HUTCHINSON– A Kansas man with a long criminal history made a court appearance on Wednesday and was charged with a number of traffic offenses by Hutchinson Police and a single charge of a felon in possession of a firearm by the Reno County Sheriff’s Office.

Russell Craven, 31, Sterling, is alleged to have been involved in a hit and run accident in the unit block of West B in Hutchinson where he allegedly struck a vehicle owned by TECH.

The Reno County Sheriff’s Office found him in Nickerson and they say he was in possession of a firearm.

Craven was discharged from the Department of Corrections in February.

His prior convictions include burglary, theft, criminal damage, criminal possession of a firearm in Rice County, and drug convictions in Reno County.

During Wednesday’s hearing, his $1,500 bond was reduced and he should be back in court next week.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The Wichita school board has voted to eliminate more than 100 district positions, close a high school and stop bus transportation for thousands of students.

The Wichita Eagle reports that these and other cuts will trim about $18 million from the district’s budget.

Six board members voted unanimously to approve superintendent John Allison’s first three phases of budget cuts for the upcoming school year. Board member Sheril Logan was absent.

Allison says the district will need to trim an additional $5 million to make up for projected cost increases.

Wichita schools have projected nearly $23 million in cost increases next year, with revenue under the state’s block grant funding system expected to be flat.

Under the cuts, Metro-Meridian Alternative High School will close and 65 teacher positions will be eliminated.

MERRIAM, Kan. (AP) — A fired suburban Kansas City public works director has pleaded guilty to stealing fuel.

Sixty-one-year-old Randall Carroll admitted Thursday in Johnson County District Court to a felony count of official misconduct. The Kansas City Star reports that a second charge of theft was dismissed as part of the plea.

The Olathe man worked for the city of Merriam for 34 years before he was fired last September after the crimes were discovered. Court documents say the thefts began in October 2014.

Prosecutors say other public works employees became suspicious when they noticed fuel missing from a large tank. A camera captured Carroll repeatedly putting gas from the tank in his personal vehicle. He also was seen erasing tire tracks from his vehicle.

Sentencing is set for July 11.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats shouted “shame,” but dozens of House Republicans switched their votes and defeated a measure to protect gay rights.

The vote on Thursday was 213-212.

President Barack Obama has issued an executive order that bars discrimination against LGBT employees by federal contractors.

A New York Democrat, Sean Patrick Maloney, offered an amendment to a spending bill that would have prohibited using taxpayer dollars to violate the order.

The measure was headed toward passage, when suddenly dozens of Republicans reversed course to ensure its defeat.

And that led Democrat Steve Israel to say: “This reveals them for who they are. They are bigots. They are haters.”

The No. 2 House Republican, Kevin McCarthy, rejects the suggestion the vote was held open for an inordinate time so Republicans could switch their vote.

SALINA, Kan. (AP) — A tractor-trailer driver from Texas is charged in Kansas in a fiery Interstate 70 crash that killed the driver of another rig.

Thomas County court documents say 45-year-old Fednor Duclona, of Fort Worth, Texas, attempted a U-turn on the interstate on the same day as the January crash that killed 52-year-old Rodney A. Hongsermeier, of North Platte, Nebraska.

He faces charges that include vehicular homicide and reckless driving. Duclona was released Wednesday from the Johnson County Jail on a $200,000 bond.

It wasn’t immediately known if he had an attorney.

BARTON COUNTY -Officials won’t know until later whether they will be able to recover $48,600 that was wired to a Georgia Bank by Barton County Treasurer Kevin Wondra.

It appears he fell for one of the latest email scams.

Wondra wired the money after receiving an email that he thought was from Barton County Administrator Richard Boeckman, an email that Boeckman says did not come from his office.

Boeckman says that besides not following protocol, there were many red flags that should have let the Treasurer know that something was not right.

“I would not have had the authority to authorize this amount of money,” said Boeckman. “For this amount, it would have gone to the commissioners, been approved as an agenda item, and been encumbered. Obviously nobody checked,” he said.

