TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Topeka couple is facing federal charges after a grand jury returned indictments accusing them of forcing a teenage girl into prostitution.

U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom’s office says 29-year-old Reginald Newman and his 21-year-old wife, Tiara Jade Newman, are charged with conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of a minor and sex trafficking of a minor.

Prosecutors say the victim was introduced to the couple on March 21 and engaged her in prostitution through March 30. The indictment alleges Reginald Newman held a gun to the 17-year-old victim’s head and threatened to kill her if she didn’t participate in a commercial sex act.

Both defendants remain in state custody after being charged last month with aggravated human trafficking in the same case.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The House has rejected a measure that would have given county commissions the ability to block most land annexations by cities.

The chamber voted 65-57 to reject the bill Wednesday. Cities would need to obtain county approval to annex land under the bill.

Republican Rep. Ken Corbet from Topeka said he supported the measure and that land annexations deprive counties of revenue, which hurt residents of townships.

Several lawmakers objected to the annexation portion because it was bundled into the bill during negotiations with the Senate. A separate bill dealing with annexation had passed the House, but the language inserted by the Senate was significantly broader.

The bill also would have made tweaks to laws concerning auto maintenance bids, sewer district contracting and the governance of improvement districts.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A couple accused of stealing more than $1.5 million from a Wichita company that owns assisted living centers in Kansas and Missouri is expected to plead to charges later this month.

Brent Shryock of Augusta had been scheduled to go to trial Tuesday on mail fraud charges, but notified the court the day before it was to begin that he wanted to change his plea. His hearing is May 13.

A court notation Wednesday shows his wife, Lori Shryock, also plans to change her plea. Her hearing is May 14.

The indictment alleges the crimes were committed while Brent Shryock was employed as information systems director for Presbyterian Manors of Mid-America. He was in charge of purchasing equipment.

Prosecutors say the couple created four fictitious companies to submit fraudulent invoices.

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WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A former employee accused of stealing more than $1.5 million from a Wichita company that owns assisted living centers in Kansas and Missouri is expected to plead to charges later this month.

Brent Shryock of Augusta had been scheduled to go to trial Tuesday on mail fraud charges, but notified the court the day before it was to begin that he wanted to change his plea. His hearing is May 13.

It is unclear from court records whether a deal is in the works for his wife, Lori Shryock.

The indictment alleges the crimes were committed while Brent Shryock was employed as information systems director for Presbyterian Manors of Mid-America. He was in charge of purchasing equipment.

Prosecutors say the couple created four fictitious companies to submit fraudulent invoices.

By Jim McLean

At the beginning of the 2015 legislative session, Kansas hospital administrators signaled their willingness to talk about increasing a state assessment on their revenues to fund Medicaid expansion.

They anticipated that the state’s deteriorating budget situation would make it impossible for Gov. Sam Brownback and Republican legislative leaders to consider expansion without a way to pay for the state’s share of the costs. And they anticipated that even with funding options, Medicaid expansion was a long shot to pass.

Supporters say they still hope to force floor votes on an expansion bill, although Brownback and legislative leaders remain opposed to it. But it’s clear that hospital officials didn’t anticipate the turn of events that has put them on the defensive in the final weeks of the session.

Brownback and key lawmakers are now talking about raising the provider assessment. But they see it as a way to help balance the budget rather than fund a Medicaid expansion plan. “This is extremely frustrating to say the least,” said Tom Bell, president and chief executive of the Kansas Hospital Association.

“This is a tax on hospitals — community hospitals in the state of Kansas — and there is no corresponding benefit that’s going back to the hospitals.” Shawn Sullivan, Brownback’s budget director, wants to increase the assessment to help close a gap in the current year’s budget and fill a revenue hole of more than $400 million in the fiscal year that begins July 1.

The proposal is included in a governor’s budget amendment that Sullivan submitted to the Legislature in late April. Increasing the assessment on in-patient revenues from 1.83 percent to 2.55 percent would generate an additional $18.7 million a year for the Health Care Access Improvement Program.

The current assessment raises approximately $40 million, which is used to leverage another $60 million in federal matching funds. Without an increase in the assessment, administration officials say, state general fund dollars will be needed to subsidize the Health Care Access Improvement Program, or HCAIP, which was created in 2004 to increase the Medicaid rates paid to doctors and hospitals.

