The Larks offense came to life in extra innings, scoring nine in the top of the 12th, as they won their fifth straight, 11-2 Friday night in Derby.
Both teams plated two runs in the third and then the y played scoreless baseball until the top of the 12th when Clayton Harp walked with the bases loaded to give Hays a 3-2 lead. With the bases still loaded Trevor Boone delivered a grand slam giving Hays a 7-2 lead.
Hays again loaded the bases, this time with two outs, and Colin Simpson answered with a grand slam, the second of the inning for the Larks giving them an 11-2 lead.
Simpson finished 5-for-7 with five RBI’s and Boone was three-for-six with four RBI’s. Tyler Starks worked two scoreless innings of relief to earn the win.
Hays improved to 16-5 in the Jayhawk League one and a half games back of Liberal for first place.
The Larks and Twins are set to play at doubleheader Saturday in Derby.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Jason Vargas picked up his American League-leading 12th victory, Eric Hosmer hit a three-run homer and the Kansas City Royals defeated the Minnesota Twins 8-1 on Friday night.
Vargas (12-3) tied Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers for the major league lead in wins and lowered his ERA to 2.22, which tops the American League. He allowed two hits and one run over seven innings, while walking a season-high four.
Ervin Santana (10-5) took the loss, yielding seven runs, five earned, and eight hits.
It was the second time since 1990 that two pitchers with at least 10 wins and an ERA of less than 3.00 matched up. The previous was June 16, 2002, with Boston’s Derek Lowe (10 wins, 1.89 ERA) and Atlanta’s Tom Glavine (11 wins, 1.53 ERA) squared off in an interleague game.
Santana’s throwing error in the fourth opened the floodgates for a five-run inning. After Jorge Bonifacio opened the inning with a single, Lorenzo Cain hit a sharp grounder to Santana for a probable double play. Santana’s throw sailed wide right of second baseman Brian Dozier and into center field.
United States Beef Corporation, Arby’s largest franchisee, announced today in a news release it has acquired the Arby’s restaurant at 3501 Vine in Hays from Trisha St. Peter, president and CEO of R&E Enterprises, effective July 1.
An operations consultant for McDonald’s before purchasing the Hays Arby’s in 1994, St. Peter has been a very successful restaurateur in the Hays community.
“We’ve always had a strong presence in Kansas, and always respected Ms. St. Peter and her operation in Hays. This community certainly craves its Arby’s, and it’s our full intention to continue the excellent service that Hays has come to expect from their great team,” US Beef CEO John Davis said. “One of our strategies is to continue to grow organically and through acquisition if it fits in our business model to expand contiguously. We currently own 53 Arby’s restaurants in Kansas, and Hays will be our 54th. We want to give the warmest welcome to our new team members and associates in Hays to the US Beef family.”
“Candidly, this was a bittersweet decision for me. I love my employees and this community. But US Beef isn’t the largest Arby’s franchisee by accident. They’re incredible operators, the gold standard at Arby’s, and have a genuine family culture that made it attractive for me to sell” St. Peter said. “Being with a larger company, my employees will have access to many more benefits than I could give them owning just a single restaurant. US Beef will be able to leverage their technology and training strengths, creating more opportunities for my employees and their careers. It’s a win-win.”
With this acquisition, US Beef now operates more than 350 restaurants in the contiguous Midwest and western states of Washington, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri and Illinois. It also has plans to open two more restaurants in Kansas in 2017.
About United States Beef Corporation
United States Beef Corporation, dba Arby’s, headquartered in Tulsa, Okla., is the largest franchisee of Atlanta-based Arby’s Restaurant Group, Inc., now operating more than 350 restaurants serving Arby’s famous slow roasted beef sandwiches and unique menu items to hungry guests throughout the Midwest and Western United States. It is a family-owned and operated business that opened its first Arby’s restaurant in 1969, and has now grown to over 7,800 employees. US Beef also owns six Taco Bueno restaurants in Northwest Arkansas. To learn more about United States Beef Corporation, visit www.usbeefcorp.com.
About Arby’s
Arby’s, founded in 1964, is the first nationally franchised sandwich restaurant brand, with more than 3,300 restaurants worldwide. The Arby’s brand purpose is “Inspiring Smiles Through Delicious Experiences. Arby’s restaurants feature Fast Crafted® service, a unique blend of quick-serve speed and value combined with the quality and made-for-you care of fast casual. Arby’s Restaurant Group, Inc. is the parent company of the franchisor of the Arby’s brand and is headquartered in Atlanta, Ga. Visit Arbys.com for more information.
When evening falls, Brian Hunt makes his way to a comfortable chair in a sun room on the south side of his house near La Cygne, Kansas. But he’s not settling in to relax. He’s going to work.
