WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Representative Tim Huelskamp (KS-01), a member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, questioned the Acting VA Secretary Sloan Gibson during a hearing entitled, “Restoring Trust: The View of the Acting Secretary and the Veterans Community.”

Following the hearing, Congressman Huelskamp released the following statement:

“The VA has lost the trust of many Americans and neglected many Veterans. During today’s testimony, Secretary Gibson assured me—to the best of his knowledge—that we’ve seen the end of secret waiting lists, criminal data falsification, and the tragic, preventable deaths of dozens of Veterans.  But I believe only time will tell, as dozens of criminal investigations and audits are underway and perhaps hundreds more to follow.  The Secretary could not answer the fundamental question of how can we restore our nation’s trust in the VA—and how soon.  There is a long road ahead and yet, Kansas Veterans still don’t have the answers they deserve.

“Just like the tragic VA scandals that shook the nation in 1970, throwing money at the VA won’t solve their problem.  Instead, a fundamental change in culture and real leadership from the President on down is the only way to provide the quality, timely care our Veterans deserve.  Rest assured, as an active member of the VA committee, I will continue to fight and protect our veterans, investigate whistleblower claims, and protect those who have come forward to shed light on the inadequate performance we’ve seen at the VA.”

KELLI KENNEDY, Associated Press

MIAMI (AP) — Federal officials have capped the amount of money scofflaws will be forced to pay if they don’t buy insurance this year under the new health care law.

The caps are $2,448 per person and $12,240 for a family of five. The amount is equal to the national average annual premium for a bronze-level health plan.

The penalty for the first year starts at $95 per person and can rise to as much as 1 percent of annual income. The latest figure limits what the government can charge people using the personal income computation. The penalty is due when people file their 2014 taxes.

Conservative lawmakers and groups that are critical of the Affordable Care Act encouraged consumers to skip buying insurance, arguing it would be cheaper to pay the $95 penalty, but often failed to mention the 1 percent clause.

CHERRYVALE- Two women were injured in an accident just before noon on Thursday in Montgomery County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2005 Chrysler passenger car driven by Patricia J. Rutledge, 72, Cherryvale, was traveling on the ramp from U. S. 400 westbound to U.S.169 nine miles north of Cherryvale.

The vehicle failed to yield at the stop sign on U.S.169 and was struck by a 2010 Dodge Truck driven by Denise Antoinette Kistler, 45, Winfield.

Rutledge was transported to Labette Health. Kistler was transported to Mercy Hospital.

The KHP reported both women were properly restrained at the time of the accident.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts has the support of major farm groups and is touting his expertise in agriculture policy as he campaigns for re-election in the nation’s leading wheat-producing state.

But Republican primary challenger Milton Wolf’s campaign is accusing the three-term incumbent of waging what it calls “geographical warfare” with a radio ad running in western Kansas.

Roberts has endorsements from the Kansas Farm Bureau and the Kansas Livestock Association. He serves on the Senate Agriculture Committee and is a former House Agriculture Committee chairman.

The tea-party backed Wolf is a Leawood radiologist but grew up on a farm in Rice County.

Roberts’ ad in western Kansas suggests Wolf doesn’t understand agriculture and lives “right next to Missouri.” Wolf said Roberts is trying to divide eastern and western Kansas residents

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal appeals court in New York has thrown out a decision ordering the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to hold public hearings on the widespread use of antibiotics in livestock.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued the ruling Thursday.

It reversed a decision in 2012 by a district court that sided with several health and consumer organizations.

The health groups want the FDA to withdraw approval of using penicillin and tetracycline in animal feed. They say the practice can promote the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

The appeals court found that the FDA isn’t required to hold the hearings because it’s made no official finding that the antibiotics pose a health risk.

By KHI NEWS SERVICE

WICHITA — The Kansas Health Foundation today announced two new members of its board of directors: the Rev. Claudia Bakely of Manhattan and Junetta Everett of Wichita.

They replace the Rev. Gary Brooks and Ronald Holt, both of Wichita.

Bakely is Flint Hills district superintendent for the Great Plains Conference of the United Methodist Church. She practiced nursing for 25 years and then began working as the youth ministries director at Tonganoxie United Methodist Church (UMC) in 1998. After graduating from St. Paul’s School of Theology with a Master’s of Divinity, she was appointed as associate pastor at Emporia First UMC, where she spent five years and was ordained in 2006. She then spent five years at Basehor UMC before being appointed to her current position in Manhattan in July 2013.

