TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Cities and counties in Kansas oppose a southeast Kansas lawmaker’s proposal to limit what government agencies can charge for fulfilling requests for public records.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that the Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee had a hearing but took no action Tuesday on a bill from Republican Sen. Jacob LaTurner of Pittsburg.

The measure would make documents free when less than an hour of staff time went into retrieving a record and the record is 25 or fewer pages. If more than 25 pages are produced, governments could charge no more than 25 cents per page.

League of Kansas Municipalities attorney Nicole Proulx Aiken testified that the bill would erode local control and create unfunded mandates because governments might not be able recoup their costs.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Newly released emails obtained by the Topeka Capital-Journal show the governor’s administration informed two lobbyists about its budget efforts weeks earlier than previously disclosed.

The emails showed they were included on a Dec. 6 email thread about the budget. President Kent Glasscock of Kansas State University Institute for Commercialization also was included.

The newspaper made an open records request to the school for emails between Glasscock and the state’s budget director.

Most of the emails’ content was redacted. The university and Glasscock haven’t responded to the newspaper’s questions.

A Gov. Sam Brownback spokeswoman says he consulted with several people during budget discussions.

The Wichita Eagle first reported the state’s budget director sent a Dec. 23 email previewing the governor’s budget proposals. Among the recipients were the two lobbyists.

DODGE CITY – A Kansas teenager was injured in an accident just before 5 p.m. on Tuesday in Ford County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2006 Chevy Cobalt driven by Karely Solis-Enriquez, 16, Dodge City, was northbound on 108 Road one mile west of Dodge City.

The vehicle left the roadway, rolled multiple times and came to rest in a ditch.

Solis-Enriquez was transported Western Plains Medical Center.
The KHP reported she was properly restrained at the time of the accident.

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. (AP) — Target has agreed to pay nearly $4 million to settle a lawsuit filed by Northern California prosecutors that alleged the retailer charged higher prices than advertised, prosecutors said Tuesday.

The lawsuit also alleges the Minneapolis-based company misrepresented the weights of products and failed to ensure that price scanners at checkout stands were accurate.

Target Corp. was ordered to pay $3.9 million to settle the lawsuit filed in Marin County, the San Francisco Chronicle reported

Marin County District Attorney Ed Berberian said his office filed the lawsuit in conjunction with counterparts in Contra Costa, Fresno, Santa Cruz and Sonoma counties, and the San Diego city attorney’s office.

“A fundamental consumer right is to be charged no more than the lowest advertised price. Consumers should always notify retailers immediately when they are being overcharged and demand to be charged only the lowest advertised price,” Berberian said.

Target spokesman Evan Lapiska said some of the problems stemmed from promotional signs not being removed immediately after a promotion ended and the company has taken steps to fix that and other problems.

Target, the second-largest discount retailer in the U.S., also agreed to increase the number and frequency of price-accuracy audits at California stores, train its employees to make sure prices are accurate and hire an outside auditor to make sure weights are accurate in Target-branded products.

“Any guest who feels she or he was overcharged for an item should bring their receipt to the guest service desk, where any pricing inaccuracies will be resolved,” Lapiska said.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Used car dealership chain CarMax says it plans to hire more than 2,500 workers across the U.S.

The Richmond-based company said in a news release Tuesday that the positions include sales, service operations, purchasing and the business office. Both full-time and part-time positions will be filled.

Some of the areas with a large number of opportunities include Atlanta, Denver, Cincinnati, Salt Lake City and Miami.

CarMax has more than 20,000 employees and operates more than140 used car superstores.

Applications will only be accepted online at www.carmax.com/careers.

LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — A new report declares chronic fatigue syndrome a real and serious disease and needs a new name to reflect that — along with a straightforward way to diagnose the illness.

The Institute of Medicine sought to redefine this long-controversial ailment Tuesday, after hearing from patients that the “chronic fatigue” moniker belittles their suffering. The panel advised the government that instead, it should be named Systemic Exertion Intolerance Disease, or SEID, to reflect that symptoms worsen after exertion.

