WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — An unsealed document charges a Topeka man with conspiracy in a plot to bomb the Fort Riley military base.
The court document unsealed Tuesday charges Alexander Blair with conspiring with John T. Booker, Jr., in the planned attack. Previously Blair had only been charged with failing to tell authorities about the plans.
The more serious conspiracy charge comes in the newly unsealed criminal information. Such documents are filed with the consent of the defendant and typically signal a plea deal is in the works. The document had been under seal since April 23.
It accuses Blair of giving Booker money on March 17 to rent a storage unit in Topeka to store components he believed would be used to build an explosive device for the attack at Fort Riley.
TOPEKA–Governor Sam Brownback today announced that Jim Clark will step down as Secretary of Administration effective the end of June 2015.
“I am grateful for the strong leadership Jim has provided since becoming part of this team,” said Governor Brownback. “He brought about many improvements that have allowed us to operate in a more efficient and businesslike manner.”
Clark is a former Vice President of Kansas Gas Service, now a division of Oneok, Inc. Prior to that he was Vice President at Westar, Inc. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Regis University in Denver and is a Certified Public Accountant.
“It has been an honor and privilege to serve Governor Brownback and the people of the Great State of Kansas,” Clark said. “When I agreed to serve as secretary of Administration for Governor Brownback for two years I had specific tasks that he asked me to initiate. While most plans have been amended several times, the projects are complete or well on their way to implementation. Now is the appropriate time for me to transition back to retirement and bring new leadership to the agency over the coming weeks.”
The mission of the Kansas Department of Administration is to serve the taxpayers of Kansas and state employees with excellent customer service.
Barbara Walters, Harriet Tubman, Helen Keller, John Elway, Elizabeth Blackwell and Sacajawea made an appearance at the Rotary Club’s meeting Monday — the six winners from the Hays Arts Council’s Famous Figures contest.
The Hays Rotary Club serves as a sponsor for the competition, which included 300 fifth-graders from Hays, Ellis and Victoria.
“This year, a couple of the board members really wanted the kids to have something special, something that sort of set them apart, kind of gave them acknowledgement of being in an elite club,” said HAC Director Brenda Meder, noting the 30 finalists received T-shirts and medals.
First-place winner was O’Loughlin Elementary’s Madelyn Martin, who portrayed renowned television news icon Barbara Walters. Check out a portion of her presentation below:
Trophies were awarded to the first through fifth-place finishers.
HUTCHINSON — A former junior high basketball coach at Trinity Catholic School in Hutchinson was in Reno County Court on Tuesday to face child sex charges.
Patrick Kent Blevins, 21, Hutchinson entered a guilty plea to one count of aggravated indecent liberties with a child.
The prosecution said he fondled as many as six boys.
The charge against Blevins falls under Jessica’s Law meaning a life sentence with no chance of parole for 25-years.
The incidents involving the boys occurred between January 2012 and March of this year.
District Attorney Keith Schroeder said he agreed to the plea so the boys would not have to testify and also because even the one counts sends Blevins away to prison for at least 25-years.
Blevins also waived his right to appeal the sentence.
Schroeder indicated earlier that none of the incidents occurred at any school or during any school activity.
Blevins sentencing is scheduled for June 5.
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HUTCHINSON — The Kansas man who was coaching at Trinity Catholic School in Hutchinson and taken to jail on child sex charges is scheduled to be in court on Tuesday for a hearing in which he may enter a plea.
Patrick Kent Blevins, 21, Hutchinson, is charged with aggravated criminal sodomy and four counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child.
According to police, the arrest came after a report Blevins was involved with a number of children under the age of 14.
The crimes allegedly occurred between June 1, and August 31, 2014.
Blevins, who worked with the girl’s basketball team, was suspended from those duties after his arrest.
None of the incidents occurred at any school or during any school activity according to authorities.
The charges fall under Jessica’s Law meaning he could be looking at multiple life sentences.
Being one of the early Baby Boomers there’s plenty to talk about in my lifetime that’s lasted into its sixth decade. During this wonderful, turbulent time my generation has been praised and pummeled.
We called for banning the bomb, making love not war, witnessed the horror and assassination of our beloved president John F. Kennedy, watched as integration took its first steps and beamed with pride as man first walked on the moon.
