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Jonell K. Lloyd was charged Wednesday with first-degree murder and child abuse in the death last week of 1-year-old Chavira Brown.

The girl's body was found early Friday in the attic of the home where Lloyd was staying in the 1500 block of North Green, authorities have said.

In charging Lloyd, 23, prosecutors alleged that he tortured, beat and shook the child, and she died as a result.

Sedgwick County District Judge Eric Yost set Lloyd's bond at $500,000 and scheduled his preliminary hearing for 9:30 a.m. on Aug. 20.

The toddler's mother had dropped her off with Lloyd last month and asked him to watch her for about a week while she underwent and recovered from minor surgery.

The woman who served as secretary of state for the so-called Kaweah Indian Nation testified Wednesday that she heard the man she knew as "Chief" tell illegal immigrants a membership in his tribe would grant them U.S. citizenship.

Malcolm Webber is standing trial in Wichita this week on seven criminal charges, including harboring illegal immigrants and conspiracy to defraud the United States.

Federal prosecutors say Webber made more than $300,000 by selling memberships in the so-called Kaweah tribe to more than 10,000 illegal immigrants in about 15 states under the false pretense that it would grant them legal status in the country.

Webber's defense said he operated a legitimate tribe in good faith, believing that he could one day fulfill those promises, and he didn't seek to get rich off the memberships.

During Webber's trial Wednesday at the federal courthouse in Wichita, Debra Flynn said she met Webber nine years ago, just after she and her husband, Chuck, were married and joined a church on South Broadway where Webber served as pastor.

Frustrated by violence at local nightclubs in recent weeks, police on Tuesday announced plans to toughen ordinances governing club licensing.

Closing time has gotten out of hand at a handful of clubs around town, they say, and it's time to put a stop to that.

"Citizens have had enough of that kind of conduct," Deputy Police Chief Tom Stolz said.

Brandon Moore, 22, was shot to death inside Big Chub's King of Clubs at 31st South and Seneca early July 27.

A man who was shot at a stoplight July 20 after an argument in a club at Broadway and 37th North died Tuesday at a local hospital, police said.

James Ware, whom police shot several times in the parking lot of Max's Club on South Rock Road early Sunday, has been upgraded to serious condition at a local hospital.

Authorities have said three officers shot at Ware, 34, after he refused to put down a rifle and turned to point it in the crowded parking lot shortly after 2 a.m.

Ware's mother and others have claimed he was not armed when he was shot. Police released a photo Tuesday of the AR-15 semiautomatic rifle confiscated from the scene. The rifle, a civilian model of the military's M-16, was loaded and ready for use, officials said.

Deputy Police Chief Tom Stolz called the rifle "a human killing machine."

The three officers were 15 to 30 feet from Ware when they opened fire, officials said.

Jurors deliberated less than an hour before finding Marques Eason not guilty of felony abuse of an animal.

The verdict Tuesday afternoon was the culmination of a daylong trial in the first case tried in Sedgwick County under a 2006 law that makes animal abuse a felony.

Eason had testified that he accidentally dropped a 4-month-old Dachshund mix puppy, fatally injuring it.

Attorney Lawrence Williamson asked the jury to give Eason's testimony the same credence as that of the state's witnesses.

"The family of this puppy allowed him to continue to care for their other dog through May of 2008 -- and this happened in November 2006," Williamson said in his closing arguments, referring to Eason. "Everyone but the state knows this is an accident."

Shawnee County reported problems Wednesday with its election results that could alter vote totals in some races, including a hotly contested Republican primary in the 2nd Congressional District.

Election Commissioner Elizabeth Ensley attributed the problems to human error and said they prevented partial results from 40 precincts from being included in vote totals.

Ensley didn't have an exact number of votes involved but said, "It will be hundreds, yes."

She did not give more details about the problems but planned to discuss them during a news conference Wednesday afternoon.

