By ANDY MARSO

Hundreds of Kansans with developmental disabilities rallied Wednesday outside the Capitol, as legislators said they are close to reaching a deal with Gov. Sam Brownback to postpone changes to disability services.

Rep. Les Osterman, a Republican from Wichita, told the crowd that a legislative proposal to delay the administration’s Medicaid waiver integration plan until 2018 was a done deal.

“I stopped the waiver integration,” Osterman said. “At least until 2018.”

The waivers provide Medicaid coverage for support services that allow Kansans with disabilities to remain in home and community-based settings rather than institutions.

The services are split into seven groups based on type of disability: developmental, physical, frail elderly, autism, traumatic brain injury, technology assisted and serious emotional disturbance. The Brownback administration’s plan would compress the services into two groups: one for children and one for adults.

Administration officials say that would allow all Kansans to receive a broader array of services more efficiently, rather than being constrained by labels.

Osterman said he worked across the aisle with Rep. Jim Ward, a Democrat from Wichita.

The two serve on a subcommittee that made the recommendation to delay. The other members were Rep. Willie Dove, a Republican from Bonner Springs, and Rep. Jim Kelly, a Republican from Independence.

Earlier in the week, Ward and Kelly said they believed a deal to delay the integration was imminent.

“That’s what I heard,” Kelly said. “I haven’t seen anything. But that could be on its way, which could be great.”

A spokeswoman for the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services said confirmation of the delay would have to come from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.

The waiver integration plan, which has been delayed once, is a major issue for all disability groups in Kansas.

Legislators and disability advocates say the administration’s plan is short on details and worry it could lead to service reductions.

“I hope they delay it as long as they can,” said Hal Schultz, a Lawrence resident who leads a self-advocacy group for Kansans with developmental and intellectual disabilities. “I don’t like it.”

Schultz spoke at the rally, which was hosted by Interhab, a Topeka-based nonprofit that represents developmental disability service providers.

Tim Wood, who will take the top job at Interhab in September, urged those in attendance to lobby their legislators to fully fund waiting lists for the waiver services and provide higher Medicaid reimbursements for direct care workers, in addition to delaying the waiver integration.

Rally-goers wore green shirts that read “My vote counts” and were asked to visit legislators who might not know people with developmental disabilities or understand their concerns.

Stacy Tucker came with her own shirt that said: “I walked for special needs people speaking out.”

Tucker said she walked three days from her home in Lawrence to the rally, inspired by civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr.

“I want people to know we are people and we’re just like anybody else,” Tucker said.

Tom Laing, Interhab’s current leader, told those who attended the rally that legislators calling for a delay to the waiver integration was an indication of the group’s political clout.

“This is a case where the Legislature heard what you had to say,” Laing said.

Andy Marso is a reporter for KHI News Service in Topeka, a partner in the Heartland Health Monitor team. You can reach him on Twitter @andymarso

KDOL

TOPEKA – The state’s February seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remained at 4.0 percent, according to a report from the Kansas Department of Labor.  This was unchanged from January and decreased from 4.3 percent in February 2015.

The preliminary seasonally adjusted job estimates from the Kansas Department of Labor and Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate Kansas nonfarm jobs decreased by 1,900 from January. Since last month, Kansas private sector jobs decreased by 1,700. The largest private sector over the month job loss was in Construction.

Over the year Kansas lost 5,400 seasonally adjusted total nonfarm jobs. Kansas lost 3,900 private sector jobs since February 2015.

“Kansas maintained its low unemployment rate of 4 percent last month, with growth in the labor force and a drop in the number of people who are unemployed,” said Kansas Secretary of Labor, Lana Gordon.

Kansas not seasonally adjusted nonfarm jobs decreased by 6,000, a 0.4 percent decrease since February 2015. Not seasonally adjusted figures show Kansas lost 5,100 private sector jobs since last year, or 0.5 percent. The state gained 6,100 total nonfarm jobs over the month, or 0.4 percent. Since January, private sector jobs decreased by 2,600, or 0.2 percent.

”February’s labor market report provided mixed data,” said Emilie Doerksen, Labor Economist, Kansas Department of Labor. “While employers reported fewer jobs on their payrolls, more Kansans actually reported working this month.”

The Bureau of Labor Statistics revised seasonally adjusted preliminary total nonfarm job estimates for January upward by 100 jobs, from 1,397,700 to 1,397,800.

The seasonally adjusted February estimates show 60,656 Kansans were unemployed and 1,452,714 were employed, for a total labor force of 1,513,370. The unemployment rate was 4.0 percent. The February labor force increased by 2,207 from 1,511,163 in January, as 2,292 more Kansans were employed and 85 fewer Kansans were unemployed over the month. The labor force participation rate, the share of working age population employed and unemployed, was 68.3 percent. The labor force was 19,155 above the 1,494,215 February 2015 estimate, with 22,209 more Kansans employed and 3,054 fewer Kansans unemployed.

The March 2016 Labor Report will be released on Friday, April 15.

