Sedgwick County sheriff’s deputies recently found about 3 pounds of methamphetamine worth $60,000 to $70,000 after a traffic stop, an official said Wednesday.

“That’s a terrific seizure,” sheriff’s Lt. David Mattingly said.

Mattingly gave this account: About 3:17 a.m. Saturday deputies stopped a 2013 GMC SUV for a traffic violation in the 19900 block of West U.S. 54 and found two packages holding meth. The driver was a 32-year-old Arizona woman heading east on her way through the area. She was booked into jail for possession with intent to sell meth.

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A house a few blocks southwest of the Wichita State University campus was hit by numerous bullets during a drive-by shooting Tuesday night, police say.

The shooting was reported at about 10 p.m. in the 1600 block of North Chautauqua, Lt. Joe Schroeder said. That’s southwest of 17th and Hillside.

People inside the house reported hearing gunfire and then several bullets hitting the house. A vehicle then left the area at “a high rate of speed,” Schroeder said.

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A Sedgwick County sheriff’s official provided details Wednesday about two recent burglaries including one where deputies found a naked man in a home who had reportedly refused to leave.

About 12:45 a.m. Sunday, deputies were dispatched to a report of a “burglary in progress” at an occupied home west of Wichita, sheriff’s Lt. David Mattingly said. Deputies arrested a 29-year-old man, who was booked into jail and charged with aggravated burglary and sexual battery. Mattingly said he couldn’t elaborate.

In another burglary, between 2:30 and 8:30 a.m. Saturday, while someone was home, a burglar forced open an overhead garage door of a house near 5500 S. Northview Trail, in the Derby area, and took items from the garage including tools, electronics and a Taylor guitar, for a total estimated loss of almost $12,000, Mattingly said.

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A passenger on a flight from Los Angeles International Airport to John F. Kennedy Airport in New York last Thursday evening forced an unplanned landing at KCI when she wouldn’t stop singing - loudly.

And what was she singing? “I Will Always Love You,” one of Whitney Houston’s hit songs from the movie, “The Bodyguard.”

The problem began when a federal air marshal on the flight told her to stop singing, and she refused. The woman, who claimed to be a diabetic, was taken off the airplane at KCI and interviewed. She was not allowed to get back on the plane.

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Sky lanterns, basically miniature hot-air balloons fueled by fire, are banned in Sedgwick County, commissioners voted Wednesday.

Tavis Leake, fire marshal for Sedgwick County Fire District 1, said the aerial luminaries, popular at weddings, haven’t been a problem locally but are cause for concern.

He said the lanterns float away from where they’re launched and can land on other people’s property and houses, catching fire.

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After weeks of rolling without a winner, the Powerball jackpot has once again ballooned in time for its Wednesday drawing, an estimated $360 million jackpot considered the third largest Powerball jackpot and the seventh largest jackpot in history.

Lottery officials expect jackpot totals of this size to continue to climb in shorter amounts of time, thanks in part to a game redesign in January 2012 that increased the odds of winning some kind of prize, but also lowered the possible number combinations to win the Powerball.

There's also "cross-selling" of Powerball and Mega Millions tickets - states being able to sell both Powerball tickets and Mega Millions tickets - that began in January 2010. As a result, large jackpots will continue to surpass all-time jackpot records set years ago, said Mary Neubauer, spokeswoman for the Iowa Lottery. Iowa is one of the founding Powerball states.

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About 4,000 graduates are expected to take part in the University of Kansas’ commencement ceremony Sunday at Memorial Stadium in Lawrence.

Stadium gates for the 141st commencement will open at 9 a.m. The traditional walk through the Memorial Campanile and down the hill begins at 10:30 a.m.

Wes Jackson, founder of the Land Institute and advocate for sustainable agriculture, will be the featured speaker.

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Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly spelled the Andover mayor’s name.

Growing weary of cities that annex property on either side of a roadway but don’t take responsibility for the road itself, Sedgwick County has sued the city of Andover over a portion of 159th Street East.

In its lawsuit, the county asks Andover to annex 159th Street East between Kellogg and Central.

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The Internal Revenue Service asked “unnecessary, burdensome questions” of conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status, questions that unfairly delayed the applications, according to an investigative report obtained Tuesday by McClatchy.

Ultimately, the organizations were told the information was not needed, according to the report by the Treasury inspector general for tax administration. The report, which has not yet officially been made public, has fueled allegations of abuse of government power to target the rising tea party political movement.

“The report’s findings are intolerable and inexcusable,” President Barack Obama said in a statement Tuesday evening after reading the report.

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A cold front will drop temperatures several degrees today but not bring the chances for thunderstorms forecasters had predicted early in the week for the Wichita area.

Highs should reach the low 80s under mostly sunny skies, forecasters say, with south winds in the teens and gusts topping 25 miles an hour. Overnight lows will only drop to the mid-60s under partly cloudy skies. Southerly winds will ease, but only a slightly.

