ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – No. 5 Missouri Western outscored No.3 Fort Hays State by 20 in the second half and rally for a 77-75 win Thursday in front of 3,275 at the MWSU Fieldhouse. The Griffons (18-0, 12-0 MIAA), who trailed by 20 late in the second quarter, shot 55-percent in the second half including 5-of-6 from beyond the arc after being held to 34-percent shooting in the first half.
Tony Hobson Postgame Interview
Game Highlights
The Tigers used a 10-0 first quarter run to go up nine and led by 18 at halftime thanks to 50-percent shooting. FHSU connected on only 27-percent in the second half and 3-of-12 from beyond the arc after hitting 7-of-14 from long range in the first half.
Chelsea Mason led the Tigers with 14 points, all in the first quarter. Taylor Chandler, Beth Bohuslavsky and Nikola Kacperska all added 11.
The Griffons were led by LaQuinta Jefferson who scored 18 and Sarafina Handy, who hit a 3-pointer with 34 seconds to play to give the Griffons the lead for good, added 15.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Pro-abortion rights Kansas House members plan to introduce three bills aimed at increasing access to reproductive health care.
One measure outlined Thursday would repeal laws that prevent women from deducting abortion expenses from their state income taxes and restrict private health insurance coverage of abortions.
A second bill would repeal a ban on so-called telemedicine abortions.
A third measure promotes the use of reversible contraceptives that can prevent pregnancies for up to 10 years.
Republican Rep. Barbara Bollier of Mission Hills said the measures are a reaction to attacks on women’s right to make health care choices.
GOP Gov. Sam Brownback and other abortion opponents have argued that Kansas is a leader in helping to create what they call a culture of life.
On the 43rd anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade decision, Congressman Huelskamp will join thousands of Kansans to rally, learn, pray and march for life. The Congressman will provide the keynote address during the Rally.
The rally portion of the day’s events will begin at 12:45 p.m.at the Kansas Statehouse South Steps
The Congressman has long been a pro-life advocate in Congress and during his time in the Kansas Legislature. Currently he is the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus Whip and an advisory board member of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute.
Congressman Huelskamp gave the following statement in advance of this address:
“I look forward to joining supporters of Life in Topeka on Friday. Despite the decades-long frontal assault by pro-abortion forces, along with a complicit media, and a corrupt Court system, the support the most innocent babies has only continued to grow. And that will be clearly evident at Rallies and Marches all across America tomorrow.”
A large contingent of the Hays Police and Fire Departments were dispatched shortly after 6 p.m. Thursday to find a 9-year-old child who was unable to be located at his home in the 500 block of East 11th.
A command center was set up at the former Professor’s Steak House, 521 E. 11th St.
While collecting information about the child and preparing to walk the area, the boy was found at around 6:45 p.m.
According to Hays Police Chief Don Scheibler, it appeared the boy had just been late getting home.
In weather this cold however, the window for someone injured and outside, is very short, prompting the significant response.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas lawmakers have heard testimony from opponents of a measure to mitigate penalties for marijuana possession, permit the use of hemp oil to treat seizures and allow industrial hemp research.
Law enforcement representatives were among several opponents Thursday testifying about a bill to allow medical hemp preparations to treat people suffering from seizures. They testified before the Senate Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee.
Ed Klumpp, a lobbyist from the Kansas Association of Chiefs of Police, said that the bill would lead to recreational marijuana use.
Many other opponents voiced concerns that the proposed measure was not broad enough.
Proponents of the bill spoke before the committee Wednesday.
Committee Chairman and Republican Sen. Greg Smith from Overland Park said that the committee would discuss the bill next week.
FORD COUNTY- A Kansas woman was injured in an accident just before 9a.m. on Thursday in Ford County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2005 Freightliner semi driven by Hugo Ernest Alvarez-Cisneros, 43, Wichita, was eastbound on U.S. 400 five miles east of Ford.
The truck collided with a westbound 2005 Chrysler Van driven by Lorena Velaquez-Vazquez, 34, Dodge City, in the westbound lane.
Velaquez-Vazquez was transported to Western Plains Medical Center. Alvarez-Cisneros was not injured.
Both drivers were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Democrats are backing a bill aimed at shortening the Kansas Legislature’s annual sessions as part of a package of measures for making state government more open.
Democratic lawmakers had a news conference Thursday to highlight what they’re calling their good government proposals.
The proposals include strengthening open meetings and records law and barring elected officials and Cabinet appointees from becoming lobbyists for two years after leaving office.
Top Democrats are also endorsing a proposal from Democratic Sen. Tom Holland of Baldwin City to cut legislators’ pay off once they’ve spent 90 days in session in odd-numbered years and 60 days in even-numbered years.
