TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Lawmakers dropped a plan to increase oversight of Kansas’ troubled child welfare system in the final hours of their annual session, angering advocates.

The provision that was eliminated would have created a committee that could have summoned officials to explain problems, drafted legislation and provided frustrated parents with a place to vent.

Some advocates saw the panel as a way to address a system beset with problems that include child deaths and problems recruiting and retaining staff.

“I don’t think our legislators understand how hard it is to apologize to a child for ‘good intentions’ gone bad,” said Tara Wallace, president of the African American Foster Care/Adoption Coalition’s Topeka chapter. “It’s a bitter pill to swallow, but I have to for the sake of helping them get through their traumatic experiences.”

The committee would have been required to review data on child maltreatment, child welfare programs and concerns about the Department for Children and Families, which oversees foster care. Lawmakers focused on health and child-related issues would have been assigned to serve on it.

Issues arose when a coalition of Republicans and Democrats blocked the legislation to try to pressure Republican leaders in the Senate to hold a vote on Medicaid expansion. Lawmakers sent the budget back for more negotiations between the House and the Senate. Negotiators produced a new version that didn’t include the committee.

The Legislature then passed the budget Saturday night after pro-expansion Republicans stopped voting to block it.

“I think it’s clear for the legislative leadership that foster care is not a priority,” said Benet Magnuson, executive director of Kansas Appleseed, a nonprofit justice center serving vulnerable and excluded Kansans.

Rep. Susan Concannon, a Beloit Republican who chairs the House Children and Seniors Committee, noted that lawmakers can still act next year on her bill to create a child welfare oversight committee.

“It needs oversight. We need to get this bill passed,” Concannon said.

By JOSEPH PISANI
AP Retail Writer

NEW YORK — Walmart said Wednesday that it will raise the minimum age to buy tobacco products and e-cigarettes at its U.S. stores to 21 amid growing pressure from regulators to cut tobacco sales and use among minors.

The world’s largest retailer also said it will also stop selling fruit and dessert flavored e-cigarettes, which critics say can hook teenagers on vaping.

The new rules will take effect in July at all its 5,300 U.S. stores, including its Sam’s Club warehouse locations. Previously, Walmart’s minimum purchase age was 18, aside from a number of states where the legal age is 21.

Earlier this year, the Food and Drug Administration put Walmart and 14 other retailers on notice for selling tobacco products to kids. Another retailer on the list, drugstore operator Walgreens, said last month that it would increase its minimum age for tobacco sales to 21 in September.

In a letter to the FDA Wednesday, Walmart said it will conduct its own tests this year to make sure minors can’t buy tobacco products at its stores. The company said it will retrain workers that fail its tests.

“Even a single sale to a minor is one too many, and we take seriously our responsibilities in this regard,” said John Scudder, Walmart’s chief compliance and ethics officer, in a blog post Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Drugmakers will be required to reveal the prices of their prescription medicines in those ever present TV ads, the Trump administration is set to announce on Wednesday, even as some insured patients can pay thousands of dollars for critical medications.

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told The Associated Press the administration is finalizing regulations that will require drug companies to disclose list prices of medications costing more than $35 for a month’s supply.

“What I say to the companies is if you think the cost of your drug will scare people from buying your drugs, then lower your prices,” Azar said. “Transparency for American patients is here.”

The pricing details are expected to appear in text toward the end of commercials, when potential side effects are being disclosed. TV viewers should notice the change later this year, perhaps as early as the summer.

The government’s move is part of a multilevel blueprint President Donald Trump announced last year to try to lower prescription drug costs .

Other elements include regulations affecting Medicare and legislative proposals pending in Congress. With the cost of medicines a top concern for voters, Trump and lawmakers of both major political parties want accomplishments they can point to before the 2020 elections. Democrats say measures like price disclosure won’t force drugmakers to lower what they charge, and they want to authorize Medicare to negotiate.

The drug industry opposes the price reveal, saying companies would rather provide the information on their websites. But Johnson & Johnson, based in New Brunswick, New Jersey, announced this year that it would start disclosing the cost of its blood thinner Xarelto in TV advertising. That drug is used to treat and prevent blood clots that can cause strokes.

Among drug industry complaints is that the government would be infringing on First Amendment free speech rights by forcing companies to disclose prices. Azar points out that the government has for decades required carmakers to post their sticker prices on vehicles.

“Prices of automobiles are vastly less important to your health and affordability than drugs,” he said.

