(AP) — The Food and Drug Administration says there is no evidence that antibacterial chemicals used in liquid soaps and washes help prevent the spread of germs, and there is some evidence they may pose health risks.
The federal ruling on triclosan and other antibacterial ingredients lends new support to longstanding warnings from scientists who say the chemicals can interfere with hormone levels.
Under a proposed rule, the agency will require manufacturers to prove that their antibacterial cleaners are safe and more effective than plain soap and water.
The agency’s proposal comes more than 40 years after the agency was first tasked with evaluating triclosan and similar ingredients. Ultimately, the government agreed to publish its findings only after a legal battle with an environmental group, which accused the FDA of delaying action.
REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF ELLIS City Hall – Council Meeting Room
BILLS ORDINANCE REVIEW WORK SESSION BEGINS AT 7:00 P.M.
ROLL CALL AND MEETING CALL TO ORDER AT 7:30 P.M.
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
AMENDMENTS TO AGENDA (if needed)
1) CONSENT AGENDA
a) Minutes from Regular Meeting on December 2, 2013
b) Bills Ordinance #1939
c) November manual journal entries
(Council will review for approval under one motion under the consent agenda. By majority vote of the governing body, any item may be removed from the consent agenda and considered separately)
(Each speaker will be limited to five minutes. If several people from the group wish to speak on same subject, the group must appoint a spokesperson. ALL comments from public on agenda items must be during Public Comment. Once council begins their business meeting, no more comments from public will be allowed.)
2) PRESENTATIONS OF AWARDS, PROCLAMATIONS, REQUESTS & PETITIONS (HEARINGS)
3) SPECIAL ORDER
a) Update from Ellis Alliance – Dena Patee
b) Fire Department Monthly Report – Chief Vine
4) UNFINISHED BUSINESS
a) Consider Approval of Purchase of Fire Hose
b) Consider Approval of Revised Pay Structure
c) Reconsideration of City Webpage
d) Consideration of Approval for Revised Substance Abuse and Testing Policy
5) NEW BUSINESS
a) Consider Approval of 2014 CMB Application – Rich’s IGA
b) Consider Approval of General Public Works Employee Job Description
c) Consider Approval of Personnel Policies and Guidelines
d) Consideration of Water Supply Emergency Operating Plan
e) Consider Approval of Capital Improvement Plan
f) Consideration of Ordinances Creating New Funds
g) Consider Approval of Contract for Municipal Dog Pound Services
h) Consider Approval of End of Year Accounts Payable
i) Consideration of Shooting Range Storage Shed
j) Consider Purchase of Computer
6) REPORTS FROM CITY OFFICIALS
a) Administrative
1) Public Works
(1) Update on Sewer Pump
(2) Update on County Request for Assistance
(3) Meeting with Kansas Department of Water Resources
The Ellis County Commission will meet in regular session at 6:45 p.m. Monday at the Ellis County Courthouse.
The agenda includes the purchase of a 2014 Ford Expedition for the Ellis County Rural Fire District.
The county received a single private bid for a vehicle, but is expected to opt for the state bid at a cost not to exceed $32,017.
The commission also will recognize three county employees who are retiring, including Ellis County Appraiser Dean Denning. Martha Miller of the Register of Deeds office and Ronald “Skip” Schlyer of Public Works also will be recognized for their service.
(AP) — Hutchinson police are investigating more 13 cases of people using counterfeit money in the city since Dec. 5.
Seven of the cases were reported during the weekend. Most of the reports have come from fast-food restaurants.
But one woman reported a man on Saturday bought her 2001 Chevrolet S-10 using counterfeit money. Additional details of that case were not immediately available.
Hutchinson police says businesses and individuals should inspect cash before accepting it, particularly residents who are estate sales or selling items through social media.
(AP) — Power has been restored to parts of three south-central Kansas counties where the lights went out when a power line fell on a row of hay bales, causing a brief fire.
More than 5,000 people were without power Sunday in Harper, Kingman and Sumner counties.
Officials with Wheatland Electric said about 4 a.m. Monday that all power had been restored.
A spokesman for Wheatland Electric says the line belongs to Westar Energy but supplies power to the company for the three counties.
The outage started about 1 p.m. Sunday when a crossarm on a transmission line near Clearwater failed, causing a conductor to fall.
MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — Will Spradling had a season-high 14 points and Marcus Foster also scored 14 points as Kansas State defeated Troy 72-43 on Sunday evening.
It is the ninth time in 10 games that Foster has reached double figures for the Wildcats.