“Also nobody asked what account to pay this from. No invoice, the money wasn’t encumbered, no agenda item, a lot of reasons why this should have caused questions to be asked.”

After officials became aware of the scam, Boeckman says they immediately took steps to make sure that other county, general fund money was not at risk.

Boeckman said Thursday morning that he remained cautiously optimistic that the county will be able to get their money back since there were other counties that received the same type of email. Because of that there is a chance that the Georgia bank put a fraud hold on the transaction but that will not be known until later.

SALINE COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Saline County are investigating teen brothers in connection with a burglary.

Devin Murrell, 18, and Xavier Murrell, 15, both of Salina are accused of breaking into a storeage warehouse in the 700 Block of Duvall just before 5 a.m. on Tuesday, according to Salina Police Captain Chris Trocheck.

There was damage to a doorframe, shelves, the air conditioner and ductwork.

Damage is estimated at $2,500, according to Trocheck.

There was also apparently an attempt to break in an adjoining business Wilson Security, 750 Duvall, but the suspects were not successful.

Devin Murrell also faces requested charges in connection with using a pellet gun to damage windows in a home, and a vehicle earlier in the week.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach has told a federal court he is changing interagency policies that will improve the state’s ability to verify proof of citizenship for people who register to vote at motor vehicle offices.

The notice filed shortly before midnight Wednesday comes a day after a federal court ruled thousands of Kansans who did not provide such documents must be added to voter rolls for federal elections. The judge stayed her ruling until May 31 so the state could appeal.

Kobach contends the new policies were being implemented prior to that ruling.

Motor vehicle offices now accept and scan documents proving U.S. citizenship. Another change gives the secretary of state’s office and county election officers internet access to check whether motor vehicle offices possess such documents.

LINDSBORG –Bethany College held an outdoor picnic in the school’s amphitheater on Wednesday evening to welcome new school president William Jones and his family to the community.

From an early age Will Jones, 43, was told, “You will be a college graduate.” Some may have taken that for granted, but for somebody like Jones who grew up in Kensee Hollow, Kentucky, the son of parents who dropped out of school, his mother in the eighth grade and father in the ninth grade, it was a life changing statement, the school shared in a media release.

And it is part of what has inspired him to lead Bethany College as its 14thPresident. The Board of Directors announced his appointment as the College’s new President on Friday, May 13 at a campus forum.

“A school like Bethany College saved my life,” he said. “Bethany is a good fit for me and I am right for Bethany and Lindsborg. I am excited to engage Bethany College alumni in the lives of the Bethany students.”

His passion for higher education and his life’s journey have guided him throughout his career. In his most current role as Vice President for External Relations at LaGrange College in LaGrange, Georgia, Jones has led record fundraising and enrollment growth. During his six-year tenure there he launched a branding and marketing campaign that won regional Emmy and Addy awards, grew the undergraduate population by 25 percent, and raised the alumni-giving rate by 58 percent.

He also led the effort in starting a Master’s program in Philanthropy and Development, one of only six such graduate programs in fundraising in the country. He led in the development of curriculum, helped recruit the faculty, and taught fundraising and marketing courses in the program. He also founded a national roundtable at LaGrange College that brings 20 chief advancement officers at independent colleges from across the country together to learn more about fundraising and marketing.

“It is with great institutional and personal pride that I congratulate Will Jones on being named the next president of Bethany College,” LaGrange College President Dan McAlexander said. “His creative intelligence, boundless enthusiasm and impeccable personal integrity will make him a great leader of the historic institution.”

His fundraising experience and success reaches beyond LaGrange. He led successful efforts at both Goshen College and at Berea College. His appeal to Bethany as its next President included more than only his fundraising background, according to Corey Peterson, new chair of the Bethany Board of Directors.

“We are excited to have Will, Amy, and their family join the Bethany and Lindsborg family,” Peterson said. “Will brings a proven ability to lead, especially in the important areas of fundraising and student enrollment. His skills, work ethic, faith, along with a transparent and servant leadership approach are exactly what we need as Bethany moves forward.”

