(AP) — Kansas Lottery officials are announcing a restructuring plan, closing the Great Bend office and shuffling responsibilities in the coming weeks.

The lottery said Tuesday the Great Bend office will close to the public on Dec. 13. Four people currently work in the office. Three will be reassigned to other duties and one position will be eliminated.

Interim Lottery Director Sherriene Jones-Sontag says that most of the prizes claimed from winners were already collected at the Topeka headquarters. Prizes worth $599 or less can still be collected at retailers statewide. Larger prizes can be claimed in Topeka by mail or in person.

The lottery is also redefining positions within its sales division in an effort to recruit new retailers, educate players about various games and increase sales.

 (AP) — The focus of the Kansas school finance debate for many years has centered on the amount per student spent by the state for traditional expenses of teacher salaries, buildings and textbooks.

That debate may be shifting to raise more attention on other costs paid by the Legislature, including the amount put each year into teacher pensions, which previously haven’t been considered an expense of doing business.

During a meeting Monday with a small group of superintendents and legislative leaders, Gov. Sam Brownback reinforced that more money has gone into education spending, including millions set aside for retirement.

A top state school official says Tuesday the practice of having the retirement show up on local district budget sheets is a good reminder of the total cost of education to taxpayers.

 

The Kansas Hospital Association recently completed an advertising campaign aimed at building support for expanding state’s Medicaid program.

“We’re just wanting to raise the public’s awareness about there being a lot of people who would benefit from expanding Medicaid,” said Cindy Samuelson, a KHA spokesperson.

The association, which represents all 128 hospitals in Kansas, sponsored radio and television commercials in the Wichita and Kansas City markets from Nov. 11 through Nov. 22.

Kansas is one of 24 states that have chosen not to expand their Medicaid programs to include adults whose incomes are below 138 percent of the federal poverty line.

Currently, low-income children, pregnant women and the elderly are eligible for Medicaid. Childless adults are not.

An parent is eligible if his or her income is less than 32 percent of poverty line, about $630 a month for a thee-person household.

Gov. Sam Brownback and the Republican majorities in both legislative chambers have shelved the state’s Medicaid-expansion debate, citing doubts that the federal government will be able to keep its promise to cover most of the costs associated with the expansion.

In the KHA commercials, Kelly Brown, a single mother who lives in Lawrence, shares that even though she works six days a week, she cannot afford health insurance. Her income makes her ineligible for Medicaid.

“What I make (wages) is pretty much living paycheck to paycheck, just trying to get the things me and my daughter need to get by,” Brown said.

Her daughter, she says, is covered by Medicaid.

“If I end up with a serious illness,” Brown says, “then I’m usually ending up in the hospital just to figure out what’s wrong and get it taken care of as quickly as possible, so, again, I can get back to work to raise my daughter because I’m doing it on my own.”

Samuelson said two additional videos are in the works. “We’ll be putting them on the website as well,” she said.

Hospital officials throughout the state have been meeting with legislators to “talk about what expansion means locally to each of them,” Samuelson said.

Sean Gatewood, interim director with the Kansas Health Consumer Coalition, an advocacy group for the state’s uninsured and underinsured, welcomed the hospital association’s campaign.

“It’s great to have them on board,” Gatewood said.

“There are two fundamental things that communities in rural settings are built around: schools and hospitals,” he said. “So the hospitals’ voice really matters. We’re excited to have them.”

The hospital association is not a “signed up” member of the consumer coalition, Gatewood said.

Regan Cussimanio, director of government relations for the Kansas Cancer Action Network, said the group also is backing Medicaid expansion.

“Our position is that all cancer patients should have access to care and treatment,” said Cussimanio, who represents the advocacy arm of the American Cancer Society. “That includes those people who aren’t eligible for Medicaid now but would be with expansion.

“The way it is now, there are a lot of treatments that just aren’t available to patients who don’t have insurance or who can’t pay for it,” she said.-By Dave Ranney 
KHI News Service

The investigation into the hazing incident in October at Hutchinson High School is complete according to a joint statement released Monday by Hutchinson Police Chief Dick Heitschmidt and USD 308 School Superintendent, Dr. Shelly Kiblinger.

Heitschmidt said 33-interviews were conducted of 31 individuals, including 24 currently at the school, including 10-freshman, 2-sophomores, 4-juniors and 8-seniors.

He says there were four victims with three arrested. They include 18-year-old Jaiden Casanova, who is charged with aggravated battery and hazing. He was read the formal complaint and Magistrate Judge Randy McEwen set a waiver-status hearing for December 3. 18-year-old Kendric Hudson appeared nearly two weeks ago where he was told that he’s being charged with three counts of aggravated battery and hazing. And a 16-year-old, Cody Curl was taken to a juvenile facility for aggravated battery and possession of tobacco.

The three are accused of using hot coat hangers to brand the 4-students who had just been promoted to the varsity football team.

Heitschmidt says that there is absolutely no evidence or information that any of the coaching staff knew, allowed, condoned or turned a blind eye to this type of activity. The head coach had warned that he would not tolerate it and that freshman on the team should be treated as any other member of the varsity and messing with them wouldn’t be tolerated.

Dr. Kiblinger said she appreciated the independent and professional investigation. She says bullying and hazing in any form are not tolerated. She says “the district has taken immediate steps to increase locker room supervision to minimize the opportunity for bullying and hazing to occur.”

She adds that further discussions are underway to determine additional measures that can be taken to discourage hazing in any form.

The Hutchinson School Board will be hearing a report on the district’s current bullying prevention programs at one the January meetings.