During our grade school years, penicillin was relatively new and saved millions of lives across this country and around the world.
We stood in a long line that wrapped the length of our school gym and took a sugar cube that contained the first polio vaccine. One of my classmates suffered from that terrible disease and walked with a limp the rest of her life.
Frozen food and TV dinners became the rage, although I never liked either. I preferred Mom’s meals made from scratch with love.
Copying machines from Xerox made their debut in office buildings. We drank our sodas out of 12-ounce glass bottles. That was the “real” thing.
Plastic containers had yet to make the scene. During my sophomore year at Sheridan Community High School, Tab, the one-calorie diet soda premiered – years before the diet soda craze took over the national landscape.
We shopped at five and dime stores where you could buy a candy bar for a nickel and a soda for a dime. You could call someone for a dime and mail a letter for four cents.
A new Ford coupe cost less than two grand in the mid-‘50s and you could purchase a brand-new home for $10,000. Heck, you can’t even buy a car for that today.
Horned rim glasses were the rage and contact lenses a novelty. Frisbees and the pill ushered in the ‘60s.
The ‘60s – wow what a decade. War, free love, revolution, integration, college, making our own way without the oversight of our parents, neighbors, cousins and our small communities.
And the music, every year countless musicians like the Animals, Beatles, Stones, Cream, Dylan, Jefferson Airplane, Doors, Quicksilver Messenger, Country Joe and the Fish, Hendrix, Joan Baez and Roy Orbison released new albums. Talk about classic rock, there’s not a thing like it today. Never will be either.
As Dylan wrote about the times changin’—most of my contemporaries married first and then lived together. Manners meant, “Yes ma’am” and “Thank you.”
Bunnies were no longer just furry critters named, Bugs but beautiful young women serving drinks in up-scale clubs in cities across the USA. Designer jeans were scheming girls named Jean or Jeanne.
We believed fast food was what we ate during Lent, not something eaten on the run. Househusbands, computer dating, dual careers and commuter marriages were still a decade into the future.
Yes, we arrived on the scene before day-care centers, group therapy and nursing homes although most of us have now encountered these phenomena. We started listening to our favorite music long before FM radio.
For us time-sharing meant togetherness – not condominiums. Software wasn’t even a word. When we were kids, “made in Japan,” meant junk and the term “making out” referred to how you did on an exam.
In our day, cigarette smoking was still fashionable. Grass was mowed, Coke was a cold drink and pot was something you cooked in, not tripped on.
We discovered the differences between the sexes, but not sex changes. We were the last generation to think a woman needed a husband to conceive a baby.
Today, the golden age of boomers has become a distant memory. Instead of country clubs and Club Meds many of us are looking at the prospects of hearing aids, lens transplants and assisted living.
But hey, we once had the world by the tail. We kicked up our heels and lived like there was no tomorrow.
Now that tomorrow is here, it’s time we continue to live, dream and experience each and every day with the same zest and exuberance for life that we once enjoyed in our youth.
For me that’s continuing to tell the story of farming and ranching, reading, family, friendships and listening to music.
I listen to blues, classical, blue grass, jazz and rock and roll. I prefer listening to analogue like I have for more than half a century. I listen to digital in the car.
It’s almost time to spin some wax. You know, the latest craze Daddy ‘O. Twelve-inch black vinyl on a turntable.
See you later, alligator.
John Schlageck, a Hoxie native, is a leading commentator on agriculture and rural Kansas.
TMP-Marian senior Max Megaffin will follow in the footsteps of his older brother and play golf at Fort Hays State University.
Max signed his letter of intent Tuesday afternoon to continue his education and play golf next season at FHSU.
He said his older brother Kade was the reason he took up golf and said he probably wouldn’t have if it wasn’t for his brother.
“He was really my first inspiration to play golf,” and Max said “I’m looking forward to playing with him again.”
Max Megaffin
Kade Megaffin walked on to the golf team this season as a freshman at FHSU.
TMP golf coach Bryan VonFeldt was a member of the Fort Hays golf team from 2002 to 2006 and said he believes committing to Fort Hays will take some pressure off of Max as he finishes out the high school season.