In the 2nd District race, State Treasurer Lynn Jenkins appeared to win a narrow victory over former Rep. Jim Ryun. They were 1,007 votes apart out of more than 63,000 cast, but Jenkins carried Shawnee County by more than 1,800 votes.

Undersheriff Bob Hinshaw took a major step toward becoming the next Sedgwick County sheriff on Tuesday when he defeated Wichita's Deputy Police Chief Robert Lee and three other candidates in the Republican primary election.

Hinshaw, a 29-year veteran of the Sheriff's Office, finished with a comfortable lead of 41 percent to Lee's 35 percent. Lee is a 27-year Wichita police veteran who has been deputy chief since 2002.

The other three candidates in the race collected 22 percent of the vote.

Hinshaw faces former Wichita police Lt. Walt Kuykendall, the only Democrat in the race, in the November general election.

Hinshaw is expected to be a heavy favorite in that race in a county that has not elected a Democrat to the office in nearly 25 years.

Karl Peterjohn handily defeated Sedgwick County Commissioner Tom Winters on Tuesday in an upset seen by some as a sign taxpayers are fed up.

Peterjohn, who promised to take any new taxes to voters for approval, beat Winters, the commission chairman, by about 1,100 votes for the Republican nomination in District 3.

Peterjohn, who has run for office before, said winning is better than losing.

He will face Democrat Marcey Gregory, Goddard's mayor, in the November general election. She beat Patrick Quaney by more than 400 votes.

District 3 covers much of western Sedgwick County, including some of west Wichita.

The only woman on the Sedgwick County judicial bench held on to a slim lead over her Democratic rival to win her primary race Tuesday night.

Rebecca Pilshaw, a judge since 1993, won by 248 votes in the unofficial count -- a slim 3 percent margin over challenger Ross Alexander.

It marked the third time in four years an incumbent judge faced primary opposition in a Sedgwick County election; Pilshaw was the first to win.

Pilshaw must now beat Republican J. Patrick Walters in November's general election to retain the office.

"I knew it would be a close race," Alexander said. "But apparently the Democratic voters in Sedgwick County want to keep her as a judge."

State Reps. Oletha Faust-Goudeau and Ty Masterson will be continuing their bids to switch chambers in November as both appeared to win their primaries Tuesday.

Wichitan Faust-Goudeau won the Democratic primary by a wide margin for the 29th Senate District, while Masterson, an Andover Republican running in Senate District 16, was leading in incomplete results late Tuesday.

Faust-Goudeau, who also celebrated her 49th birthday Tuesday, defeated challenger Kelechi "KC" Ohaebosim, 29.

Faust-Goudeau, who was appointed to the House of Representatives in 2004, will face Wichita Republican Kenya Cox in the November general election. Both women are black.

Regardless of the outcome in November, history was made on Tuesday night. No matter who wins, the Kansas Senate will seat its first black female senator when the 2009 session opens.

Former Rep. Jim Ryun's attempt at a political comeback was in trouble Tuesday as he trailed in the 2nd Congressional District GOP primary to State Treasurer Lynn Jenkins.

The winner will face incumbent Democrat Nancy Boyda, who defeated Ryun two years ago after he served five terms in Washington.

The district covers all or part of 26 counties in eastern Kansas.

Ryun and Jenkins continued to campaign throughout the day, calling voters and visiting with them during the lunch hour. Turnout was expected to be sparse in the 2nd District, but those who ventured out in the summer heat cited high energy prices and low performance from the economy as key issues.

Democrats said they were supporting Boyda, and if they had to choose between Jenkins and Ryun, would support Jenkins.

Gail Finney, a marketing consultant and vice chair of the Sedgwick County Democrat Party, beat out medical assistant Inga Taylor for the 84th District House seat.

It was one of the more clear-cut victories in primaries in the Wichita area for three open House seats.

