New Blue Dragon head track and field coach Robert Spies speaks to a gathering at his introductory news conference on Monday at the Sports Arena. (Steve Carpenter / Blue Dragon Sports Information)
Hutchinson CC Sports Information
The Hutchinson Community College Athletic Department announced on Monday that Robert Spies will become the new head coach of the Blue Dragon Track and Field program.
Director of Athletics Josh Gooch made the announcement at an introductory news conference on Monday at the Sports Arena.
Spies will officially take the program over July 1. Hall of Fame Blue Dragon head coach Pat Becher announced his retirement earlier this season after 34 seasons. Becher’s official last day is June 30.
Spies becomes just the fifth head coach of the Blue Dragon men’s program and just the third head coach of the women’s program at Hutch CC.
“This is an exciting day for the future of Blue Dragon Track and Field,” Gooch said.
“This is a great time, not just for myself, but my family,” Spies said. “I know that there are very, very, very big shoes to fill. I’ve known Coach Becher for a very long time. I’m going to do my best to keep things going.”
Before Hutchinson, Spies has guided four other collegiate track and field programs and has had success at each stop.
Prior to Hutchinson, Spies was the head coach at McPherson College. Starting at McPherson in 2013, Spies produced 75 NAIA national qualifiers and 33 NAIA All-Americans. He coached one NAIA national champion, 73 conference champions, 92 all-KCAC performers and more than 60 school records fell in his tenure with the Bulldogs.
From 2011 to 2013, Spies was the head coach at Bethany College in Lindsborg. At Bethany, Spies’ teams produced eight NAIA national qualifiers, three All-Americans, 13 conference champions, 58 all-conference performers and 10 school records.
Spies isn’t a stranger to the Jayhawk Conference. From 2007 to 2010, he was the head coach at Fort Scott Community College. While at Fort Scott, Spies mentored three NJCAA All-Americans, nine NJCAA national qualifiers, 36 all-Jayhawk East performers and 34 school records fell in those four seasons.
Spies started coaching at Pittsburg State University as an assistant in 2006 and 2007. With the Gorillas Spies coached eight NCAA All-Americans, one NCAA national runner-up, 10 national qualifiers, six conference champions and 18 all-conference performers and five school records fell.
Spies was named the KCAC Coach of the Year three times (2016, 2017 and 2018). He was also the McPherson College Coach of the Year in 2018.
“One of the things that was appealing to me about Hutch was the continuity … not in just the athletic department but around the campus,” Spies said. “(Gowans Stadium is a nice selling point. When you can bring a kid in and tell them we host nationals here, that’s a really nice selling point. I like to have a stadium.”
While at Pittsburg State, Spies was also the Student Fitness Facility Supervisor. Before that, from 2001 to 2004, Spies was the Strength and Conditioning coach at Virginia Military Institute.
Spies ran collegiately at Fort Hays State University. He was a 4-time NCAA Division II All-American, a 12-time Conference champion in both the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. While at Fort Hays State, Spies was ranked 14th in the world in the 60 meters, clocking a time of 6.57 seconds during his senior year. He has also competed at the USA National Championship level.
Spies completed a Bachelor’s degree in childhood development with a minor in recreation from Pittsburg State. He earned a Master’s degree in human health performance and recreation with an emphasis in sport and leisure management.
Robert and his wife, Ermelinda, have two children, Davian and Sofia.
TOPEKA —Governor Laura Kelly has signed a bill that would prevent judges from lowering sentences for child sex offenders if they think the victims were willing participants in the crime.
Soden -photo Leavenworth Co.
“Judges must interpret and apply the law with common sense and an understanding of the real world, especially in child sex crime cases,” Kelly said. “I was deeply troubled when a Kansas judge viewed a child victim as an aggressor when an adult commits a sex crime. I’m pleased to sign this bill eliminating the ability to reduce sentences for sex crimes in these cases,” Kelly stated in a media release.
