HARVEY COUNTY — Law  enforcement authorities are investigating a hit and run accident and looking for a vehicle.

Just after 4:10p.m. Friday, police responded to a hit-and-run accident in the 500 block of West Fifth Street in Newton, according to a social media report.

A teen on a skateboard was struck by a green passenger car. The car then left the scene. The teen was transported to the hospital by ambulance.

Police are looking for the driver of the green car. Anyone with information is asked to call 911 to report it.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Republican lawmakers in Kansas pressed ahead Friday with allowing the state Farm Bureau to offer health coverage to members that doesn’t satisfy the Affordable Care Act, a state-level effort to circumvent an Obama-era law President Donald Trump wants to replace.

The Kansas House approved an insurance bill on an 84-39 vote that includes provisions to exempt health coverage offered by the Farm Bureau from state insurance regulation, anticipating that the nonprofit group could offer lower-cost products to thousands of individuals and families. The Senate approved the bill Thursday on a 28-12 vote, so it goes next to Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly.

The bill had overwhelming support from GOP legislators and faced strong opposition from Democrats, but Kelly hasn’t taken a public position on it. The Kansas proposal is patterned after a Tennessee law in place for decades, and an Iowa enacted a law last year.

The votes in Kansas demonstrated the Farm Bureau’s political clout, particularly in rural areas, where Republicans dominate politics. The bill also had the support of most urban and suburban GOP lawmakers who continue to oppose the 2010 federal health care overhaul and argue that its mandates have driven up health insurance premiums and hurt the economy.

“It’s just another option,” said House Majority Leader Dan Hawkins, a conservative Wichita Republican and insurance agent.

Passing the bill was among the last significant actions Kansas legislators took before starting an annual spring break set to last until May 1. They put off a vote on a proposed $18 billion-plus budget for the state fiscal year beginning in July until after the break.

Some Democratic critics of the Farm Bureau bill tried unsuccessfully to block its passage by appealing to rural Republicans who support expanding the state’s Medicaid health coverage for the needy in line with the Affordable Care Act. The House passed a modified version an expansion plan from Kelly last month, but the Senate has yet to take it up.

“There’s more than one piece that’s going to solve what we’re facing,” said Rep. Jason Probst, a Democrat from south-central Kansas. “We should hold this part of the puzzle up until they take

Farm Bureau officials said they expect about 42,000 people eventually to take its coverage if the law passes, promising lower rates than plans complying with federal mandates. They believe the takers would be individuals who either have no coverage or struggle to pay for individual coverage.

Kansas has seen the number of individual coverage plans offered through the federal ACA marketplace decline to 23 for 2019 from 42 in 2016, according to the Kansas Insurance Department. While average rate increases for 2019 were smaller than in past years, they’ve sometimes previously topped 25 percent, according to annual reports from the department.

Republicans repeatedly have cited premium increases as a reason to repeal the ACA since Trump’s election in 2016, but a drive in Congress to do it stalled when they couldn’t agree on a replacement. Trump this week deferred another push until after the 2020 election.

The Farm Bureau’s new coverage would avoid state regulation because the new Kansas law simply would declare that it’s not insurance.

Critics said companies offering traditional health insurance coverage would face unfair competition. They also focused on how Farm Bureau would be able to set higher rates or reject coverage for people who have pre-existing medical conditions, something the Iowa law allows.

To drive home their argument that legislators don’t know yet what a Farm Bureau plan might cover, critics said the lack of regulation would allow it to pay for elective abortions. A 2011 state law prohibits such coverage in group health plans, requiring people to buy separate abortion policies.

Supporters of the bill — many of whom strongly oppose abortion — brushed aside the criticism as desperate.

Farm Bureau officials have said they pushed for permission to offer health coverage because members are asking for more choices.

“They are clamoring for some kind of solution,” said Rep. Don Hineman, a moderate Republican from western Kansas who also supports Medicaid expansion. “The potential consumers for this product are begging us to do it.”

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FORD COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a shooting and have two suspects in custody.

Just before 2:30p.m. Thursday, police received reports of gunfire in the area of the 1200 to 1100 block of Ave C in Dodge City, according to a media release.

Police arrived immediately in the area and identified a vehicle fleeing the scene.

Before officers got the vehicle stopped, the front passenger fled on foot from the vehicle.

Multiple witnesses reported to other responding officers that they had witnessed one car chasing the other and the passenger of the vehicle officers had stopped reached out of the window with a handgun and began shooting at the subjects in other vehicle.

The victims in the other vehicle also contacted officers and provided statements of what happened.  There were no injuries reported.

The driver of the alleged suspect vehicle was captured with the vehicle but the alleged shooter escaped, until Friday. When officers spotted him and took him into custody without further incident.