Finney won the 84th seat despite Taylor raising roughly $10,000 more, some of which was due to an influx of donations from Victory Fund and an affiliate, Kansas for a Diverse Voice at the Table, which supports openly lesbian and gay people running for public office.

Taylor, who has run for office before, said the financial support was about making sure she had enough money to get her message out.

"I wasn't running on, 'Hey, I'm gay,' " said Taylor."... It always has been about the issues."

It was a typical primary election scene at the Hughes Metropolitan Complex near 29th North and Oliver -- no lines, no waiting, only two of eight voting machines occupied.

And Erma Markham didn't like it.

"It's a mediocre turnout," said Markham, supervising judge for the location. "I don't think we have educated the public enough. They don't know how important the primaries are."

Voters in Sedgwick County chose nominees for sheriff, county commission, and several legislative and judicial seats.

Election Commissioner Bill Gale said turnout for Tuesday's primary was "on the lighter side," with just 15 percent of the county's 241,052 registered voters casting a ballot.

Former Rep. Jim Slattery had little trouble winning the Democratic Senate nomination in Tuesday's primary.

But his race this fall against Republican Sen. Pat Roberts is likely to give Slattery fits.

With 11 percent of the state's precincts reporting, Slattery had 70 percent of the vote against Lee Jones, an Overland Park railroad engineer.

Roberts had no primary opponent and figures to be a prohibitive favorite for re-election this fall. Kansas traditionally leans GOP, and no Democrat has won a Senate race since 1932.

Roberts is seeking his third term in the Senate. Slattery represented the 2nd District, in eastern Kansas, in the House from 1983 to 1994 before becoming a Washington lobbyist.

The race for Sedgwick County clerk that pitted two of the county's top Republican activists against each other turned out not to be much of a contest in the end.

Kelly Arnold, county Republican Party chairman, won easily over Sarah Skelton, former Wichita school board member and vice president of the Wichita Pachyderm Club.

Arnold, 30, took about a 60 percent lead in the early returns and held it through the night.

Arnold said his ground game -- platoons of volunteers working targeted precincts -- was what gave him the margin of victory.

"I really relied on my grassroots supporters to get my message out," he said.

U.S. SENATE RACE

• Jim Slattery, D-Topeka

• Pat Roberts (i), R-Dodge City

U.S. HOUSE

4TH DISTRICT

Harvey County voters on Tuesday ousted Sheriff Arlis "A.J." Wuthnow, who was involved in a controversy over no-bid work his family's electrical business did for the office he oversees.

With all ballots counted, challenger Bruce Jolliff defeated Wuthnow in the Republican primary. Jolliff had about 55 percent of the vote, said Harvey County Clerk Joyce Truskett. Turnout was low.

Wuthnow declined to comment Tuesday night.

Jolliff said he didn't know what voters based their decision on but said he would continue to focus on his experience in the general election. He is a former Newton police lieutenant and now is a trainer with the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center in Hutchinson.

Jolliff said Harvey County has a strong Republican base, which would help him in the November election. He will face Democrat T. Walton, a Newton police lieutenant.

Carmen Zamora testified Thursday that $30,000 a day came through the office of the so-called Kaweah Indian Nation from illegal immigrants hoping to attain permanent residency in this country.

Zamora said she handed stacks of checks and money orders to Malcolm Webber while receiving applications for membership in the unrecognized tribe.

The U.S. government contends the Kaweahs never were a real American Indian tribe, as Webber -- who led the Kaweahs -- stands trial on charges including harboring illegal aliens and fraud.

Zamora, a native of El Salvador who was working legally in this country, said she believed Webber's claims, as did thousands across the country hoping to find a permanent home in America.

She remembered Webber saying that people from Latin America were originally from American Indian descent, forced out by European settlers.

The two candidates vying to replace Tom Winters on the Sedgwick County Commission say they plan to be cautious about future spending, but they aren't ready to stop any current county projects.

