Senator Anthony Hensley during a candidate forum on Wednesday at Santa Fe Trail High School
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Several Republicans and Democrats running for the Kansas Legislature have urged changing the state’s policy to allow people with disabilities to earn higher incomes without sacrificing their Medicaid benefits.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that seven candidates for state office and two candidates for federal office participated in a forum in Topeka on Wednesday.
Several candidates agreed that the state shouldn’t decrease aid when a person with disabilities has an income that exceeds $725 per month, and some urged the expansion of Medicaid.
Democrats state Rep. Jim Gartner, House candidate Chris Huntsman, Senate candidate Candace Ayars, Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley and U.S. House candidate Britani Potter participated in the forum. Republican state Sen. Vicki Schmidt was also in attendance.
LAWRENCE — The Dole Institute of Politics announced this week the creation of an 18-person board to serve as the chief volunteer advisory group of the institute, providing necessary support to promote and achieve the mission of the Dole Institute, according to a media release.
The members of the Institute’s Advisory Board are Rose Barfield, Shannon Brown, Nancy Dwight, Peter Fenn, Joseph Gaylord, Dan Glickman, Fred Logan, Marlon Marshall, Bette Morris, Maynard Oliverius, Mike Pettit, John Pinegar, Edward Riss, Rebekah Romm, Kathleen Sebelius, Dolph Simons, Jim Slattery and Bill Lacy. They are joined by ex officio members Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little and Dole Institute Associate Director Barbara Ballard.
“Senator Dole and I are very proud to have this group advising us,” said Dole Institute Director Bill Lacy. “It’s composed of national and local figures and is bipartisan and very diverse. All have supported us or participated in our programs, and they know and believe in our mission.”
In addition to embracing and promoting the institute’s mission, board members will participate in the selection of speakers and the recommendation of program ideas. They will also be accessible to members of the Dole Institute’s Student Advisory Board and assist with the institute’s developmental goals. Board members will serve two- or three-year appointments upon their nomination.
The Dole Institute of Politics is dedicated to promoting political and civic participation as well as civil discourse in a bipartisan, philosophically balanced manner. It is located on KU’s west district and also houses the Dole Archive and Special Collections. Through its robust public programming, congressional archive and museum, the Dole Institute strives to celebrate public service and the legacy of former U.S. Sen. Bob Dole.
More information on all programs, as well as ongoing additions to the schedule, can be found on the Dole Institute’s website, www.doleinstitute.org.
More about the Dole Institute Board of Advisors:
Rose Barfield (ret.) – former brigadier general, U.S. Army
Shannon Brown – senior vice president and chief HR officer, Fedex Corporation
Nancy Dwight – Republican strategist; former executive director, National Republican Congressional Committee
Peter Fenn – Democratic strategist; president, Fenn Communications Group
Joseph Gaylord – Republican strategist; former senior adviser to House Speaker Newt Gingrich
Dan Glickman – former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, U.S. representative and director, Institute of Politics, Kennedy School at Harvard University
Fred Logan – former chair, Kansas Board of Regents and Kansas GOP
Marlon Marshall – Democratic strategist; former special assistant to President Barack Obama and deputy field director, Obama 2012
Bette Morris – president, Mark and Bette Morris Family Foundation
Maynard Oliverius – former president and CEO, Stormont-Vail HealthCare
Mike Pettit – former chief of staff and administrative assistant to Bob Dole
John Pinegar – partner, Pinegar, Smith and Associates Inc.
Edward Riss – investor
Rebekah Romm – Republican strategist; former student coordinator, Dole Institute of Politics Student Advisory Board
Kathleen Sebelius – former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services and governor of Kansas
Dolph Simons – chairman, The World Company
Jim Slattery – strategic counsel, Wiley Rein LLP; former U.S. representative
Bill Lacy – director, Dole Institute
Ex Officio Members
KU Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little
Barbara Ballard, associate director, Dole Institute.
The Ellis County Commission will hold a special meeting for viewing of Randall Lane on the east end of the road to be vacated, which is located at the corner of Highway 183 and Randall Lane, at 8:30 a.m., Friday, Oct. 7.
For more information, contact the Ellis County Clerk’s Office (785) 628-9410.
EMPORIA, Kan. (AP) — A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit that alleged Emporia State University discriminated against a black assistant professor after he complained about a racial incident.
The lawsuit filed by Melvin Hale in October 2015 was dismissed last week without prejudice, meaning it could be refiled.
