RENO COUNTY– Law enforcement authorities in Reno County are investigating a hit and run accident.

Just after 2:30 a.m. on Saturday first responders were dispatched to the 400 block of North Plum for a single vehicle collision involving a utility pole, according to a media release.

Preliminary investigation by police indicates a black 1997 Lexus was traveling southbound on Plum at a high rate of speed and struck the east curb line.

The vehicle continued into two utility poles and struck a building in the same block.

One occupant was located in the vehicle and was transported by medical helicopter to Via-Christi St. Francis Regional Medical Center in critical condition.

Witnesses reported possibly two white males including the driver of the vehicle fled the scene on foot.

The identity of the passenger transported to St. Francis is being withheld pending notification of the family.

Anyone with information on the crash is asked to call either Reno County Crime Stoppers at 620-694-2666 or the Hutchinson Police Department at 620-694-2816.

By Stephen Koranda

With little advance notice of the hearing, a state panel this week  approved a temporary election rule that will have some Kansans vote with provisional ballots, but only their votes in federal races will be counted. Votes for state and local races will be tossed out.

Republican Secretary of State Kris Kobach proposed the rule. The Kansas Rules and Regulations Board approved it Tuesday morning after notice of the meeting was sent out Monday afternoon.

The change will affect around 17,000 Kansans who registered to vote at the DMVbut didn’t turn in a citizenship document required under state law. The rule change comes after a federal court said those suspended voters should be allowed to vote, at least in federal races.

Bryan Brown, an attorney in the secretary of state’s office, said despite an ongoing legal battle, the state needs to continue enforcing election security measures in the SAFE Act.

“It has been passed by the Legislature. It has been signed by the governor. It is the law of Kansas. That is all the secretary of state is trying to do here,” said Brown.

During a tense meeting, some members of the panel raised concerns. Republican Sen. Vicki Schmidt criticized the secretary of state’s staff for not bringing the proposal to lawmakers before the end of the legislative session.

“Why was it not brought before the Legislature on sine die or during the special session to allow the entire Legislature the opportunity to weigh in on such an important issue?” asked Schmidt.

Kobach’s staff members responded that the issue was under appeal while the Legislature was meeting, but Schmidt pointed out that the issue was also still under appeal while they considered the rule change.

Schmidt said this regulation would affect her race, so she abstained from voting. She said she asked to be replaced on the panel, but with the short notice before the meeting that wasn’t possible.

Republican Rep. Sharon Schwartz supported the regulation, noting that she’s not running for re-election. Schwartz would have preferred the regulation went through the normal process, which allows for public comment and gives officials more time to consider the impact.

“It would have given us time to have had legal counsel somewhere along the line help us out,” said Schwartz.

An attorney in one of the lawsuits challenging Kansas voting rules, Mark Johnson, called the speedy process a “circus.” Johnson, who’s also a law professor at KU, said something of this significance deserves a full hearing before the public.

“I tell my students that it’s important to honor the process. This dishonors the process,” said Johnson.

Johnson pointed out that a state court has said Kobach can’t create this type of two-tiered voting system. Kobach’s office has appealed that decision.

The process was a backroom deal aimed at impacting the upcoming elections, according to Democratic Rep. Jim Ward.

“I think these people are trying to interfere in a highly competitive election. You look around this state in the next three weeks there are going to be a dozen races decided in this state by 100 votes,” said Ward.

Kobach’s elections director, Bryan Caskey, fired back at Ward’s assertion.

“I unequivocally state that I want every single person who is eligible to vote under the laws of the state of Kansas to vote,” said Caskey.

Caskey said the short timeframe for the meeting was because the proposed regulation wasn’t approved by the attorney general’s office and Department of Administration until Friday. Caskey said the rule needed to be in place by Wednesday, when early voting starts.

“We found out after 5 (p.m.) on Friday. Quite frankly, that’s as fast as we could possibly have a hearing,” said Caskey.

