A wildfire in Polk and Lake counties kept burning for the fifth day in a row Saturday. It had consumed nearly 3,000 acres, but no homes were damaged and no injuries were reported.

"It is considered 50 percent contained at this point," said Timber Weller, spokesman for the state Division of Forestry.

Firefighters avoided having to close Interstate 4 between Orlando and Tampa on the eve of the Super Bowl. The fire was no longer threatening the interstate or the Polo Park subdivision, a 900-home retirement community bordering on the Green Swamp.

About 80 firefighters were using five firetrucks, 15 bulldozers and two helicopters to fight the fire. The blaze started Tuesday when a truck hit a utility pole in Lake County. Since then, the fire has steadily moved east into Polk County.

"If you walked around the perimeter of the fire, it would be 13.8 miles," Weller said.

Police seek friendly wheelchair thief

ORLANDO -- Authorities were searching for a man accused of stealing expensive, motorized wheelchairs from at least a dozen elderly people in Central Florida and other parts of the Southeast.

The victims said Ronald Keith Booker, a former wheelchair salesman, had appeared friendly and helpful. Some of the wheelchairs are worth more than $5,000.

Booker is being sought by investigators at the Orange County Sheriff's Office and Altamonte Springs Police Department in connection with several wheelchair thefts, and on an unrelated, previous warrant for grand theft.

Detectives said he may be living out of his van and may have sold the stolen wheelchairs to pawnshops or to individuals.

They said several of his victims are elderly women who depend on their wheelchairs to get around, and many are now bedridden.

Booker, 43, gained access to his victims through contacts he made while working last year in Plant City at Sun Mobility, which sells and repairs wheelchairs, according to Orange County Sheriff's Office Detective Rick Moore.

Kansas GOP salutes Katherine Harris

TOPEKA, Kan. -- Katherine Harris on Saturday downplayed notions she was courageous in overseeing the contested Florida election that eventually gave George W. Bush the presidency.

She says she was just following the law, but she was recognized anyway Saturday by the Kansas Republican Party with the Katherine Harris Courage Award.

"I don't believe that following the law of the United States of America to be an act of courage," Harris said.

Harris was presented with a framed print of the John Steuart Curry mural depicting Kansas abolitionist John Brown. The mural, painted on the wall outside the governor's office in the Kansas Statehouse, depicts Brown holding off pro-slavery and free state forces -- a Bible in the left hand and a rifle in the right.

Harris said she "wrapped herself in the law" to carry out her duties. Florida has since appointed a task force to create a uniform election system to address flaws amplified by the dispute over voter intent.

On Friday night, Harris took part in the opening receptions for the GOP's annual Kansas Days gathering, receiving kind words, posing for photographs and signing autographs. Harris was invited to Kansas by Secretary of State Ron Thornburgh, who considers her a friend.

Democrats were critical of Harris' visit.

"Honoring Katherine Harris for her work overseeing an election is like giving it to Cruella De Vil for her kindness to puppies," state Democratic Chairman Tom Sawyer said Friday, referring to the villain from the Disney movie 101 Dalmatians.

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Lucy Morgan

From the Times state desk