Thursday may offer patchy fog and light drizzle for the morning commute in the Wichita area, forecasters say. Highs will again creep into the low 80s, with light southerly winds.

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WASHINGTON – States should cut their threshold for drunken driving by nearly half – from 0.08 blood alcohol level to 0.5 – matching a standard that has substantially reduced highway deaths in other countries, a U.S. safety board recommends. That’s about one drink for a woman who weighs less than 120 pounds, two for a 160-pound man, studies show.

More than 100 countries have adopted an alcohol content standard of 0.05 or lower, according to a report by the National Transportation Safety Board. In Europe, the share of traffic deaths attributable to drunken driving was reduced by more than half within 10 years after the standard was lowered, the report said.

In Wichita, there was mixed reaction Tuesday to the idea of lowering the threshold.

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Wichita City Council members voted unanimously Tuesday to pay a $243,195 state fine for a sewage release last year that killed 850 fish because of equipment failure and employee error.

But Vice Mayor Pete Meitzner criticized the fine as excessive, saying the city deserves a break from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.

Meitzner’s remarks were part of a wide-ranging debate on the May 25, 2012, fish kill in south Wichita that cost two public works employees their jobs and revealed that the city had maintenance problems with its sewer treatment plants.

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Nationwide drug shortages are affecting Sedgwick County emergency medical personnel who respond to 911 calls.

“We’re not in a crisis yet, but we intermittently teeter on the edge,” Sabina Braithwaite, medical director of Sedgwick County Emergency Medical Service, told county commissioners Tuesday.

Patient care has not been affected, officials say, because EMS has found other ways to get the drugs it needs. But the alternatives — mostly getting drugs at compounding pharmacies — have come at a higher cost.

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The lines of communication had been dead for weeks. Andrew Wiggins had been in his own world, processing the information, school by school, guarding his secret from a curious basketball world.

Bill Self was back in Kansas, waiting to hear if he would get the opportunity a once-in-a-generation talent. On Tuesday morning, a few hours before Wiggins would unveil his college choice, Self reached for his cell phone and crafted one final recruiting pitch.

“Hey, man, I hope you have a great day today,” Self wrote.

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The Senate on Tuesday approved borrowing authority to nearly triple the state’s investment in a national laboratory to fight bioterrorism.

On a voice vote, the Senate approved a bill to authorize $202 million in bonds for Kansas’ share of the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility, a $1.15 billion facility to be built near Kansas State University in Manhattan.

The state earlier had approved $105 million in bonding, so the state’s investment would now stand at $307 million, said Sen. Ty Masterson, R-Andover, who carried the bill on the floor.

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Next Wednesday, the American Cancer Society will turn 100 years old. In honor of that anniversary, the society’s Wichita chapter is hoping to recruit 100 new volunteers in May to help fight cancer.

The society is hosting a reception from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at its Wichita office at 330 S. Main, Suite 100, next Wednesday.

Volunteer positions needed include volunteers to help raise funds; drivers who provide rides for cancer patients to and from treatment; breast cancer survivors to help mentor newly-diagnosed cancer patients; advocacy volunteers to help fight cancer through sister lobbying organizations that work with lawmakers; and volunteers who will help women deal with the appearance-related side effects of cancer treatment.

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Wichita police are asking the public to help identify a shoplifter who threatened two Wal-Mart security guards last month before fleeing the store.

The man, who was wearing a gray shirt, black jacket and pants in a surveillance photo, allegedly pulled a handgun after the guards confronted him, another man, a woman and a child when they tried to leave the store with stolen merchandise. The group then fled in a silver four-door Pontiac, according to police.

The theft occurred around 10:20 p.m. April 8 at the Wal-Mart at 6110 W. Kellogg Drive. Among items stolen were men’s tennis shoes, a pocket knife and a pump action BB gun, according to a police report.

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The GOP-controlled House and Senate are at an impasse over tax policy in Kansas, unable to agree on even how much to project state revenue will grow, Senate President Susan Wagle said Tuesday.

Wagle, R-Wichita, said it could be a lengthy roller-coaster ride before lawmakers can adjourn with a tax and spending plan.

“Put on your seat belts,” she warned.

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The Kansas Supreme Court's chief justice is accusing a prominent legislator of pressuring district court judges into endorsing a proposed judicial selection change.

Chief Justice Lawton Nuss sent a letter Tuesday to district judges. It said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Jeff King “suggested a link” between the judicial selection proposal and a favorable outcome on budget issues.

Nuss was not at the meeting, but a member of his staff was.

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State senators are scheduled to decide Tuesday whether to borrow more than $200 million to help build a laboratory to fight biological terrorism.

At issue is whether to approve $202 million in bonds for development of the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility, a $1.15 billion national laboratory to counter possible terrorist threats to crops and livestock.

If approved, the bond action would raise the state’s investment to $307 million to help develop the laboratory near Kansas State University in Manhattan.

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