Bryan VonFeldt
Last year Max finished 20th at the 3A state tournament at Cherry Oaks Golf Course in Cheney. The Monarchs finished 5th as a team.
QUINTER – One person was injured in an accident just before 9:30 a.m. Tuesday in Gove County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2015 Volvo driven by Donald Ray Shaw, Holly Springs, Miss., was westbound on Interstate 70 at the Grainfield rest area.
The driver attempted to exit into the westbound rest area.
The vehicle missed the turn, continued into the north ditch and struck a sign.
Shaw was transported to Gove County Medical Center.
The KHP reported Shaw and a passenger were both properly restrained at the time of the accident.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Ride-hailing company Uber says it is pulling out of Kansas after the state Legislature overrode Gov. Sam Brownback’s veto of new regulations.
The company said in a statement shortly after Tuesday’s House vote that it was ceasing operations in the state. Both legislative chambers comfortably surpassed the two-thirds majority votes needed for the override.
Uber’s statement said it was saddened by the loss of jobs and transportation choice for consumers.
The measure requires drivers for ride-hailing companies to undergo state background checks and hold additional auto insurance coverage.
Uber connects drivers to riders through a mobile app, and was operating in Wichita and Kansas City.
The Uber app displayed a message saying “KANSAS JUST SHUT DOWN UBER” to Kansas users after the Senate vote.
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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Republican-controlled Kansas Senate has overridden GOP Gov. Sam Brownback’s veto of a bill imposing new regulations on ride-hailing companies like Uber.
The Senate’s vote Tuesday was 34-5. Supporters had seven more votes than the necessary two-thirds majority.
Supporters expected the House vote on overriding the veto by Tuesday evening.
The measure would require drivers for ride-hailing companies to undergo Kansas Bureau of Investigation background checks. They’d also need additional auto insurance coverage beyond the $1 million Uber offers when drivers are logged into its network or transporting passengers.
Uber had said the measure would push it out of the state.
Uber connects drivers to riders through a mobile app. It was operating in Wichita and the Kansas City area and expanded after Brownback’s veto to four other communities.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Gov. Sam Brownback and legislative leaders have agreed to give five school districts roughly half a million dollars in additional funding.
The State Finance Council, which is comprised of the Republican governor and leaders from each chamber, voted Monday to give more money to districts hit hard by recent policy changes and unforeseen expenses.
Eight districts requested about $1.1 million from the $4 million extraordinary needs fund. The panel voted to partially fund five of those requests.
Superintendents testified that they had been squeezed due to enrollment changes, rising costs and Brownback’s “block grant” school funding law, which cut $51 million in funding districts expected for the current fiscal year.
Requests from the following school districts were approved:
USD 438 Skyline, $118,000
USD 416 Louisburg, $128,680
USD 333 Concordia, $119,099
USD 272 Waconda $57,237
USD 243 Lebo-Waverly, $55,000
The following requests were not approved.
USD 251 North Lyon County
USD 470 Arkansas City
USD 252 Southern Lyon County
The governor’s office denied in a statement that the block grant reform was to blame for shortfalls.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas homeowners would pay higher property taxes to help close a projected state budget shortfall under a proposal endorsed by a legislative committee.
The Senate Assessment and Taxation Committee began work Tuesday on a plan to increase taxes, but members immediately tabled Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s plan to raise alcohol and tobacco taxes.
Members voted instead to increase property taxes for most homeowners by $46 a year. They also backed a plan to overhaul property taxes on vehicles.
The Senate committee plans to fold all of its measures into a single bill. The first pieces would raise about $50 million during the fiscal year beginning July 1.
The GOP-dominated Legislature’s research staff says lawmakers must close a $422 million shortfall in the budget for the next fiscal year.
ELLIS—The Community Foundation of Ellis presented grant awards to ten local non-profit organizations Monday evening, giving back nearly $4,900 to the community. The number of grants for the 2015 funding cycle increased from seven to ten.