The bill signed this week comes after a Leavenworth County judge in February reduced the sentence for 67-year-old Raymond Soden because he thought the 13- and 14-year-old girls involved in the case were “aggressors.”
The bill eliminates the reason for a downward departure in sentencing for sexually violent crimes when the victim is younger than 14 years and the offender is an adult. It also would make that departure factor unavailable when human trafficking victims are involved regardless of their age.
A FHSU nursing student attends to a patient at the hospital in San José de las Matas, Dominican Republic. Ten FHSU nurses will travel to the Dominican in June as part of a Medical Ministry International trip.
By CRISTINA JANNEY Hays Post
Fort Hays State University Nursing Associate Professor Kathleen Ward has been taking FHSU nursing students on overseas summer learning trips for 10 years, but after she took a group to Dominican Republic, she knew that is where she and her students were most needed.
“I needed to be taking these students to a third-world country where they can provide actual nursing care to people who really need it. There are people who are really in need,” Ward said.
A FHSU nursing student fills a prescription at a Dominican pharmacy on a previous Medical Ministry International trip.
Ward and 10 BSN students will be traveling to San José de las Matas, Dominican Republic June 8-22. The students have all taken a one-hour preparatory course for the trip this spring.
The students will be working with Medical Ministry International, a non-profit group that provides medical relief across the globe. Ward became acquainted with the group when one her students moved to the Dominican Republic to work with the group.
Physicians, specialists and dentists from across the United States also volunteer with the program. Ward’s husband is a dentist and has traveled with the nurses in the past, but will be unable to this year.
“That is another thing that is nice,” Ward said. “These people get to see how that interprofessional part of nursing [works]. … These physicians are very open. They are very willing to teach. They want to let the nursing students do whatever they can to get the best experience. It’s a fabulous experience.”
The students will rotate through a variety of duties during their time in the Dominican, including pre- and post-operative care, working in a traveling clinic, working in the pharmacy, providing medication education, and teaching health education and proper hygiene.
The San José de las Matas, Dominican Republic, operating room is only open when Medical Ministry Internal volunteers, which will include FHSU nursing students in June, are on site.
“It is a major need,” Ward said of health care in the Dominican. “Some of them are poor and so they have a larger need. Every year we have numerous people who come and need surgeries. One year we went, and there was this baby who had a cleft lip.”
Many of the procedures would be considered basic health care in the United States, Ward said. The surgical suite in the hospital at San José de las Matas is only open while the mission volunteers are there.
The students happened to be working at the hospital when a patient accidentally cut off his fingers. The clinic also regularly sees patients with major infections who have no other access to medical care.
Education and prevention is important as well, Ward said. The water is unsafe to drink, so the students teach residents how to purify their water. They teach youth how to brush their teeth and women about female hygiene.
“They teach how to prevent sexually transmitted infections, because that is rampant down there,” Ward said.
Nursing students load boxes to buses every day while they are in the Dominican and travel to rural villages to conduct clinics.
In addition to providing life-changing medical services, Ward said the students receive valuable training.
“I think it is important for those students because it give them a greater appreciation of what nursing really can do,” she said. “It gives you a gratification. These people are so appreciative. They are so happy for you to do anything for them. If you give them a Band-Aid, they’re happy, which is totally different than the health care in the United States. …
“It gives you that self-fulling feeling that you are really helping people.”
She said the trips also give students an opportunity to meet and work with people of different cultures.
“They just have a better understanding of how to care for people,” she said. “Even when they go out in their own practice when they graduate and move on, they are going to have a greater appreciation for somebody who comes in and is of a different nationality, who can’t speak our language, because most of these students don’t speak Spanish.”
The San José de las Motas hospital.
The Spanish dialect spoken in the Dominican is unique to the region, and Medical Ministry International uses interpreters.
Meagan Karlin, 22, is graduating this weekend with her BSN. She went on the Dominican trip last summer.
