Latisha Haag joined the Teaching Innovation and Learning Technologies staff at Fort Hays State University as the new faculty development training specialist.
Haag brings nearly 20 years of experience in professional development from a variety of educational settings and topics, ranging from public to private schools.
Recently she served as a teacher, librarian, and professional development committee chair for Thomas More Prep-Marian High School.
Haag earned her Bachelor of Science in education from Kansas Newman College and her Master of Science in communication studies from FHSU.
She has also taught as an adjunct virtual professor in communication studies for five years.
WICHITA, KAN. – A registered sex offender in Kansas pleaded guilty Thursday to production of child pornography and other child exploitation charges, according to U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister.
Daniel Eric Merida, 35, El Dorado, Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of producing child pornography, one count of distributing child pornography, one count of transporting child pornography, two counts of possessing child pornography, and one count of sending obscene material to a minor.
Merida is being held in Butler Co.
In his plea, Merida admitted using the internet to contact a minor beginning in 2012 when she was 12 years old. He used the internet to sexually exploit the victim, sending her obscene material and well as child pornography. During a search in March 2018, he was found in possession of additional child pornography. After his arrest in November 2018, a second search revealed the defendant had used online storage to transport more child pornography, and he was in possession of more child pornography on his phone.
Sentencing is set for November 18, 2019. The government has agreed to argue for a sentence of no more than 40 years in federal prison. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Wichita Police Department, and Kansas Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force investigated the case with assistance from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Elizabeth Township Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Hart is prosecuting.
PAWNEE COUNTY—An offender at the Larned Correctional Mental Health Facility (LCMHF) died Sunday,
Fancher photo KDOC
According to a media release from the Kansas Department of Corrections, Micheal Fancher, 29, was pronounced dead at the hospital in Larned just after 2p.m..The cause of death is pending an autopsy.
Per protocol when an offender dies in the custody of the Kansas Department of Corrections
(KDOC), the death is under investigation by the KDOC and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.
Fancher was serving sentences from Lyon County for a 2018 Possession with Intent to Distribute
Methamphetamine, (1-3.5 grams) a Severity Level 3-D nonperson felony. He was also convicted of Sale/Distribution/Cultivation of Opiates, Opium, Narcotic Drugs or Designated
Stimulants in 2011 and Possession of Opiates, Opium, Narcotic Drugs or Designated Stimulants in 2017.
INDEPENDENCE, Mo. (AP) — A prowler suspect is hospitalized after being shot by police in suburban Kansas City, Missouri.
Police were called around 8:45 a.m. Sunday to a report of three prowlers at an apartment complex in Independence. An altercation occurred with the suspects and one of them was shot by police.
Police say the injured suspect used a truck to ram a police vehicle and then fled. The truck crashed at an Interstate 70 ramp about three miles away.
The injured man is hospitalized but police say his injuries do not appear to be life-threatening.
Police were searching for the other two suspects, a man and a woman. The investigation of the shooting is ongoing.
ELLIS COUNTY — One person died in an accident just after 10a.m. Sunday in Ellis County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2017 Chrysler Pacifica driven by Mary D. Stanley, 81, Hurst, TX., was west bound on Interstate 70 near the U.S. 183 Bypass. The vehicle left the roadway and struck the guardrail.
Stanley was pronounced dead at the scene. EMS transported a passenger John R. Stanley, 81, Hurst, TX., to the hospital in Hays and later to Via Christi in Wichita. Both were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) — For the third straight year, a volatile pesticide is damaging crops across the Midwest and South, despite federal and state efforts to lessen the drift.
Since 2017, farmers have sprayed an increasing amount of the weed killer, called dicamba, on soybean and cotton crops genetically engineered by agribusiness company Monsanto to withstand being sprayed by the herbicide.
But each year, dicamba has drifted off-target and damaged millions of acres of non-resistant soybeans, specialty crops and other plants.
In fact, farmers in Illinois, the nation’s leading soybean producing state, have reported record levels of crop damage caused by pesticide drift in 2019, with 590 dicamba-related complaints as of Aug. 23.
In 2017, the state had 246 dicamba-related complaints. In 2018, the state had 330.
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The nonprofit news outlet Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting provided this article to The Associated Press through a collaboration with Institute for Nonprofit News.
SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a shooting and
Just after 4:00 a.m. Saturday, police responded to the 2500 Block of SW Hillcrest Road in Topeka for a reported shooting, according to Lt. Robert Simmons.