The panel also set new criteria for diagnosis, saying doctors should focus on five main symptoms. In addition to post-exertion worsening, they include: fatigue that forces a reduction in pre-illness activity levels for six months or more, non-refreshing sleep, cognitive problems, and symptoms that improve when lying down.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A decision by Republican Gov. Sam Brownback to narrow an anti-discrimination policy for Kansas government workers has prompted a Democratic lawmaker to introduce a bill aimed at protecting gays and lesbians.

Democratic state Rep. John Carmichael of Wichita on Tuesday asked the Kansas House Judiciary Committee to sponsor a measure to bar discrimination in housing and employment based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The committee agreed to do so.

Carmichael’s bill would expand the state’s existing anti-discrimination act, which does not specifically cover gays, lesbians and transgendered residents.

He said he acted in response to Brownback’s decision to rescind a previous Democratic governor’s executive order barring such discrimination in state government hiring and employment.

House Minority Leader and Kansas City Democrat Tom Burroughs also condemned Brownback’s action.

YATES CENTER – A Kansas man was injured in an accident just after 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday in Woodson County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 1983 Olds passenger vehicle driven by Virgil Lafayette Seay, 46, Yates Center, was westbound in the 700 Block of West Mary in Yates Center.

The vehicle left the road on the north side, struck a block building and a house.

Seay was transported to Neosho Memorial Regional Medical Center.

The KHP reported he was properly restrained at the time of the accident.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback has rescinded a former governor’s order barring discrimination against gays and lesbians in hiring and employment throughout much of state government.

The Republican said Tuesday he issued an executive order canceling the August 2007 order by Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius.

Sebelius ordered departments under the governor’s direct control to bar discrimination in hiring and employment based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Kansas’ anti-discrimination law covers private employers and housing, but it doesn’t extend to gay, lesbian or transgendered residents.

Brownback says legislators should approve any expansion of anti-discrimination laws, and that Sebelius — who later became President Barack Obama’s health secretary — acted unilaterally

But he reaffirmed the state’s commitment to preventing discrimination against state workers based on race, gender, religion or national origin.

By DAN MARGOLIES

An Oklahoma City-based hospice with offices in Kansas City, Mo., and in Kansas will pay $4 million to settle allegations that it improperly admitted patients to increase its Medicare reimbursements.

Good Shepherd Hospice Inc. and four affiliates agreed to the settlement with the federal government on Friday. The government had intervened in a False Claims Act case originally brought by two whistleblowers, both former employees of Good Shepherd.

The employees, Kathi Cordingley and Tracy Jones, sued Good Shepherd in federal court in Kansas City, Mo., in 2011, alleging it admitted patients who didn’t qualify for hospice care under Medicare rules.

According to the lawsuit, Cordingley was executive director of Good Shepherd’s Kansas City office from Nov. 2010 until she resigned in April 2011. Jones was a registered nurse in the same facility until she was terminated in April 2011.

Both women claimed they were asked to fraudulently certify patients for enrollment in Good Shepherd’s hospice care programs.

In March 2014, the government intervened in the false-claims portion of the lawsuit, which had been sealed. It declined to intervene in other parts of the action that alleged Good Shepherd had paid kickbacks to medical directors, nursing homes and hospice consultants in exchange for hospice referrals.

Cordingley and Jones will receive a portion of the settlement, or about $680,000, according to the Justice Department.

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

Good Shepherd operates 15 offices in Oklahoma, Texas, Missouri and Kansas. Besides the one in Kansas City, it also has offices in Springfield and Branson, Mo., and in Wichita, Lenexa and Newton, Kan.

A call to the company seeking comment was not immediately returned.

In a statement, Tammy Dickinson, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Missouri, said, “Health care fraud puts profits above patients, and steals from taxpayers. In this case, company whistleblowers alleged that patients received unnecessary hospice care while Good Shepherd engaged in illicit business practices to enrich itself at the public’s expense.”

Dickinson said the settlement placed measures in place to prevent similar conduct in the future.