HUTCHINSON– A Kansas man convicted on two counts of aggravated assault, two counts of criminal threat and criminal damage was sentenced in Reno County court on Friday.

Judge Trish Rose sentenced Deandre Pannell, 28, Hutchinson, to a total of two-years, three months in prison, then granted him two-years community corrections. The judge denied a motion for judgment of acquittal or a new trial.

The case involves an incident in July of 2014 when Pannell took a vehicle that didn’t belong to him and when the victims in the case confronted him to get the vehicle back, he allegedly came out of the vehicle, broke a window in a van the victims were in and threatened them with a hatchet.

The defense argued that there was not hatchet found at the time of his arrest. Senior Assistant District Attorney Steve Maxwell noted there was some time before he was arrested giving him plenty of time to ditch it.

He was also ordered to pay $305.00 in restitution.

by ANDY MARSO

For two years now, the staff at Kansas Action for Children has been trying to unravel a mystery: Why is Medicaid enrollment dropping among the state’s youngest children?

Enrollment of low-income children 1-5 peaked in October 2012 and has been dropping steadily since.

Enrollment of infants younger than 1 in low-income families also dropped during that period. Shannon Cotsoradis, president and CEO of Kansas Action for Children, a Topeka-based nonprofit, said she wants more research to determine whether eligible children are missing out on health coverage.

“It’s possible there’s a benign reason for this, but it’s not possible to determine whether or not this is a trend that should be raising the red flag without more data,” Cotsoradis said. “Which is really the bottom line.”

In Kansas, children age 1 to 5 are eligible for the state’s privatized Medicaid program, known as KanCare, if they live in families earning less than 150 percent of the federal poverty level, or $36,144 annually for a family of four. Children under the age of 1 are eligible in families earning up to 171 percent of the poverty level, or $41,472 annually for a family of four.

The overall child poverty rate in Kansas is trending down, declining from 19 percent in 2013 to 18 percent in 2014, but Cotsoradis said it is “highly unlikely” that explains the drop in Medicaid enrollment.

Families with younger children, she said, are statistically more likely to be below the poverty line than families with older children.

Cassie Sparks, a spokesperson for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, said officials at the state’s lead Medicaid agency don’t know why enrollment is dropping among young children.

“We do know there have been no policy changes in eligibility relative to this group,” Sparks said in an email.

Cotsoradis suspects the drop in Medicaid enrollment could be related to a decision made by officials in another state agency, the Kansas Department for Children and Families.

In November 2011, DCF officials decoupled applications for Medicaid and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), a cash-assistance program for low-income families. Cotsoradis said the change creates another step for families new to TANF and Medicaid, and Kansas Action for Children issued a report focused on the drop in TANF participation since 2011.

About a year after the DCF decision, Cotsoradis started noticing a decline in the number of families enrolling young children in Medicaid. She said the lag time made sense because only children born after the TANF changes or children whose family incomes had changed dramatically would have been affected.

“You wouldn’t expect to see an immediate impact, right, because you’d have kids who were already eligible,” Cotsoradis said. “It would be the new crop of kids coming in and applying for TANF that would be impacted, and we start to see a decline after 2013.”

A new state computer program, the Kansas Eligibility Enforcement System (KEES), was expected to coordinate eligibility for a number of assistance programs, including Medicaid and TANF, starting in October 2013. The new system is expected to make the enrollment process easier for recipients and less cumbersome for state officials as well.

But full rollout of the system has been delayed numerous times.

Cotsoradis said the state should not wait to find out if KEES will change the enrollment numbers, especially if its youngest citizens are missing routine vaccinations and health screenings due to lack of health coverage.

“These are the most disadvantaged young children in our state who are going without access to health care,” Cotsoradis said.

It’s possible that more of the state’s youngest children are getting coverage through another government health program with less restrictive income limits.

All Kansas children whose families make up to 244 percent of the federal poverty level are eligible for coverage under the Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, a federal Medicaid expansion approved in 1997.

Kansas Action for Children representatives say they’re not sure whether low-income Kansans in the 0-5 age group are falling off the Medicaid rolls and landing on CHIP, which provides the same coverage.

Average CHIP enrollment has fluctuated the last few years. For fiscal year 2015 it was 54,417, up from 51,176 in fiscal year 2013.

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

STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) — The latest on the fatal crash at the Oklahoma State homecoming parade (all times local):

 

7:50 a.m.

Police have released the identities of three adults who were killed when witnesses say a woman drove her car into spectators at the Oklahoma State homecoming parade.

The Stillwater Police Department did not provide the name of a 2-year-old boy also died in the crash Saturday morning.

In a news release early Sunday, Capt. Kyle Gibbs said 23-year-old Nakita Prabhakar of Edmond was killed in the crash. Gibbs says 65-year-old Bonnie Jean Stone and 65-year-old Marvin Lyle Stone, both of Stillwater, also were killed.

Gibbs says another 47 people were injured in the collision, including five who remained in critical condition early Sunday.

Twenty-five-year-old Adacia Chambers has been arrested on a DUI charge in the crash and is jailed. She is scheduled to appear Monday in Payne County District Court.

—————-

7 p.m.

Hospital officials say a 2-year-old has become the fourth person to die after a woman suspected of driving under the influence plowed into an Oklahoma State University homecoming parade crowd.

The child’s death was reported Saturday evening in a news release from OU Medical Center and The Children’s Hospital in Oklahoma City. The child died at The Children’s Hospital.