Officers located an 18-year-old girl suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. The victim identified as Reyna A. Soto was transported to a local hospital with life threatening injuries. Authorities reported late Saturday she was still in critical condition but expected to survive.
Police have a 17 year old suspect in custody. He was the only suspect identified in this investigation, according to Simmons.
Police transported him to the Shawnee County Juvenile Department of Corrections on requested charges of attempted first degree murder, criminal possession of a firearm by a felon and criminal discharge of a firearm into an occupied vehicle. Police did not release the suspect’s name.
Pictured (Back Row, L to R) are Cami Roth, Sterling; Evan Woodbury, Quenemo; Bryce Barnett, Muscotah; Patrick Turner, Ingalls; Taylor Hughes, Pratt; Garrett McKinney, Walton; Clayton Jarnagin, Protection; Reed Koop, Abilene; (Front Row, L to R) Thomas Thayer, LaCygne; Dalton Rutledge, Plains; Carl Clawson, Ulysses; Hannah Brass, Medicine Lodge; Heather Gibson, Satanta; Grace Hammer, Sharon Springs; Jessalyn Strahm, Sabetha; Jamie Holman, Bronson; Ashley Fitzsimmons, Pratt; Michaela Peterson, Dodge City; and Clinton Laflin, Russell.
KLA
TOPEKA – The third installment of the Kansas Livestock Association (KLA) Young Stockmen’s Academy (YSA) was held September 16-18. The group of 20 young producers spent three days touring various segments of the beef and dairy industries in central and western Kansas. Merck Animal Health is the exclusive sponsor of the YSA program.
El Dorado Livestock Auction was the first tour stop. The group heard from co-owner Josh Mueller about the modern facility, where more than 50,000 head of cattle are sold per year. During a stop near Cottonwood Falls, Trey and Frank Hinkson explained how they use high-accuracy sires and cow families that combine the best of calving ease and performance with maternal efficiency and high-quality carcass traits on their seedstock operation. C.J. and Russell Blew, brothers who make up the Blew Partnership, hosted the group on their ranch near Medicine Lodge. They use artificial insemination, carcass data and DNA testing to enhance the economic traits of their Red Angus-based commercial cowherd. In addition, the Blews focus a great deal of time on environmental stewardship, including implementing more than 100,000 feet of water line on their Barber County ranch, along with numerous stock water sites, several reservoir tanks and miles of cross-fencing to create rotational grazing paddocks.
During a tour of High Plains Ponderosa Dairy near Plains, co-owner and general manager Greg Bethard discussed the protocols used to manage their dairy cow herd and took the class on a tour of the facility, including the new cross-ventilated, free-stall housing barn. Reeve Cattle Company near Garden City also hosted the YSA group. Manager Keith Bryant took the class on a tour of the feeding facility, which also includes an onsite ethanol plant. In addition, the group toured the National Beef packing plant in Dodge City.
Members of the 2019 YSA class are Bryce Barnett, Muscotah, Hannah Brass, Medicine Lodge; Carl Clawson, Ulysses; Ashley Fitzsimmons, Pratt; Heather Gibson, Satanta; Grace Hammer, Sharon Springs; Jamie Holeman, Bronson; Taylor Hughes, Pratt; Clayton Jarnagin, Protection; Reed Koop, Abilene; Clinton Laflin, Russell; Socorro Martinez, Liberal; Garrett McKinney, Walton; Michaela Peterson, Dodge City; Cami Roth, Sterling; Dalton Rutledge, Plains; Jessalyn Strahm, Sabetha; Thomas Thayer, LaCygne; Patrick Turner, Ingalls; and Evan Woodbury, Quenemo.
The 2019 YSA class will gather for their final session at the KLA Convention December 4-6 in Wichita. More information about YSA can be found at www.kla.org.
KLA is a trade organization representing the business interests of members at both the state and federal levels. Voluntary dues dollars paid by producers are used for programs that benefit KLA members in the areas of legislative representation, regulatory assistance, legal troubleshooting, communications and the advancement of youth.
RENO COUNTY — A small earthquake shook portions of south-central Kansas Sunday morning.
Location of Sunday’s quake USGS image
The quake just before 8:30a.m. measured a magnitude 3.1 and was centered approximately 2 miles northwest of South Hutchinson, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Sunday’s quake follows a series of quakes in Reno County in Mid-August including a 4.2 magnitude quake on August 16.
There were no reports of any damage from Sunday’s quake.
