RENO COUNTY— One of four Kansas men charged in association with the August 3, robbery of several teens at knifepoint in a Walmart parking lot entered a guilty plea in the case on Wednesday.
Blake Bryant, 18, pled guilty to robbery and conspiracy to commit aggravated robbery in a Reno County courtroom.
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Police say Bryant and three others suspects were drinking and smoking marijuana and decided they needed more cash for cigarettes.
They allegedly went to Walmart and tried to break into vehicles, but then spotted a group of teens on the side of the store.
Two of the suspects wrapped their shirts around their heads, pulled a knife and robbed the four teens of $85.
Sentencing for Bryant is scheduled for Nov. 18.
The cases against the other three are still pending a preliminary hearing.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration says it intends to withdraw a proposed regulation limiting the amount of sick leave state workers could donate to peers and a rule reducing the opportunity to appeal annual employee evaluation ratings after.
Officials say the decision was made based on feedback.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that the Kansas Department of Administration will go forward with other amendments, including establishing an exemption from layoffs for select employees regardless of performance scores, overriding a process entitling laid-off staff to priority status when rehiring occurs and authorizing paid administrative leave to be used as a reward mechanism.
State officials say the changes are an attempt to make the terms and conditions of state government employment more comparable to the private sector.
SALINE COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Saline County are investigating an alleged drive by shooting.
Just before 2a.m. on Wednesday, police were sent to the 2100 block of Huntington Road after receiving reports of gunshots, according to Police Sgt. James Feldman.
Officers found multiple holes in the exterior of a home at 2136 Huntington.
Feldman said the shots were apparently fired by a passing vehicle but investigators currently have no suspect or no vehicle description or motive for the shooting.
There were three adults inside the home but no one was injured.
Activity on the Senate floor during Wednesday’s roll call vote
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress has rejected a veto by President Barack Obama for the first time since he became president.
The House voted 348-77 Wednesday to override his veto of legislation and allow the families of Sept. 11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia for the kingdom’s alleged backing of the attackers.
The Senate had voted 97-1 to override his veto.
The lawsuit legislation now becomes law despite elements that Obama and top Pentagon officials warn could put U.S. troops and interests at risk.
Several lawmakers who voted for the legislation acknowledged the defects could trigger lawsuits from people in other countries opposed to U.S. policies and military actions.
But proponents said the bill is narrowly tailored and applies only to acts of terrorism that occur on U.S. soil.
Number of Days Kansas Could Run on Reserve Funds, FY 2000-16- image Pew Charitable Trust
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A recent study says the Kansas government could run on its cash reserves for only two days.
The Pew Charitable Trusts analyzed cash reserves for all states at the end of the most recent fiscal years and estimated how long state government could continue to function if it relied on those reserves.
Kansas ended the 2016 fiscal year in June with a $35 million balance. The study says the average state has about 29.2 days of reserve funds.
Gov. Sam Brownback’s spokeswoman, Eileen Hawley, says the study reflects a steep drop off in the oil and agriculture economies. Hawley says other states with similar economies have also experiences declines in their state reserve funds.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Relatives are mourning a 2-year-old girl who was killed in a Topeka animal attack.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that about 40 friends and family members gathered Tuesday to remember 2-year-old Piper Dunbar. She was found dead Saturday in a yard. Investigators believe two pit bulls attacked her.
Police spokeswoman Amy McCarter says the Animal Control Unit seized both dogs, which belonged to a family friend staying at the home.
Piper’s mother, Stephanie Rhoads, says she will remember her daughter as being smart, loving and close to her father. Rhoads says she is enraged about what happened and hopes legal action is taken against the owner of the dogs blamed for Piper’s death.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas judge has ordered Secretary of State Kris Kobach to notify thousands of people who hadn’t provided documents proving their citizenship that they will be allowed to vote for all offices in the November election.
Shawnee County District Judge Larry Hendrick’s order affects more than 19,545 voters who registered at motor vehicle offices or with a federal form without providing documentary proof of U.S. citizenship.
The judge stopped short of issuing the permanent injunction sought by the American Civil Liberties Union. Kobach’s office says it is reviewing the ruling.
Dale Ho, director of the ACLU’s voting rights project, says all the litigation has freed about half of voter registrants in Kansas from unnecessary bureaucratic hoops.
GEARY COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Geary County are investigating a suspect on felony sex offender registration, drug and other charges.
Kayla Michelle Simpson, 21, missing since September 20, was apprehended Tuesday in Fort Payne, Alabama by investigators from the DeKalb County Sheriff’s office, according to Geary County Sheriff Tony Wolf.
