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The calendar may not agree, but with many Wichita area students returning to the classroom today and Thursday, summer is pretty much over.

And that means Wichita drivers will need to be alert for children and buses.

Local law enforcement officials will make sure they do.

"We're going to be monitoring the school zones as well as making sure that people yield to the stop signs on the buses," said Capt. John Speer, commander of the Patrol South bureau. "The flashing lights haven't been on all summer long. Sometimes people forget to watch for them."

Students in the sixth and ninth grades at Wichita's public schools will attend an orientation day today, said Susan Arensman, a spokeswoman for the district. The remaining students in the district will begin classes Thursday.

Wichita police are still looking for a white SUV involved in an altercation at a north Wichita nightclub early Sunday morning that left four people injured -- one of them seriously.

An argument that began inside the Babydolls nightclub, 4900 N. Arkansas, shortly before 2 a.m., escalated into a physical altercation in the parking lot, Lt. Todd Ojile said.

During the fight, an 18-year-old man was stabbed nine times in the lower back and side with a pocket knife. A second man, 28, intervened and was stabbed four times in the lower back, Ojile said.

The SUV then raced through the parking lot in an attempt to leave the scene and sideswiped a 32-year-old man later identified as the stabbing suspect, his 23-year-old female acquaintance and the second man stabbed, Ojile said.

Babydolls manager Tonya Butler said her nightclub has 30 surveillance cameras, and video from that morning has been given to the police to assist their investigation.

The first-degree murder trial of Donovan Thompson -- charged in the June 2007 shooting of bar owner Teresa Hastings -- begins today.

During jury selection Monday, prosecutor C.J. Rieg and defense lawyer Gary Owens tried to determine whether prospective jurors were up to the task.

Rieg told the nearly 40 prospective jurors seated in the courtroom: "You're going to get bits and pieces of what people saw. Does anybody have a problem with that?"

Her point: Crimes aren't clear-cut, and there are missing pieces.

At Thompson's April preliminary hearing, a witness said a fight broke out when gang members tried to force their way into Half-Time Sports Bar, 3120 E. Harry.

A lawsuit filed by three Hispanic families against the Catholic Diocese of Wichita challenging a policy that requires students to speak only English while at school goes to trial in federal court today.

"What happened at that school constitutes race discrimination under federal anti-discrimination laws -- that is why it is important. That needs to be stopped," said Christopher McHugh, the attorney representing three 12-year-old students named as plaintiffs in the civil litigation.

The lawsuit seeks an end to the policy and asks for an order barring similar policies at other Catholic schools in the Wichita diocese.

The plaintiffs are claiming the policy violates the Civil Rights Act and another federal statute by intentionally discriminating against the sixth-grade students and causing a hostile educational environment.

The diocese contended in court filings that the English-only rule is not discriminatory and did not cause a hostile environment. It contends the rule was implemented at St. Anne Catholic School as a legitimate response to inappropriate behavior by a few middle school students.

Looking for clues on Barack Obama's pick for a running mate? Consider the Democratic National Convention's theme for the night the vice presidential candidate speaks: national security.

Political tea leaf readers would argue that bodes well for Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joe Biden, D-Del.; Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Democratic Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, who accompanied Obama on his trip to Iraq and Afghanistan; and Sam Nunn, former Georgia senator and one-time Armed Services Committee chairman.

Democrats, who announced several of their speakers on Sunday, described their themes on Monday as well as plans for a series of town-hall meetings during the convention with elected leaders and policy experts. The convention begins Aug. 25.

"There's no question that Americans are desperately looking for change and new ways to conduct business in this country. They want a new direction, they want to know that their government has not forgotten them and their lives. We felt that the Democratic convention was a great way to kick off the momentum for change," said Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, a co-chair of the convention who also has been mentioned as a possible vice presidential pick.

She said people in eight cities will be asked their views on nightly themes for the convention built around keynote speeches and convention speakers will respond live to issues and questions from participants. The cities are Atlanta; Columbus, Ohio; Denver; Detroit; Philadelphia; Raleigh, N.C.; Richmond, Va.; and Tampa -- all are in potential swing states.

Voters will decide Nov. 4 whether to approve the state's largest bond issue for Wichita schools -- a bond made $20 million larger to include all originally proposed athletic improvements.

The school board voted unanimously Monday night to increase the bond issue from $350 million to $370 million and place it before voters the day of the presidential election.

The board's decision elicited a standing ovation from the crowd of school employees, aircraft industry executives and residents gathered to speak about the bond issue.

"This whole bond issue is about kids," said board member Connie Dietz before making a surprise motion to raise the amount of the bond proposal.

"It's about stronger futures... and it includes fine arts, tech ed and physical education."

The defense rested its case Friday in the trial of a Wichita man charged in the fatal shooting last year of nightclub owner Teresa Hastings.

When jurors begin deliberations Monday, they will be asked to consider the testimony of several defense witnesses who said Friday that the defendant did not fire the fatal shot.

Donavan Thompson is charged with first-degree murder in Hastings' death and aggravated battery in the wounding of a 26-year-old man. Thompson did not testify.

During the first week of the trial, witnesses for the state said a fight broke out at Half-Time Sports Bar at 3120 E. Harry after several young gang members were denied admission because they lacked identification.

One of the witnesses identified Thompson, 21, as the man who took a gun from a car and begin firing. Hastings, 42, died of a gunshot wound to the throat.

A federal judge ruled Friday that a Wichita Catholic school policy requiring students to speak only English didn't break any civil rights laws.

But U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten criticized both sides in the lawsuit for the way they handled the conflict and characterized St. Anne Catholic School's implementation of its English-only policy as "one-sided."

"It has divided a school, its church and congregation," Marten said. "It has divided the Hispanic community in its congregation. And it has touched a nerve in this community and across the nation."

But Marten said the policy didn't rise to the level of a "hostile educational environment" -- the legal standard applying to this case -- and denied a request from three Hispanic families to end the practice at St. Anne.

Marten said school administrators resisted working with Spanish-speaking parishioners to resolve a dispute that seemed to single those students out.

Suspect's pit bulls ran loose

Even though Jonell Lloyd was a fugitive for nine months, that didn't stop him from keeping pit bulls that terrorized his Wichita neighbors.

Because of his dogs, officers knocked on the door where he lived -- less than two days before authorities allege he killed 17-month-old Chavira Brown and hid her body in the attic.

It's not clear whether Lloyd was in the house when officers knocked. No one came to the door early that morning.

For several months, Lloyd lived with his girlfriend in the house she rented at 1556 N. Green, and his pit bulls kept getting loose, neighbors say.

The state's Fair Campaign Practices Statement is long on idealism but way short on execution.

That became obvious this week in the follow-up on a campaign news release from Dick Kelsey, R-Goddard, a state representative seeking a Senate seat.

In the release, Kelsey proudly proclaimed that he had signed the state's fair-campaign pledge, which calls on candidates to renounce lies, last-minute attack ads, false charges or appeals to bigotry.

"The statement, which is voluntary on the part of candidates, was prepared by the Ethics Commission as a result of a provision in a campaign reform bill that Kelsey helped pass last legislative session," the release said.

That drew an "I don't know what they're talking about" from Carol Williams, executive director of the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission, the agency that watchdogs political practices across the state.