LA CYGNE, Kan. (AP) — Federal officials are investigating after a worker fell 33 feet at an east-central Kansas power plant.

The U.S. Department of Labor said in a news release Wednesday that the worker was demolishing a filtration device called a precipitator when he fell Tuesday at KCP&L’s La Cygne Power Plant. The release said the man remains hospitalized. He works for Brandenburg Industrial Service Company of Chicago. No one from the company immediately returned a phone message from The Associated Press seeking comment.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration will lead the investigation. Judy Freeman, of OSHA, says falls are one of the leading causes of workplace deaths and injuries. But she stressed that they are “very preventable” when workers have proper protective equipment and training.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Health care advocates in Kansas are strongly criticizing a proposal from Republican Gov. Sam Brownback for decreasing prescription drug costs for the state’s Medicaid program.

They told the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee on Wednesday that the governor’s proposal could deny needed medications to people with chronic conditions and severe mental illnesses.

The committee took testimony on a bill eliminating the state’s ban on so-called step therapy with prescriptions in the Medicaid program.

In step therapy, patients are required to try less-expensive drugs first and have the treatment fail before obtaining more expensive prescriptions. Supporters say allowing Medicaid to use step therapy makes sense.

Brownback’s administration projects savings of nearly $11 million for the fiscal year beginning July 1. The state must close a projected $190 million budget shortfall.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — The University of Kansas has unblocked limited information about two fraternities that were placed on probation for hazing.

But the Lawrence Journal-World reports that most of the information it sought when it initially requested documents from the school in October remains redacted. The paper raised concerns in December about the redactions with an open records appeal.

The university responded by provided a slightly less-redacted version of one of the five documents initially given to the newspaper. But the newspaper reported that all information remains hidden about the nature and severity of hazing behaviors by the Delta Tau Delta and Phi Beta Sigma fraternities. The fraternities have said some members have been disciplined.

The university says it met its obligation under the law to provide information without compromising student privacy.

SHAWNEE COUNTY- Three adults and a child were injured in an accident just after 7a.m. on Wednesday in Shawnee County.

The Kansas Highway patrol reported a 1999 Ford Ranger driven by William Ernest Jernberg, 17, Tecumseh, was eastbound on Kansas 4 at 46th Street.

The driver failed to stop and collided with a 2012 Chevy Malibu driven by Bailey J. Zobel, 28, Topeka, that was stopped, yielding to turn left onto Northeast46th.

The Malibu was pushed into oncoming traffic, striking a 2004 Chevy Silverado head-on.

The Silverado driven by Amanda Marie Butler, 38, Meriden, also hit a 2013 Kia Forte driven by Veanna K. Unruh, 65, Topeka, that was stopped at the stop sign on Northeast 46th.

Zobel, Butler and Unruh were transported to Stormont Vail.

A passenger in the Malibu Kranston Lee James Haehn, 5, Topeka was transported to Children’s Mercy.

Jernberg was not injured.

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

By DAN MARGOILES

More than 100 people who attended the New Theatre Restaurant in Overland Park on Sunday, Jan. 17, reported becoming ill, according to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.

In a news release Wednesday, the agency says it’s investigating an outbreak of norovirus infection. Symptoms of the extremely contagious virus include diarrhea, vomiting, nausea and stomach pain.

KDHE says it’s conducting a confidential online survey of people who attended the matinee and evening performances staged that day at the popular dinner theater.

Rob McGraw, the New Theatre’s vice president of marketing, said the theater got a call from one of its patrons on Tuesday and immediately contacted KDHE.

He described the virus as very common. “You can catch the flu anywhere,” he said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says norovirus is the most common cause of acute gastroenteritis in the United States, causing 19 million to 21 million illnesses annually. It’s also the most common cause of foodborne-disease outbreaks.

Dan Margolies, editor of the Heartland Health Monitor team, is based at KCUR. You can reach him on Twitter @DanMargolies.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A judge will hear arguments next month on the request to dismiss the lawsuit filed by a Wichita mathematician who is seeking to audit voting machine results after finding statistical anomalies in election counts.

A hearing has been set for Feb. 18 in Sedgwick County District Court.

Wichita State University statistician Beth Clarkson wants the tapes to check the error rate on electronic voting machines used at a Sedgwick County voting station during the November 2014 general election.

Sedgwick County contends it is statutorily prohibited from producing the voting machine tapes, which it contends are not open records. It also argued the issue was settled in an earlier lawsuit.

But Clarkson’s attorney, Randall Rathbun, disagrees. He said Wednesday issues raised in the past are not being litigated in this case.

SALINA -The Kansas Bureau of Investigation has released details on the death of man who was in police custody.

According to the release, Salina Police officers were dispatched to a report of a disturbance in the 2000 block of Norton Street just before 5:30 p.m. Monday evening. When officers arrived, they located a woman with injuries. 50 year-old Scott A. Brunson was then taken into custody on allegations of domestic battery and resisting arrest. He was subsequently transported to the Saline County Jail.

