TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas high school students taking the ACT college entrance exam are scoring better than average than their peers nationally and a higher percentage appear ready for college courses.

But figures released Wednesday by ACT also show that average scores for Kansas students haven’t changed much in recent years.

The State Department of Education noted that 32 percent of the 2015 high school graduates in Kansas met all benchmarks for college readiness on the ACT test.

That’s higher than the national figure of 28 percent and also up from the state’s figure of 28 percent for 2011 graduates.

The average composite score for 2015 graduates in Kansas was 21.9 on a 36-point scale, compared to the national average of 21. But the figure for Kansas was 22 for 2011 graduates.

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas State University student who was killed in Chicago was remembered for her positive attitude and beaming smile.

The Kansas State Black Student Union organized a memorial Tuesday night for 22-year-old Briona White, who was shot to death Aug. 6 in Chicago. White was killed days before she was to return to Manhattan to finish her degree to be an orthodontist.

KMAN reports about 60 people attended the memorial, including White’s parents. Her parents said White was anxious to return to Kansas State. They urged those in attendance to strive to be the best they can be and thanked them for remembering their daughter.

Associate biology professor Kent Kerby spoke fondly of White’s attitude and smile, while other speakers urged students to confront the issue of gun violence.

 

MONETA, Va. (AP) — The latest on the fatal on-air shooting of two TV station employees in Virginia (all times local):

5:35 p.m.

Police trucks are removing items from the home of suspect in the fatal on-air shooting of two journalists, and no one is answering the door at the residence.

The home is in Roanoke, a few blocks from the station for WDBJ-TV, where suspect Vester Flanagan once worked with the reporter and cameraman authorities say he killed Wednesday morning.

A reporter knocked on the door Wednesday, hours after the shooting and after Flanagan died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. No one answered. Several other neighbors also weren’t home, and the parking lot was mostly empty.

The apartment complex is near the highway has a swimming pool, tennis courts and fitness center.

Sheriff’s personnel were parked outside Flanagan’s apartment, and apartment personnel showed up to order a reporter to leave. Virginia State Police were taking the items from the home and placing them in trucks outside.

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4:05 p.m.

A former co-worker of the man who shot and killed a TV reporter and cameraman during a live news broadcast says that Vester Flanagan was “off-kilter” and that he thought news anchoring was about “acting.”

Kimberly Moore Wilmoth worked with Flanagan in 1999 when he was at a Tallahassee TV station. She said Wednesday that “he didn’t laugh at our jokes or at himself when he would make a mistake.”

Wilmoth describes Flanagan as a loner who didn’t socialize with other reporters. She says he got mad when co-workers made light of on-air mistakes. She recounted one story in which he filmed an elderly man trapped inside a car during a flood even though the man was calling out for help.

She says: “Instead of helping the man, he used the man as a prop.”

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3:50 p.m.

The father of the reporter killed during an on-air interview in Virginia says “my grief is unbearable” over his daughter’s death.

Andy Parker told The Washington Post that his wife first learned of the shooting in a text message from WDBJ-TV, the station for which his 24-year-old daughter Alison worked. He says they did not know her condition at first but feared the worst when they didn’t hear from her.

Andy Parker says she would have called immediately to say she was OK. About an hour after the shooting, a senior manager at the station called the family to say Alison Parker had been killed.

The gunman, Vester Flanagan II, apparently recorded the shooting that also left cameraman Adam Ward dead and posted video of it on social media. Andy Parker says he refuses to watch it.

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3:45 p.m.

The third victim in a shooting during a live TV broadcast is being described as a woman with a positive attitude who’s full of energy.

Vicki Gardner is the executive director of the Smith Mountain Lake Chamber of Commerce. She was being interviewed Wednesday morning when gunfire broke out. The reporter and cameraman were killed, and Gardner was wounded. Officials say she’s in stable condition.

Troy Keaton, chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, says he was at the hospital with her for several hours after the shooting, along with her husband and one of her children. He says the family is remaining strong.

Keaton says Gardner emailed him before 4:30 a.m. Wednesday to let him know about the live television interview to promote the lake’s 50th anniversary.

