WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Former Kansas congressman Todd Tiahrt is running again in the state’s 4th Congressional District and will challenge incumbent Mike Pompeo in the Republican primary.

Tiahrt entered the race with an announcement Thursday at the Kansas Aviation Museum in Wichita. He represented the south-central Kansas district from 1995 until 2011.

Pompeo is seeking his third term and was elected in 2010 to succeed Tiahrt.

Both are conservative Republicans. But Tiahrt said he had been asked for months to run. He told cheering supporters has a better track record than Pompeo and differs with the incumbent on foreign policy.

Tiahrt gave up the House seat to run for U.S. Senate in 2010. He lost the Republican Senate primary to Jerry Moran, who went on to win the race that November.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas regulators have approved a pilot project that will let some Westar Energy customers pay for their electricity in advance.

The Kansas Corporation Commission on Thursday approved the project, which will be limited to 1,000 customers at first, including only 250 who are behind on their bills.

The Wichita Eagle reports the prepaid option will be available in parts of Wichita and in the towns of Lawrence, Silver Lake and Rossville. Only those with digital meters will be able to participate.

The plan approved on Thursday is the result of a deal between Westar and the Citizens’ Utility Ratepayer Board, which initially was concerned the utility would use it to force low-income customers in arrears on their bills to pay in advance.

SOUTH SIOUX CITY, Neb. (AP) — The dedication of a replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall drew hundreds of Vietnam veterans to Freedom Park in South Sioux City.

The Sioux City Journal says the half-scale replica of the wall, bearing the names of more than 58,000 U.S. service members killed in the Vietnam War, was dedicated Wednesday in the northeast Nebraska city.

The newspaper says the 250-foot black granite wall is the only replica that duplicates the original design in Washington, D.C. The granite came from the same quarry in India.

The wall’s completion opens the first phase of the $4 million, 55-acre park, dedicated to those who have served and died for their country. Organizers hope to break ground this summer on a 12,000-square-foot interpretive center.

EL DORADO, Kan.— A man was injured in a crash just after 10 a.m. Thursday in Butler County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2001 Ford truck driven by Joseph Lee Koehn, 31, Burns, was eastbound on K-254 one mile west of Arapaho Road when the driver suffered a medical problem.

The vehicle drove off the roadway into a field on the south side of the road and struck a tree.

Koehn was transported to Susan B. Allen Memorial Hospital.

The KHP reported he was properly restrained at the time of the accident.

Great Bend Post

GREAT BEND — The Great Bend Zoological Society, whose mission is committed to educating the public and encouraging wildlife conservation while providing an enriched zoo experience, announced Jack Hanna will make a visit to Great Bend. The Oct. 16 event will take place at the Barton Community College Auditorium. Great Bend Brit Spaugh Zoo Director, Scott Gregory, says the presentation will be something you don’t want to miss.

Scott Gregory Audio

Hanna is the director of the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium and his reputation and quality of appearances make him one of the most notable animal experts in the United States. He has made appearances on David Letterman and hosts his own show, “Into The Wild.” Gregory said his connection made it easier to lure such a big star like Hanna to Great Bend.

Scott Gregory Audio

There will only be 650 tickets sold for the October event. Zoo Society members will have the first opportunity to buy tickets June 1 to 6 for the discounted price of $15 for adults and $10 for children 12 and under. Ticket sales will open to the general public starting June 7 at the Nex-Tech Zoo Fest for $20 for adults and $10 for children 12 and under.

MIKE STOBBE, AP Medical Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Measles outbreaks seem to be accelerating, and in the last five months have caused more U.S. illnesses than in any entire year since 1996.

Health officials say 307 cases have been reported since New Year’s Day. About half have been in the past month — most from a huge outbreak in unvaccinated Amish communities in Ohio.

Nearly all the cases have been linked to travelers who caught the virus abroad and spread it in the United States among unvaccinated people. Many of the travelers had been to the Philippines, where a recent measles epidemic has caused more than 30,000 illnesses.

Most of the unvaccinated skipped shots for personal or philosophical reasons.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the new numbers Thursday.

OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — A November preliminary hearing date has been set for a 73-year-old Missouri man accused of killing three people in a shooting rampage outside Jewish facilities in suburban Kansas City.

Frazier Glenn Cross Jr., of Aurora, Missouri, is charged with capital murder in the April 13 deaths of 69-year-old William Corporon and his 14-year-old grandson, Reat Griffin Underwood, outside the Jewish Community Center in Overland Park, Kansas. He’s also accused of first-degree murder in the shooting of 53-year-old Terri LaManno, of Kansas City, Missouri, outside a Jewish retirement facility. Prosecutors this week also added three counts of attempted murder.

Johnson County Judge Kelly Ryan on Thursday set Cross’s preliminary hearing for Nov. 12-14.

Cross, who appeared in a wheelchair for the brief hearing, is jailed on $10 million bond.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Forty-one people in Philadelphia are facing charges in what prosecutors call an elaborate insurance fraud scheme that used dead deer to fake car accidents.

Ronald Galati Sr. is accused of running a $5 million scam out of his auto body shop.

District Attorney Seth Williams said Wednesday that Galati coached customers to claim they’d struck a deer rather than a car. That way, insurance companies would consider them “no fault” accidents and pay the claims without raising the customers’ premiums.

Investigators say Galati stored deer carcasses, blood and fur in the back of his shop to use as props.

Also charged are Galati’s wife, son and daughter, several insurance adjusters, tow truck drivers, a city official and a police officer.

Defense attorney Anthony Voci said he couldn’t comment specifically on the charges because he hadn’t seen the grand jury presentment but that his client is innocent until proven guilty.