The DCPD has filed a case with the Ford County Attorney’s office on the 18-year-old alleged shooter for the charge of attempted 2nd degree murder and on the 19-year-old alleged driver for the charge of aid and abet attempted 2nd degree murder, according to the release.

GREENBELT, Md. (AP) — A third federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from adding a citizenship question to the 2020 census, ruling Friday that it poses a “substantial risk” of undercounting Hispanics and non-citizens.

U.S. District Judge George Hazel in Maryland also concluded that a citizenship question is “arbitrary and capricious” and violates the Constitution and the federal Administrative Procedure Act.

Federal judges in New York and California previously barred the Trump administration from adding a citizenship question to the census for the first time since 1950. The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments on April 23 for the Justice Department’s appeal of the New York judge’s decision.

Hazel heard six days of trial testimony in January before ruling.

“Overwhelming evidence supports the Court’s finding that a citizenship question will cause a differential decline in Census participation among noncitizen and Hispanic households,” he wrote in his 119-page decision.

The Supreme Court justices are expected to rule by late June, which the Trump administration said is soon enough to allow printing and distribution of census forms next April.

Because of the tight timeframe for printing census forms, the high court granted unusually quick review of the first decision that went against the administration. That ruling, from a federal judge in New York, held that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross’ decision to have the census ask about citizenship was “arbitrary and capricious” under federal law. The second ruling, from a court in California, also found that asking about citizenship would violate the Constitution, which calls for a count of all people, not just citizens.

Former U.S. Census Bureau director John Thompson, the first plaintiffs’ witness for the bench trial in Maryland, testified Ross disregarded “long established” Census Bureau protocols in adding the citizenship question. Thompson, who oversaw the bureau from 2013 through June 2017, said he doesn’t think officials properly tested the question for the 2020 census.

“It’s very problematic for me,” Thompson said of Ross’ decision.

In a court filing, plaintiffs’ attorneys said Ross communicated with former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon, former Attorney General Jeff Sessions and other administration officials before issuing the March 2018 directive “to further the unconstitutional goal of diluting the political power of non-white immigrant communities.”

The Census Bureau began collecting citizenship data through the annual American Community Survey in 2005. Government lawyers said in a court filing that Ross decided to use the same wording from that “well-tested question” on the ACS for the citizenship question on the 2020 census.

The plaintiffs for the Maryland case include residents of Texas, Arizona, Nevada and Florida. Attorneys from the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund also sued on behalf of more than two dozen organizations and individuals. The court agreed to consolidate the claims in December.

Plaintiffs’ attorneys had urged Hazel to proceed with the Maryland trial as scheduled since the judge’s ruling in the New York case could be reversed on appeal.

SALINE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a frequently jailed Kansas man on new allegations after an encounter in Salina.

Just before 8:30a.m. Thursday, police were called to 1007 W. North Street in Salina at 8:25 a.m. after a man assigned to spray weeds at the CityGo bus stop there reported that his life was threatened, according to Police Captain Paul Forrester.

The 31-year-old victim told police that he as he was spraying weeds around the bus stop, 50-year-old Michael Sampson came out of the building and told him that he didn’t want him on the property.

The victim told police that he moved closer to the bus stop and continued with his work and then Sampson threatened to kill him and went back into the building.

Dickinson called police, fearing that Sampson was going inside the building to get a weapon, according to Forrester. When police arrived, Sampson refused to exit the building, so police pried the door open and to make contact Sampson.

While in the building, officers observed drug paraphernalia, so they obtained a search warrant to search the premises and found a variety of drug paraphernalia and some personal use marijuana, according to Forrester.

While police were working this case, they were notified by an employee of Acoustic Sounds, Inc., 921 W. North Street in Salina that when he arrived at the business at 7:30 a.m. Thursday, Sampson was in the front yard area of the business with blocks of wood next to him. As the employee entered the business, he noticed that a 40-inch by 30-inch window valued at $300 had been shattered, according to Forrester.

Another witness came forward and told police that Sampson had been seen on Monday using some sort of hand tool to cut lines on a utility pole in front of 1007 W. North Street.  Police verified that a Cox cable valued at $300 and an AT&T cable valued at $500 had been cut.

Police arrested Sampson on requested charges of criminal threat, obstruction, criminal damage to property, possession of marijuana, and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Sampson is well known to Salina Police. They have arrested him for telephone harassment probation violation, driving while suspended and drug allegations dating back to 2012, according to Salina arrest records.

By JIM MCLEAN
Kansas News Service

The stakes run high for 130,000-some low-income Kansans who stand to gain from expanding Medicaid coverage — and for the political players who will decide the contentious issue.

Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly made expansion a centerpiece of the election that put her in office. Two Republican leaders — Senate President Susan Wagle and Senate Majority Leader Jim Denning — could see their elevation to higher office also turn on the issue.

