SALINA, Kan. (AP) – State health officials say they have not discovered a single cause for high lead levels found in some children in Saline County.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment has been investigating since routine physical exams found 32 children in and around Saline County with elevated levels of lead in their blood.
The Kansas City Star reports the health department has notified some Salina families that the lead poisoning was caused by conditions inside their homes.
Department spokeswoman Cassie Sparks says the agency’s findings will be officially released in September but the letters are going out to the families so they can begin addressing lead-causing issues in their homes, such as old lead paint.
She says inspectors found no common link between all the cases.
The director of one of the state’s largest community mental health centers says the head of the agency that oversees the behavioral health system appears to be making an effort to repair damaged relations with providers.
But he says Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services Secretary Tim Keck has his work cut out for him.
Photo by Andy Marso/KHI News Service Tim Keck, secretary of the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services, recently traveled to Johnson County to update law enforcement officials and mental health providers on the state’s efforts to regain federal certification of the Osawatomie State Hospital.
“I do feel positive about the new secretary,” said Tim DeWeese, director of the Johnson County Mental Health Center. “It seems that he has a genuine desire to take care of the Kansans that need this (mental health) service that are most at risk.”
Republican Gov. Sam Brownback appointed Keck secretary in July after selecting him six months earlier to head the agency on an interim basis.
DeWeese said Keck recently traveled to Johnson County to update law enforcement officials and mental health providers on the state’s efforts to regain federal certification of the Osawatomie State Hospital and reopen units that have been renovated to address patient safety concerns raised by federal inspectors.
“He wants to have beds back online by the end of the year,” DeWeese said. “He reported to us they are getting closer to the full staffing levels that they need.”
State officials reduced the hospital’s capacity from 206 beds to 146 beds in April 2015 so they could begin the renovations. Federal officials decertified the facility later that year, an action that has since cost the state approximately $1 million a month in Medicare reimbursements.
Angela de Rocha, a KDADS spokesperson, said the hospital would be ready for re-inspection on Aug. 30. An initial inspection will be done to determine whether the state has corrected the deficiencies that led to decertification. After what de Rocha called “a period of reasonable assurance,” inspectors will return to do a second survey to ensure that the corrective actions have been maintained.
The goal is to gradually restore 60 beds, de Rocha said.
“The expansion of bed space is dependent on staffing and will be done incrementally to ensure that we have the right staffing levels,” de Rocha said. “We will probably bring back 10 to 15 beds at first and then add beds as we add staff and get them trained.”
Pressure on the system
The additional beds are desperately needed to relieve pressure on the system, DeWeese said. On any given day, dozens of Kansans with mental illness deemed to be either a danger to themselves or others are being forced to wait for admission to Osawatomie. Under the best of circumstances, they’re waiting in hospital emergency rooms. But often, they’ve done something to land themselves in jail.
“Right now, we have four people in the Johnson County jail that are in need of hospitalization,” DeWeese said Friday.
Deb Stern, general counsel for the Kansas Hospital Association, said the situation at one large Johnson County hospital is illustrative of the problem. In the first four months of 2015, she said patients waited a total of 318 hours for admission to Osawatomie, with 23 hours the longest wait. But during the first four months of this year, the total number of hours jumped to 1,466, with waits of more than 40 hours common. The longest wait was 128 hours, or more than five days, she said.
“Our emergency rooms, they’re really backed up,” Stern said during a recent symposium at the Statehouse on mental health issues.
Beyond the renovations, Keck has been forced to grapple with longstanding staffing issues that federal inspectors said compromised safety after a patient sexually assaulted a hospital worker.
The hospital was chronically understaffed due to high vacancy and turnover rates caused by low wages and poor working conditions. Employees complained of having to regularly work double shifts.
During a recent interview, Keck said progress also was being made on the staffing front. A vacancy rate that hovered near 35 percent in February had dropped by July to about 21 percent. And what had been a 72 percent staff turnover rate in 2015 was holding steady around 19 percent.
Those improvements, Keck said, are largely attributable to budget increases approved by the Legislature that allowed administrators to give registered nurses a 10 percent raise and mental health technicians an increase of 12 percent.
“Those two pay increases have been a really big help,” Keck said.
OSH not the only problem
Photo by Andy Marso/KHI News Service Tim DeWeese, executive director of the Johnson County Mental Health Center, said his agency provided $6 million worth of charity care in 2015, although about $3.1 million of that would have been covered if the state had expanded Medicaid.
The progress Keck is making at Osawatomie is important, DeWeese said. But he said it remains to be seen what, if anything, Keck can do about funding reductions that are undercutting the mental health system.
In the 2015 year alone, the cuts totaled $30 million, according to the Association of Community Mental Health Centers of Kansas.
“What we’ve seen are policy decisions that have systematically dismantled the public mental health system,” DeWeese said.
In addition to a recent 4 percent reduction in Medicaid reimbursement rates that Brownback ordered to balance the state budget, the elimination of some key programs has cut deeply into the budgets of community mental health centers.
Mental health providers feel “abandoned” by the state, DeWeese said.
The cuts forced Wyandot Inc. to lay off staff and eliminate services for more than 800 adults and children.