Police have said a car driven by 25-year-old Adacia Chambers struck an unoccupied motorcycle of an officer working security at the parade Saturday in Stillwater. The vehicle then went into the crowd.

In addition to the four deaths, more than 30 were injured. They included eight who were airlifted to hospitals with critical injuries.

Chambers was taken into custody on the DUI charge.

___

4:30 p.m.

The father of a woman accused of crashing her car into the crowd attending the Oklahoma State homecoming parade says he can’t believe his daughter could have done it.

Floyd Chambers, of Oologah, told The Oklahoman that he learned through social media that his daughter — Adacia Chambers of Stillwater — was arrested for driving under the influence following the Saturday morning crash that killed three people and injured dozens.

A woman who answered a call to a phone number listed for Floyd Chambers told The Associated Press no one was available to talk.

Chambers said his daughter is timid and that he could not imagine alcohol being involved. Police are awaiting blood tests to determine if Adacia Chambers was under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

___

4:15 p.m.

University of Oklahoma President David Boren has issued a statement expressing sympathy to those killed and injured when a car crashed into people attending the homecoming parade at Oklahoma State University.

“Our prayers go out to the Cowboy community,” Boren said in the statement issued Saturday afternoon.

A moment of silence for the victims in the crash was held before the Oklahoma-Texas Tech game in Norman.

___

3:15 p.m.

Police have updated the number of people injured in the Oklahoma State parade crash to 34 and say eight of them are in critical condition.

Three people were killed when a motorist plowed her car into a crowd of spectators at the homecoming parade. Originally Stillwater police had said 22 others were injured, but they updated that total Saturday afternoon to 34.

The homecoming game was being played Saturday afternoon against Kansas. The crowd observed a moment of silence before kickoff.

___

3 p.m.

A football stadium crowd has observed a moment of silence for the victims of a fatal crash hours earlier at Oklahoma State’s annual homecoming parade.

The flag was lowered to half-staff at Boone Pickens Stadium Saturday afternoon before kickoff of the No. 14 Cowboys’ homecoming game against Kansas. Officials had considered postponing the game but decided to play it as scheduled and honor the victims.

After running out onto the field before the game, most of the Oklahoma State players knelt in prayer by the OSU sideline.

Three people were killed and dozens injured when a car careened into a crowd at the homecoming parade. The driver of the car was arrested on a DUI charge.

1:30 p.m.

Police have released the name of the woman arrested on a DUI charge after the crash that killed three people at the Oklahoma State University homecoming game.

Stillwater police say the woman taken into custody is 25-year-old Adacia Chambers. They didn’t identify her hometown.

Three people were killed and 22 injured — eight critically — after the motorist slammed into the parade Saturday morning in Stillwater.

The homecoming game was being played Saturday afternoon against Kansas. University officials said there would be a moment of silence to honor the victims.

Terrible scene at OSU Homecoming parade as several people hit by car. pic.twitter.com/7VDJKofhff

— geoff (@geoff_eaton) October 24, 2015

1:15 p.m.

Oklahoma State University President Burns Hargis says OSU’s game against Kansas will still be played Saturday despite a crash involving a motorist who plowed into the school’s homecoming parade, killing three people and injuring 22 others.

Hargis’ comments came in a news conference hours after the Saturday morning crash. Police have arrested the woman who was driving the car on a charge of driving under the influence.

___

12:55 p.m.

Police say the driver of a vehicle that crashed into a crowd of spectators at the Oklahoma State homecoming parade has been arrested on a charge of driving under the influence.

Stillwater police Capt. Kyle Gibbs said the woman’s sedan crashed into the unoccupied motorcycle of an officer who was working security at the route, then into the crowd of people.

Gibbs says three people were killed and nearly two dozen injured during the crash Saturday morning. He says eight of the injured were airlifted to hospitals with critical injuries.

DENVER (AP) — A federal investigation has determined that a Colorado livestock hauler sent about 1,700 wild horses to slaughterhouses after buying them through a Bureau of Land Management program that’s supposed to provide the animals with good homes.

The Department of the Interior’s Office of Inspector General released a report Friday saying that between 2008 and 2012, La Jara rancher and livestock hauler Tom Davis bought 1,794 horses from the BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program, which manages tens of thousands of mustangs that roam the West.

The Denver Post reports  that when investigators asked Davis how many of the horses he bought had been re-sold for slaughter, he told them, “Probably close to all of them.”

Wild horses are protected under federal law, and selling them for slaughter is illegal.

MULBERRY, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas State Fire Marshal is investing after firefighters found a woman’s body during a fire at her southeast Kansas home.

Crawford County Sheriff Dan Peak says the body of 59-year-old Susan E. Montanye was found Friday in Mulberry.

Peak said Saturday the cause of death has not been determined. He says he doesn’t expect the results of autopsy reports to be available until next week.

The Joplin Globe reports firefighters found Montanye’s body after fighting the fire for several hours.

No one else was in the home at the time and no other injuries were reported.

The cause of the fire has not been determined.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Topeka man is upset that a ghost tour charged people to enter a site where his grandfather was shot to death while working as a police officer.

Ghost Tours of Kansas hosted an event at Topeka’s Moose Lodge earlier this month. The lodge is where Clarence Shields, a police officer, was shot to death in April 1955 when he surprised two burglars.

The Wichita Eagle reports  Shields’ grandson, Joey Little, says his family is bothered because charging admission made the site an entertainment venue.

Cathy Ramirez, owner of Ghost Tours of Kansas, says she charges admission for all of her tours. She says three quarters of the proceeds went to the Moose Lodge for maintenance, with the rest going to her and her team.