More than 5 inches of rain fell over the weekend, bringing the parched Quiviria National Wildlife Refuge back to life.

Barry Jones, a specialist at the refuge in Stafford County, says the basins there held no water until the rains began on Thursday and fell through Sunday.

Jones says more than 8,000 ducks swooped into the refuge while the rains filled nearly every basin. Rattlesnake Creek, which feeds the wetlands, was flowing again after not flowing for months.

The rain provides hope that the birds will arrive for their annual fall migration, which also draws thousands of tourists to the refuge.

The state’s other national wildlife refuge, Cheyenne Bottoms in Barton County, received about 1½ inches of rain during the weekend.

A 26-year-old Wichita man is facing decades in prison in a federal “sexting” prosecution.

U.S. District Judge Monti Belot will decide Monday whether to sentence Shane McClelland to the minimum 25 years or give him a life sentence as a repeat sex offender.

Jurors convicted McClelland in June of enticing a teenage girl to send nude photos to his cellphone. He was acquitted of a similar count involving another teen.

Prosecutors say chat logs on the computer of a 14-year-old New York girl show McClelland pressured her to send nude photos. The girl identified McClelland at trial from webcam chats and pictures he had sent her.

The government is seeking a harsh sentence given his 2004 conviction for aggravated indecent liberties in a case involving sexual contact with a 13-year-old girl.

A young Kansas girl drowned while on a family vacation at the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol’s water division says the body of 6-year old Grace Shaw was found floating in the lake Sunday morning. She was from Stillwell, Kan.

The patrol says the child wandered away from the family before she drowned.

Her body was found near a dock at the lake’s Chimney Point Cove.

Law enforcement officers are looking for a man who escaped from the minimum security unit at the U.S. Penitentiary in Leavenworth.

Prison officials say 49-year-old Joel Rodriguez was missing from his assigned quarters Sunday afternoon. The prison’s statement gave no information on how he might have escaped.

Rodriguez was sentenced this year to 98 months in prison for selling drugs. He began serving his sentence on March 28. He is considered non-violent.

A 16-year-old driver who led police on a car chase in northeast Kansas crashed into a family’s car, injuring himself and three other people.

KCTV reports that the police chase started in Leavenworth County on Saturday morning when officers began pursuing the teen’s van. Police have not said why the teen was being pursued.

Leavenworth Police Chief Pat Kitchens said officers ended the chase, but the driver of the van continued to drive erratically. The teen’s van then hit a van carrying a Leavenworth family.

The Kansas Highway Patrol says the teen was ejected from his vehicle and was hospitalized in Kansas City.

Two adults and a child in the van were also injured, while two other children in the van were not injured.

A 75-year-old Kansas man was killed when his antique tractor rolled on top of him at the Nebraska State Fair.

The Nebraska State Patrol says Charley DeWeese was trying to load his 1936 John Deere tractor onto a trailer when the accident happened Sunday morning.

The Thayer, Kan., man fell off the tractor and was pinned beneath it after the tractor’s right rear tire slipped off the ramp.

The State Patrol did not say whether DeWeese took part in Saturday’s attempt to set a new record for the largest tractor parade. Fair officials say 1,139 people brought tractors to the fairgrounds in Grand Island, Neb., for the tractor parade

State health officials say 18 cases of the West Nile virus have been reported so far this year in Kansas.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment says 11 of the cases have been reported in Sedgwick County, with the rest throughout the state.

State public health veterinarian Ingrid Garrison says health officials are expecting to see more cases because the peak time for the virus is August into September.

The virus is spread by mosquitoes. It causes only mild illness in most people. But in some cases it develops into a severe illness with permanent neurological effects.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports Garrison said Kansas has had nine cases in the severe category.

by Randy Picking ~ Salina Post

Since July 1, five cases of pertussis have been reported in Saline County. Other suspected cases are being investigated by the Salina-Saline County Health Department. Pertussis, also known as whooping cough, is a highly contagious respiratory disease, and is spread from person to person through coughs & sneezes. High rates of pertussis have been reported in several states, including Kansas.

Pertussis most commonly affects infants and young children and can be fatal, especially in babies less than 1 year of age, who are too young to be fully vaccinated. More than half of infants younger than 1 year of age who get the disease must be hospitalized. Many infants who get pertussis are infected by older siblings, parents or caregivers who might not even know they have the disease.

Pertussis is known for uncontrollable, violent coughing which often makes it hard to breathe. The disease usually starts with cold-like symptoms and maybe a mild cough or fever. After 1 to 2 weeks, severe coughing can begin. Unlike the common cold, pertussis can become a series of coughing fits that continues for weeks.

After fits of many coughs, someone with pertussis often needs to take deep breathes which result in a “whooping” sound. Coughing may be severe enough to cause vomiting. Coughing fits due to pertussis infection usually last from 1-6 weeks, but can last 10 weeks or more. Symptoms of pertussis usually develop within 7–10 days after being exposed, but sometimes not for as long as 6 weeks.

The best way to prevent pertussis is through vaccination. The Salina-Saline County Health Department strongly encourages residents to check the vaccination status of their children, themselves, and adult household members. The childhood vaccine is called DTaP, and the pertussis booster vaccine for adolescents and adults is called Tdap. Adults (including women who may become pregnant, new parents, caregivers, and adults 65 and older) who expect to have close contact with a baby younger than 12 months of age should get a dose of Tdap to help protect the baby from pertussis.

The Salina-Saline County Health Department has a limited supply of free Tdap vaccine for new parents, grandparents, caregivers, and other adults who expect to have close contact with a baby younger than 12 months. Call 826-6602 to schedule an appointment for immunization. The health department clinic is currently located at 625 E. North Street in Salina.

A 35-year-old Haviland woman was killed in a one vehicle accident southwest of Pratt Thursday morning.

According to the Kansas Highway Patrol, Patricia Vasquez was eastbound on Southwest 20th, when she veered right in her Dodge Durango and hit a sand ridge. She then lost control and entered the north ditch where her vehicle rolled several times and came to rest facing northwest. Vasquez was ejected from the vehicle and was pronounced dead at the scene.

The accident occurred just before 10:30 am, on Southwest 20th Street and Southwest 110th Avenue, which is about 11 miles SW of Pratt.

Fire investigators are trying to determine what caused a fire at the Sigma Chi Fraternity at the University of Kansas.

All 82 members of the fraternity were able to get out of the building safely after the fire was reported Wednesday afternoon. No injuries were reported.

The fire was confined to the fraternity’s roof. Firefighters had it under control within two hours.

Fraternity members were able to move back into the building Wednesday night.

No damage estimate was immediately available.

The rotunda of the Kansas Statehouse will reopen next month, four years after workers sealed it off as part of the massive, ongoing renovation of the Capitol.

It’s a sign that the renovation of the building’s interior from the first to its top, fifth floor is nearing completion.

Statehouse Architect Barry Greis says construction workers will start the first week of September to remove temporary walls that have closed off the rotunda and north wing since 2008. They plan to start on the fifth floor and work their way down.

Greis says the last of the temporary walls should be down by Sept. 21.

The renovation began in 2001, and its total cost is expected to reach at least $319 million.