If Keck wants to significantly improve frayed relations, DeWeese said, he will need to help Brownback come up with a plan that providers can support to restore the $56.3 million in Medicaid cuts and lobby the governor to drop his opposition to Medicaid expansion, DeWeese said.
“The state of Kansas has some of the most restrictive Medicaid requirements across the board,” DeWeese said, referring to policies that exclude most poor adults from KanCare, the state’s privatized Medicaid program.
The annual income limits in the 32 states and the District of Columbia that have expanded Medicaid are $16,242 for an individual and $33,465 for a family of four. In Kansas, non-disabled adults with dependent children are eligible only if their annual incomes are below 38 percent of the poverty level, which for a family of four is $9,216 annually. Pregnant women, children and Kansans who are elderly or disabled are eligible under less restrictive income caps.
Advocates of expansion point to a Kansas Hospital Association study that indicates it would generate billions of additional federal dollars for the state. That funding also would reduce the amount of uncompensated care that doctors, hospitals and mental health providers now provide to people who can’t pay their bills.
“Last year, Johnson County Mental Health Center provided something around $6 million in charitable care,” DeWeese said. “If Medicaid was expanded, $3.1 million of that would go away.”
Jim McLean is executive editor of KHI News Service in Topeka, a partner in the Heartland Health Monitor team.
LYON COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Lyon County are investigating an alleged safety threat at Emporia High School and have arrested one student.
Emporia police alerted officials at the school of a possible safety risk at the school on Wednesday, according to a social media report.
A 14-year-old student was arrested according to a media release and he is cooperating with the investigation.
The threat was verbal and nothing was found at the school that could harm students.
Two juveniles at the Emporia skate park on Tuesday overheard a third high school-aged student say he planned to bomb the school Wednesday.
The juveniles described the teen as Hispanic, wearing glasses.
Charges are pending following a review from the Lyon County Attorney’s Office.
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LYON COUNTY –Law enforcement authorities in Lyon County are investigating a safety threat at Emporia High School.
Emporia police alerted officials at the school of a possible safety risk at the school on Wednesday, according to a social media report.
“Because safety is a high priority, parents and students at Emporia High School can expect to see extra security measures in place today at school,” according to a message from the school district to parents.
“Although it was only a vague tip, we want to assure parents and students we are taking it seriously.”
No additional details were released early Wednesday.
The first day of classes for USD 253 was August 18.
SHAWNEE COUNTY -Law enforcement authorities in Shawnee County are investigating a suspect for alleged theft and fraud.
Over the past two months, an unknown female suspect has been cashing personal checks stolen from mailboxes in Topeka, according to a media release from police.
She has been active in Lawrence, Eudora, Lenexa and Overland Park.
If you are able to provide information on this suspect please Email the TPD Criminal Intelligence Unit [email protected] or DET A. Widener [email protected] or call #785 408 0322 or Crime Stoppers at #785 234 0007.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas and four other states including Kansas are again suing the Obama administration over its efforts to strengthen discrimination protections for transgender people.
The lawsuit filed Tuesday in a North Texas federal court seeks to block parts of a nondiscrimination mandate of President Barack Obama’s health care law. Republican state officials say the rules could force doctors to help with gender transition against their medical judgment or religious convictions.
Transgender rights advocates called that a far-fetched hypothetical and say the rules simply require doctors to make decisions without bias.
The lawsuit was filed a day after a federal judge in Texas blocked a directive that would have required U.S. public schools to let transgender students use bathrooms consistent with their gender identity.
Wisconsin, Kentucky and Nebraska also joined the latest lawsuit.
SALINE COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Saline County are investigating after a counterfeit bill with an unusual characteristic.
The bogus $100 bill was discovered by Bennington State Bank in a deposit from AJ’s Retail Liquor, 676 Westport in Salina, according to Police Captain Mike Sweeney.
The bill was passed at the business sometime on Monday and discovered on Tuesday.
Sweeney said the bogus bill been stamped “for motion picture use only.”
In May, Law enforcement authorities in Butler County reported fake money passed twice in El Dorado, according to El Dorado Crime Stoppers.
The money used was “prop money,” typically used in movies.
Authorities urged residents to check your bills. The bill shown is prop money, and it says “Motion Picture Use Only” in place of “United States of America” on the front and backs of the bills.
Also, on a real bill, the blue line is reflective and is not on the prop money.
Fatal Monday morning apartment building fire-photo by Phil Anderson courtesy Topeka Capitol Journal
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say one of the three victims of a deadly Topeka apartment fire intentionally set the blaze.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that Janelle Owens ignited the fire in a bed in the living room of her second-floor apartment. The fire burned upward, killing 59-year-old Rhonda Gill and her daughter, 41-year-old Letitia Gill. Topeka Fire Marshal Mike Martin said Tuesday that the Gills had sought shelter Monday in a closet in a rear bedroom.
A man in the unit with Owns was able to get outside and was taken to a hospital. His condition wasn’t immediately known. Several other people were able to make it out of the building safely.
Authorities estimate damage to the 12-unit, three-story building at $400,000. Damage to the building’s contents is estimated at $100,000.