He says: “The fact she was there at 4:50 is sort of Vicki. And you know, not a lot of the other staffers would’ve been up for that. If she was here, she’d be saying ‘Man, at least everybody gets to see our beautiful lake.'”

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3:25 p.m.

Authorities say the suspect in the on-air fatal shooting of two journalists was found by Virginia state troopers after he switched from his vehicle to a rental car he’d gotten earlier this month.

Officials say suspect Vester Flanagan was found around 11:30 a.m. Wednesday on an interstate in Fauquier County with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. They say he died about two hours later.

Franklin County Sheriff Bill Overton says Flanagan fled the scene of the shooting, at a mall where the journalists were doing an interview, before deputies arrived. Shortly before 11 a.m., Roanoke police found his Ford Mustang at the city’s airport. The Mustang is being treated as evidence.

Overton says Flanagan then left the airport in the Chevy Sonic he’d rented earlier in the month.

A Virginia state trooper located him driving on the interstate using license plate recognition equipment.

State Police Sgt. Rick Garletts says the trooper followed Flanagan until backup arrived, then turned on her flashing lights. The suspect tried to evade her but after a couple of minutes, he ran off the road into the median. That’s where he was found with the gunshot wound.

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3 p.m.

ABC News says that someone using the name of the suspected gunman in the on-air shooting of two TV journalists sent the network a lengthy fax invoking several mass shootings.

ABC News reports that a man using the name Bryce Williams called the network in the past few weeks asking to pitch a story and wanting to fax information. The organization says the man never said what the story was.

Then, ABC News says, a fax arrived with a time stamp of 8:26 a.m. Wednesday, nearly two hours after the shooting in Virginia. He called the network just after 10 a.m., introducing himself as Bryce but saying that his legal name was Vester Lee Flanagan and that he had shot two people.

Police and WDBJ-TV have identified the shooting suspect as Vester Flanagan, who used the name Bryce Williams on air when he worked for the station as a reporter. Authorities say he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound hours after the shooting.

ABC said in a story on its website that network officials immediately contacted authorities and provided them with the fax.

The 23-page document is a manifesto of sorts, saying he was motivated to kill his former co-workers after the recent Charleston church shootings. The document says Williams bought a gun June 19, two days after authorities say Dylann Roof killed nine people inside a black church. Police have called the massacre a racially motivated hate crime. The document also cites the Virginia Tech and Columbine High School killers as influences.

The TV station in Virginia has said that Flanagan alleged that other employees made racially-tinged comments to him and that he filed a complaint. But the station’s general manager says the allegations couldn’t be corroborated.

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2:50 p.m.

The third victim in the fatal shooting during a live TV news broadcast in Virginia is in stable condition.

Chris Turnbull, spokesman for Carilion Clinic in Roanoke, Virginia, gave the condition of Vicki Gardner at a news conference Wednesday, several hours after the shooting.

Gardner is executive director of the Smith Mountain Lake Regional Chamber of Commerce. She was being interviewed about tourism in the area when gunfire erupted, killing reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward of WDBJ-TV.

Authorities say suspect Vester Flanagan, a former co-worker of the two slain employees, died later of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Officials have said they don’t know a motive. Flanagan went by Bryce Williams on air and has been described as a disgruntled, angry man who was fired from the station.

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2:25 p.m.

Officials say they don’t yet know a motive in the fatal on-air shooting of a reporter and a cameraman from a TV station in Virginia.

Authorities say they know the suspect, Vester Flanagan, was a former employee at the station, WDBJ-TV. They say they don’t know if the shooting was racially motivated. Flanagan was black and had formerly complained about racial bias at the station.

Flanagan died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound hours after the Wednesday morning shooting. He went by Bryce Williams on the air.

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2:20 p.m.

A law enforcement official says the suspect in the on-air shooting of two TV station employees died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Franklin County Sheriff W.Q. “Bill” Overton Jr. gave that detail Wednesday during a news conference.

Officials say suspect Vester Flanagan died at 1:26 Wednesday at a hospital in northern Virginia. Authorities say the man killed his former co-workers — reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward — during a live broadcast for WDBJ-TV on Wednesday morning outside a shopping mall.

The station has said Flanagan went by Bryce Williams on the air. While he worked at the station, they say, he was angry and difficult to work with. He was fired.