Despite its undersized roster Kansas State dominated the Trojans on the boards grabbing 17 rebounds on the offensive end and 44 total.
Antoine Myers had 12 points and Wes Hinton added 10 points to pace the Trojans.
Kansas State entered the game with the Big 12’s best scoring defense at 61.2 points while also holding opponents to 26 percent shooting from 3-point range.
The Trojans finished at 36.2 shooting while converting on just 3-19 from 3-point range.
The Wildcats left little doubt from the start. Seven points from Foster backed an opening 14-2 run by the Wildcats over the first four minutes of the first half.
The scoring run was aided by a clean and crisp Kansas State offense that didn’t see its first turnover until the 9:58 mark of the first half. The Wildcats finished the game with only eight turnovers.
The Wildcats used a dozen assists to break apart the Trojans’ 3-2 zone and score 18 first-half points in the paint.
Kevin Thomas was the lone Trojan to score until a Kelton Ford basket made it 24-9 with 6:10 left in the half.
Kansas State shot 40.5 percent from the field in the first half and pulled down an impressive 28 rebounds. The number was evenly split on both ends of the floor.
Troy’s 15 first-half points were its lowest output since facing Arkansas State last season.
Kansas State used another strong scoring run to open the second half, pushing its lead to 50-17. The 33-point margin was the largest of the contest.
The Trojans added back-to-back 3-point baskets from Wes Hinton to cut the Wildcat lead to 23 points, but an 11-3 run quickly pushed the margin back to 31 points.
Spradling added eight of his season-high points in the second half.
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Jamaal Charles carried the Kansas City Chiefs straight into the playoffs with a record performance.
Charles tied a franchise record with five touchdowns in a game and gained 215 yards from scrimmage as the Chiefs beat the Raiders 56-31 on Sunday to clinch at least a wild-card spot.
Alex Smith threw five TD passes, going 17-for-20 for 287 yards to make the Chiefs the fourth team ever to make the playoffs a year after losing at least 14 games. Kansas City (11-3) is tied for first place in the AFC West with Denver, but needs help to win the division because the Broncos swept the season series.
Matt McGloin threw four interceptions and lost a fumble while sharing time with Terrelle Pryor as Oakland (4-10) allowed the most points in franchise history and lost its fourth straight game. The Raiders had seven turnovers overall.
The performance drew constant boos from a crowd frustrated over 11 straight seasons without a winning record and raised questions about whether the Raiders are showing enough progress in year two under coach Dennis Allen to convince owner Mark Davis to keep him around for a third season.
There is no questioning the progress the Chiefs have made in their first year under coach Andy Reid. He took over a 2-14 team and authored an impressive turnaround.
The addition of Smith to a talented roster that featured six Pro Bowl players also helped. Charles was one of those Pro Bowlers a year ago. but he never had a game quite like this even though he only rushed for 20 yards in eight carries.
He did most of his work in the passing game, beating blitzes with screen passes and also having success running patterns downfield. He caught eight passes for 195 yards and four touchdowns in the third-most productive receiving day by a running back since the 1970 merger.
Charles also joined Shaun Alexander, Jerry Rice and Clinton Portis as the only players since the merger to score five touchdowns and gain at least 200 yards from scrimmage in a single game.
GARDEN CITY (AP) — A special prosecutor has announced that no criminal charges will be filed against the Hamilton County sheriff.
The Garden City Telegram reported Sheriff Richard Garza voluntarily placed himself on administrative leave following his arrest in September.
Scott City Attorney John Shirley said in an initial report that the incident stemmed from a “family matter” where no physical violence occurred. Shirley was appointed special prosecutor at the request of the Hamilton County attorney.
The Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office said Garza’s return to duty was effective Friday.
WASHINGTON — The National Council on Disability today sent a letter to federal health officials urging them to postpone for a year consideration of a request by the administration of Gov. Sam Brownback to include long-term services for the developmentally disabled in KanCare.
The council, which held two days of hearings last week in Topeka as part of its ongoing study of the ramifications of Medicaid managed care, said Kansas officials need to collaborate more with developmentally disabled (DD) service providers and families before moving forward with their plans.
The council also cited concerns over delayed payments and other problems reported with KanCare and said the state should be obliged to eliminate its existing waiting list for services before being allowed to expand its relatively new managed care initiative.
“We think that concerns of the stakeholders and affected individuals and families are so significant that there should be a sufficient time period to review all the concerns that have been articulated,” said council member Gary Blumenthal, a former Kansas legislator now living in Massachusetts. “We recommend a 12-month evaluation.”