Marcey Gregory and Karl Peterjohn say that if they win the job in November they will scrutinize spending and budgets. They say taxpayers demand that level of accountability and that's why Winters lost his seat Tuesday after nearly 16 years.

They say theydon't plan to block ongoing projects -- such as the Intrust Bank Arena and an aviation training center -- but they don't plan to take on other projects until the county gives taxpayers some relief.

Asked whether he would try to halt any current programs, Peterjohn said, "At the moment, no. But I'm looking at ways to limit the growth in county spending."

Peterjohn, a Republican and executive director of the Kansas Taxpayers Network, defeated Winters in Tuesday's primary election.

State Treasurer Lynn Jenkins widened her margin of victory Wednesday over Jim Ryun in the 2nd Congressional District GOP primary after some Shawnee County ballots were reviewed.

County Election Commissioner Elizabeth Ensley said 4,446 ballots were counted after a human data-input error kept them from being reflected as the votes were counted Tuesday. The problem was discovered Wednesday in 40 precincts, and all results were reviewed and retabulated.

The change gave Jenkins a 1,379-vote victory, according to final, unofficial results. She beat Ryun 51 percent to 49 percent out of more than 66,500 votes cast.

Jenkins picked up 374 votes when Ensley's office reviewed the results, which include the city of Topeka.

Jenkins' victory means she faces Democrat Nancy Boyda, who beat Ryun in 2006, in the November general election.

What will Phill Kline do now?

Johnson County's lame duck district attorney wasn't talking Wednesday. But some of those who know him were.

"Somebody this talented just isn't going to go away," said Kline supporter Mary Kay Culp, executive director of Kansans for Life. "If nothing else, every pro-life group in the country is going to clamor for him."

What Kline won't do, if he has any political smarts, is run for another office, observers said.

"In terms of his capacity to run and win an elective office in the state of Kansas, he may be at the end of the line -- at least for the near future," said Joe Aistrup, chairman of the political science department at Kansas State University.

Eduviges del Carmen-Zamora testified in federal court Thursday that $30,000 a day flowed through the office of the so-called Kaweah Indian Nation from illegal immigrants hoping to buy permanent residency in this country.

Zamora said she handed stacks of money orders to Malcolm Webber attached to applications for membership in the unrecognized tribe.

Prosecutors contend the Kaweahs aren't a real American Indian tribe, as Webber stands trial in Wichita on charges including harboring illegal aliens and fraud.

The defense, meanwhile, indicated Webber may not have been the "grand chief" the prosecution claims.

Zamora said she believed Webber's promise, as did thousands seeking a permanent legal home in America. She remembered Webber saying that people from Latin America were originally of American Indian descent and were forced out by European settlers.

As many as 30 people protested Thursday in front of Wichita City Hall over police officers shooting a 34-year-old man early Sunday at a southeast Wichita club.

Carrying signs with phrases such as "Stop Police Brutality" and "End Racial Profiling," the protesters said they want to call attention to James Ware's shooting in the parking lot of Max's Club, 1206 S. Rock Road.

Police said that Ware refused to put down a rifle he had retrieved from his car, and the officers fired when he turned toward them with the gun.

Family members have said Ware was unarmed at the time and did nothing to warrant being shot.

Wichita police earlier this week released a photo of the semiautomatic rifle confiscated from the scene. Ware was in fair condition Thursday at Wesley Medical Center.

A recent spike in gun violence is obscuring the fact that weapon-related crimes have fallen significantly in Wichita so far this year, police said Thursday.

The latest shooting occurred Wednesday night, when a man police described as a documented gang member ambushed another man arriving home from work, shooting him several times in his driveway. The victim was taken to Wesley Medical Center, where he was in critical condition Thursday. The suspect was arrested a few blocks away as he fled.

Capt. Brent Allred on Thursday acknowledged a recent surge in assaults with weapons.

"We see this spike, generally, in the summer months," he said. "People are outside.... Kids are out of school. There's more stuff going on. The weather's hotter. The economy's not the best right now. There's a lot of factors that contribute to it."