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2:13 p.m.

A Virginia official says the suspect in the fatal shooting of two TV station employees during a live broadcast has died.

Virginia Secretary of Public Safety Brian Moran says Vester Flanagan died at 1:26 p.m. Wednesday.

Flanagan went by the name Bryce Williams on the air. He was a former employee at the station. The general manager says that he was known for being unhappy, angry and hard to work with, and that he was fired.

A reporter and a cameraman were fatally shot during a live interview outside a shopping mall Wednesday morning.

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2 p.m.

The fiancee of the cameraman killed during a live broadcast outside a Virginia shopping mall was marking her last day at the TV station before moving on to a job at another station.

WDBJ-TV general manager Jeffrey Marks said Wednesday was cameraman Adam Ward’s fiancee, station producer Melissa Ott, was in the control room Wednesday morning as the shooting unfolded.

In an interview with CNN, Marks said: “It’s hard to imagine, isn’t it? She was moving on to a station in Charlotte. It was going to be a day of celebration.”

Ward and reporter Alison Parker were killed. Parker also was dating a co-worker, anchor Chris Hurst. Hurst tweeted that Ward and Parker worked together every day. He says: “They were a team.”

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1:30 p.m.

The general manager of the TV station where the suspect in an on-air shooting used to work says he doesn’t know whether he wants the man to survive.

Officials have named Vester Flanagan as the suspect in the Wednesday incident. WDBJ-TV reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward were killed. Police say they apprehended Flanagan hours later as he sped away from troopers on the highway, crashing his car. Police say they found him with a life-threatening gunshot wound.

WDBJ-TV general manager Jeffrey Marks says Flanagan was a former reporter at the station, with a reputation as an unhappy man who was difficult to work with. Marks says Flanagan was fired after “many incidents of anger.” Flanagan went by Bryce Williams on the air.

On Wednesday afternoon, Marks said of the former employee: “I’m not really sure whether I want him to live or die.”

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1 p.m.

The general manager of a TV station where two employees were fatally shot during a live broadcast describes the suspect as an unhappy, angry man who eventually was fired.

Jeffrey Marks of WDBJ-TV in Virginia talked briefly on air about Vester Flanagan— who went by Bryce Williams on the air — on Wednesday afternoon. Marks says Flanagan was hired as a reporter a few years ago after a while out of the TV news business.

Marks says the man had a reputation of being difficult to work with and being on the lookout for people to say things he could take offense to.

Marks says: “Eventually, after many incidents of his anger coming to the fore, we dismissed him. He did not take that well.”

Marks says that when Flanagan was fired, police had to escort him from the building.

Marks said that Flanagan alleged that other employees made racially-tinged comments to him and that he filed a complaint with the EEOC. But Marks says the allegations couldn’t be corroborated. He says the claim was dismissed.

Marks says Flanagan remained in town after being fired, and every now and then, station employee ran into him.

WDBJ listed Bryce Williams as a reporter at the station on its website on Jan. 17, 2013. By Feb. 8 that same year, his name no longer appeared on the site.

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12:45 p.m.

A woman shot and wounded while she was being interviewed by a television crew during a live broadcast is in stable condition after surgery.

Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital said on its Facebook page Wednesday that Vicki Gardner, a local economic development official who also was on the hospital’s board of directors, was recovering after the surgery. It did not elaborate on the nature of her wounds.

The hospital statement also says that hospital staff had gotten to know the two journalists killed, 24-year-old Alison Parker and 27-year-old Adam Ward, through many live reports from the hospital’s facilities. It says the two were more than just journalists — “they were good friends who will be missed.”

The suspect, Vester Flanagan, was found with a gunshot wound after leading police on a lengthy chase. His condition is unknown.

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12:40 p.m.

The man suspected of killing a TV reporter and cameraman during a live broadcast sued a former employer over allegations of race discrimination in 2000.

Vester Flanagan, who also appeared on air under the pseudonym Bryce Williams, sued WTWC-TV in north Florida in March 2000. The lawsuit claimed that a producer called him a “monkey” in 1999 and that other black employees had been called the same name by other workers.

Flanagan also claimed that an unnamed white supervisor at the station said black people were lazy because they did not take advantage of scholarships to attend college.