According to the government, the 10 most commonly advertised drugs have prices ranging from $535 to $11,000 per month or for a usual course of therapy.

The disclosure requirement will not apply to print or radio ads for the foreseeable future.

“Over $4 billion of pharma spend is in TV ads … that is their most impactful form of advertising,” Azar said. “That is where the patient has the most need of being informed.”

The disclosure requirement applies to all brand name drugs covered by Medicare and Medicaid, which is nearly all medications.

The government is hoping that patients armed with price information will start discussing affordability with their doctors, and gradually that will put pressure on drugmakers to keep costs in check.

Most people rely on lower cost generic drugs to manage their health problems, but the advent of revolutionary medications for once-fatal or intractable diseases has put consumers on edge. Genetic and cellular-based treatments can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, which has put a strain on the budgets of insurers and government programs.

A recent poll from the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation found that 1 in 3 Americans said they haven’t taken medications as prescribed because of costs. People who take four or more medications, those who spend $100 a month or more on meds, patients in fair to poor health and middle-aged adults are more likely to report affordability problems.

Although most patients do not pay the full list prices that will be included in ads, experts say those prices are still important. They’re the starting point for negotiations between drugmakers and insurers. Also, copays that patients face are often based on list prices. And many people who have high-deductible insurance plans pay list prices for medications because their insurance doesn’t start covering until patients have spent several thousand dollars of their own money.

In other economically advanced countries, governments negotiate drug prices to keep medications more affordable for patients. But except for some government programs like the Veterans Affairs health system, the U.S. has held back from government-set prices.

Democrats argue it’s time to abandon that practice and let Medicare take a direct role in negotiating prices. There’s no support for that route among congressional Republicans, and the Trump administration’s more activist role for government stops short.

Azar, who is leading the effort for Trump, is a former drug company executive. He held senior posts with Indianapolis-based insulin maker Eli Lilly and Co. after an earlier stint in government service during the George W. Bush administration.

The regulations will take effect 60 days after they’re published in the Federal Register.

By KIRBY ROSS
Phillips County Review

Around 10 a.m. last Thursday, Phillips County law enforcement was called in to assist the Jewell County Sheriff’s Office, Smith County Sheriff’s Department, Smith Center Police Department, Webster County (Neb.) Sheriff’s Department, Kansas Highway Patrol and Nebraska State Patrol in a wild cross country vehicle pursuit that devolved into a foot-chase manhunt. During the course of events, aircraft from the Kansas Highway Patrol also joined in the hunt.

According to the Jewell County Sheriff, a deputy on his force tried to initiate a traffic stop on Highway 36 that morning.

Upon doing so, the targeted white Buick Century sped up before turning onto a county road into rural Jewell County.

The driver subsequently crossed the county line into Smith County where the Smith County Sheriff’s Department joined in the pursuit, resulting in the stopping of the vehicle.

At that point, three individuals exited it and fled on foot across pastures and fields.

As the Kansas Highway Patrol, Nebraska State Patrol and Webster County Sheriff’s Office joined in the search, three Phillips County deputies were deployed to the eastern reaches of Phillips County to block avenues of escape along that possible route.

With the Kansas Highway Patrol aircraft overhead, it was soon able to spot the fugitives and report they were moving north.

All three individuals eventually fled on into Nebraska. Undeterred, and pursuant to interstate mutual assistance compacts and legal rules of hot pursuit, the Kansas Highway Patrol airplane moved across the state line into Nebraska, continuing its mission.

Directly aided by the spotters in the aircraft, Webster County deputies and Nebraska State Patrol troopers were able to apprehend the individuals, with the Webster County Sheriff’s Office taking custody of two juveniles and one adult male. After further investigation it was determined the adult male was just a passenger in the vehicle, had not committed any crimes, and was released.

With the investigation continuing, all individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

JEWELL COUNTY — The Jewell County Sheriff’s Office has received a report of an individual impersonating a Kansas Highway Patrol trooper.

Anyone with information is asked to call 911 and report it to a dispatcher.

RILEY COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating an alleged child sex crime and have made an arrest.

Just after 11a.m. Tuesday, police arrested Thomas Adams, 50, of Manhattan in the 1100 block of South Seth Child Road in Manhattan, according to the Riley County Police Department activity report.

He was booked on requested charges of rape and aggravated criminal sodomy involving a victim under the age of 14. Adams remains in custody on a total bond of $500,000.00, according to the report.

Police released no additional details early Wednesday.