GOP'ers wanting to know where Arnold got their addresses.

Arnold said he assembled his e-mail list from his own contacts and those of campaign supporters who wanted to help him spread the word. He said he did not tap official party contact lists.

The message went out through the e-mail marketing firm Constant Contact. Mindy Cohen of Constant Contact said the company tries to limit mass e-mail sends to those who have given permission or have a previous relationship with the client.

Arnold's GOP opponent, Sarah Skelton, questions whether the rules were followed.

The former Cherokee County Attorney pleaded guilty in federal court today to extorting money from a Galena strip club.

Michael L. Goodrich, 48, of Baxter Springs, said in his plea at the federal courthouse in Wichita that he received money and favorable treatment from the owner and employees of Sensations Gentlemen's Club.

In return for favors from the club, Goodrich said he dismissed traffic tickets and other costs.

Extortion carries a federal sentence of up to 20 years in prison. The money and favors Goodrich received from over nearly two years -- from Jan. 21, 2005, through September 2007 -- is estimated at less than $5,000.

"A public servant at any level who exploits his position for improper purposes undermines the people's trust in their government," U.S. Attorney Eric Melgren said in a statement from his office.

Students younger than 18 may be invited to the polls this November -- not to vote, but to work.

They could help meet the need for poll workers in Sedgwick County and other parts of the state.

Bill Gale, Sedgwick County election commissioner, said polls are fully staffed for August primaries, but about 330 more workers will be needed for the November general election.

"The bad thing about that is, when we're short, that means more work for those that are there," Gale said. "Especially with a busy day that we're expecting this November, we'd really like to have those positions filled."

Brad Bryant, state election director, said many Kansas counties are experiencing a shortage.

A former Wichita man who had been living in an Orthodox Jewish community in New Jersey received a federal prison sentence of a year and a day for using a stolen identity.

Ted Riley Floyd must also refrain from using anyone else's name after he's released from prison and during his three years of probation, U.S. District Judge Monti Belot ruled.

Floyd, 28, cannot change his name legally without permission from his probation officer.

The unusual case created a stir in large Orthodox Jewish communities across the East Coast, after Floyd was charged with applying for a passport in Wichita six years ago under an assumed name.

At the time he was arrested this year, Floyd was using that same name, Nathaniel James Levi, and living with his wife and children in the Orthodox Jewish community in Lakewood, N.J.

An inmate facing rape and other sexual assault charges against two children was found dead after apparently hanging himself in his cell at the Franklin County jail, court records show.

Eddie Ray Brannan, 38, of Ottawa, was found at 11:55 a.m. Monday while detention officers were serving lunch, Franklin County Sheriff Craig Davis said. He said Brannan was alone in his cell.

Brannan was taken into custody Thursday by the Ottawa Police Department on suspicion of rape and indecent liberties with a child, Davis said.

Prosecutors charged him with four counts of rape and four counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a 6-year-old, and four counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a 4-year-old. The incidents are alleged to have happened between July 1, 2007, and Thursday, court documents filed Friday show.

Brannan had his first court appearance Monday morning, Franklin County Attorney Heather Jones said.

Echoing comments by Barack Obama, Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius predicts that Republicans would undertake "a major effort to try and frighten people about him" because of his race.

"That has been the Republican playbook for the last eight years," said Sebelius, an Obama ally. "'He's not qualified, he's somebody who should scare you. He's too liberal.' "

Sebelius, a two-term Democrat who is often mentioned as a possible running mate for Obama, said those were all "code words" to try to make voters uncomfortable.

"I don't think anybody's going to go directly at the race issue, but that's going to be an underlying theme," she said in an interview this week.

Obama said much the same thing to an audience in Florida last week.

The apartment fire that killed a 26-year-old Newton man last month has been ruled an arson -- the city's first arson fatality, authorities said Thursday.

Shawn Ormsbee was killed in the fire May 18 at Slate Creek Apartments. Authorities said he died after he reportedly went back into a burning apartment.

Another resident, 34-year-old Sharon Fisher, was treated for minor injuries after jumping from a second-floor balcony. More than a dozen other occupants escaped unharmed, Newton authorities said.

Newton Fire Marshal Randall McBee would not disclose how the fire was set.