Hale claimed the school and some top administrators discriminated against him and his wife, Angelica, after they said in April 2015 they found a note with a racial slur near her office in the School of Library and Information Management. The Hales said school administrators at first did nothing, then conducted a biased investigation and retaliated against them for pushing the issue.
The university said its investigation found no evidence of a hate crime or racial discrimination. University officials were not available Thursday to comment.
Veterans from across the region are set to take part in the inaugural Wounded Warrior Trap Shoot this weekend at the Hays City Sportsman’s Club.
Kevin Campbell, one of the organizers of the event said Wounded Warriors from Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri and Colorado have been invited to Saturday’s event to compete for prizes.
Campbell said he has been working with the district representative with the Wounded Warrior project and they expect a dozen or more individuals to take part in the Hays event.
They are also encouraging local veterans and anyone else who wants to attend to come out and take part in the event Campbell said.
The event starts at 10 a.m. Saturday with lunch at noon at the Hays City Sportsman’s Club a quarter-mile north of I-70 Exit 157.
SHAWNEE COUNTY -Law enforcement authorities in Shawnee County are doing a city wide offender address verification on Thursday.
They were to complete over 600 address compliance checks, which will be the totality of the registered violent and sex offender population within the city limits of Topeka, according to a social media report.
Police sent officers to each home to ensure they are in compliance and discussed their work on twitter.
Agg robbery guy now. He’s here doing what he’s supposed to be doing. Good job, fella. #TPDtweetalong
Kansas mental health providers continue to sound the alarm on how Medicaid rate cuts and contract disputes are affecting care.
Photo by Jim McLean/KHI News Service Susan Fout, right, commissioner of behavioral health for the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services, addresses members of the Kansas Mental Health Coalition at a recent meeting. At left is Amy Campbell, lobbyist for the coalition.
At a recent meeting of the Kansas Mental Health Coalition, members were encouraged to lobby incumbent legislators and election challengers about the need to adopt a state budget that restores the Medicaid cuts ordered by Gov. Sam Brownback to balance the state budget and the approximately $20 million in grant funding that has been cut since 2007.
“The state’s Mental Health Reform Grant is designed to help CMHCs (community mental health centers) fulfill their mission as the state’s mental health safety net,” says a position paper distributed at the meeting. “But legislators have slashed that grant by 65 percent over the last five years, fraying that safety net beyond recognition.”
Contracts in jeopardy
Beyond the funding cuts, coalition members are concerned about the potential loss of training and quality assurance services that faculty and research staff at state universities have provided.
Until now, the state has used federal Medicaid funds to contract for those services. But heading into this year’s negotiations, officials at the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services determined that federal rules prohibit the use of Medicaid funds to pay for training.
Susan Fout, KDADS commissioner of behavioral health, told coalition members the agency based the decision on a directive from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
“It came in a letter to state Medicaid directors,” Fout said.
In response to a request from the KHI News Service for a copy of the letter, Angela de Rocha, a spokesperson for KDADS, provided a copy of a July 13, 2011, informational bulletin distributed by CMS to state Medicaid directors. The bulletin stated that: “Costs associated with requirements that are prerequisite to being a qualified Medicaid provider are not reimbursable by Medicaid. However, costs associated with maintaining status as a qualified provider may be included in determining the rate for services.”
Asked why language in a 2011 CMS bulletin was just now being applied to contract negotiations, de Rocha explained that the state’s two main Medicaid agencies had been interpreting the rules differently. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment, the state’s main Medicaid agency, already stopped allowing Medicaid funds to be used for training. She said KDADS now is attempting to get on the same page.
“We’re trying to make the procedures and policies consistent across both agencies,” de Rocha said.
Rick Cagan, director of the Kansas chapter of the National Alliance for Mental Illness, said, “From the agency’s point of view that sounds like a logical argument.”
But he said he didn’t understand why KDADS officials weren’t more proactive in letting providers know about the change before contract negotiations started.
“All of this seems to have come out of the blue,” he said.
Confusion and uncertainty
Cagan said the lack of communication has led to confusion that could have been prevented, starting with a controversy over the University of Kansas Center for Mental Health Research and Innovation losing a long-standing quality assurance contract. For decades, the contract had funded work aimed at helping community mental health centers implement and follow evidence-based treatment practices.
A training program operated by the Center for Behavioral Health Initiatives at Wichita State University also has been affected. The program trains people recovering from mental illnesses to work as peer support specialists in community mental health centers and small nonprofit organizations known as consumer-run organizations, or CROs.