“I learned so much about the therapeutic relationship. I did not speak the language, and we had to find other ways to communicate,” she said. “I see how fortunate and blessed we are. I think we take for granted running water. We have water to run to brush our teeth, but they have no access to clean water.”
The residents in the Dominican have to pay for water and haul it to their homes. They can’t get it out of sink. So they told Karlin they had to use their water sparingly.
“They said, ‘I have to make it as long as I can.’ It was very sad,” Karlin said.
She said working in pre- and post-op had a substantial effect on her.
Rural Dominican Republic.
“I think the biggest thing was when I was working in the hospital. A 22-year-old came in for breast reduction. She came by herself,” Karlin said. “She was the same age as me. She was surrounded by strangers. They tried to get a spinal epidural in for surgery three times.
“As they tried to get that in, I tried to gain her trust. We developed a relationship. I told her it was OK. We connected on a whole other level. I was with her through surgery and post-op until she was able to go home.”
Karlin said she learned much about the Dominican culture, which is based heavily on relationships with friends and family, and their religion, which is primarily Catholic.
“I talked to a woman who had lost her son. She had lost so many family members. I told her I was sorry to hear that. She said she was OK with it because he was with the Lord and that she would get there eventually,” Karlin said. “They are so thankful for the small things.”
They are also trying to collect medical supplies for the trip.
This includes over-the-counter basics, such as vitamins and ibuprofen. Prenatal vitamins are especially needed. Medications must be unexpired and unopened.
“They have a lot of problems with back aches because of working in the fields,” Ward said. “They have a lot of GI problems because of their diets. They don’t eat the healthiest, so we have a a lot of stomach problems and things like that.”
Donors can bring items to the FHSU Nursing Department office Stroup Hall 120B on the FHSU campus.
Below is a listed of the needed supplies.
VITAMINS
Adult vitamins with and without iron
Children’s vitamins with and without iron
Infant vitamins
Prenatal vitamins
Folic acid
Vitamin C, D, & E
Magnesium
Calcium
Iron
ANALGESICS
Acetaminophen (Tylenol) 500mg
Children’s Tylenol
Ibuprofen 200mg
Aspirin 81 mg
Naproxen (Aleve) 220mg & 500mg
Midol
Migraine Relief
EYES
Saline eye drops
RESPIRATORY
Dextromethorphan (Vicks Dayquil cough)
Diphenhydramine (Benadryl) 25mg tabs, 12.5mg liquid (no 50mg)
Loratadine (Claritin) 10mg
Liquid Loratadine (Claritin)
Cetirizine (Zyrtec) 5mg, 10mg & liquid
Pseudoephedrine (Sudafed)
Mucinex
Nasal Saline
Nasal decongestant spray
Robafen (Cough Medication)
GASTROINTESTINAL
Fiber
Colace
Gas X
Ranitidine (Zantac)
Omeprazole (Prilosec)
Hemorrhoid treatments
Tums
GYN & UROLOGY
Vaginal suppositories for yeast infection (clotrimazole/miconazole)
John Henry Schroeder, 85, of Colby, died Monday, May 13, 2019, at Citizens Medical Center, Colby. He was born October 21, 1933, in Thomas County, Kansas, to Leon M. and Protus (Ackard) Schroeder.
John graduated from Levant High School with the class of 1951. He married Betty Stickel on May 23, 1952.
John was a lifetime farmer and cattleman, especially loving wheat harvest. He was a member of the Masons, receiving a 50-year pin, a life member of ISIS Shrine and a life member of the Elks and served on several boards. John was a member of the Levant Community Church. He and Betty enjoyed traveling and wintering in Texas.
John was preceded in death by his parents, son John Richard “Rick” Schroeder; brother Robert Schroeder; sister Mary Garrett and niece Gloria Ribordy.
He is survived by his wife Betty, of Colby; daughters, Diana (John) Presley, Dodge City, Kansas, and Debra (Bob) Aday, Waxahachie, Texas; sister Lois Anne Frodin, Goodland, Kansas; six grandchildren, Jeremy (Janie) Presley, Courtney (Matt) Howard, Ashley (Brock) Seidl, Benjamin Schroeder, Nicolas (Kelly) Schroeder and Von Aday and 11 great-grandchildren.