But authorities said that two people were seen running from the area moments before the fire was discovered. One was wearing dark pants with wide white or light-colored stripes.

Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said Thursday it's "quite flattering and a little surreal" to be mentioned as a potential running mate for Barack Obama, but she declined to say whether she would accept.

"The decision is his choice," she said during a visit to Denver, where she will serve as co-chairwoman of the Democratic National Convention in August. "I'm sure he'll make a great choice for the country."

Obama has named three people -- including Caroline Kennedy, daughter of the late President John F. Kennedy -- to head his search for a running mate. Among others named as possible candidates are former Sens. John Edwards and Sam Nunn and Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano.

Sebelius, a second-term governor of a predominantly Republican state, has endorsed Obama and campaigned for him in Ohio, where her father, John Gilligan, was governor from 1971 to 1975.

In Denver, Sebelius spoke at a breakfast hosted by the environmental legal group Earthjustice, saying she supports Obama's proposal to commit $150 billion to alternative energy development.

Federal, state and local authorities arrested 125 Kansas fugitives last week.

"These are people who have made an aggressive effort to go underground and avoid the criminal justice system," Walter Bradley, U.S. marshal for Kansas, said at a news conference Friday.

For the third year, U.S. Marshals headed Operation FALCON, which stands for Federal and Local Cops Organized Nationally.

They worked with local authorities in the Wichita, Topeka and Kansas City areas to clear 181 warrants and seize 10 firearms.

"Some people have more than one warrant out for them, so one arrest might clear up two or three warrants," said Daryl Ingermanson, chief deputy marshal for Kansas.

The local Better Business Bureau issued a warning Friday to consumers about two financial scams.

The office has received many calls during the past two weeks about the scams. In one, a "foreign lottery," people are told they've won and are mailed checks ranging from $2,430 to $4,560. They are instructed to deposit about half of the check amount and send the remainder back to pay for processing fees and taxes. The deposited check is worthless, the bureau said.

The bureau advised people to pay attention to the envelope's postmark. The scam letters are mailed from Canada or the United Kingdom.

In another scam, people are invited to be "secret shoppers." They are sent a check and asked to purchase items at a store, then send an evaluation of the products -- along with about half of the money they were sent. Again, the check people deposit is worthless.

Wichita police Lt. Russell Leeds, head of the financial crimes section, said the department has heard from one man who was victimized by the foreign lottery scam recently. The letter he received was from Canada.

A federal judge was unmoved by pleas Friday to delay the imprisonment of a hospitalized Oklahoma doctor who was convicted in an Internet pharmacy case of conspiracy to unlawfully distribute prescription drugs.

U.S. District Judge Wesley Brown denied Wilbur Hilst's request for a second medical extension of his prison reporting date, now scheduled for Monday. Hilst, 76, was hospitalized after a pacemaker was put in Thursday.

On Friday, his attorneys were in court asking for more time to allow him to recuperate and to complete other medical testing.

Defense attorney J.W. Coyle III assured the judge that Hilst will willingly report -- after the judge asked whether he would need to send the U.S. Marshals Service to arrest Hilst.

"Of course we are really disappointed," Coyle said after the hearing. "The level of medical care at the federal Bureau of Prisons is terrible. They have ongoing audits that have shown people incarcerated by the government will not receive the medical care needed."

Her abductor leaves her at pastor's house

The doorbell at Steve Sherbenou's southeast Wichita home rang twice at about 10:30 p.m. Thursday. When the Baptist pastor opened the door, he saw the answer to his prayers.

Joyce Patterson had been missing since Monday after disappearing under suspicious circumstances from a Viola-area convenience store where she works. Sherbenou had publicly pleaded for her safe return. Officers had searched for her, mile after mile, not finding a trace. People around Viola feared the worst.

And now the 48-year-old grandmother stood in front of the man who has served as a pastor for her family. She told Sherbenou that her abductor had dropped her off. She asked for a ride home so she could see her husband, Larry. They have been married nearly three decades.

"I would be delighted to take you home," Sherbenou told her.

The Kansas Supreme Court on Friday publicly censured Sedgwick County District Judge Rebecca Pilshaw.

It was a rare sanction by the state's highest court, and the first such action against a Kansas district judge since 2005.