The station generally denied the allegations of discrimination and said it had legitimate reasons for ending Flanagan’s employment, including poor performance, misbehavior with regard to co-workers, refusal to follow directions, use of profanity and budgetary reasons.

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12:35 p.m.

Video of two TV station employees fatally shot on-air early Wednesday shows a fleeting image of a man in black pants and a blue top pointing a gun at the station’s camera.

That image was part of an intense search that followed for a suspect police identified as 41-year-old Vester Lee Flanagan II of Roanoke, who appeared on air at the TV station WDBJ in Virginia as Bryce Williams.

The shooting happened Wednesday morning outside a shopping center as a reporter interviewed an employee of the local chamber of commerce. The shooting played out during live TV on the broadcast from the station, WDBJ-TV, based in Roanoke and serving the southwest and central parts of Virginia.

Virginia State Police say they found the suspect about 11:30 a.m. Wednesday. Police say troopers had pursued him on the highway, but he sped away and crashed. Police say he was found with life-threatening injuries.

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12:30 p.m.

Virginia State Police say that as they were pursuing the suspect in an on-air fatal shooting, he ran off the road and crashed, and was found suffering from a gunshot wound.

Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller said Wednesday that the suspect is being treated for life-threatening injuries.

The suspect has been identified as 41-year-old Vester Lee Flanagan II of Roanoke, who appeared on air at the TV station WDBJ in Virginia as Bryce Williams.

A reporter and cameraman from WDBJ-TV were killed in the incident Wednesday morning.

Police say that shortly before 11:30 a.m., they initiated a traffic stop on the suspect vehicle on Interstate 66. Police say the driver refused to stop and sped away from the trooper, but ran off the road and crashed. Police say the troopers approached and found the driver suffering from a gunshot wound, and he is being taken to a hospital.

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12:30 p.m.

A Twitter account under an apparent alias of a man suspected of killing a TV reporter and cameraman describes what he claims were workplace conflicts with the pair.

The suspect, 41-year-old Vester Flanagan, appeared on air at WDBJ in Virginia under the name Bryce Williams. The tweets posted just hours after the killings of 24-year-old Alison Parker and 27-year-old cameraman Adam Ward claim she made racist comments.

The tweets also say Williams filed a report with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and that she was still hired despite that report. The tweets also say Ward reported Williams to human resources after working with him one time. The nature of that complaint was not described.

 

 

MONETA, Va. (AP) — Video shows the fatal shooting of two TV station employees who were killed in an on-air shooting in central Virginia.

In the video from the Wednesday incident, a female reporter is interviewing someone about tourism on Bridgewater Plaza in Franklin County. She was smiling when suddenly at least eight shots were heard. The camera appeared to be dropped on the ground. The reporter can be heard screaming.

The station then switches back to a shot of an anchor back at the station, who has a shocked expression on her face.

In tweets and on its website, WDBJ-TV identified the two killed as reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward.

The station is based in Roanoke, Virginia, and serves the southwest and central part of the state. The shopping mall where the incident happened is just off Smith Mountain Lake.

Moneta is about 25 miles southeast of Roanoke.

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9:20 a.m.

The TV station employees who were killed in an on-air shooting in central Virginia have been identified as a 27-year-old and a 24-year-old.

In tweets and on its website, WDBJ-TV identified the two killed Wednesday as Alison Parker and Adam Ward. The station’s website says Ward was 27 and a graduate of Virginia Tech. Parker just turned 24 and attended James Madison University.

In a tweet, the station says “We love you, Alison and Adam.”

It was not clear who the shooter was.

The station says in tweets and in a story on its website that the incident happened at a shopping center. The station says law enforcement officials are on the scene.

The station is based in Roanoke, Virginia, and serves the southwest and central part of the state. The shopping mall is just off Smith Mountain Lake.

Moneta is about 25 miles southeast of Roanoke.

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By Andy Marso

The leader of an advocacy group for older Kansans told a legislative committee Friday that the state’s grievance process for Medicaid claims has been stacked against beneficiaries since the state moved to managed care in 2013.

Mitzi McFatrich, executive director of Kansas Advocates for Better Care, said the beneficiaries have no one independent of state government to advocate for them if they disagree about their medical care plan with one of the three private insurance companies that administer Medicaid.