Cremation was chosen. The family will receive friends from 5-7 p.m. Friday, May 24, 2019 at Baalmann Mortuary, Colby. A memorial service will take place at 2 p.m. Saturday, May 25, 2019, at the Colby Methodist Church.
In lieu of flowers, memorials are suggested to the Shriners Hospital for Children or the Levant Community Church, in care of Baalmann Mortuary, PO Box 391, Colby, KS 67701. For condolences or information, visit www.baalmannmortuary.com
Thursday Sunny, with a high near 94. Breezy, with a south southwest wind 10 to 15 mph increasing to 18 to 23 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 34 mph.
Thursday Night Mostly clear, with a low around 66. Breezy, with a south wind 16 to 21 mph, with gusts as high as 31 mph.
FridayIncreasing clouds, with a high near 86. Breezy, with a south wind 14 to 24 mph, with gusts as high as 36 mph.
Friday NightA 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before 1am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 60. Breezy, with a south wind 14 to 24 mph, with gusts as high as 34 mph.
SaturdayA 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 1pm. Mostly sunny, with a high near 77.
Saturday NightShowers and thunderstorms likely, mainly before 1am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 49. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri’s Republican-led Senate has passed a wide-ranging bill to ban abortions at eight weeks of pregnancy, acting only hours after Alabama’s governor signed a near-total abortion ban into law.
Senators voted 24-10 for the bill early Thursday. The proposed eight-week ban allows exceptions only in medical emergencies, not cases of rape or incest.
The measure now returns to the House for another vote on the Senate changes, ahead of a Friday deadline to pass bills.
Republican-led legislatures around the U.S. are imposing new restrictions, hoping more conservative justices will overturn the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling legalizing abortion.
Kentucky, Mississippi, Ohio and Georgia approved bans on abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected, which can occur in about the sixth week of pregnancy.
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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri’s Republican-led Senate has now passed a bill to ban abortions at eight weeks of pregnancy.
Senators approved the legislation 24-10 early Thursday with just hours left before a Friday deadline to pass bills. It needs at least one more vote of approval in the GOP-led House before it can go to Republican Gov. Mike Parson, who voiced support for it on Wednesday.
Parson called on state senators to take action, joining a movement of GOP-dominated state legislatures emboldened by the possibility that a more conservative Supreme Court could overturn its landmark ruling legalizing the procedure. Their vote came only hours after Alabama’s governor signed the most stringent abortion ban in the nation on Wednesday, making performing an abortion a felony in nearly all cases.
The Missouri proposal includes exceptions for medical emergencies, but not for pregnancies caused by rape or incest. Doctors would face five to 15 years in prison for violating the eight-week cutoff. Women who receive abortions at eight weeks or later into a pregnancy wouldn’t be prosecuted.
Outnumbered Senate Democrats launched into an attack on the bill before Republican supporters had a chance to bring it up for debate on the Senate floor.
“So much of this bill is just shaming women into some kind of complacency that says we are vessels of pregnancy rather than understanding that women’s lives all hold different stories,” St. Louis-area Democratic Sen. Jill Schupp told colleagues. “We cannot paint with a broad brush and interfere by putting a law forward that tells them what they can and cannot do.”
Missouri is among a growing number of states where abortion opponents are working with renewed enthusiasm following President Donald Trump’s appointment of more conservative high court justices. Kentucky, Mississippi, Ohio and Georgia have approved bans on abortion once fetal cardiac activity can be detected , which can occur in about the sixth week of pregnancy. Similar restrictions in North Dakota and Iowa have been struck down in court.
Supporters say the Alabama bill is intentionally designed to conflict with the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationally in hopes of sparking a court case that might prompt the justices to revisit abortion rights.