Baptist Youth Group: Purchase supplies to build crosses to rent to community members that can put them in their yards for Christmas and Easter times, in order to raise funds for vacation Bible School. Columbian Board: Purchase heating and air conditioning equipment for the Knights of Columbus Hall during Phase 1 of the building renovation project. 5th Quarter: Purchase door prizes gift certificates for each Fifth Quarter events including movie certificates and monetary gift certificates. Nutrition Center: Purchase a window air conditioner for the kitchen. Ellis Public Library: Purchase 21 teaching guides and instructional STEM books for the maker space program. Senior Advisory Committee: To use as a stipend for an individual to offset the expense incurred while shopping for groceries and errands for Ellis citizens who may be homebound because of their health, a disability or because of inclement weather. St. Mary’s Pre-School: Purchase gross motor expansion manipulatives for the Pre-school program. Ellis Soccer Group: To use to pay a portion of the assistant coach for the soccer team. Ellis Girl Scout Troop #10200: Purchase collections of AR books for the St. Mary’s School Library. Ellis Polar Express Committee: Purchase a lighted Rocket Santa display to hang in the trees during the Polar Express Train route.
Additional financial donations will be used to start a new program this summer.
Beginning June 1, Food4Kids: Summer will provide kids in Ellis with food when school is out. For many children, the lack of school lunches during the summer months creates a real need.
The Foundation plans to provide 45 children–ages 2 to 18–with six meals per week to meet the need.
To make a donation to the Community Foundation of Ellis, visit the website at www.ellisfoundation.net or call the Ellis Alliance office at (785) 726-2660.
Photo by Andy Marso Andrea Duarte-Rambo told a legislative committee last week that her son, who has a traumatic brain injury, has made great strides since his KanCare managed care company arranged for him to go to a residential treatment center in Parsons. While anecdotes about quality of care under the MCOs abound, advocates seek more comprehensive data.
By Andy Marso
Andrea Duarte-Rambo, a short, dark-haired woman from Johnson County, walked to the podium and commanded the attention of a full legislative hearing room as she began talking about her son’s traumatic brain injury.
Her son’s brothers hid the injury for fear of getting in trouble, Duarte-Rambo said. His undiagnosed condition led to unexplained mood swings and violent behavior, multiple inconclusive MRIs, treatment with antipsychotic medications that actually worsened his symptoms and a couple of trips to jail.
It was a nightmarish spiral that Duarte-Rambo said began to end only recently, when her son’s KanCare managed care organization, Sunflower State Health Plan, arranged for him to go to a residential treatment facility in Parsons.
“Sunflower took the time to ask my son what he actually wanted and his family what he truly needs rather than just providing him only what is defined by a particular (Medicaid) waiver,” she said.
“The outcome has been nothing short of miraculous.” Duarte-Rambo’s comments came last week during a meeting of the Robert G. (Bob) Bethell Joint Committee on Home and Community Based Services and KanCare Oversight. Later in that same meeting, Sunflower CEO Michael McKinney stepped to the podium to field a senator’s question about Levi Ross, a far less satisfied KanCare member.
Ross, an 18-year-old from La Cygne, told a Kansas City TV station he was denied coverage of surgery for a life-threatening spinal tumor at an out-of-state hospital.
McKinney said he could not speak specifically about Ross’ case because of patient privacy laws. “In general, I will say that that particular individual was approved to go to Kansas University immediately,” McKinney said.
“I can’t explain what the other out-of-state hospital and the out-of-state physician told them, but Kansas University is an outstanding cancer institute. It’s recognized by the National Institute of Cancer, and they could perfectly provide the services.”
More than two years into the implementation of KanCare — the state’s transfer of Medicaid administration to three private insurance companies — anecdotes about quality of care abound. Some members, like Duarte-Rambo, sing the program’s praises.
Others, like Ross and Johnson County resident Finn Bullers, say the insurance companies’ cost-containment measures have had negative effects on their health. Some consumer advocates say going beyond the individual stories to get a more comprehensive look at the program has been a challenge, and it’s hard to determine whether KanCare is making consumers healthier.
“We have no idea,” said Sean Gatewood, interim executive director of the Kansas Health Consumer Coalition. “We know some people are getting services, we know there’s been some expanded services like adult dental … but we don’t know so much as far as the whole system. It’s all anecdotal.”
