By DAN MARGOLIES

Last week was a busy one for Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri.

First, Kansas health officials informed the organization they were ending its Medicaid funding.

Then Planned Parenthood fired back with a lawsuit calling the action illegal and politically motivated.

The timing may have turned out to be serendipitous for the organization. On Friday night it held its first spring fundraiser, a dinner at the historic Firestone Building in Kansas City, and the event drew between 150 and 200 people, according to Planned Parenthood spokeswoman Bonyen Lee-Gilmore.

In honor of the event, which was titled “PinkOut,” many of the women attendees wore pink dresses and many of the men pink shirts with blazers.

Before the dinner, the president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri, Laura McQuade, responded to a few questions from a reporter and had harsh words for Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback. Sporting a black blouse and pink tutu, the outspoken McQuade said the state’s cutoff of Medicaid funding was meant to divert attention from the state’s other, serious problems.

“I think that ideologically he (Brownback) has a very extreme view both of Planned Parenthood and reproductive and sexual health services, and he made that clear in his statement after cutting Medicaid that this really was an ideological fight for him,” she said. “But at the same time he can have the added benefit of distracting people in the state from how serious the problems are in Kansas right now, as if access to Medicaid is at the heart of what’s troubling Kansas right now.”

Asked to respond, Eileen Hawley, a spokeswoman for Brownback, said in an email, “The governor called for defunding Planned Parenthood in his 2016 State of the State address to protect the unborn and support a culture of life in Kansas. Planned Parenthood has been fully informed of the reasons for this decision, including its own refusal to submit to a lawful inspection of their premises.”

In its lawsuit, Planned Parenthood said it did cooperate with the inspection, although it refused to allow inspectors to take photographs out of concern for patients’ and staff’s privacy and safety.

McQuade said that Planned Parenthood was expecting the cutoff; Brownback had attacked the organization in his January State of the State address and directed health officials to end its participation in the state’s Medicaid program, known as KanCare.

“Planned Parenthood’s trafficking of baby body parts is antithetical to our belief in human dignity,” Brownback said in his address, apparently referring to undercover videos made by an anti-abortion group that purported to demonstrate that Planned Parenthood affiliates illegally sell fetal tissue.

A dozen states, including Kansas and Missouri, have investigated that claim and none have found wrongdoing on the part of Planned Parenthood.

“We’ve known for a long time that this was coming,” McQuade said of the Medicaid cutoff. “The governor was very public in his State of the State in early January. To be honest, we were somewhat surprised that it took him that long to show his hand.”

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment notified McQuade’s organization last week that its Medicaid funding would be terminated on May 10. But after Planned Parenthood sued KDHE administrator Susan Mosier the next day, KDHE agreed to hold off the termination for another two weeks.

“They extended the termination date until May 24, which is really obvious that this is not a public health issue. It really is all to do with politics,” McQuade said. “So we are accepting Medicaid, and we feel confident we’re going to win the lawsuit … because this is a total violation of the free choice-of-provider provision in the Medicaid Act.”

The state’s action came just weeks after the Obama administration sent letters to all 50 states warning them that terminating Medicaid funding of Planned Parenthood may violate federal law.

Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri sees about 500 Medicaid patients a year, McQuade said. The state’s cutoff of Medicaid funding would affect not just those 500, she said, but a potentially larger pool of patients if Kansas decides to expand Medicaid eligibility in the future. Kansas is one of 19 states that so far have not expanded Medicaid eligibility.

“This is about the potential to provide as much coverage as we can in the Kansas community, which we really feel is coming, even if not this year then in the next couple of years,” McQuade said. “The impact would be tremendous if we would not be able to provide services.”

Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri operates six clinics, including one that provides abortion services, in greater Kansas City, Columbia, Missouri, and Wichita, Kansas. In 2014, it served more than 20,000 patients, according to its website.

It recently expanded into three new health service areas, including pre- and post-menopausal care, transgender care and PrEp care, a preventative that lowers the chance of contracting HIV for patients who have a high risk of infection.

The organization is not only under attack in Kansas; it’s also under assault in Missouri, where lawmakers spurned more than $8 million in Medicaid funding for statewide family planning, STD and other reproductive health services, replaced the money with state general revenues and stipulated that none of it could be directed to organizations that provide abortions.

Missouri’s state health agency has sought to revoke the abortion license of Planned Parenthood’s Columbia clinic, but a federal judge blocked the move late last year pending a hearing on the merits.