DETROIT (AP) — Ford is recalling more than 88,000 cars and SUVs in North America because the engines can stall without warning due to a fuel pump problem.
The recall covers certain Ford Taurus and Police Interceptor sedans, Ford Flex wagons, Lincoln MKS sedans and Lincoln MKT SUVs from the 2013 through 2015 model years. All have 3.5-liter turbocharged six-cylinder engines.
Ford says the fuel pump control modules can fail, and the engines may not start, or they could stall, leaving drivers without the ability to restart them. The company says it’s not aware of any crashes or injuries from the problem.
Dealers will replace the control module at no cost to owners.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Wichita man has been sentenced to three years and two months in prison for fatally shooting a co-worker.
The Wichita Eagle reports that 22-year-old Jacob Pulliam was sentenced Tuesday in Sedgwick County for killing 19-year-old Mekko Stumblingbear in April. Pulliam had pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter last month. In exchange, prosecutors agreed to not file charges against him in an unrelated methamphetamine possession and drug distribution case from 2015.
Pulliam had requested probation, saying the shooting was an accident. He says he had pointed a gun at Stumblingbear and fired, not knowing it was loaded while some men played with Airsoft rifles before work. Initially he told police Stumblingbear shot himself.
But District Judge Ben Burgess characterized the shooting as a “reckless beyond reckless act.”
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Topeka man faces sentencing for his role in a wannabe Islamic State jihadist’s foiled plan to detonate a bomb at the Fort Riley military post to kill and maim as many U.S. service members as possible.
Alexander Blair has told the judge he made a big mistake and blames a genetic disorder for allowing others to take advantage of him.
U.S. District Judge Daniel Crabtree will weigh such factors Wednesday as he calculates how much prison time, if any, the 29-year-old Blair should serve.
Blair pleaded guilty in May to a conspiracy count that carries up to five years’ imprisonment. He admitted loaning John T. Booker $100, knowing it would be used to pay for storage of a bomb Booker planned to detonate in April 2015 at Fort Riley.
HUTCHINSON- Tuesday afternoon testimony centered on when police found Sam Vanochen walking down the street after the fire.
He was eventually transported to the hospital because of high blood pressure checked by EMS at the scene of the fire.
At the hospital officials began to suspect he may have been involved in setting the fire because his new clothes had the smell of gasoline.
Vanochen’s father is expected to testify on Wednesday
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HUTCHINSON – Opening statements were presented on Tuesday in the trial for a Kansas teen accused of setting the fire that killed his mother and sister.
Samuel Vonachen is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and aggravated arson after allegedly setting a fire to his family’s home leaving his mother and sister trapped inside.
He was 14 at the time of the fatal fire in September 2013.
Prior to opening statements, the defense asked that the TV Camera in the courtroom for local TV stations be removed.
That was denied with Judge Trish Rose choosing to follow Supreme Court rules for media coverage of trials like this one.
The state started their case by describing the teen going to the garage of the family home, grabbing a gas can and pouring in a U shape around the staircase making it difficult if not impossible for anyone to escape.
He then allegedly lit a napkin and threw it on the gas igniting it.
Senior Assistant District Attorney Steve Maxwell noted that Vanochen had taken his favorite items outside prior to starting the fire including a guitar, blanket and his cell phone.
Maxwell called him a psychopath with no emotion or compassion for others.
The defense is arguing mental disease and defect telling of the teen being caught talking to himself for two hours during the time he was in Reno County Youth Services.
The first witness was 911 Director Michelle Abbott who testified over a 911 call from the defendant notifying authorities of the fire.
Vanochen sounded out of breath and in a panic. The state says it was an act and that he used a different name when making the call.
Sharp’s children and their mother image courtesy Portland Oregonian
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A father is seeking custody of seven children whose mother took them to sing for the Oregon wildlife refuge occupiers and is accused of abusing them.
The Kansas City Star reports that Tim Sharp said after a Monday court hearing in Shawnee County that he’s hopeful that the children will soon be living with him in Colorado.
Their mother, Odalis Sharp, has described the abuse allegations as trumped up. She has 10 children, but several are over 18.
One of the older children, 19-year-old daughter Victoria Sharp, is supporting her father’s custody efforts. She was riding with Nevada rancher LaVoy Finicum and three of the other militants when Finicum was shot and killed by Oregon state police.
She says she wants her siblings to “start a happy life again.”
Police in Topeka located Kathy Marie Jackson on Tuesday. She is safe. Police continue to investigate her disappearance. No additional details were released.
GEARY COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Geary County are asking for help to locate a missing Junction City woman.
Kathy Marie Jackson, 59, was last herd from by a family member on the afternoon of August 19, 2016, according to a media release.
Jackson was on her way to her home but never arrived, according to the police.
Family members are concerned about Jackson’s welfare because she is disabled.
If you know the location of Kathy Marie Jackson or have recently seen her please contact the Junction City Police Department at 785-762-5912. You can also call the Junction City/Geary County Crime Stoppers TIP Line at 785-762-TIPS (8477).
SALINA, Kan. (AP) – State health officials say they have not discovered a single cause for high lead levels found in some children in Saline County.