Resource shortage
Gatewood noticed several months ago that Medical Assistance Reports previously posted monthly on KDHE’s website were no longer being updated. KDHE caught up with the postings recently, after Gatewood’s organization filed a Kansas Open Records Act request. Mike Randol, KDHE’s director of health care finance, said the delay was due to a lack of resources.
The department is short two data analysts, Randol said, and is still looking to hire. Gatewood said his concerns go deeper. For almost a year, Gatewood said, the reports have been missing data about the number of KanCare consumers using each category of medical services due to “system upgrades and changes to reporting methodology.”
“This data is key,” Gatewood said last week in testimony to the KanCare oversight committee.
“The data we have in the report shows how much is being spent. But without the consumer utilization data, we do not know how many consumers are actually accessing the services we are paying the MCOs to provide.”
State Sen. Laura Kelly, a Democrat from Topeka, told Randol that KDHE was getting a “bad rep” with regards to data sharing and that even legislators were having trouble getting information from the agency.
The top Republican on the committee, Sen. Mary Pilcher-Cook, told the Topeka Capital-Journal that she was aware of no such difficulties.
Randol said the agency has strict protocols for releasing data externally. Individual data points related to quality of care continue to trickle out from the MCOs themselves. Sunflower State officials, for example, told the oversight committee that their company had increased the percentage of members fully vaccinated by age 2 from 11.34 percent on Dec. 31, 2013, to 27.63 percent on Nov. 30, 2014.
United Healthcare Community Plan, focusing on the top 5 percent of its medical services users, enrolled nearly 1,200 in clinical or support programs intended to help them better their health and minimize their medical needs. The heads of the managed care organizations said at the beginning of the year that they were confident their members were getting a higher level of care than they did under the previous state-administered, fee-for-service model of Medicaid.
More data coming
More comprehensive, up-to-date KanCare data is coming. The Kansas Foundation for Medical Care has a contract with KDHE to analyze pre- and post-KanCare data to provide annual evaluations of how the program is performing in seven categories: quality of care, coordination of care, cost of care, access to care, the ombudsman program, efficiency, and the uncompensated care pool and Delivery System Reform Incentive Program.
Information for the analysis comes from state tracking systems and databases as well as the managed care companies themselves. The foundation released initial reports last year in KanCare’s first annual report. The foundation’s report starts on page 41, with quality of care measures on pages 43 through 58.
But those reports came with the caveat that full data sets for performance measures for calendar year 2013 were not yet available when the analysis was completed, and there were no benchmarks available for some of the performance measures because those metrics weren’t collected before KanCare’s launch.
The 2014 annual report could include a more complete picture and a better idea of the health outcome trends. Last year the annual report was released online April 25. Sara Belfry, a spokeswoman for KDHE, said via email the agency is waiting for the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to review the 2014 annual report.
“It has been submitted to CMS but has not yet been approved,” Belfry said. “We do not have a timeline of when they will approve.” Like Kansas, other states are outsourcing more of their Medicaid administration to private companies, and the trend is drawing increased scrutiny from CMS. The federal agency is primed to strengthen rules intended to ensure that companies managing state Medicaid programs are focused more on quality of care than profits.
In Kansas, the anecdotes remain mixed. Some members praise the companies, some criticize them and some do both at the same time. Crystal Nelson, a Kansans who has guardianship of a KanCare member who has undergone several surgeries to remove parts of his colon and intestine, said her ward was deteriorating fast until a switch from Sunflower State to Amerigroup. Amerigroup placed him in a rehabilitation hospital in Nebraska, where he is now recovering.
“If it wasn’t for Amerigroup, I don’t know what I would have done,” Nelson said. “Sunflower wouldn’t help me, but Amerigroup did.”
Andy Marso is a reporter for Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The American Royal national barbecue competition is moving to the Truman Sports Complex this year.
The move was announced Tuesday by the American Royal, which has sponsored the World Series of Barbecue in the West Bottoms of Kansas City near Kemper Arena for more than three decades.
Royal officials say the competition has outgrown the grounds around the American Royal complex and the move will allow the competition to expand. The event draws nearly 50,000 people every year. It had 560 barbecue teams last year but 40 had to be turned away because of lack of space.
This year’s competition is scheduled for Oct. 1-4. The livestock show and other American Royal events will continue to be held in the West Bottoms.