HUTCHINSON— The Reno County District Attorney’s Office announced in court Wednesday that they will recuse themselves from any prosecution of a man arrested after he allegedly held a Westar Energy employee at bay with a shotgun.

Sixty-six-year-old Marc Miller faces potential charges of aggravated assault and kidnapping. Senior Assistant District Attorney Steve Maxwell told Magistrate Judge Cheryl Allen that, because Miller has worked in the court system as a bailiff for a number of jury trials and has been a friend to the DA’s office, they would not be prosecuting the case.

They instead will have a special prosecutor, which, according to statement made in court, will be Harvey County Attorney David Yoder.

Just after 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Reno County Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to 11912 E. 4th Avenue for a man with a Westar employee at gunpoint, according to a media release.
Deputy McVey arrived and a moment later advised he had one a suspect Brent Bunting, 61, Hutchinson, at gunpoint. He was detained and handcuffed.
Bunting stated that he arrived at the residence to exchange the electrical meter.
He went to the front door of the residence and knocked. No one answered the door, so Bunting put one of the fliers in the doorway and walked to the east side of the house to exchange the meter.
After exchanging the meter, Bunting said a white male who told him he did not have permission to be on the property, and to put the meter back confronted him.
Bunting tried to explain that he can’t do that, and began walking towards his Truck.
The suspect Marc Miller, 66, told him he needed to come sit down.
Bunting ignored Miller’s request.
Bunting said that Miller stepped into the residence through a sliding glass door and came right back out with a shotgun and then told Bunting again that he wasn’t leaving and needed to come sit down.
Bunting made his way back up to the front of the residence where an outside table is located and sat in a chair at that location.
Bunting told deputies that while he was seated at the table, Miller allowed him to call his supervisor.
When Deputies arrived on scene they confronted Miller with a rifle. After some verbal commands he gave up without incident.
Miller was arrested for Aggravated Assault and Kidnapping and was transported to the Reno County Correctional Facility without incident.

Gov. Sam Brownback has declared a State of Disaster Emergency for an area of south central Kansas threatened by major wildfires. The declaration authorizes state resources to assist communities affected by the fires, according to a media release.
A wildfire that began in Oklahoma March 22 and spread into Kansas overnight continues to burn in Barber and Comanche counties. The Kansas Division of Emergency Management is continuing to monitor the situation and is working with local, state and federal agencies.

The Kansas Forest Service and Kansas Division of Emergency Management have personnel on the scene providing technical and tactical operation assistance to Barber and Comanche Counties. US-160 is closed between Coldwater and Medicine Lodge and US 281 is closed between Medicine Lodge and the Oklahoma border. The Kansas Highway Patrol is providing access control to limit non-response vehicles into the area.

As of Wednesday evening, local officials reported a level of containment in Comanche County, but no level of containment in Barber County. At that time, the trajectory of the fire threatened the north edge of Medicine Lodge.
Two American Red Cross shelters have been established to support Barber County, should they be needed. One shelter has been established in Chaparral High School in Harper County and the second shelter has been established in Pratt.
Wind speeds have been sustained from the south at 43 mph with gusts 58/59 mph. The National Weather Service says winds will switch to the northwest with sustained speeds above 30 mph through midnight.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Planned Parenthood has begun offering medication abortions at its Wichita clinic. It is the second facility in the city to provide those services since abortion provider George Tiller was gunned down in 2009.

Its spokeswoman, Bonyen Lee-Gilmore, said Wednesday the clinic has been taking appointments and scheduling the procedure. Medication abortions are commonly known as the abortion pill and are done to terminate pregnancies up to about 9 weeks.

Its Wichita clinic began doing them on March 17.

Three other clinics in Kansas offer abortion services, including a Planned Parenthood clinic in Overland Park.

Wichita did not have any abortion clinics for four years after Tiller’s clinic was shut down in the wake his murder. An abortion rights group bought his building and opened an abortion clinic in 2013.

RILEY COUNTY – Two people were injured in an accident just before 5 p.m. on Wednesday in Riley County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2005 GMC Envoy driven by Bonnie A. Turner, 54, Joplin, MO., was westbound on Interstate 70 one mile east of the Wabaunsee-Riley county line.

The vehicle left the north side of the roadway and overturned.

Turner and a passenger Bethany Michelle Thurston, 23, Pittsburg, Kansas, were transported to Via Christi in Manhattan.

Both were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Senate has declined to debate a proposed constitutional amendment that would phase out the state sales tax on food over the next three years.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports that Democratic state Sen. Tom Holland proposed the amendment earlier this year. It didn’t receive a committee hearing and was in danger of dying as the 2016 session is coming to a close.

Holland made a motion on the Senate floor Tuesday to force the bill to the top of the calendar for immediate debate and vote. His motion fell six votes short of the two-thirds majority to pass with a 21-19 vote.

If Holland’s motion had passed, the amendment would’ve needed another two-thirds majority vote in both the House and Senate in order to be placed on the general election ballot for voter approval.