The Bethany College Board of Directors began its search for President in November when it engaged the search firm AGB and consultant Richard Torgerson to help lead the search. The committee, consisted of board members, Dr. Marie Friedemann, Corey Peterson, Bob Mooney, Jim Martin, and Sean Patty; along with faculty members, Dr. Mark Lucas and Dr. Kristin Van Tassel; staff member, Vicki Cornett; and community member Ted Kessinger, participated in an exhaustive national search that produced a large pool of candidates. The committee assessed the candidates and invited semi-finalists to Wichita for the first round of interviews. Three candidates were ultimately brought to campus in May and one name was advanced to the board for approval.

“Will is an extraordinary leader with proven skills in fundraising and enrollment management that will help usher in a new era of growth and prosperity for our institution,” Patty, chair of the search committee, said.

Jones and his wife Amy, who has a master’s degree in special education from Eastern Nazarene College in Quincy, Massachusetts, have six children and are excited about becoming part of the Bethany and Lindsborg community. Jones and his family enjoy taking an active role in campus life by attending events and hosting students, faculty and staff to their home.

“I hope that in addition to wearing the title of President of Bethany College, I will also earn titles of mentor, colleague, confidant, counselor and friend,” he said.

 

By MEGAN HART

Gov. Sam Brownback trimmed more than $56 million from Medicaid in Kansas as part of larger budget cuts announced Wednesday, raising concerns that health care providers may decide not to take unprofitable patients.

About $38.2 million of the $56.4 million in budget cuts comes from reducing reimbursements by 4 percent for providers who treat patients covered by KanCare, the state’s privatized Medicaid program launched in 2013. The remaining $18.2 million comes from cuts in other areas of the Medicaid program.

The cuts come after the Kansas Legislature adjourned earlier this month, leaving more than $80 million in cuts up to Brownback in order to balance the budget.

Providers offering home and community-based services to Kansans with disabilities are exempt from the reductions, as are critical access hospitals and hospitals in counties defined as rural, densely settled rural and frontier. However, all 127 of the state’s community hospitals will be subject to a $3.5 million cut in a program intended to increase provider participation in KanCare.

Cindy Samuelson, a spokesperson for the Kansas Hospital Association, said the cuts break a promise Brownback made to health care providers when he sought their support for privatizing Medicaid.

“When Governor Brownback began the KanCare program, he emphasized that his Medicaid reform program would allow the state to avoid Medicaid rate cuts,” Samuelson said. “The governor’s proposal to now cut Medicaid rates is a broken promise.”

In addition, Samuelson said, the rate reductions will add to the financial pressures hospitals are operating under due to reductions in Medicare reimbursement rates and the loss over the last years of nearly $1.2 billion in federal funds because of Brownback’s rejection of Medicaid expansion.

Dennis Cooley, a Topeka pediatrician, said that while a 4 percent reduction may not sound like much, primary care doctors

typically have slim profit margins because of the need to keep professionals on staff and pay for technology like electronic health records. They already receive less to care for Medicaid patients than they do for Medicare patients, and about half as much as they would for patients with commercial insurance, he said.

“From a financial standpoint, you’re losing money, so you just can’t see Medicaid patients,” he said.

The cuts are particularly concerning for pediatricians, Cooley said, because about one-third of Kansas children are covered by Medicaid. In the past, his practice and others have had to limit their Medicaid patients so they could balance them financially with patients with private insurance, he said.

If enough providers decide they can’t afford to take new Medicaid patients or even drop out of the program altogether, that creates concerns about access to care, Cooley said. Not every public health department can provide primary care services, he said, and parents who can’t find a doctor for their child may only seek care if the health issue is serious enough to merit an emergency room visit.

“It’s the kids I’m dealing with that are going to suffer,” he said, adding that “it’s short-sighted” to cut Medicaid reimbursements.