Missouri’s action came after the University of Missouri canceled the hospital admitting privileges of the physician performing medication-induced abortions at the Columbia clinic. Planned Parenthood said the university submitted to political pressure from Missouri lawmakers.

Dan Margolies, editor of the Heartland Health Monitor team, is based at KCUR. You can reach him on Twitter @DanMargolies.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Latest on the Kansas Supreme Court’s hearing on public school funding (all times local):

1:25 p.m.

The top school administrator in Kansas City, Kansas, says the state needs balanced tax policy to fix funding for its public schools.

Superintendent Cynthia Lane was present Tuesday for a Kansas Supreme Court hearing on education funding changes made by legislators this year.

The court told lawmakers in February to improve funding for poor school districts.

The Legislature rewrote school funding laws but left most districts’ aid unchanged. Lane said the changes only moved money around.

An attorney for the districts suggested the court could order a boost in aid to poor districts and demand cuts elsewhere in the budget. Lane said that that would be only a temporary solution.

She said the long-term remedy is tax policy that funds quality services. The state slashed income taxes in 2012 and 2013.

___

12:35 p.m.

Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt says the state Supreme Court has no reason to shut down public schools even if it doesn’t like changes in the education funding system made earlier this year by lawmakers.

Schmidt commented Tuesday after the court concluded a hearing on whether those changes comply with an order the justices issued in February.

The court ordered lawmakers then to improve funding for poor school districts. Lawmakers rewrote part of the state’s school funding formula but left most districts’ aid unchanged.

Schmidt said lawmakers made enough changes to make funding fairer for poor districts.

An attorney for four school districts suing the state said the court could order lawmakers to boost aid to poor districts and cut spending elsewhere in the state budget.

11:40 a.m.

An attorney for the state has urged the Kansas Supreme Court to pursue the narrowest possible remedy if the justices reject recent changes in the public school funding system.

State Solicitor General Stephen McAllister made his plea Tuesday as the court concluded arguments on whether the changes comply with an earlier ruling made by the justices.

The court ordered lawmakers in February to improve funding for poor school districts. The changes made by legislators rewrite part of the state’s school funding formula but leave aid for most districts unchanged.

Attorney Alan Rupe argued on behalf of four school districts suing the state that the court can order lawmakers to boost aid to poor districts and order them to cut spending elsewhere.

But McAllister said such an order would be unprecedented.

11:20 a.m.

A lawyer for four Kansas school districts has told the state Supreme Court that it should order lawmakers to boost aid to public schools and can require cuts in all other spending.

Attorney Alan Rupe attempted Tuesday to persuade the court to reject education funding changes made earlier this year by the Republican-dominated Legislature.

The court ordered lawmakers in February to improve funding for poor school districts. The changes leave most districts’ aid unchanged.

Rupe said the court has the power to order lawmakers to increase aid to poor districts. He said the court could also order the state to cut other spending so that schools get more.

The Kansas Constitution requires legislators to make “suitable provision” for financing schools. Rupe said schools have priority over other governmental operations.

___

11 a.m.

A lawyer for four Kansas school districts is arguing before the state Supreme Court that recent changes in education funding are unfair to poor school districts.

Attorney Alan Rupe attempted Tuesday to persuade the court to reject the changes made earlier this year by the Republican-dominated Legislature. The justices are considering whether the changes comply with an order they issued in February.

The court directed lawmakers to improve funding for poor districts and gave legislators until June 30 to approve a fix or face having schools shut down.

This year’s changes prevented any district from losing money and leave most districts’ aid unchanged.

Rupe said the education funding system now may be worse for poor districts. He represents the Dodge City, Hutchinson, Wichita and Kansas City, Kansas, districts.

___

10:10 a.m.

Kansas Supreme Court justices are pondering what would happen if they declare part of the state’s education funding system unconstitutional without shutting down public schools.

The issue arose Tuesday during the court’s hearing on changes in school funding made earlier this year by legislators. The court is considering whether those changes are fair to poor districts.

The court in February ordered lawmakers to improve poor districts’ funding. The justices gave them until June 30 to fix the problems or face having schools shut down.

State Solicitor General Stephen McAllister argued that the court should not shut down schools even if it doesn’t like legislators’ changes.

But several justices asked whether schools could still operate effectively if striking down parts of the school aid formula denied districts part of their aid.

9:45 a.m.

Two Kansas Supreme Court justices have questioned changes legislators made in the state’s education funding system and whether they’re fair to poor public school districts.