Everett is vice president of professional relations for Delta Dental of Kansas, where she has worked since November 1987. A registered dental hygienist for 35 years, Everett since 1995 has overseen the relationships, recruitment and maintenance, contracting and compliance, communication, education and support for Delta Dental of Kansas’ dental networks. She has received numerous honors and awards and serves on multiple boards of directors, including the Wichita Chamber of Commerce, Exploration Place, the American Association of Dental Consultants, the WSU College of Health Profession Dean’s Advisory Board, and the EC Tyree Health and Dental Clinic Advisory Board.

“This is an important day for the foundation. We say goodbye to two men who have brought vision, discipline, creativity and also great joy to the foundation. Their support and leadership drove many opportunities to help improve the health of all Kansans,” said Steve Coen, the health foundation’s president and chief executive.

“Also today we welcome two new members, Rev. Bakely and Ms. Everett. Both bring unique skills as practitioners, passionate Kansans and as leaders who care deeply about Kansas and its communities,” Coen said.

Brooks, who had been on the health foundation’s board since April 2009, is senior pastor of Aldersgate United Methodist Church.

Holt, who had served on the health foundation’s board since October 2004, is assistant county manager for Sedgwick County.

The health foundation is the primary funder of the Kansas Health Institute, which is the parent organization of KHI News Service.

JUNCTION CITY- One person was injured in a 2-vehicle accident just after 1 p.m. Thursday in Geary County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2007 Freightliner semi driven by Mohamad A. Rahman, 39, Brooklyn, NY., was westbound on Interstate 70 in the right-hand lane at exit 294 and struck a 2013 Honda Civic driven by Jinzhong Zhou, 73, College Station, TX.

The Honda spun and went down an embankment, coming to rest facing west.
A passenger in the Honda Wu, Xi Wu, 75, College Station, TX., was transported to Geary County Hospital.

No other injuries were reported.

The KHP reported all were properly restrained at the time of the accident.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Supreme Court is preparing to rule on the death sentences and capital murder convictions of two brothers in connection with the execution-style shoot deaths of four people in Wichita.

The court said it would release decisions Friday morning on the appeals of Jonathan and Reginald Carr. They are facing lethal injection for the December 2000 slayings of three men and a woman in a snow-covered soccer field.

The brothers were convicted of dozens of criminal charges in connection with the spree.

They also were convicted of a fifth killing that occurred just days before the soccer-field murders.

The Carr brothers are among seven condemned murderers in Kansas, but the Supreme Court has yet to uphold such a death sentence since Kansas re-established capital punishment in 1994.

United States Attorney’s Office

WICHITA, KAN. – Two Dodge City residents – one from Mexico and the other a United States citizen – have been indicted by a federal grand jury here for allegedly selling birth certificates and Social Security cards to undocumented aliens, and then driving them to Oklahoma to obtain state-issued ID cards, U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said Thursday.

The two, Ronald Davila-Vega, 34, a Mexican national, Sindy [cq] Herrera-Pacheco, 54, a U.S. citizen, were indicted Wednesday on one count of document fraud, one count of transporting illegal aliens, one count of aiding the unlawful production of identification documents, and two counts of aggravated identity theft. Davila-Vega is scheduled to make a first appearance here at 11 a.m. Friday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Karen M. Humphreys. Herrera-Pacheco is being held in the Ford County jail and is expected to be transported to Wichita for a court appearance next week.

According to an affidavit filed in the case, Davila-Vega, himself a person who previously had been deported to Mexico, sold sets of documents for $1,000 to other undocumented aliens in the United States unlawfully so they could obtain employment at southwest Kansas meat packing plants. For another $1,000, Vega and Herrera-Pacheco would drive the buyers to driver’s license offices in Oklahoma so they could obtain a photo ID card. Many of the plants now require a photo ID for new hires, Grissom said.

“The document vendors have learned that Kansas uses facial recognition software in its driver’s license offices, which makes it difficult to fraudulently obtain Kansas ID cards,” Grissom said. “Oklahoma has yet to implement facial recognition and residency verification, so the vendors drive their undocumented customers there to obtain photo IDs.” Grissom said investigators and his office are working with Oklahoma officials in the case and to address the problem of fraudulently-obtained ID cards.

The case is being investigated by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation and Homeland Security Investigations in cooperation with the Dodge City Police Department. At least two of the persons who allegedly bought documents from Davila-Vega were teenagers from Central America.

The identification documents sold relate to United States citizens. The investigators are in the process of identifying those persons and notifying them that their identities have been compromised, he said.

If convicted, the defendants face a maximum sentence of 15 years on the document fraud charges, 5 years on the transporting of aliens charges and a mandatory two years in prison on the aggravated identity theft charges. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Brent Anderson.