A Kansas provider earns only 78 percent as much, on average, for a patient insured by Medicaid as one insured by Medicare. The ratio is even less for obstetric providers, who earn about 72 cents for every $1 they would be reimbursed for treating a Medicare patient.

As of 2014, Kansas reimbursement rates for most Medicaid services were near the middle compared to other states, tying for 24th overall. Its reimbursements for obstetrics were on the low end, however, tying for 35th.

Kansas previously held its Medicaid reimbursement rates relatively steady. The state didn’t make any change to its overall rates from 2012 to 2014, according to data compiled by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Rachelle Colombo, director of government affairs for the Kansas Medical Society, said providers are still evaluating the effect that the Medicaid reimbursement cuts will have on their practices. But she said some may decide not to serve Medicaid patients if the reduction is too steep.

“It’s certainly not going to promote more provider participation,” she said.

Other budget reductions to health programs include:

• $378,000 from safety net clinics. Cassie Sparks, a spokeswoman for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, said the Legislature had allocated $378,000 more than Brownback had suggested in last year’s budget. KDHE will work with the Kansas Association for the Medically Underserved to recoup that money.
• $330,000 from the KDHE immunization program. Federal Medicaid reimbursements were higher than expected, Sparks said, so KDHE could return that money to the state general fund and still buy the same number of vaccines.
• $250,000 in unspecified cuts to non-Medicaid programs under the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services.
• $78,000 from an unfilled position in KDHE’s Office of Inspector General. KDHE still is attempting to recruit someone to fill that job and will find resources to pay the person’s salary if a suitable candidate is found, Sparks said.
• $250,000 from senior care programs through KDADS.

Some of the remaining reductions to Medicaid come from policy changes. For example, KDADS expects to save $1.3 million by limiting the range of household duties a support worker can perform if a person recieving in-home resides with a non-disabled person, said Angela de Rocha, a KDADS spokeswoman.

KDADS estimates it can save an additional $1.3 million by paying providers only for days when they work rather than paying them a daily rate to be on call, de Rocha said.

Megan Hart is a reporter for KHI News Service in Topeka, a partner in the Heartland Health Monitor team. You can reach her on Twitter @meganhartMC

DETROIT (AP) — Fiat Chrysler is recalling about a half-million Jeep Wrangler SUVs worldwide because the driver’s air bag may not inflate in a crash.

The recall covers Wranglers from the 2007 through 2010 model years, including 392,000 in the U.S.

Another 7,400 2011-2016 Wranglers in the U.S. with right-hand-drive also are affected.

The company says excessive exposure to dust and dirt from off-road driving can cause electrical problems in the steering column air bag wiring. If that happens, a warning lamp will come on and owners should contact their dealer.

Fiat Chrysler says it’s not aware of any related injuries. The problem was discovered by a company investigation.

Dealers will install a new steering wheel back cover and steering column shroud. The company says it will notify customers when parts are available.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A man charged in the shooting deaths of a Wichita couple during a robbery has pleaded guilty.

The Wichita Eagle reports that 19-year-old Carlos Delacadena-Edwards pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree intentional murder and one count of aggravated robbery on Monday as part of a plea agreement.

Delacadena-Edwards and 21-year-old Steve Wade Edwards II are accused of killing 72-year-old Godofredo Moreno and his 71-year-old wife, Martha, in October 2014 while trying to collect a debt from the couple’s son.

Delacadena-Edwards was 17 at the time, but he was tried as an adult. He is scheduled to be sentenced July 13.

Edwards II pleaded guilty last week to two counts of first-degree felony murder, aggravated robbery and aggravated burglary.

SHAWNEE COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Shawnee County are asking the public for help to locate a person of interest.

Jesse Hughes, 19, Topeka, is wanted for two counts of Aggravated Battery, Aggravated Assault and Child Endangerment as a result of a shooting on Southwest 37th Terrace in Topeka, according to a media release.

The suspect left the area in a brown 4-door car. He is considered armed and dangerous.

Authorities advise those with information on Hughes to contact Topeka Police or Crimestoppers