The victim and his attacker, both 21, had an argument two days ago that also involved several other people at the victim's house in the 1600 block of North Erie, Allred said. Investigators are trying to determine whether that fight led to the shooting.

Lynn Jenkins and Nancy Boyda campaigned Thursday at the Statehouse as candidates for change, saying that not much in Congress is working.

The two have less than three months before voters decide who wins the 2nd Congressional District seat.

Jenkins, the two-term state treasurer, was joined in the House by former Rep. Jim Ryun, whom she beat Tuesday in the Republican primary. Ryun pledged support for Jenkins, congratulating her for a good race.

"I believe our party is more united than ever," Jenkins said. "It is obvious that we are excited and motivated."

Ryun wouldn't say whether he is finished with politics or what went wrong in his comeback attempt. He served five terms before losing in 2006 to Boyda, defeated as part of a national wave of change that cost Republicans their congressional majorities.

Prosecutor Phill Kline's chief deputy, who is running for Shawnee County district attorney, is promising that if he's elected, Kline won't have a role in his office.

Eric Rucker's ties to Kline, the Johnson County district attorney, became an issue in Rucker's successful Republican primary race against two-term Shawnee County District Attorney Robert Hecht. Rucker's Democratic challenger, Chad Taylor, also has raised the question.

Kline lost his Republican primary race in Johnson County, where he was seeking a full four-year term as district attorney, having been appointed to the job in December 2006. Kline is a former attorney general who has received national attention for investigating abortion clinics.

Rucker was chief deputy attorney general for four years when Kline was attorney general, and then joined Kline's staff in Johnson County.

But Rucker told the Topeka Capital Journal that if he's elected Shawnee County district attorney, he won't offer Kline a job or sign any contracts with him, and won't have Kline as an unpaid adviser.

McCain, Obama get their lives illustrated

The presidential race is coming to the world of comic books this fall.

A month before voters cast ballots, comic book biographies of John McCain and Barack Obama will hit book stores and be available for reading on cell phones.

But don't expect Captain America-versus-Superman high jinks or super-villains threatening the electoral process. The books purport to tell McCain and Obama's true life stories, independently researched and illustrated by a team of veteran writers and artists.

IDW Publishing in San Diego, better known for stories of robots ("The Transformers") and vampires ("30 Days of Night"), commissioned the books with no input from either campaign.

One recent night, John and Linda Aggson walked into the General Station convenience store and were stunned by who they saw. Until then, they didn't know that Joyce Patterson had returned to work at the store where her highly publicized abduction began.

On June 23, an armed robber took Patterson, 48, from the store, held her captive at a secluded Wichita house for three days and sexually assaulted her before releasing her, investigators say. While she was missing, authorities circulated her name and picture.

The suspect, Robert D. Abner, 39, has been charged with robbery, kidnapping and multiple sex crimes and is being held under a $500,000 bond.

On that recent night, as the Aggsons stepped into the store, there was Patterson, just doing her job: waiting on customers, making pizzas, mopping floors.

But things are different. Now Patterson is receiving gestures of kindness from customers who didn't know her name before.

For nine months before Jonell K. Lloyd was arrested and charged with murdering 17-month-old Chavira Brown, he was a fugitive.

Since early November 2007, Lloyd, 23, had been wanted for not returning to a Wichita residential center where he was serving part of his probation for aggravated battery and criminal possession of a firearm.

Sedgwick County deputies responsible for pursuing fugitives tried several times to locate Lloyd, a sheriff's official said.

Had Lloyd been caught before the girl's death, "odds are he would have gone to prison" based on his probation violations and his criminal record, said Mark Masterson, director of the Sedgwick County Department of Corrections, which was supervising him.