“This leaves consumers on an uneven playing field that tilts against them,” McFatrich told the Robert G. (Bob) Bethell Joint Committee for Home and Community Based Services and KanCare Oversight.

The state rebranded its Medicaid program as KanCare after placing all such services under three private insurance companies that also are known as managed care organizations (MCOs).

Medicaid is funded through a combination of state and federal dollars, and McFatrich questioned whether the KanCare program meets a contractual obligation with its federal partners to develop a “qualified, independent, conflict-free entity” to help beneficiaries resolve grievances.

The KanCare program has an ombudsman, Kerrie Bacon, but the position is housed within state government and is prohibited from working on behalf of a beneficiary who has filed a grievance with one of the MCOs.

McFatrich said KanCare beneficiaries and their families have reported about employees for the state or the MCOs discouraging them from filing those claims.

“An independent and able-to-advocate for KanCare members ombuds program is needed to protect KanCare members’ rights to due process through the appeals and fair hearing process,” she said.

McFatrich’s group has developed a guide outlining the grievance process for KanCare beneficiaries. It plans to post the guide on its website.

Some Democrats have called for an independent ombudsman since the beginning of KanCare, but the idea has gained little traction among Republican legislative leaders. The KanCare committee took no action on McFatrich’s concerns Friday.

Friday’s meeting also included:

Continued concerns about home- and community-based services intended to keep Kansans with a variety of disabilities out of institutions. The list of Kansans with intellectual and developmental disabilities awaiting such services remains higher than 3,000, while waiting lists for those with other types of disabilities are declining, even as fewer of them are receiving the services. State officials believe the waiting list for Kansans with physical disabilities — also in the thousands just a few years ago — will be eliminated by the end of the year. Rosie Cooper, executive director of the Kansas Association of Centers for Independent Living, challenged committee members to find out how that’s possible, given that the total number of people with physical disabilities receiving services also is declining. “Let’s take a closer look,” Cooper said.

Susan Mosier, secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, briefed the committee on the search for a KanCare inspector general, a position that has been vacant for more than a year. Mosier said a bill passed last session that allowed KDHE to take the position outside the civil service system has been a boon. That allowed the agency’s leaders to increase the salary, she said, making it more attractive to people with relevant experience. “We have reposted the position and had some more applications,” Mosier said. “To date none of those applications have met the criteria for the position, but we will continue to search.”

Mosier also gave an update on the Kansas Eligibility Enforcement System, a long-delayed $138 million computer upgrade intended to knit together eligibility determination for several state assistance programs, including Medicaid. Mosier said KDHE is in the midst of the second phase of a three-phase rollout, focused on eligibility for Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Last month the agency finished migrating Medicaid and CHIP data from the old system, and Mosier said eligibility now is being processed strictly through KEES. She said the third phase — adding eligibility for other assistance programs run through the Kansas Department for Children and Families — is scheduled for late spring 2016.

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

SALINA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Wesleyan University and the Saint Paul School of Theology are planning a degree program that will reduce the number of years students will need to earn a divinity degree.

Under a program announced Tuesday, students will be able to prepare for ordination and receive a ministry degree in six years instead of seven.

The organizations said in a news release that students in the Christian ministry major at Wesleyan would be able to complete the program in three years, rather than the current four years. Students would then study for three years at St. Paul’s to receive both their bachelor’s and Master of Divinity degrees.

Saint Paul School of Theology has campuses in Leawood, Kansas, and Oklahoma City. Kansas Wesleyan is in Salina, Kansas.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A man who fatally shot another man in Wichita last month will not face charges.

Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett said Tuesday the shooter acted in self-defense when he fired at 42-year-old Billy Massey Jr. in July. Massey was later found lying in a driveway suffering from several gunshot wounds.

Bennett says Massey went to the home to retrieve property belonging to a woman and threatened the woman’s ex-boyfriend with a gun.

The Wichita Eagle reports Bennett said evidence indicated Massey turned the gun toward the ex-boyfriend’s roommate, who shot Massey. Bennett says Kansans are immune from prosecution if they were acting in self-defense when harming or killing a person.

The shooter fled but later called law enforcement. He was questioned and released.