Missouri’s bill also includes an outright ban on abortions except in cases of medical emergencies. But unlike Alabama’s, it would kick in only if Roe v. Wade is overturned.
If courts don’t allow Missouri’s proposed eight-week ban to take effect, it includes a ladder of less-restrictive time limits ranging from 14 to 20 weeks. Roe v. Wade legalized abortion up until viability, usually at 22 to 24 weeks.
“This is not a piece of legislation that is designed for a challenge,” Missouri’s Republican House Speaker Elijah Haahr said. “This is the type of legislation that is designed to withstand a challenge and to actually save lives in our state.”
Other provisions in the wide-ranging abortion bill include a ban on abortions based solely on race, sex or a “prenatal diagnosis, test, or screening indicating Down Syndrome or the potential of Down Syndrome.”
The bill would also require that both parents be notified for a minor to get an abortion, with exceptions. A change made after hours of late-night negotiations means written notification is only required if the second parent has joint legal or physical custody of the minor.
Current law requires written consent from only one parent
KANSAS CITY (AP) — Authorities are investigating what appears to be a deadly hit-and-run crash in Kansas City.
Officers responded early Sunday to a report about a body lying in a road. Missouri Capt. Tim Hernandez says the victim was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
An emergency room doctor says the victim appeared to have been struck by a vehicle. Hernandez says the traffic investigation unit doesn’t have any witnesses or video to determine what happened, or any suspect information.
The TMP baseball team saw their season come to an end Wednesday afternoon in a wild, 15-14 loss to Concordia in the 3A regional semifinals in Concordia.
In the nearly three-hour contest, the two teams combined for 26 hits and 29 runs.
Aaron Breit postgame interview
The Monarchs raced out to a four-run lead in the bottom of the first inning on a sacrifice fly by Carson Jacobs and then with the bases loaded, Colby Dreiling delivered a bases-clearing double to take a 4-0 lead after one inning.
In the top of the season the Panthers offense exploded for nine runs on six hits to take a 9-4 lead.
Each team added a run in the third and then Concordia scored two in the fourth and three in the fifth to build a 15-5 lead through four and a half innings. But the Monarchs, on the brink of elimination would rally for nine runs in their half of the fifth.
The Monarchs sent 14 to the plate and collected six hits in the inning. Among those were a Tyson Dinkel two-run single and the second three-run double of the game for Dreiling, giving him a career-high six RBI’s. But after the Monarchs closed within one at 15-14 Dreiling struck out to end the inning leaving the tying run at third and the go-ahead run at second.
TMP was able to get the tying run to second in the sixth inning but were unable to threaten again as they see their season come to an end with the 15-14 loss.
Colby Dreiling suffered the loss for the Monarchs. He allowed nine runs, six were earned with a pair of walks in an inning and two-thirds.
Dreiling collected a pair of hits and drover in six runs. Brady Kreutzer was three-for-four with four runs scored. Carson Jacobs added a pair of RBI’s.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Texas Rangers manager Chris Woodward was hoping Willie Calhoun’s arrival from Triple-A Nashville would help ignite a club that had slogged through five straight losses.
Calhoun did exactly that.
A two-run homer in the first inning by the former top prospect set the tone, Ronald Guzman added a two-run shot of his own and the Rangers rolled to a 6-1 win over the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday night.
“He comes in and is kind of the spark player that gets us going,” Woodward said about Calhoun. “I’m not surprised. I’ve seen that bat. He’s got amazing hands with that swing. It was nice to see.”
Shin-Soo Choo added a solo shot in the ninth inning and Nomar Mazara matched a career high with four hits as the Rangers won for the sixth time in their last eight games against Kansas City.
Mike Minor (4-3) got through five rocky innings, allowing one run on eight hits and two walks.
“I would grade it as a ‘C’ by his standards,” Woodward said. “But it showed a lot of our guys that you don’t have to have your best stuff to be successful.”