Aetna Medicaid CEO Randy Hyun (center) and Regional Vice President Deb Bacon (right) met with Kansas lawmakers in Topeka on Tuesday. STEPHEN KORANDA / KANSAS NEWS SERVIC
Aetna Better Health is struggling to keep its Medicaid contract with KanCare, to the point that state officials found fault with Aetna’s recent plan to improve services.
But Kansas lawmakers had two words this week for the company: Keep trying.
At a two-day hearing, health care providers told lawmakers how Aetna isn’t paying them on time. Aetna executives took responsibility for the shortfalls, which have put the company at risk of losing its contract after the state said it wasn’t in compliance and later rejected a proposal to fix the problems.
“We get it. Talk is cheap,” Randy Hyun, CEO of Aetna’s national Medicaid division, told the panel. “We need to show action. We need to show progress, and we absolutely intend to do that.”
Already, Aetna has replaced its state-level CEO, and told lawmakers that it did the same with another top staffer.
The company is one of three groups managing patient care the state’s privatized Medicaid program, KanCare, which provides coverage for nearly 400,000 low-income, elderly and disabled people through Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP.
“I want to apologize for not living up to the expectations that I’ve had,” Hyun said. “We preach operational excellence, and we certainly have not demonstrated that to you.”
During the hearing, lawmakers heard from industry groups about the challenges of working with Aetna. The Kansas Health Care Association, which represents nursing homes, said health care providers are having trouble getting paid by Aetna for the services performed. One facility owner has more than $800,000 in unpaid claims submitted to Aetna.
Cindy Luxem, the group’s CEO and president, said she’s worried about facilities burning through reserves while waiting for the reimbursements.
“Maybe Aetna needs to lay out the money and go back and reimburse at some other point,” she said, “because this isn’t a system that’s working right now.”
The Kansas Hospital Association said some clinics have had trouble signing up with Aetna in the first place to become in-network health care providers. That means the facilities have to get prior approval before providing patients health care.
“We are concerned that access to patient care will be hampered until these network issues are resolved,” said Tish Hollingsworth, vice president of reimbursement for the KHA.
Kansas regulators told Aetna last month that it was out of compliance with its state contract and was at risk of being effectively fired by the state. Aetna’s corrective action plan, delivered Aug. 6, didn’t receive a warm response.
“Quite frankly, we were not satisfied,” Kansas Medicaid Director Adam Proffitt said. “It lacked the necessary detail to show that they were going to get back into compliance.”
The state is reviewing Aetna’s latest proposal this week. Proffitt said it would be a big disruption to cancel Aetna’s contract, as about 100,000 people would have to be shifted to the two other Medicaid contractors. But that doesn’t mean the state will go easy on Aetna. Proffitt wants a quick resolution
“We’re not going to fix the problems for them,” Proffitt said in an interview. “We’re going to provide the support necessary from the state for them to fix the problems.”
Republican Rep. Susan Concannon pointed to the staff shakeup and said she was glad to see the company responding. But, she said, Aetna should have looked at troubles the other managed-care organizations had when the state’s privatized Medicaid program launched in 2013, and “learned from the issues.”
State lawmakers said they’ll keep a close eye on Aetna as the company works to fix problems.
“It’s important that we follow up and make sure the law is being followed and that people get paid and get the care they need,” Democratic Sen. Barbara Bollier said. “If that isn’t being adequately met, then we need to make changes.”
Aetna confirmed during the hearings that David Livingston would replace Keith Wisdom as CEO of the Kansas operation. A LinkedIn profile shows Livingston previously worked for the company on Medicaid in Illinois. Mark Grippi is taking over as acting COO, and previously worked for Aetna in Louisiana.
Stephen Koranda is Statehouse reporter for the Kansas News Service. Follow him on Twitter @kprkoranda or email skoranda (at) ku (dot) edu.
Dennis Ritchey, right, and the attorney who helped him find his way out of a mental health nursing home and on to a life of independent living. (Photos by Stephen Koranda)
VALLEY FALLS — Dennis Ritchey stands in the kitchen of his modest apartment. He calls it efficient, but likes that it has plenty of cabinets.
Most importantly, that kitchen and the rest of the one-bedroom place are his, and his alone. Much like his life more broadly.
His life now stands in sharp contrast to the six years he spent in one of the state’s 10 nursing facilities for mental health. He couldn’t set his own schedule or typically come and go as he pleased.
Now, things are different. He tends to bird feeders outside his apartment window and has freedoms he didn’t enjoy before.
“Eat what I want. Watch what I want on TV. Go to bed when I want to. Get up when I want to,” he said. “I’ve been doing great ever since I left.”
