GALENA, Kan. (AP) — A southeast Kansas judge has approved a grand jury to investigate actions by members of the Galena City Council related to a proposed landfill in Cherokee County.

The Joplin Globe reports Judge Oliver K. Lynch’s decision came after opponents of a proposed landfill near Riverton filed a second petition earlier this month seeking the probe.

An earlier petition had plenty of signatures but was denied because it didn’t have the name, address and phone number of the person filing the document.

Petition supports want to investigate whether the Galena City Council made decisions behind closed doors.

Galena Mayor Dale Oglesby has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and said he welcomes the investigation.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Republican Gov. Sam Brownback and his Democratic opponent are campaigning in eastern and south-central Kansas with their tight race in its final week.

Democratic challenger Paul Davis was beginning a 30-stop tour Tuesday morning by meeting and greeting prospective voters on the town square in Iola in southeast Kansas.

Davis planned further stops in the southeast Kansas cities of Independence and Pittsburg before going to Topeka for an evening Statehouse rally with teachers.

Brownback was campaigning with fellow Kansas Republican Sen. Pat Roberts and tea party favorite and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul.

Their first event Tuesday was at noon at Jabara Airport in Wichita, with rallies in Pittsburg and Overland Park later in the day.

Kansas Republicans are launching a four-day bus tour Wednesday.

The election is Nov. 4.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Unseasonably warm fall weather is spurring rapid growth of the emerging winter wheat crop in Kansas.

Kansas Agricultural Statistics Service reported Monday that about 87 percent of the 2015 wheat crop has now been planted. About 72 percent has already emerged.

The agency rates the crop’s condition as 7 percent excellent, 58 percent good, 33 percent fair and 2 percent poor.

Above-normal temperatures are also allowing the fall harvest to progress.

About 78 percent of the corn has been cut, along with 38 percent of the sorghum and 52 percent of the soybeans. The sunflower harvest is 25 percent finished.

By Mike Sherry
Hale Center for Journalism

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As reformers work on making the U.S. health care system more efficient, they’re also looking to improve communication with consumers – whether it’s ensuring they understand the nuances of insurance or grasping instructions from a doctor.

The concept is known as “health literacy,” and the notion extends beyond the written or spoken word, Dan Reus, a St. Louis business consultant, argued Friday at a health literacy summit in downtown Kansas City, Mo.
People also need to understand the ever-increasing electronic data that make up their medical records, he said.

Reus used himself as an example by detailing his three-decade-plus struggle with ventricular tachycardia, a type of irregular heartbeat that in his case is tied to a protein that does not work properly in the heart muscle. Reus, who was diagnosed when he was 12, said it’s a condition that could lead to a fatal heart attack at any time.

As the years have gone by, though, his interactions with his providers have diminished even as health technology has improved. Today, he said, his understanding of his condition and the things he can do to control it are no better than they were when he was first diagnosed.

“Data does very little for me,” he said.

Bottom line, Reus said: Patients need actionable communication from their providers. For him, that means getting information on fitness and having all his specialists communicate with one another.

One of his projects is called Metronome, a software project “to assemble the least technology needed to synchronize the most health stakeholders,” as the website tellingly describes it.

Reus spoke at a two-day conference – the first time that health literacy organizations from Missouri and Kansas have combined to have such a gathering – that drew about 160 people.

Dr. Bridget McCandless, president and chief executive of the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City, one of the gathering’s sponsors, offered some lower-tech insights gleaned from running a free clinic in Independence, Mo.

McCandless said she had a telling moment when preparing her presentation and searching the Internet for examples of good post-surgical instructions. She found one that was straightforward with easy-to -understand graphics, only to realize that the instructions were for a dog.

In her experience, McCandless said, providers need to keep their instructions short and simple.

“Patients are going to forget 80 percent of what you said and 50 percent they are going to remember wrong,” she said.

If patients are bombarded with dozens of instructional items, she said, it’s likely they will be overwhelmed and do nothing.

McCandless said she always asked her patients to repeat her instructions.

She recounted how proud she was of an informational form that patients could fill out while waiting in the exam room. When patients didn’t fill it out, she asked one what the problem was.

She said, “Look lady, if I wanted to take a test, I would’ve stayed in school.”

Mike Sherry is a reporter for Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — Bob Dole says he thinks former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney should run for the office again in 2016.

The 91-year-old former Senate majority leader made the comment Monday during a campaign rally for Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts, who’s in a tight race for re-election against independent candidate Greg Orman. Romney spoke at the event in the Kansas City surburb of Overland Park.

Romney was the GOP nominee in 2012, when Democratic President Barack Obama won re-election. Dole was the 1996 presidential nominee.

Dole drew loud applause from the crowd of several hundred people when he introduced Romney, saying “I want him to run again.”

As Romney worked the crowd afterward, he ignored a reporter’s question about whether he’d run in 2016. He’s said previously that he won’t.

United States Attorney

TOPEKA, KAN. – A man pleaded guilty Monday to stealing public funds from the Army’s family and morale fund at Ft. Riley, U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said.

Michael Steffens, 59, Junction City, Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of stealing public money. In his plea, he admitted the crime occurred while he was a business manager at Ft. Riley for the U.S. Army’s Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation program (MWR). The fund provides programs and services to soldiers and their families.

Steffens managed the change fund, which consisted of non-appropriated funds generated from MWR sponsored programs and activities. From August 2013 through August 2014, he stole approximately $62,000 in cash and coins.

Sentencing is set for Feb. 9. Both parties have agreed to recommend two years’ probation and restitution in an amount yet to be determined. Grissom commended the FBI and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jared Maag for their work on the case.