On Aug. 1, police found Chavira's body in the attic of a house in the 1500 block of North Green -- the same area where deputies said they had looked for Lloyd several times. He had been living there for about the past six months, said his 21-year-old girlfriend, Temeika Loudermilk, who was renting the house.

In their annual "Drunk Driving. Over the Limit. Under Arrest" campaign, law enforcement agencies across the state are cracking down on people who drive drunk.

This is the third year for the stepped-up enforcement blitz, which begins Aug. 14 and lasts through Labor Day.

Wichita police announced the campaign Friday, the same day police stepped up DUI enforcement in west Wichita through the department's "Point 08 on 08-08-08" effort.

That campaign, which ended at 3 a.m. today, targeted drivers whose blood alcohol content is above the .08 percent legal limit.

The number of traffic fatalities resulting from DUI reported between January and July dropped from seven in 2006 to five this year, according to the department.

A federal judge Friday refused to dismiss charges against the self-proclaimed grand chief of the Kaweah Indian Nation.

U.S. District Judge Wesley Brown denied a defense motion that claimed the evidence did not overcome a "good faith" defense that Malcolm Webber did not intend to commit any crimes.

"The notion he might have an altruistic motive in doing this is irrelevant," Assistant U.S. Attorney Brent Anderson told the judge.

Webber, 70, is charged in federal court with selling memberships costing $50 to more than $1,000 apiece to legal and illegal immigrants by claiming that tribal membership conferred U.S. citizenship and other benefits.

The judge's ruling came as the prosecution wrapped up its case Friday with the lengthy testimony by its lead investigator, Roger Visnaw.

Autopsy results released Friday on two girls who were gunned down while walking on a country road show one had five gunshot wounds and the other had eight.

Skyla Jade Whitaker, 11, and her friend, Taylor Paschal-Placker, 13, were shot June 8 a half-mile north of Taylor's home in the town of Weleetka, 70 miles south of Tulsa. No arrests have been made.

The state medical examiner's office said the younger girl had eight wounds to the arms, chest, abdomen and neck, and the older girl had five gunshot wounds to the head, groin and hand.

Investigators say two guns were used, leading to the presumption at least two people were involved. The isolated nature of the crime scene has led investigators to theorize local people might have been involved. No motive has been identified.

The autopsies did not indicate any sexual trauma.

A Sedgwick County judge Friday ordered Robert Abner evaluated for mental competency.

Abner, 39, is accused of kidnapping and raping a Viola convenience store clerk. He's charged with one count of aggravated robbery, one count of aggravated kidnapping, two counts of aggravated criminal sodomy and six counts of rape.

Deputy public defender Jama Mitchell told Sedgwick County District Judge Joe Kisner that she believes Abner has mental problems that prevent him from adequately defending himself against the charges. The prosecution took no position on Mitchell's motion.

Kisner ordered Abner to be evaluated by Comcare, the county's community mental health program.

That means the case will be put on hold for at least 60 days. If Comcare professionals determine that Abner is mentally incompetent, he could be sent to Larned State Hospital for a 90-day evaluation.

A federal jury has convicted a Minnesota man in connection with a 550-pound cocaine bust, one of the largest in Kansas history.

The jury found 28-year-old Nestor Ramirez of New Brighton, Minn., guilty this week of one count of conspiracy and one count of possession with intent to distribute cocaine.

In October 2007, a Franklin County sheriff's deputy arrested Ramirez and co-defendant Manuel Barraza-Martinez -- who was convicted of the same charges on Aug. 1 -- on I-35. The Sheriff's Department seized the cocaine from an electronically operated hidden compartment in the cargo truck the men were operating.

Ramirez is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 3. Barraza-Martinez, a 21-year-old from Richfield, Minn., will be sentenced on Oct. 27. Each faces 10 years to life in prison.

A change of plea interrupted the trial of Tiffany Berry this week in Sedgwick County District Court.

Lawyers halted the trial Thursday, as Berry, 26, pleaded no contest to a new charge of voluntary manslaughter.