Stephen Koranda is the Statehouse Bureau Chief for Kansas Public Radio, a partner with KCUR in a statewide collaboration covering elections in Kansas. Follow Stephen on Twitter @kprkoranda.

BUTLER COUNTY – A Kansas man died in a an accident just after 7p.m. on Friday in Butler County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2015 Gyrocopter piloted by James L. Toevs, 61, Whitewater, was flying northeast of Whitewater.

The rotorcraft was observed making a steep climb. It pitched over and then crashed.

Toevs was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to the Sedgwick County Forensics Center.

The accident remains under investigation.

DOUGLAS COUNTY – Five people were injured in an accident just after 10p.m. on Friday in Douglas County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2003 Jeep Grand Cherokee driven by Gregory D. McTaggart, 46, Kansas City, was eastbound on Kansas 10 just east of 1600 Road.

The Jeep struck an eastbound Nissan Sentra driven by Jefferson R. Garrison, 55, Ottawa, then crossed the median and struck a 2008 Toyota Corolla driven by Puyin Bai, 26, Lawrence, head-on.

McTaggart, Bai and passengers in the Toyota Joanna Bai, 25, Lawrence and Jinfan Bai, 21, and Congmeng Jia, 52, both residents of China, were transported to the hospital in Lawrence.

Garrison was not injured.

Jinfan Bai was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is predicting the government’s budget deficit for the soon-to-close fiscal year will hit $600 billion. That’s an increase of $162 billion over last year’s tally and a reversal of a steady trend of large but improving deficits on President Barack Obama’s watch.

The disappointing figures, while expected, come after the deficit has steadily declined since the huge $1.4 trillion deficit Obama inherited after the deep 2007-2009 recession and the associated fiscal crisis.

According to many economists, the improving economy, tax increases on higher-income earners and cuts to annual agency budgets have helped close the gap but the longer-term picture is troubling.

Neither Hillary Clinton nor Donald Trump has focused much on deficits and debt, but the rising figures may lend more urgency to the issue.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas delegates to the GOP National Convention say Donald Trump’s decision to pick Indiana’s governor as his running mate will help him with Republicans who remain wary of him.

State Treasurer Ron Estes said Friday that Indiana Gov. Mike Pence is a good choice because Pence is a former congressman and is seen as having a strong economic record in his state.

Estes said there’s a “general, positive vibe” about Pence. Estes is a delegate for Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.

Prominent Trump supporter and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach said picking Pence should help Trump with conservative evangelicals and establishment Republicans.

And 1st Congressional District GOP Chairman Randy Duncan noted that Pence previously backed Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, so the pick is a signal to Cruz backers.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Supporters are planning to flock to a Mediterranean restaurant in Wichita after a diner posted on Facebook that the eatery should be avoided because the owner is Muslim. See the support site here.

The Wichita Eagle reports that the post was shared and re-shared before it was removed from the social media site. Now, a group of Le Monde supporters have planned a meetup next week at the restaurant.

One of the event organizers, Ty Hostetler, says he’s a fan of local businesses but not of bigotry.

Le Monde is owned by Mohamad Krichati, an engineer who now lives in San Diego. It’s run by Krichati’s brother, Ghassan Hajeh, who moved to the United States from Syria in the 1980s.

Hajeh said he’s alarmed by the tone of the conversation in the country of late.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The leader of the fundamentalist Christian group behind the Summer of Mercy anniversary in Wichita says it plans no violence or civil disobedience during the July 16-23 anti-abortion event.

Rev. Rusty Thomas, director of Operation Save America, told reporters Friday the goal is not to go to jail or be arrested. He says they are not going to “physically” block entrances to abortion clinics.

Thousands of anti-abortion activists gathered in Wichita in 1991 for the Summer of Mercy, sparking tumultuous mass protests that led to nearly 2,700 arrests outside local clinics.