She is also being held without bond pending a first court appearance, and is charged in DeKalb County, Alabama for alleged violation of the Alabama Sex Offender Registration and Community Notification Act.
On September 21, the Geary County Sheriff’s Department issued a release that they began investigating allegations that a Registered Sex Offender in Junction City was having unlawful contact with a minor child contrary to a No Contact Order issued by the Geary County District Court.
On September 20 the Sheriff’s office conducted a search warrant at 705 West 7th Street and seized evidence supporting the allegations.
The suspect Kayla Michelle Simpson, was not present during the execution of the search warrant and remained at large.
The Sheriff’s Department said at that time that Simpson was wanted on two felony violations of the Offender Registration Act, one count of Felony Violation of a No Contact Order, one count of Felony Probation Violation, Contributing to a Child’s Misconduct and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. She was also wanted by Junction City Municipal Court for alleged Failure to Appear.
The Geary County Sheriff’s office is working with the Geary County Attorney’s office to secure extradition for Simpson so she may be returned to Kansas.
John Fales, a pediatric dentist from Olathe and president of the Kansas Dental Association, has stopped taking patients from two of the state’s three KanCare insurance companies because of a 4 percent Medicaid reimbursement cut. By Andy Marso KHI
The president of the Kansas Dental Association said he has stopped taking patients from two of the state’s three KanCare insurance companies because of a 4 percent Medicaid reimbursement cut initiated by Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration. John Fales, a pediatric dentist from Olathe, said Scion — the dental benefits manager for United HealthCare and Amerigroup — has told him it will implement the cut before it is approved by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
“When the 4 percent cut was announced, it was just more insult to the injury we were already feeling of trying to provide care and not being reimbursed for what that care costs,” Fales said.
The third KanCare insurance company, Sunflower State Health Plan, uses its own dental benefits manager, Dental Health and Wellness. Fales said that group is holding off on the cuts and its administrators generally have been easier to work with than Scion’s.
“I thought this was probably as good an opportunity as we were going to have to let the state know that there comes a point where it just is not possible to continue to provide that care as a private practitioner,” he said.
The financial picture is even tougher for dentists in rural areas, Fales said. Every dentist has certain fixed costs, and being able to draw more patients from a densely populated area like Johnson County helps Fales defray them. Fales wrote to federal officials about the 4 percent cut in July.
He said he also wrote a letter to Brownback and has met with Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer, a plastic surgeon, to discuss his concerns about cuts for providers who treat patients in KanCare, the state’s privatized Medicaid program.
Kansas Department of Health and Environment officials have until Sept. 30 to submit a plan on the 4 percent cut for CMS approval. But KDHE is allowed under federal rules to implement cuts prior to approval and did so on July 1.
The KanCare companies — and their subcontractors — can decide whether to absorb the cuts or pass them on to providers.
When asked about Fales’ decision to drop the two KanCare companies, Angela de Rocha, a spokeswoman for state agencies, said in an email that “KDHE is sorry he has reached this decision and hopes he will reconsider in the future.”
No increases for 15 years
Fales said the 4 percent cut was the last straw for him in dealing with a Medicaid system that long has been a financial loser for his dental practice and others.
Medicaid reimbursements for dental care haven’t increased since 2001 and now pay less than 40 percent of private insurance reimbursements, he said.
Fales’ decision to drop two of the three companies affects about 400 patients, but he has agreed to complete any outstanding care they need and work to find them other Medicaid providers or alternative means of payment.
“We haven’t nailed those down completely, but we have actually been engaging in conversations with patients, parents and guardians to come up with a way where we can still provide that care,” Fales said.
Kansas dentists have been dropping out of the Medicaid program for years because of complicated billing processes and low reimbursements. Adults and Kansans with disabilities on Medicaid report having a particularly hard time finding a dentist.
John Fasbinder, a Prairie Village dentist who has said the low Medicaid reimbursements are hurting disabled Kansans, called Fales “one of the most caring and giving pediatric dentists I’ve ever met.” He said Fales is standing on principle in dropping two of three KanCare companies.
Fasbinder, who takes KanCare patients, said despite Fales’ leadership position, he doesn’t think other dentists will necessarily follow suit.
“I don’t believe he advocates to any providers to drop KanCare, and I doubt if there will be any exodus of providers,” Fasbinder said via email. “On the other hand, I don’t see any providers rushing to sign up to see Medicaid patients.”
Seeking solutions
Fales said the switch to KanCare in 2013 intensified dentists’ discontent with Medicaid because instead of navigating just one billing system — the state — they now have to navigate several with different rules.
