MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas man has been found guilty in the death of a pest control worker more than six years ago.

A Riley County jury on Wednesday found 58-year-old Howard Barrett guilty of reckless second-degree murder in the death of 48-year-old Thomas James of Clay Center.

James was doing extermination work when he was stabbed and beaten in Barrett’s Leonardville apartment in February 2008.

Barrett’s trial was delayed when he was ruled incompetent to stand trial in 2009 after experts said he suffered from schizophrenia. A judge ruled in 2010 that Barrett could stand trial.

Defense attorney Mark Dinkel said during closing arguments that Barrett was “not right in the head” when he attacked James. Prosecutors argued Barrett knew what he was doing when he attacked his victim.

SYRACUSE, Kan – A Kansas man died in an accident just after 6 p.m. on Wednesday in Hamilton County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2003 Ford F 150 driven by Tyler Lindsey Brummett, 33, Kendall, was traveling northbound on Kansas 27 just south of road 26.

The truck ran off the right side of the roadway and down the embankment.

The driver attempted to get back on the roadway, overcorrected, the vehicle rolled and the driver was ejected.

Brummett was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to Sellers funeral home.

The KHP reported he was not wearing a seat belt.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Wichita police are searching for a man who they say tried to sexually assault a woman at knifepoint in a department store bathroom.

Police reported Wednesday that the attack happened at about 1 p.m. on Oct. 28 at the Big Lots store in the Wichita Mall. They say the unidentified man was hiding in a bathroom stall before attacking the woman.

The woman tells police the man held the knife to her throat but that she was able to escape unharmed.

Police say the man was wearing an orange safety vest. They’ve asked for the public’s help to identify and locate him.

 

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — One of two elephants at the Sedgwick County Zoo has died.

Executive Director Mark Reed says workers found the 43-year-old African elephant named Cinda dead on Wednesday. He tells the Wichita Eagle that her longtime companion, Stephanie, was trying to wake her when workers arrived.

Reed says Cinda’s health had been in decline because of her age but she spent time on Tuesday stomping on pumpkins and painting.

Her cause of death is unknown. A veterinary team will perform a necropsy.

Reed says the elephant exhibit will be closed for a few days.

The zoo has $900,000 left to raise in a $10.5 million project to build a larger elephant habitat. The zoo has said it will get more elephants for the exhibit that’s set to open in 2016.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) — Fisher-Price Little People are facing off against little green army men for a spot in the National Toy Hall of Fame.

The classic figures are among 12 finalists for the class of 2014 to be announced Thursday.

Also in the running are: paper airplanes, American Girl dolls, the game Operation, pots and pans, bubbles, My Little Pony, Rubik’s Cube, Slip ‘N Slide, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the toy trucks sold each holiday shopping season at Hess gas stations.

Anyone can nominate a toy but a national committee of history, toy and education experts votes in the winners.

Inductees have to be widely recognized, proven to be more than a passing fad and foster learning, creativity or discovery through play.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Three former workers at the Boeing plant in Wichita who filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the aircraft maker and one of its suppliers are challenging a judge’s ruling against them.

A filing Wednesday in U.S. District Court gave notice the former employees are taking the case to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. At issue is a federal judge’s decision that they failed to show Boeing defrauded the U.S. government in a $1.6 billion contract.

U.S. District Judge Monti Belot summarily ruled Oct. 8 in favor of Boeing and California-based supplier Ducommun Inc., rejecting claims brought by former workers Taylor Smith, Jeannine Prewitt and James Ailes.

Their 2005 lawsuit alleged that Boeing defrauded the government in a contract for two dozen 737 Next Generation aircraft by using “bogus parts.”

By Phil Galewitz
Kaiser Health News

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Tuesday’s re-election of Republican governors in closely contested races in Florida, Georgia, Wisconsin, Maine and Kansas dims the chances of Medicaid expansion in those states.