Thomas says he wants to alleviate fears his group is coming to Wichita to do harm, saying they are coming to pray.

The Feminist Majority Foundation has been running ads locally warning about some of the abortion opponents coming.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A $30 million lawsuit has been filed against Chesapeake Energy Corp., formerly headed by Oklahoma energy executive Aubrey McClendon, and another company alleging a conspiracy led to a third party’s sale of oil and gas leasehold interests for artificially depressed prices.

The Kansas City Star reports that Chisholm Partners LLC filed the lawsuit in Kansas City. Chisholm sold the interests to Chesapeake Energy.

According to the lawsuit, Chesapeake and SandRidge Energy were active bidders for oil and gas leasehold interests in the Anadarko Basin Region in Kansas and Oklahoma in 2011 and 2012.

The lawsuit says Chesapeake and SandRidge illegally divided up the area in Kansas and agreed to not compete and drive up prices for the leasehold interests there.

McClendon died in a fiery one-car crash the day after he was indicted by a federal grand jury in March.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Gov. Sam Brownback says the state plans to appeal a decision by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that says Kansas must repay $11.9 million in federal welfare funds it received.

Kansas Department of Administration spokesman John Milburn tells the Lawrence Journal-World that the department was notified in June about the funds related to child support collection administrative costs from fiscal year 2003 through 2010. Milburn says the amount includes overpayment of federal funds and interest.

The HHS began auditing Kansas and the way it charges its administration fees for the collection of child support in 2013. At that time, the state was ordered to repay about $2 million in overpayments and interest for fiscal years 2011 and 2012.

More recently, the HHS has been auditing years that predate the Brownback administration.

By ANDY MARSO

For the second year in a row, UnitedHealthcare reported no lobbying expenses during the Kansas legislative session.

The insurance company remained the outlier among the three under contract to administer KanCare, the privatized form of Medicaid that Kansas adopted in 2013.

Amerigroup reported spending $1,709.51 while lobbying legislators in January through April of this year.

Sunflower State Health Plan and its parent company, Centene, reported spending a combined total of $4,416.11 in the same time period.

The session adjourned early on May 2. The Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission collects lobbyist data.

The itemized spending that the three managed care organizations, or MCOs, reported was for meals and drinks for legislators and their staff members.

Kansas has relatively strict limits for material gifts from lobbyists but allows for unlimited spending on food and drinks, and lobbyists use the meals to gain “face time” with policymakers.

Jessica Buechler, director of public relations for UnitedHealthcare Community & State, had little to say about the company’s lack of lobbying in Kansas.

“We engage with policymakers on issues that impact the people we serve, and comply with all applicable state lobbying laws regarding these activities, including reporting on expenses,” she said.

Last year a UnitedHealthcare spokeswoman said the company meets with legislators during office hours.

All three companies retain lobbyists who are well-connected in the Kansas Capitol. UnitedHealthcare’s team includes Riley Scott, Senate President Susan Wagle’s son-in-law, and Wade Hapgood, House Speaker Ray Merrick’s former chief of staff.

Centene retains Matt Hickam, who previously partnered with David Kensinger, Gov. Sam Brownback’s former chief of staff.

Amerigroup retains Gary Haulmark, a former official with what is now the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services.

Combined, the three companies hold Medicaid contracts worth about $3 billion annually in state and federal money.

The five-year contracts are set to expire in 2018, and state officials are crafting an extension application to send to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Amerigroup lobbying down, Centene up 

Amerigroup’s lobbying total was down more than $1,000 from last year, but this year’s legislative session was about 40 days shorter.

Haulmark devoted much of his lobbying attention to Rep. Dan Hawkins of Wichita and Rep. Willie Dove of Bonner Springs, the two Republicans who lead the House Health and Human Services Committee. Haulmark reported 12 meals with Dove and 10 with Hawkins.

No other lobbyist took Dove or Hawkins to more than four meals. Hickam and Jim Gardner, Sunflower State’s contract lobbyist, took Hawkins to four each.