Shawn Sullivan, secretary of the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services. Photo by PHIL CAUTHON, KHI
The council is a federal agency that advises executive branch agencies and Congress on disability policies. But the agencies are not bound by the council’s recommendations.
Eyes on Kansas
It is somewhat unusual for the panel, which generally makes broad or more general policy recommendations, to issue recommendations specific to a state Medicaid plan, but council officials said the national significance of what is happening in Kansas warranted the letter because the Kansas plan could be taken as a model by other states and needs to be done correctly, if at all.
“In a lot of ways, policymakers throughout the rest of the country are looking at Kansas and seeing what happens in Kansas as a potential model,” said council member Ari Ne’eman of Silver Springs, Md. “So, we focused on Kansas but we did so because we want to make sure that if managed care is done, it’s done properly and if it’s not being done properly then it’s not done.
“We were very specific in our concerns and in our recommendations and that speaks to the fact that program design is really the key to everything when it comes to the difference between a managed care framework that leads to improved outcome or one that produces potential harm. That was why we felt the need to focus on Kansas.”
Ne’eman said other states have used managed care for disabled populations but that the Kansas plan was distinct because of its scope and because KanCare was being run by “commercial insurance companies” as opposed to non-profit agencies.
Ne’eman said one of the council’s chief concerns with the Kansas plan was that it extended managed care to disabled persons in home- or community-based settings but exempted those in the state institutions.
He said that might create incentives for the managed care companies to send people with more costly or serious disabilities to the state institutions to get them off their ledgers. A longstanding goal of the council has been to end reliance on institutions such as the state hospitals.
‘Distorted’
A ranking Kansas official said the council’s letter merely repeated “distorted” reports the council heard when it was in Kansas last week without hearing all the information the Brownback administration could have provided about its planning and implementation of the program.
“Secretary Sullivan does not believe that that (the council) received an accurate picture of the managed care expansion in Kansas during the part of one day it spent hearing from the stakeholders,” said Angela de Rocha, a KDADS spokesperson. “The proceedings were set up in such a way as to paint a distorted picture of the detailed planning and consultation that has gone into including LTSS (long-term support services) for individuals in KanCare with I/DD (intellectual or developmental disabilities). This letter (sent to CMS) presents the same sorts of distortions.
“During the first (council) panel discussion, Dr. Susan Mosier and Secretary Sullivan were given no more than 10 minutes to provide an overview of KanCare and of the inclusion of LTSS into KanCare,” de Rocha said. “This was not sufficient time for the state to describe the process it has used for design, planning, implementation and evaluation of KanCare over the last three years.”
But council officials said they have been collecting information on KanCare for more than a year and that the agency’s review of KanCare and subsequent letter to CMS followed managed care guidelines first published by the council in March.
“We don’t in any way mean to take lightly Secretary Sullivan,” said council member Blumenthal. “We think he’s done an admirable job trying to pull together something that would be challenging to anyone. But this has national significance and given its size and scope we believe it is something that does really merit a cautious review.”
The council has been collecting information about Medicaid managed care nationwide and has similar hearings planned for Chicago, New York City, Tallahassee, Fla. and San Francisco.
Council members said they see potential benefits in managed care for the disabled but that it would be best done adhering to the guidelines it published in March.
The Brownback administration has been planning for at least two years to include long-term DD services in KanCare beginning Jan. 1, 2014. But officials at the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have not yet signaled their approval of the state’s plan, which is needed if it is to move forward.
Medical services for the developmentally disabled on Medicaid already are part of KanCare. The administration’s requested expansion of the program would fold in residential and other day-to-day living supports financed by Medicaid.
Decision coming ‘soon’
The state submitted its expansion request in the form of an amendment to the so-called Section 1115 waiver that authorized the state to launch the first phase of KanCare on Jan. 1 this year. Approval of that application by CMS didn’t come until Dec. 27, 2012, only days before Kansas undertook the major remake of it Medicaid program by shifting virtually all the state’s 380,000 program enrollees into health plans run by three private insurance companies: Amerigroup, UnitedHealthcare and Sunflower State Health Plan, a subsidiary of Centene.
Federal officials recently extended the public comment period on the state’s amendment request until midnight, Dec. 24 after learning that a website used to collect comments on the proposal was malfunctioning. The site since has been fixed. CMS officials said they are not obliged by policy or law to wait 15 days after the close of public comments to render a decision as was the case for the state’s initial 1115 waiver application. The wait period does not apply for application amendments, according to CMS spokesperson Emma Sandoe.
The agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the council’s letter it received.
Sandoe said the agency would decide “soon” on Kansas’ application but did not provide more specific detail.