A no contest plea doesn't admit guilt but acknowledges that prosecutors have enough evidence to earn a conviction.

Berry pleaded to aiding the killing of Michael Moya Nov. 19 during a shooting in the heat of the moment. She had been standing trial on charges of first-degree felony murder and two counts of armed robbery.

Moya was shot multiple times in a house at 104 E. Eighth St. and Keena Elam was injured in what police said was a robbery that netted about $400 in cash.

discontent with incumbents

Some people are apparently so mad at Wichita's city government, they voted to dump their county commissioner.

There could be many reasons Commission Chairman Tom Winters lost Tuesday, including remnants of opposition to the county's downtown arena, a 2006 county tax increase and a recent flip-flop on the need for a new county jail.

But challenger Karl Peterjohn apparently also benefited from irritation over recent City Council decisions, especially a $6 million low-interest loan to save the struggling Old Town Warren Theatre.

Campaign precinct walkers started hearing from voters about the loan as soon as it hit the news in mid-June, said Peterjohn's treasurer, Kim Potochnik.

The race for the 84th House District is history, but it will take time for the scars from the campaign's final week to heal.

Candidate Inga Taylor says she feels hurt not because she lost, but because, she says, fellow Democrat Gail Finney used Taylor's sexuality against her to win.

Finney did not return phone messages seeking comment Friday, but issued a joint statement with Sedgwick County Democratic Party Chairman Kelly Johnston and Thomas Witt, chairman of the Kansas Equality Coalition, a gay-rights group.

"My goal always has been, and will continue to be, to represent and advocate for all Kansans," Finney said in the statement. "A major concern of my campaign was the excessive influence of out-of-state money. It was never my intention to upset or offend anyone."

Taylor is a lesbian and received substantial financial support nationwide through a connection to the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, a Washington-based political action committee.

Republicans are eyeing a Wichita district they lost to Democrats in 2004.

Democrats are eyeing a Wichita district they lost to Republicans that year.

Both parties hope to pick up more legislative seats in south-central Kansas in the Nov. 4 general election.

"People are not happy with the general state of the economy, and that will be likely reflected in a Democratic-leaning electorate," said Sedgwick County Democratic Chairman Kelly Johnston, adding that higher turnout because of the presidential election could help, too.

Sedgwick County Republican Chairman Kelly Arnold thinks otherwise.

Donavan Thompson's defense lawyer on Wednesday began questioning eyewitness accounts of the shooting of nightclub owner Teresa Hastings last summer.

Thompson, 21, is charged with first-degree murder. His lawyer, Gary Owens, argues there are too many discrepancies among eyewitnesses to definitively identify Thompson as the shooter.

Those witnesses include Russell Barrett, a friend of Hastings who grabbed her hand when the shooting started, trying to pull her to safety.

Barrett testified Wednesday he was sure Thompson fired the gun.

"I saw Donavan Thompson reach into the passenger side of a car and pull out a gun," Barrett said.

A campout for North High's senior class ended early Wednesday morning when four teens -- two current North students and two former students -- set off acid bombs on school grounds as a prank, officials said.

Wichita district security officers monitoring the campout spotted the teens on the roof of one of the school's annex buildings at about 1:15 a.m., said Capt. Max Tenbrook of the special operations bureau.

Two of the acid bombs went off on the roof, and two others went off elsewhere as the youths were being taken into custody, he said.

No injuries were reported, but "we did have to gather up all the kids and get them to go home," said Susan Arensman, a spokeswoman for the district.

The campout for seniors has been held for the past six years, Arensman said, and the seniors then welcome North's incoming freshmen the next morning for their orientation to the school.

Meth labs are on the rise again throughout Kansas, state law enforcement officials said Wednesday, making this week's launch of a Web-based pharmacy monitoring program all the more vital.

An estimated 128 pharmacies in 62 counties are taking part in MethShield, a 12-month pilot program that offers real-time reports on the sale of medications that can be used to make meth.