“What we’re seeing is that HCAIP funding is not sufficient to cover existing utilization,” said Mike Randol, director of health care finance for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, the state’s lead Medicaid agency. “The intent never was for general revenue to subsidize that.”

There is no need to increase the assessment, Bell said. The HCAIP fund has fluctuated over the years, but he said the assessment has generated sufficient revenue to replenish it.

“It has always been worked back to where it’s pretty much at a break-even point,” he said. “And I don’t know why that wouldn’t happen again absent some trend that the administration is seeing that we don’t know about.”

The governor’s proposed budget amendment said that state general fund money has been needed “in recent years” to shore up the HCAIP fund and that an increase in the assessment is necessary until legislation is passed that would allow the rate to fluctuate. Bell isn’t convinced that the administration’s numbers are accurate.

“I don’t like saying this, but when the data has fluctuated as much as it has, it raises questions about its validity,” he said.

So, Bell wants the data audited and examined by the eight-member panel that oversees the HCAIP.

A hike in the provider assessment would increase the financial pressure on Kansas hospitals already being squeezed by the state’s rejection of Medicaid expansion, Bell said, pointing to Mercy Hospital in Independence as an example.

In March, David Steinmann, chief executive of the hospital, said he was anticipating nearly $570,000 in cuts to Medicare reimbursements and federal disproportionate share hospital payments, which are designed to partially cover the costs of treating uninsured payments.

The proposed increase in the provider assessment would cost the Independence hospital another $53,000, according to the Kansas Hospital Association. Expanding Medicaid would generate an estimated $1.6 million in additional revenue for the hospital, more than enough to offset the anticipated reductions and the proposed increased provider assessment.

A recent statewide poll conducted for the Kansas Hospital Association indicated that 64 percent of Kansas voters favored expanding Medicaid eligibility to low income Kansans. The survey of 500 Kansans was conducted in late April by Public Opinion Strategies and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.38 percent.

Jim McLean is executive editor of KHI News Service in Topeka, a partner in the Heartland Health Monitor team.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — The Hall Family Foundation has made a $1.46 million gift and challenge grant to the University of Kansas to support the humanities.

The university said in a news release Wednesday that $468,800 of the gift will be used for fellowships for four incoming humanities doctoral students. A $1 million challenge grant, when matched, will be used for endowed fellowships for mid-career faculty members in the humanities.

Both fellowships will be administered by university’s Hall Center for the Humanities.

The Kansas Endowment is seeking donors to establish four fellowship endowments to qualify for the matching funds for the $1 million challenge grant.

MAIZE, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas highway has reopened after being closed for several hours when cattle escaped after a semi-trailer truck rolled over near Wichita.

The Kansas Highway Patrol says Kansas 96 near Maize reopened about noon. It was closed when the truck crashed around 4 a.m. Wednesday northwest of Wichita. The driver was not hurt.

The driver was hauling about 60 cattle from Hutchinson to Eureka. About five cattle died in the accident and several others escaped the truck and roamed near the highway.

Cowboys and animal control workers were called in to corral the cattle and get them into another truck.

Authorities say heavy rain at the time might have contributed to the accident.

 

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MAIZE, Kan. (AP) — Crews were trying to round up cattle on a Kansas highway after a truck overturned, possibly due to wet conditions.

Sedgwick County officials say the truck was carrying 59 cattle on Kansas 96 near Maize when it overturned early Wednesday. Sheriff’s Sgt. Daniel Oliver says the driver went off the highway, overcorrected and rolled the truck when he tried to get it back on the highway.

He says the driver wasn’t hurt but several cattle got out of the truck and were roaming near the highway. Calls went out for cattle pens to help corral the animals. It wasn’t immediately clear how many cattle escaped.

KWCH reports it will be several hours before the eastbound lanes are open but they hoped to have westbound lanes open by 7 a.m.

Hutch Post

HUTCHINSON — A 19-year-old student arrested last week at Hutchinson Community College for allegedly making a threat to shoot up the school was in court Tuesday where he was read the complaint against him.

According to Police, college security staff reported that Cody Turner had posted a threat to commit violence on campus, but no specifics were given relating to date or time.

Working with HCC Security and their IT department, officers were able to determine it was Turner.

He was brought to the Law enforcement Center for questioning and arrested.
There was no specific target at the school, and that it didn’t appear Turner had the means in his possession to carry out such a threat.

A status hearing in the case is set for May 20. Turner indicated he was in the process of hiring his own attorney.