Advocates hoping for Democratic victories in those states were disappointed by the outcomes, but Alaska, which also has a Republican incumbent, remains in play as an independent challenger holds a narrow lead going into a count of absentee ballots.
“No one would say it was a good night for the prospects of Medicaid expansion,” said Joan Alker, executive director of the Center for Children and Families at Georgetown University.

Still, Alker said the playing field for Medicaid expansion didn’t shift dramatically. “The debate continues to be within the Republican party — with more pragmatic Republicans saying yes and ideologues driving the opposition. So what happens next is a good test case to see how Republicans will resolve these internal tensions.”

Even if Democrats had been victorious in governor races, they still faced a long shot getting Medicaid expansion through Republican-controlled legislatures. The one exception was Maine, where Gov. Paul LePage, who was re-elected, has five times vetoed efforts by his state’s Democratic-controlled legislature to expand the program.

In Florida, Republican Gov. Rick Scott has supported Medicaid expansion, but has done little to persuade state lawmakers to extend the program to 850,000 residents.

If Democratic challenger Charlie Crist had won, he would have faced strong opposition in the Republican-dominated state House, said Sean Foreman, associate professor of political science at Barry University in Miami Shores. “Scott’s victory means Medicaid expansion is dead the next four years,” he said.

Meanwhile, the future of Arkansas’ “private option” Medicaid expansion could be in trouble with the election of Republican Asa Hutchinson as governor and GOP gains in the state House and Senate. Hutchinson replaces Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe, who had championed the state’s expansion plan and who was barred by term limits from running.

Hutchinson has not taken a position on the program, saying he will assess its costs and benefits to “determine whether the program should be terminated or continued.” Arkansas’ expansion is vulnerable because by law, the legislature must reauthorize it every year with a 75 percent majority.

In Alaska, Bill Walker, an independent candidate who favors expansion, holds a small lead over incumbent Gov. Sean Parnell, who opposes it. Should Walker prevail after absentee ballots are counted, he still must get the support of his Republican-controlled legislature. About 26,000 Alaskans would gain coverage through expansion.

Since the Supreme Court made Medicaid expansion an optional part of the Affordable Care Act, 27 states and Washington, D.C., have extended the program to individuals with incomes under $16,100. While most of those states expanded eligibility at the beginning of 2014, Michigan and New Hampshire came on later this year and Pennsylvania’s expansion will start in January.

Nationally, Medicaid enrollment has increased by more than 8 million people since last October and has been seen as the biggest factor in reducing the number of uninsured Americans by about 25 percent this year.

State lawmakers have sometimes blocked Medicaid expansion even with a supportive executive. In 2013, Democrat Terry McAuliffe had campaigned on expanding Medicaid, but after he was elected Virginia governor he was unable to persuade state lawmakers who demanded the program be reformed first.

Caroline Pearson, vice president of consulting firm Avalere Health, said expansion advocates will turn their attention to Utah, whose Republican governor hopes to take a plan to the GOP-controlled legislature, and Wyoming, where Gov. Matt Mead, also a Republican, has expressed interest in widening eligibility for Medicaid. Indiana is also negotiating with the Obama administration to expand Medicaid.

Pearson argued that Arkansas lawmakers are unlikely to unravel that state’s Medicaid expansion, which has helped more than 60,000 gain coverage. “It is incredibly difficult to take benefits away from state residents once they have been granted,” she said.

She said more Republican-led states could move ahead as the issue cools politically.

Sara Rosenbaum, professor of health policy at George Washington University, said it’s hard to tell how big an impact the election will have.

“One possibility is that now that a bitterly contested election is over, the governors may be open to discussion,” she said.

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

TOPEKA- A Kansas man was injured in an accident just before 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday in Shawnee County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported Ford F 250 driven by Kenneth L. Johnson, 74 Topeka was travelling westbound on U.S. 24 just west of Button Road in the passing lane.

Traffic slowed in front of the truck. The driver applied the brakes, swerved to the right, overturned and slid on its roof until it came to rest on the driver’s side door.

Johnson was transported to Stormont Vail.
The KHP reported he was properly restrained at the time of the accident.