Once at the jail, Brunson was allegedly involved in an altercation with jail staff. Two Saline County Sheriff’s Office deputies were injured in the altercation. Brunson and both deputies were transported to Salina Regional Health Center. Brunson was pronounced dead early Tuesday morning. One of the deputies was treated and released, and the other was kept for treatment and observation.

The KBI is conducting an investigation into the in-custody death. For the sanctity of the investigation, the KBI will be releasing no further information until the investigation is complete and has been reviewed by the Saline County Attorney’s Office.

MIKE SCHNEIDER, Associated Press

FAIRFIELD, Ala. (AP) — An Associated Press analysis shows that the closing of more than 150 Wal-Mart stores nationwide will create three food deserts in Alabama, Kansas and Arkansas.

Stores slated to shut down Thursday will leave residents in Ellsworth, Clearwater, and parts of Wichita,  Fairfield, Alabama; and Coal Hill, Arkansas; without a supermarket.

The federal government considers a neighborhood a food desert if at least a fifth of residents live in poverty and a third live more than a mile from a supermarket in urban areas, or more than 10 miles in rural areas.

Another 31 neighborhoods in 15 states will also lack access to grocery stores after Wal-Mart’s closures. But those aren’t as impoverished.

Wal-Mart says it has a good track record in needy neighborhoods and is offering help to the communities it’s leaving.

HUTCHINSON – A Kansas man was arrested Wednesday morning on a charge of alleged sexual exploitation of a child.

Douglas Anthony Kennel, 45, Hutchinson, was arrested following an investigation that began when the suspect took an old phone to have data transferred to his new phone.

The worker transferring the data saw images that he thought were possibly child porn.

Hutchinson Police Detective Scott Carlton says after investigating they found over 4,000 images on the phone’s S-D card. Police believe the images were downloaded from a file-sharing site.

Kennel apparently came to the police station to talk with the detective and was arrested.

Kennel is a registered sex offender with convictions for two counts in Harvey County for a conviction for indecent liberties with a child from 1997.

His bond in the Reno County case is set at $10,000 and should make a first appearance in court Thursday.

WICHITA – A Kansas woman died in an accident just after 8 a.m. on Wednesday in Sedgwick County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 1997 GMC pickup driven by Brenda Theresa Petrey, 63, Kechi, was northbound on Webb Road.

The driver failed to yield at Kansas 254. An eastbound 2014 Dodge Ram pick driven by Joshua Jay Mathews, 35, Whitewater, 35, collided with the GMC pickup.

Petrey was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to the Sedgwick County Forensics Lab.

Mathews was not injured.

Both drivers were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.

 

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WICHITA – A Kansas woman died in an accident just after 8 a.m. on Wednesday in Sedgwick County.

Update: 1 confirmed fatality from the crash on K-254 / Webb Road.

— Trooper Chad (@TrooperChadKHP) January 27, 2016

 

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported the crash on Kansas 254 at Webb Road.

The names of the drivers have not been released. The accident remains under investigation.

Check Hays Post for additional details as they become available.

FORT RILEY – The visit by Secretary of Defense Ash Carter to Fort Riley scheduled for Thursday has been canceled, according to officials at Fort Riley. No explanation was provided by the Defense Department.

Currently there are no plans to reschedule the visit.

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FORT RILEY -Defense Secretary Ash Carter is coming to Kansas, according to officials at Fort Riley.

He will be speaking to soldiers about military reforms at Fort Riley on Thursday.

Carter is the nation’s 25th Secretary of Defense.

According to his Defense Department bio, Secretary Carter earned his bachelor’s degrees in physics and in medieval history, summa cum laude, at Yale University, where he was also awarded Phi Beta Kappa; and he received his doctorate in theoretical physics from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar.

He was a physics instructor at Oxford, a postdoctoral fellow at Rockefeller University and M.I.T., and an experimental research associate at Brookhaven and Fermilab National Laboratories.

Secretary Carter is author or co-author of 11 books and more than 100 articles on physics, technology, national security, and management.

LEAVENWORTH COUNTY – A Kansas man was injured in an accident just before 7a.m. on Wednesday in Leavenworth County.

The Kansas Turnpike Authority reported a 2007 Isuzu passenger vehicle driven by Eugene Houston Mccarter, 32, Mission, was westbound on Interstate 70 near the Tonganoxie-Eudora exit.

The vehicle came over the crest of a hill and the driver was unable to avoid a semi traveling 50 miles-per-hour in the number 2 lane.

The Isuzu stuck the rear of the semi and caught fire.

Mccarter was transported to a local hospital.

The semi driver James Edward Long, 52, Edwardsville, was not injured.

The accident shut down the highway for a couple of hours.
Both drivers were properly restrained at the time of the accident.