The court's move agreed with the recommendation of the state's judicial ethics committee in February, based on Pilshaw's losing her temper at prospective jurors during a murder trial in 2004.

The court ruled that Pilshaw violated standards of courtroom decorum.

A public censure is a published reprimand by the court and, while serious, is the least severe sanction the Supreme Court can impose on judges. The court could have suspended Pilshaw or removed her from office.

The Kansas Supreme Court this morning publicly censured Sedgwick County District Judge Rebecca Pilshaw.

The court's move agrees with the recommendation of the state's judicial ethics committee in February, based on Pilshaw's losing her temper at prospective jurors during a murder trial in 2004.

The court ruled that Pilshaw violated standards of courtroom decorum.

The judge's "failure to control her temper and frustrations and her conduct toward potential members of the jury in open court greatly detracted from the honor and dignity of the judiciary," the court ruled in its decision. "Her actions negatively impacted the proper administration of justice in a felony criminal case over which she presided."

A 15-year veteran of the bench and the only woman serving Sedgwick County, Pilshaw is up for re-election in the fall and faces opposition in the Democratic Primary in August.

Former Rep. Jim Slattery is either nipping at the heels of Sen. Pat Roberts or faltering badly.

Depending, of course, on whose polls -- and spin -- you listen to.

Slattery's campaign to unseat Roberts pins its case on a June 8 poll it commissioned, by Cooper & Secrest Associates, that found Roberts at 48 percent and Slattery at 36.

The Slattery campaign celebrated with a press release headlined: "Poll shows Jim Slattery surging. Roberts' support continues to fade, dropping below 50%."

But not wanting to let the Slattery crowd have all the fun, Team Roberts commissioned its own poll through Survey USA.

For nearly a week, the man suspected of abducting a Viola convenience store clerk -- and holding her for days before releasing her -- was nameless, faceless.

Sunday, authorities said they had pieced enough tips and information together to issue a pickup order for a man sought in connection with last Monday's armed robbery and abduction.

He is Robert D. Abner, 39, of Wichita, and he "should be considered armed and dangerous," Sedgwick County Undersheriff Bob Hinshaw said at a media briefing where he provided a photograph of a stocky, bearded Abner.

Abner has not been charged in connection with the abduction. Officials usually do not name a suspect until he has been arrested or charged. In this case, Hinshaw said, law enforcement thought there was a pressing need to warn the public.

Sheriff's detectives and FBI agents have not been able to locate Abner. Hinshaw said he is asking Abner to turn himself in.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has released a photo of the suspect who robbed the Garden Plain State Bank on Friday afternoon.

The robber entered the bank at 1:23 p.m., demanded money and brandished a handgun, but no shots were fired and no injuries were reported, authorities said.

The robber left the bank in downtown Garden Plain on foot. The image released by the FBI came from bank surveillance video.

FBI spokesman Chuck Pritchett said agents are exploring the possibility that the suspect who robbed the bank is Robert D. Abner, who has been identified as a suspect in the abduction of Joyce Patterson of Viola on June 23.

"We're following other leads as well," Pritchett said. "We still haven't determined who's responsible for the bank robbery."

Twenty years before investigators identified Robert D. Abner as the man being sought in the recent armed abduction of a Viola store clerk, he pulled on a ski mask and put a knife to a Wichita woman's throat in a rape attempt, court records say.

In March of 1988, when Abner was 19, prosecutors charged him with attempted rape. The charging document filed in Sedgwick County District Court said he "left his residence looking for a woman to rape, wearing dark clothes, gloves, and a ski mask, armed with a knife" and that he grabbed a woman and put a knife to her throat.

She screamed and struggled, which prevented her from being raped, the document said.

Abner pleaded guilty five months later and received a five-year sentence that was suspended, records show.

On Sunday, a Sedgwick County sheriff's official named Abner as the man being sought by authorities in the June 23 robbery and abduction of Viola convenience store clerk Joyce Patterson.

Pete Reynolds combed through a box of electrical cords like a seasoned garage sale shopper.

But his search was for an item he had already bought -- a camera cord taken from his home during one of more than 65 robberies in the Wichita area, most in May and June.

Reynolds and his wife, Becky, of Goddard, were among the 23 victims raking through loot recovered from searches of three properties following a series of arrests.