Signing an expansion bill into law after six years contentious debate would be a big win for the Democratic governor. Getting there will test her skills at matching wits with the Republican-controlled Legislature.

“That’s a four-year victory,” said Washburn University political scientist Bob Beatty. “You can run for reelection on that.”

So it’s not surprising, he said, that Republican leaders work overtime to prevent that or at least delay it by a year.

“Republicans are clearly a little bit afraid of handing such a huge victory to her right off the bat,” Beatty said.

That’s particularly true for Wagle. She stands among several Republicans eyeing the U.S. Senate held by Pat Roberts, who has announced he won’t seek reelection in 2020.

Wagle has emerged as Kelly’s main antagonist, fighting her on issues ranging from taxes to Medicaid expansion and quickly jumping on her administration’s missteps, including its insufficient vetting of an appeals court nominee.

When the governor called a news conference Tuesday to chastise Senate leaders for blocking consideration of a Medicaid expansion bill that passed the House two weeks ago — like a similar measure two years earlier that fell to a Republican governor’s veto — Wagle responded within minutes.

“The governor just called for the Senate to pass a bill that (Vermont senator and liberal presidential candidate) Bernie Sanders, a socialist, endorsed,” Wagle said. “That’s not going to happen in the Kansas Senate.”

Wagle’s all-out opposition to Kelly’s agenda may not be a productive legislative strategy, Beatty said, but it’s a smart political move.

“She doesn’t have to win,” he said. “But she has to be seen as fighting. That’s what Republican primary voters are going to want in the U.S. Senate.”

Denning faces different stakes. The Overland Park Republican represents a Senate district that’s transitioning politically. Kelly won it in her race against conservative Republican Kris Kobach and independent Greg Orman.

Kelly didn’t hesitate to point out that fact at a recent town hall meeting in the district that she said Denning “politely” declined to attend.

Conventional political wisdom suggests that Denning can’t oppose Kelly at every turn if he wants to survive the next election and succeed Wagle as Senate president.

Speaking on background, some Senate Republicans say Denning has acknowledged to them that the passage of Medicaid expansion is a question of when, not if.

That assessment could be the reason for a subtle but potentially meaningful change in GOP tactics.

Instead of simply refusing to consider expansion — as they’ve often done in recent years — Senate leaders are now calling for a summer study of the issue. That would mean a series of hearings that could result in a compromise bill, one more palatable to conservatives opposed to extending taxpayer-funded coverage to tens of thousands of non-disabled adults.

Any bill to emerge from those hearings, Wagle said, would look “very different than the one that (recently) passed the House.”

Among other things, it would likely set a lower eligibility threshold and require beneficiaries to work, submit to drug testing and pay premiums for their coverage, she said.

Kelly said she’s willing to compromise — on premiums for example – but has no interest in waiting until next session.

“When it comes to Medicaid expansion, study is a code word for stall,” she said.

“The time for blocking progress has long since passed,” she said. “Kansans want Medicaid expansion and they want it now.”

By now, Kelly means by the end of the week when lawmakers are scheduled to adjourn for roughly three weeks before returning May 1 for a brief wrap-up session.

While she’s not willing to endorse an interim study, Kelly said she would grudgingly go along if lawmakers wanted to spend their April break hammering out a deal for her to consider.

“I’d take that compromise,” she said.

The governor’s bill would extend Medicaid coverage to Kansans making about one-third more than the federal poverty level — $17,236 for an individual or $35,535 for a family of four.

Expansion would cover many Kansans who currently make too much to qualify for Medicaid but too little to be eligible for federal subsidies that largely cover the cost of private health insurance in the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, marketplace.

Kelly’s budget office estimates the state’s share of expansion costs in the first full year would be about $34 million.

Other estimates run higher. One compiled recently by the Kansas Health Institute, a non-profit health policy think tank, puts the cost at $41.7 million.

New research done by economists at Kansas State University suggests that a spike in state tax revenue triggered by the infusion of nearly $1 billion in additional federal funds would nearly cover the state’s share of expansion costs.

Jim McLean is the senior correspondent for the Kansas News Service. You can reach him on Twitter @jmcleanks. 

HOISINGTON — A 19-year-old Hoisington woman sustained minor injuries after colliding with the back of a semi Thursday afternoon in Hoisington.

According to the Barton County Sheriff’s Office, officers responded to a call in the 500 block of North 281 in Hoisington just after 3 p.m. in regard to an injury accident.

Whey they arrived ,they discovered that a 2014 Buick Verano driven by Kenzie Wolf had struck the back of a 2018 International semi driven by 44-year-old Christopher Muench, Hays, while it was stopped in traffic waiting for another vehicle making a left-hand turn into a business.

Wolf was treated at the scene for minor injuries by Hoisington EMS and refused transport. Muench was not injured.

Both Wolf and Muench were wearing seat belts at the time of the accident.