The nursing homes serve as sort of a midpoint between state mental hospitals for people with the most serious problems and community mental health centers for those who need far less help.
Those mid-way outposts in state’s mental health care system — privately owned, taxpayer-funded — have long been a source of concern. That’s partly because the job of looking after people dealing with bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and a range of other problems is inherently difficult. It’s balancing treatment with giving patients a chance to thrive on their own.
A recent report from the Disability Rights Center of Kansas suggests the nursing homes are failing the state’s mentally ill, essentially warehousing people rather than giving them what they need to move on to more independent lives.
The report argues that more people could be living at home and using community-based services. State officials and the nursing home industry see room for improvement but say it will take a more significant remake of the state’s mental health system.
Ritchey isn’t sure what diagnosis sent him to the nursing home in 2011. He’d hit a rough patch and landed in a homeless shelter and mental facility in Lawrence before going to the nursing home. At first, he thought his stay would be short.
“Ninety days went by. Six months. A year. Two years,” he said. “Nobody said nothing to me.”
He got out of the facility in 2017 with the help of Kip Elliot, an attorney with the Disability Rights Center of Kansas. Elliot serves on the board of the local animal shelter, and he helped Ritchey start volunteering and later working there.
Elliot knew that the nursing facility wasn’t the right place for Ritchey.
“When I met Dennis and started seeing him more,” Elliot said, “(there was) absolutely no reason for him to be there.”
Getting Ritchey out wasn’t easy. Elliot said some of that was difficulty working with the facility and the state. But the challenges included lining up the services Ritchey would need, such as an apartment and care for his diabetes.
“That’s one of our biggest issues,” Elliot said. “Community supports, what people need, housing. It’s just not there.”
An attorney for the company that owns the facility where Ritchey lived, Midwest Health, did not respond to a request for comment. The administrator of the Valley Falls facility initially agreed to show the home and comment on the report, but later didn’t respond.
‘Warehouses’
The Disability Rights Center of Kansas published the report calling the nursing homes warehouses. The group surveyed around half of the more than 600 residents of the homes, and 70% wanted to leave and find what support they needed on the outside.
Rocky Nichols
“It’s just a lack of imagination (that) has caused this to happen,” said Rocky Nichols, executive director of the center. “People go to these places. They get stuck in these institutions, and it becomes very difficult for them to get out.”
The report also argues the state is violating the law by institutionalizing people who could live on their own if they received services in the community.
“That’s the textbook definition of unnecessary institutionalization,” Nichols said.
But the head of the advocacy group that represents the mental health nursing homes contends the report doesn’t paint a fair picture.
Cindy Luxem
“These are not warehouses. These are people’s homes,” said Cindy Luxem, president and CEO of the Kansas Health Care Association. “They have no place else to go.”
There simply aren’t enough community-based services right now to take on people in the nursing homes, Luxem said.
She also wasn’t surprised by the survey results, because people often don’t want to live in nursing homes. But she said that doesn’t mean caregivers and family members would always agree that other places offer better results.
“Some of these are tied with not only mental health, but substance abuse issues,” she said. “They don’t have the wherewithal to be safe in the community.”
An alternative
Patrick Schmitz
Patrick Schmitz walks through mural-filled hallways at the Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center in Lawrence, where he’s the chief executive officer. The multi-colored paintings depict grassy rolling hills and colorful night skies. They’re meant to make the section for children more welcoming.
This facility offers a variety of treatments for conditions including depression, anxiety and childhood behavioral issues. They have about 20 spots in a long-term residential program, but most of the 5,000 people they serve annually are on an outpatient basis.
“The vast majority of people we treat are everyday people out in our community who come here for an hour of service,” he said. “(They) go back to work, go back to home.”
Schmitz calls those community-based facilities the front door to the mental health care system. They evaluate people in crisis and help route them to the correct services. They offer treatment as well as assistance with life skills and help navigating government programs.
The Disability Rights Center argues more people should be removed from the nursing homes and instead served at facilities like this one.
Funding for the state’s 26 community mental health centers dropped almost by half over a decade before creeping up in recent years, the report shows.
Even when budgets for those community facilities got cut deeply, funding for nursing homes went up.
“The disparity in how Kansas supports institutions versus community-based services is downright shocking,” the DRC wrote in the report.
A broader approach
There’s a common theme when talking to people about this issue. Community-based mental health services exist, but there’s a lack of availability in certain areas and a persistent shortage of housing needed for people leaving the nursing homes.
