BILL DRAPER, Associated PressKANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Four Kansas children have died in accidental shootings since January 2014, including the 3-year-old son of a sheriff’s deputy who was less than a year into his law enforcement career when tragedy struck.

Data compiled by The Associated Press and the USA TODAY Network over a 2½-year span show three of the Kansas deaths involved children 3 years old or younger. Twelve other people were wounded by accidental shootings involving minors during that time.

Reno County deputy Andrew Nagel says he had secured his firearms away from his son when the child visited two weeks before Christmas last year, but his roommate, who wasn’t used to having children around, had not.

Sheriff Randy Henderson says Kaden Nagel’s death prompted his department to revive a gun safety program for children.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A recent study from the U.S. Geological Survey says the largest recorded earthquake in Kansas history was likely the result of waste water injected into the ground by one or two nearby wells.

The Wichita Eagle reports that the 4.9 magnitude earthquake happened in November 2014 about 40 miles southwest of Wichita.

The report, which will be published in Seismological Research Letters in November, shows scientists believe the earthquake was caused by waste-water injection for several reasons, including that there hadn’t previously been similar earthquakes in the area and the earthquake activity started after the amount of water injected in the wells increased.

One of the two wells operated by SandRidge Energy is still injecting water at the same level as when the earthquake occurred.

WICHITA— On Friday, Federal prosecutors announced charges related to a planned attack on the Somali immigrant community in Garden City.

Following an 8-month investigation, three men Curtis Allen 49, Liberal, Gavin Wright, 49, Liberal, and Patrick Stein, 47, Wright, were charged with domestic terrorism, according to acting U.S. Attorney Tom Beall.

During a Friday news conference, Beal reported the government alleges the men conspired to bomb
an apartment complex in the 300 Block of West Mary Street in Garden City.

Muslim immigrants from Somalia live and worship at the complex.

The government says the suspects conducted survelliance to size up potential targets and stockpiled ammunition, firearms and explosive components.

They also prepared a manifesto describing their beliefs to be published after the bombing.

One suspect told investigators “The bombing would wake people up.”

The defendants were members of a small group they called the Crusaders and they formed a plan for a violent attack, according to Beall.

“They considered a variety of targets including churches and public officials who had expressed support for Somalis.

The suspects discussed obtaining four vehicles, filling them with explosives and parking them at the four corners of the apartment complex to create a large explosion.

The men were arrested on Friday morning in Liberal. If convicted they could face life in prison, he said.

SALINE COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Saline County are investigating one suspect and continue a search for another in connection with a home invasion robbery.

A Saline County Sheriff’s deputy arrested Thaddeus Hopkins, 28, on a warrant Thursday afternoon, according to
Police Captain Mike Sweeney.

Hopkins was identified as one of two men that entered a home in the 300 block of South College just before 8:30 p.m. on September 23rd.

Police say a resident of the home, a man in his 30’s, answered a knock at the door and allowed Hopkins and an unidentified white male inside.

The man was then pistol whipped and robbed. He suffered several abrasions to the head and face, but did not require treatment.

Sweeney said the two men took a substantial amount of cash and a Samsung cellular phone from the home.
Hopkins was booked into the Saline County Jail on requested charges including aggravated assault, aggravated robbery, battery, felony theft and aggravated burglary.

By Meg Wingerter

A Kansas Cabinet secretary will speak about the state’s plans to use technology to improve human services Saturday at a conference at Harvard University.

Susan Mosier, secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, will discuss the state’s plan to use data systems to find gaps or redundancies in the social services Kansans receive during the Health and Human Services Summit. She is scheduled to take part in a panel with three others during the summit, which was developed by a research initiative in the Technology and Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard.

The ultimate goal of the state’s technology plan is to make it easier to meet a family’s needs by connecting systems such as

Medicaid, under KDHE, with others like the Department of Commerce’s job training programs and educational assistance through the Kansas State Department of Education, Mosier said during an interview earlier this week.

“When you fill those gaps, you can really make a difference in the trajectory of a person’s life,” she said.

Mosier described a potentially 10-year technology plan in Kansas that started with automating enrollment in Medicaid. The process hasn’t been smooth thus far, however.

