Fort Riley

FORT RILEY, Kan. (AP) - The 1st Infantry Division Commanding General's Mounted Color Guard will be taking to the streets of Topeka, Wichita and Fort Riley to prepare for its big day Jan. 20 in Washington, D.C. The color guard will be preparing to participate in its third consecutive presidential inauguration. Rehearsals will be in the afternoon to get the horses and soldiers used to riding through urban areas.

A Fort Riley Soldier dies from injuries sustained in combat in southern Afghanistan. Pfc. Cody Norris, 20, of Houston was on patrol in Kandahar Province when his unit came under small arms fire on Wednesday. Norris is the third Soldier from 2-34 Armored Regiment killed in action since the unit deployed to Kandahar province from Fort Riley in early 2010. Norris joined the Army in October 2010 as an infantryman. This was his first deployment. He was awarded the Army Commendation Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal with two Campaign Stars, the NATO Medal, and the Combat Infantryman Badge.

It's not the most present danger for troops fighting in Afghanistan or Iraq... but it is a deadly one. A New York area soldier recently died from rabies. He got the disease after being bitten by a dog while deployed overseas. "It's a virus that unfortunately there is no cure for," says Fort Riley medical official Paul Benne. Closer to home, Fort Riley remains on alert...this time it's not the normal threats. A rabies "scare" has medical officials at the post busy making sure plenty of vials of the rabies vaccine are in stock.

The goal is to provide comfort to those who have been touched by war, and say thank you, one veteran at a time. Wednesday, hundreds of returning soldiers will learn their sacrifice did not go unnoticed. They'll be given quilts gathered from across Kansas and 18 other states.  The request from the Chaplain at Fort Riley is the biggest ever filled by the local Quilts of Valor group. They'll go to the 4-4 Calvary Brigade returning from a mission in Afghanistan.

Five Big Red One Soldiers in the 1st Infantry Division at Fort Riley have died in Iraq. Spc. Emilio Campo, Pfc. Michael Cook, Pfc. Christopher Fishbeck, Spc. Robert Hartwick, and Pfc. Michael Olivieri were killed when insurgents launched an indirect attack on their base. The soldiers were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 7th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, and were deployed to Iraq. Each had served less than two years in the Army.

Fort Riley will soon get a new elementary school. A groundbreaking ceremony is set for Thursday and some big names will be there, including U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kansas) and U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. Sen. Moran spoke about the importance of improving the quality of public schools at the Fort in the past. A press release from Sen. Moran's office says that the school facilities on post are well beyond their designed capacity as a result of the Fort growing significantly since the return of the Army's 1st Infantry Division.

A man has died after a pursuit involving the Kansas Highway Patrol. It happened in the eastbound lanes I-70, in Dickinson County, around 8 p.m. Friday. Authorities said the chase began when a trooper tried to stop the driver for a traffic violation, but the man drove away at a high rate of speed. The car drove off the roadway at milepost 284 and hit a cement barrier. The man was pronounced dead at the scene. His name has not been released. The Salina Journal reports the man was a soldier from Fort Riley.

Saline County authorities are investigating why an explosive device was placed just feet away from a busy highway. A work crew from the Ellsworth Correctional Facility found a 10-inch long mortar in a ditch at I-135 near mile-post 85 Thursday. Authorities said four directional fins were still in the tail. Members from the Fort Riley bomb squad were called to dispose of the device. No one was hurt. It is unknown how long the device was laying in the ditch.

A woman killed inside a Colorado Springs hotel has been identified as a soldier from Fort Riley. Authorities were called to the Crowne Plaza Hotel for a welfare check early Sunday morning. They found Kimberly Walker, 28, dead inside one of the hotel rooms. Investigators said Walker was strangled to death. An autopsy also revealed blunt force injuries on the brain. Officers arrested Montrell Mayo in connection to Walker's death. The 24-year-old North Carolina resident has been charged with first-degree murder.

Barton Community College says its enrollment has grown for the sixth year in a row. The college says at the end of the Fall 2012 semester, it had 6.5% more students than at the end of Fall 2011. It says that number is up 9% since Fall of 2010. The kind of enrollment the college is seeing is changing. The school says enrollment at its main campus dropped about 4.2% from Fall of 2011 to Fall of 2012 with 1,736 students. The school's on-line enrollment was up 24% from Fall of 2011 to Fall of 2012.

A Fort Riley Soldier has died in Afghanistan. 26 year old Sgt. Erik May was found unresponsive and later pronounced dead at a medical facility in eastern Afghanistan on July 14. The cause of death is under investigation. May was an infantryman assigned to 2 nd Battalion, 16 th Infantry Regiment, 4 th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1 st Infantry Division which is currently deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. This was May's second combat deployment with the 'Dragon' Brigade.

A Ft. Riley soldier has been charged with murder. Private John Hughes, a wheeled vehicle mechanic with Special Troops Battalion, 1 st Sustainment Brigade, 1 st Infantry Division, has been charged with the murder of Pvt. Thomas Lavrey. The 21-year old West Seneca, N.Y., native was pronounced dead at Irwin Army Community Hospital on Fort Riley after being found unresponsive in his living quarters May 14. Lavrey was a utilities equipment repairer assigned to the same unit as Hughes.

The goal is to provide comfort to those who have been touched by war, and say thank you, one veteran at a time. Wednesday, hundreds of returning soldiers will learn their sacrifice did not go unnoticed. They'll be given quilts gathered from across Kansas and 18 other states.  The request from the Chaplain at Fort Riley is the biggest ever filled by the local Quilts of Valor group. They'll go to the 4-4 Calvary Brigade returning from a mission in Afghanistan.