“This has to be tackled from a system-wide perspective,” said Shawn Sullivan, a former official in the administration of governors Sam Brownback and Jeff Colyer. Sullivan is now vice president at Mission Health Communities.
Mission Health oversees five of the nursing facilities in Kansas, and he agrees improvements are needed. They need to focus more on discharge planning and preparing residents with life skills so they can leave. But, there must be places for them to go.
“The number one challenge is a lack of affordable housing,” he said. “It’s just not there in a lot of parts of the state. And the places where there is affordable housing, then there may not be the services.”
Tight funding for community mental health centers in recent years has led to longer waits to see patients. It’s also sometimes meant cuts to programs or trouble recruiting and retaining staff.
The centers are ready to take part in a larger change to the mental health system, said Kyle Kessler, executive director of the Association of Community Mental Health Centers of Kansas. However, they can’t take on patients from the nursing homes without additional funding to go with it.
“To do anything within existing resources would mean we were taking from some other need,” Kessler said. “We need to identify additional funding.”
Kessler said expanding Medicaid is one of those steps. It would bolster the budgets of community mental health centers because they’d treat fewer uninsured people. Expansion supporters so far haven’t advanced an expansion bill through the Legislature.
The state is pursuing a waiver that would allow for Medicaid funding to flow to the mental health nursing homes. That could, in turn, jumpstart programs that offer job assistance or other services to help people move out of the facilities. In addition, recent changes mean Medicaid funding could be used for needed housing services.
Laura Howard, the secretary of both the Department for Children and Families and the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services, said the state needs to make progress on changes that make it easier for people to live somewhere besides nursing homes.
“The last thing that I would want to do,” she said, “is encourage us to move too quickly and not have the services and supports in place for the individuals.”
Stephen Koranda is Statehouse reporter for Kansas Public Radio and the Kansas News Service, a collaboration of KCUR, Kansas Public Radio, KMUW and High Plains Public Radio covering health, education and politics. Follow him on Twitter@kprkoranda or email [email protected].
The W.R. and Yvonne Robbins College of Business and Entrepreneurship at Fort Hays State University has selected Abbie Schneider, Chappell, Neb., and Avary Huff, Topeka, as the recipients of the 2019-2020 Robbins Ambassador Scholarship awards.
“This is the second time we’ve awarded this scholarship, and it is proving to be a great example of investing in students that pay dividends,” said Dr. Melissa Hunsicker Walburn, interim dean of the Robbins College.
“Prospective students relate to the stories and experiences of current students in powerful ways.”
The scholarships are for any Robbins College of Business and Entrepreneurship undergraduate student exemplifying leadership, academic excellence, extracurricular involvement and a desire to serve FHSU.
Schneider is a junior majoring in human resource management. She is involved in Alpha Kappa Psi, and the Society for Human Resource Management and sits on the executive board of both organizations. Schneider plans to earn a Master of Professional Studies in human resource management. After college, she would like to work in training and development.
Huff is a junior majoring in tourism and hospitality management. She is a member of Delta Zeta sorority and serves as historian and lamp editor. Huff is a student ambassador in the Admissions Office and will be a VIP Ambassador for the 2019-2020 school year.
“FHSU has become my home, giving me opportunities to grow personally and professionally,” said Huff. “I am excited to share about the growth occurring and opportunities available at FHSU.”
Robbins Ambassadors may represent students and the college at events including Tiger Friends and Family Day, student recognition programs, college dinners with alumni and at the annual Robbins College Scholarship Reception.
Ambassadors will attend, participate and network in approximately 12 to 15 events during the academic year.
“The Robbins Ambassadors understand the questions and viewpoints of prospective students, or new FHSU students, because not long ago they were in the same position of evaluating their higher education choices and how to make the most of their educational experiences,” said Hunsicker Walburn.
These awards are possible through the continued support of W.R. and Yvonne Robbins, for whom the Robbins College of Business and Entrepreneurship is named. W.R. Robbins is an alumnus of Fort Hays State.
“I am so excited about our two students selected for these honored scholarships,” said W.R. Robbins. “They will be a positive representation of our university.”
“We congratulate Avary and Abbie in their selection, and we’re excited for their commitment to serve this important role in the upcoming year,” said Hunsicker Walburn.
To learn how to establish a scholarship at Fort Hays State, contact the FHSU Foundation at 785-628-5620 or [email protected]. Learn more about the FHSU Foundation by visiting https://foundation.fhsu.edu.