The 13 CROs scattered across Kansas don’t offer treatment, but give people with mental illnesses a place to socialize. Some mostly offer a place to drop in informally, while others have classes on nutrition, stress relief and recreation.
Peer specialists can connect with people with mental health issues in ways that clinicians can’t, said Dantia Maur MacDonald, a grant writer and outreach coordinator for Morning Star, a Manhattan-based CRO.
“Everyone who works at our organization has mental illness, so we have lived experience,” Maur MacDonald said. “We can reach people who will not accept support or therapy anywhere else. It’s very magical. We help people in a different way.”
But Maur McDonald and others who work at CROs are worried that the training they need is in jeopardy because of stalled contract negotiations between KDADS and Wichita State. A contract extension agreed to in August has expired.
“All this uncertainty is terrible for people with mental health conditions,” she said. “We can’t get very straight answers about what’s happening.”
Fout, the KDADS commissioner of behavioral health, said the agency is increasing funding for the network of 13 CROs from about $770,000 to approximately $1 million so that they can pay for their own training if they choose to do so.
She said the agency also wants the CROs to use the additional funding to collect data to demonstrate that the services they provide help to keep people with mental illnesses out of the criminal justice system and hospitals.
“We need the data to show people what this program does,” Fout said to members of the mental health coalition. “We don’t have any data to show.”
Brad Ridley, KDADS commissioner for finance and information services, said the department asked the CROs to either make their own contracts or do a group-purchasing agreement through the state to purchase data services. The state is moving toward making purchases based on results, Ridley said, and CROs haven’t tracked their results so far.
“We can really show what the CROs are doing with the money they have,” he said.
KDADS won’t set up the contract to cost more than the amount of increased funding the CROs received this fiscal year, Ridley said.
That promise doesn’t do much to reassure those who already are operating on tight budgets, however.
Judy Thompson, who works at Sunshine Connection in Topeka, said the organization already pays so little to its employees that the executive director has to live with her parents. She estimated the KDADS proposal could cut as much as $22,000 from the organization’s $135,000 budget.
The current budget “is the bare minimum that we can operate on just to pay the bills,” she said.
Amy Campbell, a lobbyist for the mental health coalition, said the fact that budget issues are still being negotiated more than three months into the fiscal year is making it difficult for CROs to operate.
“It’s putting a lot of stress on these organizations and it’s not the right way (for the state) to do business,” Campbell said.
Maur McDonald and other CRO staffers are also concerned that obtaining the kind of information KDADS is seeking could discourage people with mental illnesses from seeking services.
Jim McLean is executive editor of KHI News Service in Topeka, a partner in the Heartland Health Monitor team.
— KHI News Service reporter Megan Wingerter contributed to this story.
Police on the scene of Wednesday’s shooting at 4:30 a.m. Wednesday in the 5400 block of E. 21st. Street between Oliver and Woodlawn -photo courtesy KWCH
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say a 17-year-old boy has been arrested in a deadly shooting in northeast Wichita.
Police Sgt. Nikki Woodrow says the teen was arrested around 6 p.m. Wednesday.
Police say 20 to 30 rounds were fired early Wednesday into a car in an apartment complex parking lot. An 18-year-old was found dead in the car. He had been shot multiple times.
Police say the victim had gone to the apartments to see someone.
HARVEY COUNTY – First responders are on the scene of a chemical spill in Hesston.
Just after 10:20 a.m. on Thursday, an employee of GVL Poly 8515 Hesston Road in Hesston, reported difficulties in breathing, according to a media release.
Gary Denny, director of emergency management for Harvey County, says a building at the plant was evacuated after a breach of a container with a chemical used in manufacturing coolers. He says the chemical — polymethylene polyphenyl isocyanate — can be hazardous if it’s inhaled. He says it’s unclear how much escaped.
A total of six employees reported medical issues due to the spill. Three employees were transported to Newton Medical Center in serious condition; the other three employees went to Newton Medical Center through private vehicles, were checked and released.
Responding to the incident were Hesston EMS, Newton EMS, Hesston Police Department, Harvey County Sheriff’s deputies and Harvey County Emergency management.
The Ellis County Ministerial Alliance and Hays Area Chamber of Commerce are teaming up to host the 25th annual Festival of Faith, set to begin Sunday from 3 to 4 p.m. in Beach-Schmidt Performing Arts Center on the campus of Fort Hays State University.