Police Tuesday released the names of four of the 10 people linked to a string of home robberies across Wichita and Sedgwick County.

Authorities said a large number of burglaries in which windows or doors were pried open in May led them to suspect a group of burglars.

A 37-year-old woman was taken to the hospital with second-degree burns Tuesday after a man threw a chemical at her during a robbery at Tee Pee's Smoke Shop, 913 E. Harry.

Police Sgt. Dave Armstrong said two men drove up in a silver compact car shortly after 5 p.m., and the passenger went inside and asked for cigars.

Armstrong said the man threw some type of acid or chemical at the woman behind the cash register and took money from the cash drawer.

She was taken to Via Christi -St. Francis with burns to her face and shoulders, Armstrong said.

He said police had to wait for the Wichita Fire Department to ventilate the store before entering.

Johnny Varay Moreno illegally crossed the border from Mexico, prosecutors say, and teamed with two other men to pass counterfeit American currency and forge payroll checks for about $10,000 through eight states.

Newton police broke the case in January and arrested the men. On Tuesday, Moreno received a 40-month sentence in federal prison.

Prosecutor Brent Anderson said Moreno was the leader of the group that passed counterfeit $100 bills with the same serial numbers.

Anderson said the Secret Service had tracked the fake cash through at least eight states, including California, New Mexico, Idaho, Texas and finally Kansas.

Moreno, 23, will be deported after he finishes his prison sentence handed down Tuesday by U.S. Senior District Judge Wesley Brown.

Sen. Pat Roberts raised more than $850,000 for his re-election in the past three months, keeping a wide financial lead over his main Democratic rival.

The Kansas Republican now has more than $3.1 million in the bank to spend on his campaign against former Democratic Rep. Jim Slattery, campaign spokeswoman Molly Haase said Monday.

Slattery raised about $500,000 over the same period, campaign spokeswoman Abbie Hodgson said.

That's less than the $650,000 Roberts spent during the latest quarter -- much of it on television ads. With Slattery hoping to make it a competitive race, Roberts has already been running TV and radio ads around the state for more than two weeks.

Slattery's campaign has about $600,000 cash on hand, Hodgson said. He has spent about $175,000 since entering the race in March.

A Wichita woman in her early 30s was critically injured Friday morning in a one-vehicle accident near the intersection of Maple and Maize Road.

The woman's red pickup was westbound on Maple around 9:30 a.m. when witnesses saw the vehicle near the Target store, weaving and stopping in traffic, police Sgt. Diane Varnell said.

A witness told Varnell that the pickup cut in front of another vehicle in the 10000 block of West Maple. The woman apparently lost control of the pickup and it slid into a ravine, catching fire.

The woman was taken to Via Christi -St. Francis in critical condition, Varnell said. An investigation into the accident is continuing, she said.

A man held for a month in jail under a mistaken identity can't sue Sedgwick County or Sheriff Gary Steed, a federal judge ruled Thursday.

His lawyer said Francisco J. Reyes deserves to have a jury decide if his civil rights were violated when authorities mistakenly matched him to a man wanted in connection with an infant's rape.

"You can be thrown in a cage, held for a month, where nobody listens to you or even bothers to look at photos or mug shots or the actual rapist to compare, and that's just tough luck," said Kurt Kerns, who represents Reyes.

On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Kathryn Vratil of Kansas City granted a request by Wichita lawyer Art Chalmers to dismiss the suit. The judge said Reyes didn't tell authorities in Colorado or Kansas that he wasn't the man wanted on rape charges, so now he can't sue the county or its sheriff.

Kerns said he plans to file an appeal Monday.

A former Westar Energy Inc. executive is trying to invalidate an appeals court decision that could send him back to prison.

Attorneys for David Wittig, the Topeka-based utility's former chief executive, this week asked the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to rehear his appeal of a 24-month prison sentence for bank fraud.

A three-judge panel of the court last month upheld the sentence, which was imposed last year by U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson.

But attorneys for Wittig said the panel simply "rubber-stamped" Robinson's decision and want all 12 appellate judges to reconsider the case.

The court already has thrown out two previous sentences of 51 and 60 months against Wittig as too harsh and had recommended Robinson sentence him to no more than six months.