Hunt is a doctor who works the overnight shift admitting and monitoring patients through video connections at half a dozen hospitals scattered across Kansas. Sitting in front of his computer, wearing a headset and microphone, he greets a 63-year-old woman who’s just been transferred to Newton Medical Center from the smaller town of Marion. She’s been having difficulties with speech and movement on her right side.
Dr. Brian Hunt sits at the computer he uses to interact with patients. BRYAN THOMPSON / KANSAS NEWS SERVICE
“Hi. Can you hear and see me OK? Excellent. And how young are you?” Hunt asks her.
He briefly engages the patient in small talk to put her at ease. Then he begins examining her with the help of the nursing staff on-site in Newton.
“What I’m going to do first of all, if the nurses want to, is listen to your heart and lungs real quick,” Hunt says through his Internet video hook-up. “Are you guys ready to do that?”
A robot in the room with the patient allows Hunt to hear the sounds from the stethoscope as clearly as if he were right there. It also has a camera that he can control and a video screen that lets the patient see him.
“I want to kind of look at you a little bit closer here,” he says, as he begins his examination. “Can you close your eyes real tight for me? Open ’em up real bright for me. OK, look to your left. There you go. Now look to your right with your eyes only, please. Look to your right with your eyes only. Good! Alright, now relax – and can you show me your teeth? Excellent!”
After about two minutes of these tests, Hunt gives the woman his diagnosis.
“You tried to have a stroke,” he says. “In fact, you probably had a small stroke. I’m just gonna cut to the chase here, OK? Fortunately, it’s a very slight remaining, but our concern is, are there going to be any further problems here, OK?”
Dr. Brian Hunt (lower left corner) demonstrates how he connects with a telehealth robot. CREDIT BRYAN THOMPSON / KANSAS NEWS SERVICE
Hunt starts the patient on an aspirin regimen, and orders a battery of tests aimed at making sure she doesn’t have any ongoing issues. He then reassures her as he signs off
“I’ll be up all night, OK? If something happens, I’ll be back just like that,” he says. “I’m going to put some orders in the system right now, get things going. And anything else I can do before I sign off? Alright, thank you for your time, and I wish you the best, ma’am.”
Insurers opposed
A bill considered this year by the Kansas House Health and Human Services Committee was aimed at encouraging more of this kind of care. It would require insurance companies that offer coverage for telehealth care to pay the same rate for telehealth services as they do for in-person services.
“It takes away the ability of the insurance companies to be able to price accordingly for the services provided, while also keeping an eye on how to keep premiums as low as possible for our employer groups and our members who purchase insurance,” says Mary Beth Chambers, a spokeswoman for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas.
Chambers says there are some cases — abdominal exams, for instance — where only a hands-on inspection will do. She worries that those cases might result in insurance companies having to pay for both an initial telehealth consultation and an in-person follow-up.
State Representative Jim Kelly (R-Independence) is the primary sponsor of HB 2206, the telehealth parity bill.
State Rep. Jim Kelly, who proposed the bill, says that concern is misplaced.
“The standard of care is going to be required to be the same, so that you could not do by telehealth a visit that would require hands-on,” Kelly says.
He rejects the notion that parity in payments amounts to a mandate.
“The issue that we wanted to do was to not force any company that wasn’t offering telehealth coverage to have to provide it, and that would be the mandate,” he says. “The other is more of a way to make it a playing field where providers would be willing to do it.”
Kelly sees equal pay for equivalent services as essential to the spread of telehealth care — and he sees telehealth as one way to make health care more accessible in rural and urban areas facing provider shortages. He argues that increasing access to follow-up and preventive care could reduce the need for more expensive hospitalization and emergency room services.
As things stand, the telehealth parity bill did not make it out of committee and was referred for possible interim study. Kelly, though, says the bill is based on best practices from states that have adopted telehealth parity.
Thirty-three states, including all four states bordering Kansas, already have such laws on the books. Kelly is hopeful Kansas will soon follow their example.
Bryan Thompson is a reporter for kcur.org and the Kansas News Service, specializing in rural health and agriculture.
TOPEKA–The tax economist for the Kansas Dept. of Revenue, Michael Austin, recently appeared on the Kansas City KCPT-TV PBS show “Ruckus” to discuss the $1.2 billion retroactive tax increase recently enacted by the Kansas legislature.
The new taxes, effective July 1, will be enacted over the next two fiscal years for Kansas taxpayers.
“I think the most important thing for Kansans to know, if they own a business, they will have to pay income tax on that business,” Austin pointed out. “What’s been known as the LLC Loophole is going to be gone.”
SHAWNEE COUNTY-Law enforcement authorities are investigating a fatality accident.
Just after 5:30 Friday first responders were dispatched to report of a vehicle, pedestrian accident near SW 29th and SW Randolph in Topeka, according to a media release.
Police learned that a blue SUV struck a 77-year-old man while he was crossing SW 29th. The victim was transported to a local hospital where he died.
Police have made no arrests but ask that anyone with information on the accident to call the Accident Reconstruction Division.