"Meth continues to just be a terrible problem for Kansas," said Jeff Brandau, a special agent in charge for the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. "We are just inundated."

The KBI uncovered 97 meth labs through July, matching the total for all of last year. While that is well below the totals of a few years ago, Brandau said it reflects a troubling turnaround.

"It's a progression of people learning how to bypass the safeguards we have put in place" through laws limiting how much pseudoephedrine can be bought within a day or a month, Brandau said.

The leader of a group that claims to be an American Indian tribe was found guilty Wednesday of defrauding immigrants by falsely telling them tribal membership would make them U.S. citizens.

Malcolm Webber, 70, was found guilty Wednesday of six charges arising from the unrecognized tribe's efforts to sell memberships. After seven hours of deliberations, a jury in U.S. District Court in Wichita found Webber not guilty on one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States by submitting false passport applications.

Webber was convicted on two counts of harboring illegal immigrants, two counts of possession of false documents with intent to defraud the United States, one count of conspiracy with intent to defraud the United States and one count of mail fraud.

After the verdicts were read, U.S. District Judge Wesley Brown told jurors the attorneys had agreed to have the court, rather than jurors, decide on the forfeiture of the proceeds from the criminal acts. Prosecutors estimate the fraud at about $1.2 million.

Sentencing was set for Nov 3. Webber, who showed no emotion as the verdicts were read, remained free on bond.

Just hours before someone shot Teresa Hastings in the throat outside the Wichita bar she owned, she took her teenage son to see the murder mystery "Disturbia."

Later that night, June 5, 2007, a fight broke out at Half-Time Sports Bar on Harry near Hillside, and Hastings became a murder victim herself. At 42, she was gunned down after refusing to let several young gang members into her bar without showing identification, authorities and witnesses say.

As a gravely wounded Hastings lay in a growing pool of blood outside the bar door, friends and loved ones tried to save her, witnesses testified Tuesday. A bar doorman kept pressure on her wound. Someone tried to keep her airway clear. "Teresa, hold on, hold on," they pleaded.

Chris Hastings, the son who saw the murder mystery with her, testified in District Court on Tuesday that he heard gunshots as he stood near his mother in front of the bar, and that he "bent down and tried and tried to make her stop bleeding."

Donavan Thompson, 21, is on trial this week, charged with first-degree murder in Hastings' death. Thompson is also charged with aggravated battery against Brad Huffman, 26, a friend of Hastings who suffered a bullet wound in the back of his neck.

A Topeka man was sentenced to 32 months in prison Tuesday for a December shooting that killed an 18-year-old hunter.

Judge Merlin Wheeler sentenced Thomas Theron Kent, 57, in Lyon County District Court.

Beau Arndt of Americus and two friends were hunting and hiding amid goose decoys in rural Lyon County early Dec. 15 when Kent and two friends drove down a nearby road.

Kent stopped his pickup and fired a high-powered rifle into the decoys. Arndt, an Emporia State freshman, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Kent was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter for Arndt's death, illegal hunting and unlawful shooting.

Jurors began deliberations Tuesday in the federal trial of a man accused of selling tribal membership to immigrants by claiming it conferred U.S. citizenship and other benefits.

The defense rested without calling witnesses to the stand on behalf of Malcolm Webber, the self-proclaimed chief of the Kaweah Indian Nation. The jury deliberated about four hours Tuesday afternoon and returns to U.S. District Court today to continue its work.

Prosecutors contend the group sold tribal memberships to more than 15,000 people nationwide, often through Hispanic churches, for $50 to more than $1,000 each.

Webber's defense contended in closing arguments that he did not have any criminal intent and was simply trying to help people.

The government denied federal recognition of Webber's group in 1985, saying it was not an authentic Indian tribe and that the 70-year-old Webber, who calls himself Grand Chief Thunderbird IV, has no Indian ancestry.