Justices Lee Johnson and Dan Biles pressed state Solicitor General Stephen McAllister during a hearing Tuesday on changes approved earlier this year that left aid for most of the state’s 286 school districts unchanged. The changes prevented any district from losing money.

Biles and Johnson questioned whether preventing any district from losing funds was fair to poor districts that were being shorted on their aid.

The court in February ordered the Legislature to improve funding for poor districts. It gave lawmakers until June 30 to fix the problems or face having schools shut down.

McAllister said the Legislature’s fix didn’t harm poor districts.

___

9:25 a.m.

An attorney for the state is reminding the Kansas Supreme Court that it has told legislators they have a variety of ways to improve school funding for poor districts as he defends changes lawmakers made earlier this year.

Kansas Solicitor General Stephen McAllister argued Tuesday that changes approved earlier this year are fair enough to poor districts that the justices can abandon a threat to shut down schools.

The court in February ordered the Legislature to improve funding for poor districts and gave lawmakers until June 30. Lawmakers’ changes leave most school districts’ aid unchanged and do not boost overall spending.

McAllister said he’s hoping the court won’t require perfection because it can’t be achieved and lawmakers took the justices at their word that there’s “more than one way” to fix problems.

___

9:05 a.m.

The Kansas Supreme Court has begun hearing arguments on recent changes made by legislators to the state’s system for funding public schools.

Attorneys for the state hoped Tuesday to persuade the justices that technical changes approved earlier this year are fair enough to poor districts that the justices can abandon a threat to shut down schools.

The court in February ordered the Legislature to improve funding for poor school districts. The justices gave lawmakers until June 30 to fix the problems or face having schools shut down.

Lawmakers’ changes leave most school districts’ aid unchanged and don’t boost overall education spending.

Lawyers for four school districts suing the state contend legislators’ work does not satisfy the Supreme Court’s order because aid to poor districts didn’t increase.

—————-
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Lawyers for the state hope to persuade the Kansas Supreme Court to accept recent technical changes made by lawmakers in the state’s public school funding system.

The court is scheduled to hear arguments Tuesday on whether the changes approved earlier this year are fair enough to poor districts that the justices can abandon a threat to shut down public schools.

The court in February ordered the Legislature to improve funding for poor school districts. The justices gave lawmakers until June 30 to fix the problems or face having schools shut down.

Lawmakers’ changes leave most school districts’ aid unchanged and don’t boost overall education spending.

Lawyers for four school districts suing the state contend legislators’ work shouldn’t satisfy the Supreme Court’s order because aid to poor districts didn’t increase.

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — A Manhattan man has been charged in the death of an infant.

Barry Disney, the senior deputy prosecutor at the Riley County attorney’s office, says 25-year-old Andrew L. Gibson was charged Monday with first-degree felony murder and child abuse. Gibson is jailed on a $500,000 bond.

He made a first appearance Monday, and a public defender was appointed to represent him.

Officers responded to a call Thursday night about an infant who wasn’t breathing. Efforts to revive the infant weren’t successful, and the child was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Police didn’t immediately release the name of the baby.

SEDGWICK COUNTY- A school bus was involved in an accident just after 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday in Sedgwick County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2011 First Student School Bus driven by Cal W. Cofer, Park City, was northbound on Interstate 235 just south of Broadway

The bus slowed for traffic. A 2004 Kenworth semi driven by Tanner Alexander Ternes,18, Wichita did not slow and rear-ended the bus.

Cofer and Ternes were not injured and the bus was empty at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.

KANSAS CITY. – An Kansas man arrested at a nudist park near Leavenworth appeared in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kan., Monday on child pornography charges, according to a media release from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Christopher Jon Saemisch, 58, Olathe, Kan., is charged in federal court in Boston with one count of distributing child pornography. He was arrested May 6 at the Gaea Retreat Center near Leavenworth.

A criminal complaint and affidavit filed in federal court in Boston alleges Saemisch, who is a registered sex offender, used the Internet to distribute child pornography to an inmate in the federal Bureau of Prisons’ custody at FMC-Devans in Ayer, Mass. The inmate has been incarcerated since 1977 following convictions for child exploitation offenses.

The affidavit alleges that in emails to the inmate Saemisch said he was collecting child pornography and wanted to travel to Europe to have sex with children. The affidavit alleges Saemisch used code words in his communication including “antiques” for child pornography and “puppies” for children.

If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 10 years and a fine up to $250,000. The Department of Homeland Security investigated. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts is prosecuting.