Guzman drove in a run in the fourth before sending a hanging pitch from Jorge Lopez (0-5) booming into the center field seats in the sixth. The two-out shot broke open a 3-1 game and sent Lopez, who had plunked two batters and struggled with command all night, trudging toward the showers.
Lopez allowed seven hits and two walks while striking out seven.
“Command got him,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “He was fighting command up to the point he elevated his pitch count. He got burned on his two center-cut curveballs for home runs.”
Calhoun, called up from the minors before the game, got the Rangers off to a good start. The erstwhile elite prospect sent a first-inning pitch from Lopez soaring into the seats over the right-field bullpen, the no-doubt shot staking Texas to a 2-0 lead.
“His first night, he comes up and when you have a guy like Mike Minor pitching, getting ahead is huge,” Mazara said. “He really got us going.”
Kansas City answered by manufacturing a run in the bottom half against Minor, whose last appearance at Kauffman Stadium came as the Royals’ closer in the final game of the 2017 season. But after Adalberto Mondesi’s RBI single, the veteran left-hander escaped the rest of the inning unscathed.
It wasn’t the last time he negotiated trouble.
Minor also stranded runners on second and third in the second and fourth, and he pinned another runner 90 feet from home in the fifth. By the time that inning ending, Minor had survived a shaky night and has still allowed just 11 earned runs over his last 55 innings.
“He was making pitches close to what he wanted to do. I just kept helping him out,” the Royals’ Whit Merrifield said. “He was throwing fastballs up and in, out of the zone. I don’t know why I kept swinging at them, but I kept swinging at them.”
The Rangers’ bullpen allowed only one hit over the final four innings.
STATS AND STREAKS
Minor allowed leadoff singles in four consecutive innings. … Calhoun’s homer was the fourth of his career. … Choo’s homer snapped an 0-for-13 skid. … Lopez and the Reds’ Sonny Gray (0-4) are the only two pitchers in the majors with at least nine starts and no wins. … Kansas City was 1 for 11 with runners in scoring position after going 9 for 19 the previous night.
INJURED ELVIS
Texas put shortstop Elvis Andrus on the injured list with a strained right hamstring after he left Tuesday night’s game in the seventh inning. Woodward is hopeful Andrus will be ready to return in 10 days. “You don’t want this to linger with him,” Woodward said.
ROSTER MOVES
Calhoun was joined from Nashville by left-hander Jeffrey Springs to provide a fresh arm in the Texas bullpen. Right-hander Wei-Chieh Huang was optioned to the same club.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Rangers right-hander Shawn Kelley could be activated in the next couple of days, Woodward said. Kelley has been dealing with a bacterial infection. … Woodward said right-hander Ariel Jurado will likely start Saturday against St. Louis. Woodward plans to get “creative” with his starter Sunday because left-hander Drew Smyly has a slight ankle sprain and his next turn could get pushed back.
UP NEXT
The Royals wrap up their homestand Thursday by sending Homer Bailey (4-3, 4.83 ERA) to the mound against Texas right-hander Lance Lynn (4-3, 5.48). Kansas City has lost 12 straight rubber games dating to May 30 last year, and has not won a series against the Rangers since July 2016.
NEW YORK (AP) – Two people with direct knowledge of the deal say the New York Jets have agreed to trade linebacker Darron Lee to the Kansas City Chiefs for a sixth-round draft pick.
The deal Wednesday night is pending a physical, according to the people who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because neither team had announced the move.
It also comes on the same day the team fired general manager Mike Maccagnan and installed coach Adam Gase as the acting GM while the Jets begin a search for a replacement.
Lee was New York’s first-round pick in 2016, but was mostly disappointing in his three seasons with the Jets. He was suspended by the NFL for the final four games of last season after violating the league’s substance abuse policy. Lee’s spot on the Jets’ roster was uncertain after New York signed C.J. Mosley to anchor the inside linebacker position with Avery Williamson. Lee had been the subject of trade rumors all offseason.