Technical problems connecting the Kansas Eligibility Enforcement System, or KEES, which processes Medicaid applications, with the system that disburses Medicaid payments produced higher-than-expected levels of errors, though Mosier said the error rate is down to about 1 percent.

The errors contributed to a backlog of Medicaid applications that left some providers, like nursing homes, without payment for months. The state reported 1,512 applications were in the backlog at the end of August but expects to clear it by Nov. 1.

Finding ‘actionable information’

Mosier anticipates a smoother process when the next stage of the technology plan rolls out in October 2017, though she said the process could be delayed if bugs come up. A tool purchased from Cerner will help the state to collect data about specific health issues, such as high blood sugar levels, and steer Kansans toward preventive care, she said.

“You need to be able to skinny down that big data and pull out targeted, actionable information,” she said.

New tools also will allow KDHE, the three managed care organizations that administer Medicaid in Kansas and individual doctors to look up what interventions are working, Mosier said. For example, they could find out if the tobacco quit line helps people to stop smoking or if they should put more emphasis on another program, she said.

The next phase of the technology plan isn’t scheduled to come out until spring 2019, assuming whomever replaces term-limited Gov. Sam Brownback decides to continue it.

A new Medicaid management system, the part of the system that disburses payments to providers, will allow beneficiaries to access more information about their medical history, such as immunization records, Mosier said. It also will include health information, such as tips for addressing chronic conditions.

Accenture a summit partner

Mosier’s panel appearance will be her second time speaking at the Health and Human Services Summit, which organizers say focuses on how collaborations involving government and private entities could improve the health of communities as families’ economic well-being.

“We have proven that helping low-income parents increase their educational attainment also positively affects their children’s emotional health and performance in school,” the summit agendasaid. “We have made the connection that families with stable housing and child care subsidies move up the income ladder faster and more sustainably.”

Mosier spoke in 2015 at the summit about using metrics in human services and “empowering team members.” A summary of the summit, compiled by sponsor organization Leadership for a Networked World, also pointed to KEES as a model for reducing employee time spent on tasks that could be automated.

The summit was held in October 2015, four months after the Medicaid portion of KEES went live. By December, a backlog had developed and providers complained that patients waited months for their applications to move forward.

An audit found some of the problems were caused by overly optimistic promises from contractor Accenture, and emails from state officials showed the company had pushed back its deadlines, apparently without notifying their counterparts at the state.

At the time, however, the summary listed praise for Kansas’ partnership with Accenture on its eligibility platform.

“Companies are laboratories for innovation, and collaborative experimentation facilitates progress,” it said.

Accenture was listed as one of four partners putting on this year’s summit. The fourth partner, American Public Human Services Association, lists Accenture as one of its 14 “platinum” level industry partner members.

The other panelists are Nick Macchione, director of the San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency, Susan Dreyfus, president and CEO of the Alliance for Strong Families and Communities, and Sarjoo Shah, CIO for human services and director for technology strategy for Oklahoma.

JACKSON COUNTY – A Kansas man was injured in an accident just before 8a.m. on Friday in Jackson County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported 2009 Nissan Altima driven by Charles H. Enault, 59, Holton, was northbound on U.S. 75 one mile north of Mayetta. The driver fell asleep at the wheel.

The Nissan entered the center grass median and struck a stop sign.

Enault was transported to the hospital in Holton.

He was properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas congresswoman Lynn Jenkins and a fellow Republican candidate are not withdrawing previous endorsements of GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump over sexual assault allegations against him.

Jenkins told The Associated Press on Thursday: “I’m not going to come out with a new statement on the presidential race every time a new headline hits the papers.”

The Republican seeking re-election in the 2nd District of eastern Kansas suggested there’s a “double standard” because Democrats aren’t asked whether they continue to support Hillary Clinton amid potentially damaging leaks of campaign emails.

In the 1st District of western and central Kansas, GOP nominee Roger Marshall said the allegations make him sick but he wants to see more evidence.

Marshall said of Trump, “I’m giving him the same grace as I would give anybody.”

Last week, Senator Jerry Moran posted on Twitter a statement believed  to be in response to Trump’s recently revealed recorded comments about women.

Disgusting, discouraging and damaging. Everyone is worthy of being treated with dignity and respect.

— Jerry Moran (@JerryMoran) October 8, 2016