Holland said the goal is to force legislators to be more efficient in how they handle their work. Last year’s session lasted a record 114 days.
WASHINGTON (AP) — New federal rules to protect smaller streams, tributaries and wetlands have survived the latest Republican effort to block them.
Congress last week sent President Barack Obama a “resolution of disapproval” that would scrap the rules. He promptly vetoed the measure. On Thursday, Senate Democrats voted 52-40, falling short of the three-fifths threshold to vote on a veto override.
Republicans didn’t appear to have the votes to win an override if they had been able to vote. An override needs support from two-thirds of the Senate and two-thirds of the House.
The Obama administration says the rules would safeguard drinking water for 117 million people. Republicans say the regulations are costly, confusing and amount to a government power grab.
LEAVENWORTH -Another contraband arrest at a Kansas prison leads to additional time behind bars for an inmate.
Carlos Jackson, 34, an inmate at the Lansing Correctional Facility, was sentenced Wednesday to 40 more months in prison, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.
In September of 2014, staff at the prison searched Jackson’s cell and his person because they heard that Jackson had contraband, according to Leavenworth County Attorney Todd Thompson.
When doing a strip search, Jackson pulled out a cell phone from his boxer shorts. The staff also found a cell phone charger and a homemade knife in the pocket of his jeans that hung were up in the cell .
All these things are illegal for inmates to possess while incarcerated.
In December a jury found Jackson guilty of possessing the contraband.
During sentencing, the defense attorney, Clinton Lee, argued for a downward departure for his client from the standard sentence of 43 months as required by the Kansas Sentencing Guidelines. The State, argued by County Attorney Todd Thompson, asked for the standard sentence.
Judge Gunnar Sundby denied the departure, but instead granted a mitigated sentence as allowed by the sentencing guidelines to 40 months saying this was due to the financial problems the State of Kansas is having.
Mr. Jackson was convicted of a murder in Topeka in 2003 as a juvenile, and then later convicted of three aggravated batteries as an adult from Douglas County.
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback is proposing to use $25.5 million in federal funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program to free up state general fund dollars so they can be used to bridge Kansas’ budget gap. CREDIT HEARTLAND HEALTH MONITOR
For the third consecutive year, Gov. Sam Brownback is proposing to use money generated by a federal law that he opposes to help balance the state budget.
Brownback, an outspoken critic of the Affordable Care Act, is seeking to use federal funding authorized by the law to help close a projected $190 million gap in the fiscal year 2017 state budget.
Specifically, the governor is proposing to use $25.5 million in federal funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program to free up state general fund dollars so that they can be used to bridge the gap.
The federal money, generated by a provision in the ACA that temporarily increased CHIP funding when Congress reauthorized the program, will take the place of state dollars that otherwise would have been spent to provide health coverage to Kansas children living in low-income families.
“It’s ironic that we’re relying on the Affordable Care Act to deal with the fiscal crisis that we’re facing,” said Shannon Cotsoradis, president of Kansas Action for Children, a nonprofit advocacy organization. “But more troubling is the fact that we’re redirecting dollars that were clearly intended at the federal level to go to children’s programs.”
The governor’s 2017 budget allocates $106.5 million for CHIP. Federal funds will be used to cover approximately 92 percent of that cost. The remaining 8 percent will come from state fee funds, not the state general fund, according to Budget Director Shawn Sullivan.
Defending the governor’s use of ACA dollars, Sullivan said the health reform law is costing the state more than it’s gaining.
“The additional costs of the ACA to the Kansas budget — when considering the Medicaid woodwork costs, the health insurance premium tax and other associated costs — far outweigh the benefit of this two-year S-CHIP enhanced federal match,” Sullivan said in an email.
The “Medicaid woodwork costs” to which Sullivan refers are generated by people signing up for the program who were eligible but not enrolled prior to the passage of the ACA. Publicity surrounding the health reform law and Medicaid expansion are boosting enrollment, even in states like Kansas that haven’t expanded eligibility.
A recent analysis published by the Kaiser Family Foundation estimated that if Kansas continues to reject expansion, its Medicaid expenditures would increase by 22.3 percent from 2015 to 2024. Expanding Medicaid eligibility, the report said, would add to the estimated cost growth but only slightly, increasing it to 23.1 percent.
In August of last year, Sullivan proposed using $17.7 million in federal CHIP matching dollars to help avert a shortfall in the state’s current budget. At the time, he said the budget maneuver would not result in “any sort of expenditure reduction or major change in the (CHIP) program.”
He provided similar assurances last week when briefing lawmakers on the 2017 budget.