He said many of his colleagues now treat some KanCare patients but just do the work for free because the Medicaid reimbursements don’t offset the hassles of billing Medicaid.
“I don’t think it even comes close,” Fales said.
But he said relying on charity care to fill the gap left by lagging Medicaid reimbursements is not a sustainable solution. The Kansas Dental Association estimates its members already are giving away $40 million in free care per year.
Brownback said the 4 percent cut was necessary to balance the state budget, but he later said he would support reversing it in the next legislative session and replacing it with a tax on hospitals.
Fales said that’s not a viable solution.
He also said that creating a new license for mid-level dental providers who could do more care than hygienists but less than dentists is not a silver bullet for Medicaid patients either.
The number of practicing dentists in Kansas grew from about 1,400 in 2009 to almost 1,550 in 2015, Fales said. While he said there may be few dentists in some regions, there’s no shortage of dentists statewide — just a shortage of those willing to take Medicaid.
Fales said Kansas should look to Texas, where an increase in dental reimbursement rates led to dentists taking many more Medicaid patients.
“Within three years the percentage of children covered by Medicaid being seen was higher than the percentage of children covered by private insurance (receiving treatment),” Fales said. “Private insurance was still paying more than Medicaid, but it was close, and so the dentists — who I think have a generous heart to begin with — said, ‘I’m all in, let’s do this.’”
LINDSBORG — The Kansas Army National Guard is investigating after a private, Gabriel Wilson, 19, admitted to being involved when chalk messages, including some that were racially offensive, were written on the sidewalks of Bethany College on September 3, according to Katie Horner with the Kansas Adjutant General’s office.
Wilson is a member of Company B-2137 Infantry in Wichita.
The FBI notified the Kansas National Guard of Wilson’s actions after they investigated his involvement with hanging posters in Kansas City for the new alternative right group Identity Evropa.
The Lindsborg Police Department is not pressing charges against Wilson, according to Horner.
The KBI and FBI are still investigating possible charges.
Horner said the Army National Guard policy does not prevent someone from belonging to such a group but active participation in group activities that advocate supremacist or extremist doctrine is not allowed.
The guard is expected to take action against Wilson. “The highest form of punishment would be a discharge,” she said.
JACKSON COUNTY -Law enforcement authorities in Jackson County continue to investigate a suspect in connection with a domestic altercation and car theft.
Benjamin W. Braden, 42, Topeka remains in the Jackson County Jail on charges from the September 25, incident near 134th and P.4 Road in Jackson County, according to a media release.
The Sheriff’s Office responded to a report of an altercation between a man and woman.
She reportedly fled on foot to get help. A K-9 tracked Braden and he was found hiding in a hay barn.
Braden allegedly fled from law enforcement on foot after exiting a stolen Dodge Intrepid that had been reported stolen from Nemaha County.
Jackson County Sheriff Detectives have since recovered a number of items from the stolen Dodge Intrepid to include: identification cards, driver’s licenses and credit cards from 39 different individuals. Additional items recovered were: TVs, multiple computers, multiple car stereos, cell phones, multiple speakers, IPADs, misc. tools, purses, designer purses, multiple back packs, multiple DVDs and CDs. Detectives have determined that the items had been taken from a minimum of 34 different locations in Kansas.
Currently, Braden is being held in the Jackson County Jail on a $15,000.00 bond for criminal threat, possession of stolen property and interference with law enforcement. Further charges on Braden may be expected. Braden is also wanted on 5 additional warrants across the State of Kansas.
FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAW) will hold a national test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) on Wednesday, September 28th, 2016 at 1:20p.m. CDT.
The National Periodic Test (NPT) code, which is used to distribute the national test, is similar to the Regular Monthly test (RMT) code that generates a brief EAS message on radio, TV, and cable indicating a test of the EAS is in progress, according to a media release.
The NPT test code will be sent from FEMA’s alerting infrastructure, known as IPAWS, and relayed through all aspects of the EAS. The test message will be the same as a typical monthly EAS test message, with one exception: the word “National” will be added to the test message.
The goal of the mandatory test is to assess the operational readiness and effectiveness of the IPAWS infrastructure for distribution of a national-level message to the public. A second goal is to implement a standard method for regular alert and warning tests which help to improve the national preparedness posture. The test is expected to have limited impact on the public with only minor disruptions of radio and television programs. Only the EAS will be tested in this nationwide test. Cell phone and other FEMA alerting capabilities will not be tested during this event.
In the event of an unforeseen circumstance, such as a major weather event, the back-up date for the IPAWS National Test is Wednesday, October 5th at 2:20pm EDT.
