LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — The company that originally owned a duck boat that sank on a Missouri lake last summer killing 17 people has sold the remainder of its fleet to an Arkansas-based investment company.
Stacy Roberts, who owns DUKW Arkansas, LLC, said that his Hot Springs, Arkansas company purchased 18 duck boats on April 23 from Ride the Ducks International.
Ride the Ducks International sold 22 boats to Ripley Entertainment for its Branson tours in late 2017. One of those boats sank last July after getting caught in a storm on a lake near Branson, Missouri. Seventeen people on board died, including nine members of one family. The U.S. Coast Guard’s investigation into the accident is ongoing.
Roberts said he’s not sure what his company will do with their newly acquired boats.
SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating an injury accident that sent 7 people to the hospital and have made two arrests.
Police on the scene of Tuesday’s reported DUI crash photo courtesy KWCH
Just after 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, police responded to report of an injury crash at the intersection of St. Louis and Young in Wichita, according to officer Charley Davidson.
A 2004 Saturn Ion driven by a 17-year-old girl was westbound on St. Louis and ran a stop sign at Young Street. The vehicle struck the driver’s side of southbound 1999 Ford Econoline van.
The 17-year-old girl was transported to a local hospital, treated and then arrested. She was booked into juvenile detention on requested charges of DUI/drugs, running a stop sign and outstanding warrants, according to Davidson.
A 23-year-old passenger in the Saturn suffered minor injuries and was arrested for an outstanding warrant.
Eight individuals between the ages of 22 and 62 were in the van providing transportation for a business serving those with physical and mental disabilities, according to Davidson. The driver suffered only minor injuries. The seven passengers were transported for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries and released from the hospital, according to Davidson.
The Sedgwick County District Attorney will review the case to file formal charges.
After Ellis County officials found out last month they will not receive grant funding from the Dane G. Hansen Foundation to help pay for road improvements in the Northwest Business Corridor, the county is looking for alternative funding sources.
The county had set aside $800,000 for improvements to the more than $15 million project in hopes of leveraging that money to get additional financing from other entities. In April, the Kansas Department of Transportation announced a pledge of a $1 million grant contingent upon the county receiving the grant from the Dane G. Hansen Foundation
Initial estimates to improve sight lines and pave Feedlot Road from 230th Avenue to U.S. 183 and 230th Avenue from Feedlot Road to 55th Street are more than $15.7 million.
Kansas Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Alan Cobb addressed the commission Monday
While the county looks for different funding sources, Alan Cobb the Kansas Chamber of Commerce President and CEO said he thinks it’s an easy project for the chamber to support. Cobb was in western Kansas on Monday and took a tour of the area and Hess Services.
“Seems pretty straightforward,” said Cobb of the project. “If we can be of help, I certainly want to do that.”
Cobb said Monday the chamber works in the statehouse with a number of goals that include expand innovation and entrepreneurship and improve business infrastructure. He said Hess Services is a great example of their goals in Kansas.
“Business infrastructure includes paving a road to get business vehicles to and from a major company, a major part of the Kansas economy,” Cobb said.
Ellis County Commissioner Dustin Roths, who invited Cobb to Monday’s meeting and toured the area northwest of Hays with him, said he reached out to Cobb during a Leadership Kansas meeting. Roths is a member of the 2019 Leadership Kansas class.
He said Monday the improvements won’t only benefit Hess Services.
“We have a feedlot that wants to expand. We also have a new travel plaza that will be coming in,” Roths said. “It’s taking care of businesses that are already there and expanding what we have for the future.”
Cobb said there are some examples similar projects to the one purposed by Ellis County. Last year, then-Gov. Jeff Colyer helped spearhead an $18 million project on Kansas Highway 99 from Interstate 70 to Wamego.
The improvements were seen as a way to help future development in that area and also benefit the Caterpillar plant in Wamego. Cobb said the project will make it easier for Caterpillar to get their products to market.
Commissioner Dean Haselhorst also said that Hess Services is in need of employees. but Cobb said that is an issue statewide, noting part of the problem is an “education infrastructure issue.”
“That’s not an uncommon issue all over the country and it’s not an uncommon issue all over for all over Kansas,” Cobb said. “They’re challenged in finding a productive workforce, from all levels.”
County Administrator Phillip Smith-Hanes told the commission Monday there is no single funding source for the project and a county bond will probably be needed.
After talking with the county’s bond counsel, he suggested the county work with a financial adviser.
“To actually develop a financial plan for the funding and there would be several possibilities,” Smith-Hanes said. “(It) would not all have to be in the form of a bond.”
The commission gave Smith-Hanes the go-ahead to take the needed to steps to hire a financial adviser.
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.
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.
MANHATTAN (AP) — North Carolina running back Jordan Brown is heading to Kansas State, where he will be eligible to play for new coach Chris Klieman immediately as a graduate transfer.
The former four-star recruit ran for 613 yards and four touchdowns as a sophomore, but his playing time decreased last year. Brown would have been part of a crowded backfield in Chapel Hill along with Michael Carter and Antonio Williams, so he elected to transfer for his final year.
The Wildcats had no scholarship running backs returning this season, so there are plenty of carries to go around. Brown will be competing with four freshmen and Ball State transfer James Gilbert for the starting job when fall camp begins.
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 Alez Azar testified in April before a Senate Committee photo courtesy CSPAN
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.
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.
Due to the recent heavy rains, the Bethesda Place Garden Day will be relocated to Hays.
The sale will be 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday in the parking lot of High Plains Baptist Church, 2700 Canterbury.
For sale will be fresh eggs, homegrown spring veggies (asparagus, radishes, spinach, lettuce, rhubarb), as well as potted flowers, succulents, garden vegetables and herbs.
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.
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.
Are you interested in robotics and want to challenge your skills in problem solving and programming, then, this robotics camp is for you. Students will face a variety of challenges where creativity and critical thinking will allow you to build a custom robot that can operate in real world situations. Space is limited to first 24 participants.
Who: Students Entering Grades 6th – 8th in Fall 2019
This camp will be out of this world! We will explore a day on the Mars Rover and learn about scale models. We will be getting to explore many different areas of space as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11. Space is limited to first 24 participants.
Who: Students Entering Grades 6th – 8th in Fall 2019