Tom Laing, executive director of Interhab, an association that represents most of the state’s Community Developmental Disability Organizations, said he thought the council’s letter and hearings that preceded it were well done and that he agreed with most of the conclusions. Interhab has been at the forefront of efforts to bar or delay the Brownback administration’s efforts to include long-term DD services in KanCare.
“I would give satisfactory marks without hesitation to the state for their work over the last several months with our members,” Laing said.
“I think the horns of the dilemma is that the decision to do this was done far in advance of having these conversations. I think there was a decision early to throw the whole Medicaid ball of wax into KanCare and that this would somehow work out and that they (administration officials) had only slight understanding of some of the complications that might arise. I don’t fault them for the work they’ve done in the last several months but there’s a lot more work to do and they might have had a different decision, if they had engaged (stakeholders) more in the planning stages. I think there was an utter lack of dialogue then and now, in the implementation stages, there’s a lot of dialogue,” Laing said.
For three-quarters of Kansas, here’s an interesting little look at the just-under way campaign for the congressional seat in the Big First District.
For a quarter of Kansans living in the First District, well, watch what happens where you live.
The deal: Two-term U.S. Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kan., was elected in 2010 after surviving a six-candidate Republican primary election. He was a state senator before that, pretty well-known in his own district and in surrounding legislative districts. His congressional primary election back in 2010 saw him get 34 percent of the vote and he was virtually elected, having an R beside his name in the Republican-heavy (by percentage, we’re not talking weight) First District.
Huelskamp campaigned hard, and got 34,819 votes in that primary election. The other 65,164 votes were split unevenly among the five other candidates on the GOP ballot out west. He didn’t get the majority of the primary vote—that would have been 49,992—but he won the plurality and got the nomination.
Key here: The more Republican candidates on the primary election ballot, the fewer votes you need to win. Calculator ready? Theoretically, Huelskamp could have won the primary with as few as 16,665 votes, had every candidate gotten one-sixth of the vote and Huelskamp got a couple extras.
See what happens in primary elections? The more candidates, the fewer votes you need to win. In 2010 Huelskamp did get more than a third of the primary vote, not a bad showing, but nearly two-thirds of the votes went to other candidates.
And last year, he ran for election to a second term…and there was no Republican primary opposition…and no registered Democrat ran against him, so he virtually skated into a second term. We’re figuring checking the Huelskamp box was probably quicker than writing-in, say, Beyonce…
Doesn’t get much better than that if you are a freshman congressman…running—or with no opposition you could just walk into—for a second term.
So, last week, former State Rep. Kent Roth, of Ellinwood, a Democrat when he served in the Legislature but a registered Republican and U.S. Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., supporter for the last 21 years, decided to get into the GOP primary against Huelskamp.
Now is when it gets interesting…
If Roth can stay the only GOP challenger, the winner of the primary will need 51 percent of the GOP votes. And that at least partly (sure, there are other factors) turns the race into a Yes or No vote on Huelskamp since the congressman hasn’t been tested at the ballot box since his 2010 primary win. What if the two-thirds of Republicans, or many of them, who didn’t vote for Huelskamp in 2010 vote for Roth? Roth wins the primary…and likely the general election…
See the key here: Roth is hoping to be the only other candidate on the primary ballot, and if you were Huelskamp, you’d probably be hoping for more candidates, all he can get on the ballot. It’s safer that way.
If you live in the First District let us know if you get a box of bumper stickers with your name on them from Huelskamp for Christmas…
Syndicated by Hawver News Co. of Topeka, Martin Hawver is publisher of Hawver’s Capitol Report. To learn more about this nonpartisan statewide political news service, visit www.hawvernews.com.
TOPEKA (AP) — Gov. Sam Brownback has seen an unusually high number of departures among his top leadership.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reported almost half of Brownback’s 11 permanent Cabinet secretary appointments will turn over in the first three years of his tenure. The percentage outpaces that of predecessors Kathleen Sebelius, a Democrat, and Bill Graves, a Republican.
Many other high-level appointed posts that pay approximately $100,000 a year also have been vacated. Those positions include Securities Commissioner Aaron Jack, information technology chief Jim Mann and Kansas Corporation Commission chairman Mark Sievers.
Brownback spokeswoman Sara Belfry said the turnover isn’t unusual compared to past governors, including Joan Finney. And Washburn University political science professor Bob Beatty said he saw little linking the departures.
(AP) — The Food and Drug Administration says there is no evidence that antibacterial chemicals used in liquid soaps and washes help prevent the spread of germs, and there is some evidence they may pose health risks.