This will be the 25th year that the community has gathered to share their faith in Jesus and unify together as Christians — regardless of denomination.
“This is a multi-denomination effort to bring everyone together to show that we worship the same Jesus and that we are united,” said Tammy Wellbrock, chamber executive director and co-chair of the Festival of Faith. “We want to bring all the sectors of life together for the Christian faith.”
Six hundred people are expected to be present at the event, said Wellbrock, noting many people travel to the event from throughout northwest Kansas.
“We’ll get many people that travel in from outside of Hays for this event,” she said.
In its 25th year, the festival’s focus is on the “past, present and future.” During the first year of the event, the Hays area was going through a terrible drought, and those present offered prayers for rain. Shortly after, that rain came and the drought ended for the Hays area.
During the Festival of Faith this year, participants will be remembering what all has been accomplished in the community through a historical video that will pay tribute to the past.
“This is about looking at what has been accomplished for the faith foundation of this community,” Wellbrock said.
The Festival of Faith will not be your typical church setting, she added, noting different Christian beliefs will be incorporated into the event.
This year, instead of having special guest speakers, the festival will feature local church representatives offering uplifting prayers. The historical video is taking the place of the guest speakers, noted Wellbrock.
“Each denomination will have a prayer representative,” she said. “There is a committee of 10-plus volunteers of all different faiths, but Christian faith.
“The prayers will be geared towards helping to the community and those who work in the community.”
Music again will play an important part of the festival. Much like the prayers, the music played will reflect the different Christian churches present.
“We are all united in our faith and that is what this event is about, to bring us all together for the same cause,” Wellbrock said.
An offering will be collected to help benefit the Ellis County Ministerial Alliance Second Mile Fund. The Second Mile Fund provides assistance to the needy in the community. Nonperishable food items also are encouraged.
Eagle TV will rebroadcast the event in its entirety on Ch. 14 and 614. Check Hays Post for air times.
FORD COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Ford County are inundated investigating a number of reported clown sightings.
Some of the sightings reported the clowns as being armed with various types of weapons, according to a media release.
Officers responded to these reports but were unable to substantiate them.
Police also received reports that clowns were going to go to the schools and commit acts of violence.
Police investigated each report and determined that the reports were either misunderstandings by students who heard other students talking and misinterpreted what was said about other reports.
We have also tracked one incident where a student heard another student talking about it and made a fake Facebook page to scare the other student.
People who want to create fear in others have instigated the clown incidents in Dodge City, according to police.
Nothing in our investigations have given us any indication that there is a credible threat to any schools in Dodge City by clown attack.
It appears social media has been the fuel that helped spread this hysteria in the community. We are speaking with the Ford County Attorney to determine what charges can be filed against those who create this kind of public fear.
SALINE COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Saline County are investigating a Wednesday night shooting.
Just before 10:30 p.m. on Wednesday, an unidentified suspect reportedly was walking near a residence in the 3200 Block of Royal and fired a gun at 24-year-old Rachad Austin.
Austin, who was standing on a porch of the residence, pulled out a gun and returned fire at the suspect who fled the area on foot.
Austin was transported to Salina Regional Health Center with a non-life threatening wound to his upper torso, according to Sweeney.
The home was also struck by gunfire, but none of the occupants inside the home were hit.
Police did not release a description of the suspected shooter on Thursday morning.
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SALINE COUNTY -Law enforcement authorities in Saline County are investigating a shooting in a south Salina neighborhood.
Just before 11p.m. on Wednesday, police officers were sent to the 3200 block of Royal . in response to a report of gunshots, according to Sgt. Scott Hogeland .
One person was transported to the Salina Regional Health Center. Their condition was not available late Wednesday.
More information is expected to be released on Thursday.
GEARY COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Geary County are investigating a suspect for an alleged rape.
Tomas Martinez-Maldonado, 41, Marietta, Georgia, was arrested on a Geary County District Court warrant charging him with the rape of a 12-year-old girl, according to Geary County Sheriff Tony Wolf.
The Kansas City, Kansas Police Department contacted Geary County authorities. “A Greyhound bus had made a stop in Kansas City and there was an alleged rape that occurred on the bus, however they had no idea where this rape took place,” according to Wolf.
The KBI was called to investigate and determined the crime occurred somewhere on Interstate 70 in Geary County in late September.
Martinez-Maldonado was arrested in Kansas City and then returned to the Geary County Detention Center.
Martinez-Maldonado is allegedly an eight-time deported illegal alien, according to the sheriff.