KANSAS CITY (AP) — A 67-year-old man accused of stalking several women who worked at massage parlors has been found guilty on eight of 10 federal charges against him.
Gross -photo Jackson Co.
Robert Gross, who has a criminal record dating back to the 1960s, was convicted Wednesday on two of four stalking charges and six gun-related charges.
Federal prosecutors accused Gross of stalking several women between Oct. 1 and Dec. 22, 2017, mostly employees of massage parlors in Lawrence and Johnson County, Kansas. The women told police their cars were keyed, screws drilled into their tires and their windows smashed out.
The jury was shown a video of Gross abusing a Lawrence massage parlor worker. Charges are pending in that case.
Gross’ attorney presented no evidence during the trial.
Gross was arrested in December 2017 after buying two guns in Liberty, Missouri.
STONE COUNTY, Mo — One person died in an accident just before 10:30a.m. Wednesday in Stone County.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2006 Toyota Tundra driven by Gideon M. Dunn, 37, Branson, was eastbound on Mo. 76 two miles west of Branson. The pickup rear-ended a 2009 Dodge Grand Caravan driven by Carlos G. Garate, 41, Emporia that had slowed to make a turn.
A passenger in the van 13-year-old Ace Garate was transported to Cox Hospital in Branson where he died.
EMS also transported Carlos Garate and three other passengers from the van including Alina B. Garate, 64, Amy Garate, 37 and Mercedes Garate, 64, all of Emporia to Cox Hospital in Branson for treatment of minor injuries.
Dunn and Ace Garate were not wearing seat belts, according to the MSHP.
NEW YORK (AP) — New measures by U.S. regulators could help thwart some of the billions of robocalls received in the U.S.
The Federal Communications Commission said Wednesday that it will vote in June on whether to let carriers block spam calls by default, which should mean that more spam calls are blocked. Right now, customers have to take the extra step of requesting tools from their carriers or downloading apps from other companies to help them weed out most unwanted calls.
The rising volume of calls in the last few years, driven by how cheap and easy it is for scammers to call millions of people as well as weak enforcement, has created pressure on Congress, regulators and phone companies to act. The volume of calls has risen to roughly 5 billion per month, according to call-blocker YouMail, from 2.7 billion in November 2017. That’s when the government gave carriers explicit, although narrow, permission to block certain types of calls.
Many robocalls are not scam calls, though, but calls from debt collectors and telemarketers selling insurance, cruises and the like. It’s not clear if carriers would automatically block those calls, too, said Margot Saunders, senior counsel for the National Consumer Law Center and an expert on robocalls.
Under the proposed rules, the agency won’t require carriers to provide such services or mandate that the tools offered are free. Today, some of these apps cost extra money; others are free.
“We certainly are encouraging companies to offer this for free,” FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said. He said he anticipates that companies won’t charge extra because it would cost less than the headache of dealing with robocalls and customer complaints about them today. He raised the threat of regulatory action “if the companies do not take the steps necessary to protect consumers.”
The agency also said Wednesday it’s making clear that carriers can let customers come up with lists of numbers that they will permit to call them. That means customers could tell phone companies that any number not on their list be automatically blocked.
“There is no doubt that this can only help, that it’s a good thing. My questions go to how much it helps,” Saunders said, referring to whether consumers would be protected from unwanted debt-collector and telemarketing calls as well as scams.
There are also bills in Congress addressing the robocall problem. A widely supported, bipartisan Senate bill would require carriers to verify that a number popping up on your caller ID is real. A big problem with robocalls is that many are “spoofed,” or faked to look like they’re coming from a number that matches your area code and the next three digits of your number, so you think it’s a neighbor and are more likely to pick up. The industry is working on deploying this long-in-the-works system, but it’s been a slow process. Pai has threatened regulatory action if it’s not done this year.
The Senate bill would also give the FCC more power to fine the people responsible for spam calls and puts together federal agencies and state officials to figure out ways to pursue criminal cases against robocall scammers, not just civil ones.