In December 2014, Brownback announced $280 million in measures to fill a budget hole, including $55 million from a Medicaid drug rebate program that was expanded as part of the federal Affordable Care Act.
Cotsoradis said while using CHIP funds to offset state general fund dollars may not reduce existing services, it will prevent the state from using the additional money for its intended purpose.
“These are resources that could have been directed at targeted outreach to ensure that children who are eligible for public health insurance in Kansas get and keep that coverage,” Cotsoradis said.
In Kansas, 87.1 percent of children eligible for Medicaid or CHIP actually are enrolled, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. That’s slightly less than the national average of 88.3 percent but about 10 percent less than the highest performing states.
Approximately 56,000 Kansas children are currently enrolled in CHIP.
Technically, Kansas children living in families with incomes up to 250 percent of the federal poverty level — $60,625 for a family of four — are eligible for CHIP coverage. But effectively, the eligibility threshold is several percentage points lower because it is pegged to the 2008 poverty level.
Cotsoradis contends that Kansas is missing an opportunity to use the temporary influx of federal funds to boost eligibility and provide coverage to more children.
Brownback has the authority to implement many of the revenue transfers and spending reductions he’s proposing. However, the Legislature must approve the proposed shift in the use of CHIP funds.
The $17.7 million the administration says it needs to balance this year’s budget will be part of a rescission bill that lawmakers are expected to consider soon. The $25.5 million in the governor’s latest proposal will be included in the 2017 budget bill, which likely won’t be voted on until late in the session.
The governor’s plan to balance the 2017 budget also calls for the elimination of a Medicaid pilot program intended to improve care provided to Kansans with severe and persistent mental illness. Sullivan said an analysis of the “health home” program showed that it improved health outcomes for participants but not enough to warrant the $13.4 million cost of continuing it.
The administration also hopes to save $10.6 million a year by making a controversial change in how prescriptions are managed in KanCare, the state’s privatized Medicaid program. It would allow the three private companies that operate KanCare to implement a “step therapy” program, which would require doctors to start their patients on relatively inexpensive drugs and allow them to move to more expensive alternatives only when they can show that it’s necessary.
Jim McLean is executive editor of KHI News Service in Topeka, a partner in the Heartland Health Monitor team.
HUTCHINSON – Corrections officials are investigating four altercations at the Hutchinson Correctional facility, according to media release.
On Wednesday at approximately 3:40 p.m., 5:21 p.m. and 6:52 p.m., three separate incidents occurred between inmates at the Hutchinson Correctional Facility – Central Unit.
On Thursday at approximately 2:19 a.m. a fourth incident occurred between inmates at the HCF–Central Unit. All four incidents are believed to be Security Threat Group (STG) related.
The first incident occurred between three inmates in an education classroom at HCF-Central Unit. One inmate received non-life threatening injuries and was taken to the facility infirmary for observation. The other inmates involved in the altercation were placed in administrative segregation.
The second and third incidents occurred at the HCF-Central Unit dining room. Each separate incident occurred between three inmates. All inmates involved in the altercations were placed in administrative segregation.
The fourth incident occurred at the HCF-Central Unit food service. One inmate received non-life threatening injuries and was taken to the facility infirmary for observation. The inmate was later placed in administrative segregation. The other inmates involved in the altercation were placed in administrative segregation.
The HCF-Central Unit has been placed on lockdown until further notice and visits at HCF-Central Unit have been cancelled for this weekend.
There were no staff injuries during any of the four incidents and no inmates were sent to the hospital. No other information is available at this time due to the ongoing investigation.
HODGEMAN COUNTY- A woman from Hanston was injured in an accident just before 9a.m. on Thursday in Hodgeman County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2003 Toyota Tacoma driven by Candace Dawn Prather, 60, Hanston, was westbound on Kansas 156 one mile east of Jetmore.
The driver lost control of the truck. It traveled into the eastbound lane and back across the westbound lane sliding sideways into the north ditch and overturned.
Prather was transported to the Hodgeman County Hospital. She was properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.
MCI Terminal A Conceptual Layout; Expansion Inside the Ring- courtesy Wood Bagot- Click to ENLARGE
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Kansas City architecture firm is offering another option for renovating and expanding the Kansas City International Airport.
City and aviation officials have been discussing a controversial plan to demolish the airport and replace it with a single terminal. Some citizens want to keep the current three-terminal design.
The Kansas City Star reports Crawford Architects of Kansas City worked with an aviation and design firm on a new plan. It would keep the existing layout but expand Terminal A to include better security checkpoints, three baggage reclaim areas and retail and concession areas. The estimated cost is $335.6 million. Terminal B would be renovated later.
Consultants are reviewing the proposal and are expected to respond by early February. City Council members say they are open to exploring the idea.