MCO lobbyists reported spending $465.43 on meals for Hawkins, which was less than half what they spent last year on the chairman of the House health committee but still topped all legislators.

With the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee’s leadership in flux, MCO lobbyists spread their spending on that chamber.

Senate Majority Leader Terry Bruce, a Republican from Nickerson, was the Senate’s top recipient of MCO lobbying expenses, with $337.65 worth of food and drinks.

Despite the shortened session, Centene and Sunflower State combined to spend slightly more on lobbying in 2016 than last year.

Dove said MCO lobbyists wanted to talk with him this year about a number of issues, including step therapy and the state’s overall budget picture.

“Yeah, step therapy was one of them,” he said. “They just wanted to give some information on that they thought would be helpful.”

Dove said that included information on the prevalence of the policy that allows insurance companies to require that patients try cheaper prescription drugs before “stepping up” to more expensive treatments. It is part of Medicare and many private insurance plans.

Based on his budget conversations with the MCO lobbyists, Dove said he knows that recent budget cuts to Medicaid hurt. “But they also understand the state revenue is going through some trials, and they want to do everything they can to help,” Dove said.

UnitedHealthcare still involved

Dove said he has talked with UnitedHealthcare lobbyists Scott and Hapgood about MCO issues during the session, just not over dinner or drinks.

“Sometimes we’ll just have a conversation in general about it,” Dove said.

In addition to its growing slate of Medicaid holdings in states like Kansas, Arizona and Delaware, UnitedHealthcare is the largest provider of private-sector insurance plans in the country.

The insurance giant broke with its counterparts on lobbying last year when it decided to leave America’s Health Insurance Plans, a trade group active in state and national politics.

UnitedHealthcare executives said they thought the trade group was no longer representing the company’s best interests. Wendell Potter, a former insurance executive who has gained national prominence as a critic of the industry’s lobbying clout, said in a phone interview that UnitedHealthcare’s size means it doesn’t have to wine-and-dine legislators to influence policy.

“They have enormous sums of money they spend to influence public policy, so it could be they’re just doing it in different ways that are not direct lobbying,” he said.

“That’s what I suspect is happening.”

UnitedHealthcare has been the most financially successful of the three MCOs in the early years of KanCare, but all have struggled to turn a profit.

Andy Marso is a reporter for KHI News Service in Topeka, a partner in the Heartland Health Monitor team. You can reach him on Twitter @andymarso

SALINA  -Pokemon Go, the new smartphone game based on cute Nintendo characters like Squirtle and Pikachu, can be harmful to your health and could cause you other trouble.

The “augmented reality” game, which layers gameplay onto the physical world, has became the top grossing app in the iPhone app store just days after its release.

Players have already reported wiping out in a variety of ways as they wander the real world — eyes glued to their smartphone screens — in search of digital monsters.

Twisted ankles, mishaps with revolving doors and walking into trees have been among the painful results.

The game has also induced people to post pictures of themselves on social media chasing creatures in all sorts of dangerous situations, like while driving.

Salina Police warned that playing the game in city parks after curfew is against the law.

Police have issued numerous citations to players in parks, according Police Captain Mike Sweeney

He also reminded players should not trespass on private property while hunting for Pokemon.

-The AP contributed to this report

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A communications company that specializes in prepaid wireless service has announced it will open a headquarters in Kansas City and create more than 50 new jobs.

Virgin Mobile USA says it’s still scouting out potential office space in downtown Kansas City and is actively recruiting candidates for a number of positions, including executive. It expects to have its office finished and staffed by the end of the year.

Virgin Mobile is affiliated with Sprint Corp., which is based in Overland Park.

The company’s decision to expand into Kansas City is part of a plan to relaunch the brand under Sprint.

The state is working with Virgin Mobile on possible incentives contingent upon the company meeting its projection of 84 new jobs within the next five years.