HAYSVILLE, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas teenager is recovering at home after spending three days in intensive care recovering from a scorpion sting.

Fifteen-year-old Parker Hartley of Haysville Hartley was bitten Friday after he played Frisbee Golf at a park in Haysville, while he was barefoot. He put on his shoes after the game and felt a sharp sting and instant pain.

KAKE-TV reports Hartley’s parents at first thought he had been stung by a bee or wasp. But within 24 hours, his foot had swollen and Hartley said the pain was unbearable. A nurse at Wesley’s emergency room recognized the sting and he was hospitalized.

Experts say scorpions hide in dark places, so check your shoes if they’ve been outside, or in sheds.

 

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The largest teachers union in Kansas plans to file a lawsuit after the July Fourth holiday challenging new education polices enacted this spring, including the elimination of guaranteed tenure in public schools.

Marcus Baltzell says Tuesday that attorneys for the Kansas National Education Association intended to file the lawsuit in Shawnee County District Court.

The union plans to contest the tenure issue and other provisions that were attached to a $129 million school funding bill by conservative Republicans and signed by Gov. Sam Brownback. The KNEA supported the funding increases in the bill, which were aimed at complying with a Kansas Supreme Court decision.

Other policies included loosening teacher licensing requirements and creating of a scholarship program for at-risk students funded by corporate donations in exchange for tax credits.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Wildlife experts say bald eagles are thriving in Kansas this year, and they expect the trend to continue.

District wildlife biologist Charlie Cope says there are between 84 and 90 actives eagle nests in the Kansas this year.

The Wichita Eagle report one closely watched pair lives at Harbor Isle, an upscale housing area in Wichita.

For the fifth year in a row the eagles failed to produce offspring this year. Observers said they saw one of the eagles in an “incubating position” once but no egg hatched. A storm on June 12 blew their nest out of the tree.

The pair was first spotted in the Wichita area in 2009. Naturalist Bob Gress says it’s unclear why the birds have been unsuccessful in mating.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A federal judge has rejected claims that AOL and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children were acting as agents for the government when they searched a Kansas man’s emails for child pornography.

U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren refused Tuesday to suppress as evidence the email and attachments that Walter Ackerman claimed were obtained through an illegal search. The judge also declined to throw out statements the 56-year-old Lebanon man made when agents questioned him.

Ackerman is charged with distribution and possession of child pornography.

AOL uses a process to systematically identify child pornography sent through its services. The company maintains a database of digital fingerprints known as “hash values” associated with child pornography. It sends any matches to the center, which in turn notifies law enforcement.

 

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Bison from Yellowstone National Park could someday be living in Kansas.

The Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve in Chase County was one of 20 possible sites included in a Department of Interior report discussing a future home for the Yellowstone bison.

The Wichita Eagle reports the preserve near Strong City currently has 27 bison and plans to add another 20 this fall. Superintendent Wendy Lauritzen said Monday that the preserve hopes to have 60 bison in 1½ years.

Lauritzen says bison from Yellowstone could be brought to Kansas only after all state laws had been reviewed.

Monday’s report was intended only to discuss other options for the bison from Montana. Park service officials say it could be five years to a decade before more animals were relocated.

 

By Jordan Rau
Kaiser Health News

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Workers believe employer wellness programs should be all gain but no pain, according to a poll released Tuesday.

The poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation found employees approve of corporate wellness programs when they offer perks, but recoil if the plans have punitive incentives such as higher premiums for those who do not take part. (KHN is an editorially independent program of the foundation.)
Wellness programs, which are encouraged under the federal health law, are structured in various ways. In some plans, the worker has to join a particular program, such as an exercise class, while others focus on outcomes, such as the employees’ blood sugar or cholesterol. Evidence is mixed about whether any substantially improve workers’ health or lower costs to employers and insurers.

The poll found 76 percent of workers thought it was appropriate for employers to offer wellness programs that promote healthy behavior. But a majority opposed wellness plans that had financial repercussions for workers: 62 percent did not think employers should charge higher health insurance premiums to workers who did not participate, and 74 percent said management should not charge more to those who did not reach health goals.

The Obama administration is allowing employers to link up to 30 percent of health premiums to wellness programs. Penalties and rewards for participating in a tobacco cessation program can be as high as 50 percent of the insurance plan cost.

The poll found that among workers who get health insurance from their employer, 48 percent said there was a wellness program in their workplace. Six out of 10 people said they participate; women were more likely to take part than men.

On another topic, the pollsters found that six of 10 people are following the problems at Veterans Affairs hospitals, some of which are accused of covering up the long waits some patients had before getting care. The VA scandal is the most closely followed health story of the year so far, the poll found, though more people have paid attention to the missing Malaysia Airlines flight, the kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Sixty three percent think the problems are widespread throughout the VA, while 22 percent believe they are isolated to a few facilities. Those who live in a household with someone who served in the military are even more likely to believe the problems are systemic. However, the poll indicated there are gaps in knowledge: Of those who said they are following the VA scandal “very” or “fairly” closely, two out of three were able to correctly answer that General Eric Shinseki resigned as Obama’s secretary of veterans affairs.

The poll found little change from last month in how the public views the health law. For the first time, however, more people said they were basing their impressions on their own experiences and those of friends or family, instead of on information gleaned from television, radio and newspapers.

“As implementation proceeds, more people may be having direct experience with the law themselves or through their loved ones,” the pollsters theorized. “It’s also possible that as coverage of the law has been out of the media spotlight for the last few months, fewer people are hearing about it in the news, resulting in a declining share who report taking cues from the media.”

The poll was conducted June 12-18 among 1,202 adults. The margin of error was +/- 3 percentage points for the general population and larger for subgroups.

DETROIT (AP) — Graco Children’s Products is recalling 1.9 million infant car seats, agreeing to government demands in what is now the largest seat recall in American history.

The recall came after a five-month spat between Graco and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Earlier this year the company recalled 4.2 million toddler seats for a harness buckle problem. But it resisted the agency’s demand to recall the infant seats.

Buckles can get gummed up by food and drinks, making it difficult to remove children. In some cases parents had to cut harnesses to get their kids out. The agency says that increases the risk of injuries in emergencies.

Graco argued that infant seats are used differently, and in an emergency, an adult can remove the whole seat rather than using the buckle.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Secretary of State Kobach is criticizing his opponent in the Aug. 5 Republican primary for holding views on social issues that are out of sync with the Kansas GOP’s conservative platform.

But GOP challenger Scott Morgan said Tuesday that the criticism shows that Kobach doesn’t care about his office.

Their exchange began Monday, the deadline for Kansas voters to switch parties. Kobach’s re-election campaign sent out a tongue-in-cheek statement reminding Morgan of the deadline and suggesting that he’d registered as a Republican by mistake.

Morgan ran unsuccessfully for the state Senate in 2008. In a survey, he expressed support for abortion rights and civil unions for gay couples and opposition to allowing the concealed carrying of guns.

Morgan said such issues are irrelevant in the secretary of state’s race.

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