SALINE COUNTY – A Kansas woman was injured in an accident just after 2p.m. on Saturday in Saline County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2011 Ford F150 driven by Richard B. Schaefer, 71, Wolf Lake, IL., was east bound on Kansas 4 just west of the city limits of Assaria.
The driver failed to stop at the stop sign at Old Highway 81 and collided with a northbound 2011 Ford Escape driven by Linda M. Rittel, 57, Salina.
Rittel was transported to Salina Regional Medical Center.
Schaefer and a passenger were not injured.
All were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Sedgwick County authorities say a 23-year-old man has died after being hit by a car.
The sheriff’s department says the accident occurred early Saturday morning. Sheriff’s Sgt. Lanon Thompson told The Wichita Eagle that emergency crews treated the victim on the scene, but that he died.
He says the driver of the vehicle was cooperating with investigators.
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — Sprint Corp. says in state filings that it has given layoff notices to 829 employees at its suburban Kansas City campus in the past three months.
The telecommunications company provided the information late Friday in a filing with the Kansas Department of Commerce.
The Kansas City Star reports that the notice was filed with the state under a federal law designed to give workers more notice when there are mass layoffs.
Job cuts have been expected since October when Sprint announced a $2.5 billion cost-cutting plan. But Sprint hadn’t released any numbers until Friday. The number of Sprint layoffs outside the Kansas City area hasn’t yet been disclosed.
A company spokeswoman says about 6,000 employees would remain at the company’s Overland Park campus after the job cuts.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A 30-year-old man has been convicted of fatally shooting a woman and wounding a man at a home in Kansas City, Kansas.
The Wyandotte County prosecutor’s office says jurors found Scottie Lindsay, of Kansas City, Kansas, guilty Friday of second-degree murder in the March 2015 shooting death of 37-year-old Melinda Bates Fuller. He also was convicted of attempted second-degree murder in the wounding of the man.
PRATT–The Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks, and Tourism (KDWPT) is seeking public input on Kansas’ State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP) through March 11. The action plan replaces the state’s existing Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy and is designed to identify the top priority species and habitats that need conservation efforts in the state. The plan also outlines potential conservation actions that can address the threats or issues these species and habitats face. The SWAP is necessary for Kansas to be eligible for State Wildlife Grants (SWG) and proactively conserve wildlife and habitats before they become rarer and more costly to protect.
“The SWAP is not just a conservation plan for KDWPT,” said state wildlife action plan coordinator, Megan Rohweder. “It’s a dynamic and adaptive document that can serve as a guide for other agencies, organizations, stakeholders, experts, and interested parties to ensure that Kansas’ wildlife and habitats are conserved for future generations.”
To date, KDWPT has worked with agency partners, conservation organizations, academic institutions, and other stakeholders to review and revise the plan to include information on climate change, as well as the development of geographically explicit areas in which to address conservation, called Ecological Focus Areas. The last piece of the puzzle is public input and now is the time for those voices to be heard.
To view the SWAP revision draft online, visit https://ksoutdoors.com/Services/Kansas-SWAP. Comments can be submitted via email through March 11 using the link available on the webpage.
SALINE COUNTY- Law enforcement authorities in Saline County are investigating a man and woman on drug charges.
The I-135/I-70 Drug Task Force arrested 26-year-old Sean Muchow and 30-year-old Stacy Humphrey, both of Salina, on drug charges after making several controlled buys between December 22nd and January 20th, according to a media release.
After making the drug buys, a search warrant was obtained for a home in the 1900 block of Dover Drive in Salina.
Methamphetamine, marijuana, and simulated methamphetamine were found in the home along with a small methamphetamine lab, according to the task force.
HUTCHINSON – Officials in Hutchinson are investigating the cause of a Saturday morning fire at a home in Hutchinson.
Just after 2 a.m. on Saturday the Hutchinson Fire Department under direction of Battalion Chief R. Albright responded to the 900 block of East 5th Ave for a reported structure fire, according to a media release.
When fire crews arrived, they found light smoke within the structure due to an exterior fire found on the backside of the home.
The fire was extinguished rapidly and contained to the exterior of the home.
Residents were home at the time and reported the fire. Damage is estimated at $500.00 and the cause remains undetermined.
Residents were able to return to the home after the incident.
Hutchinson Fire Department responded 6 units with no injuries reported.
Photo by Andy Marso Rocky Nichols, executive director of the Topeka-based Disability Rights Center, said Thursday that Gov. Sam Brownback and legislators should stop citing waiting lists for disability services as a reason to refuse Medicaid expansion.
By ANDY MARSO
Kansas’ largest disability advocacy group urged Gov. Sam Brownback and legislators Thursday to stop citing waiting lists for disability services as a reason to refuse Medicaid expansion.
The Big Tent Coalition, which represents Kansans with all types of disabilities, said the argument is disingenuous and is being used “as a method of evading sincere debate on the merits of a customized KanCare expansion plan.”
For a year Brownback’s administration has said the state should not accept Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act while the waiting lists exist — one Brownback staffer sent a mass email saying it would be “morally reprehensible” to do so.
But Rocky Nichols, executive director of the Topeka-based Disability Rights Center, said the budget the governor proposed last week proves that’s empty rhetoric.
The proposal cuts money from Medicaid services for Kansans who are frail and elderly or have physical or developmental disabilities, he said. “You can’t say we won’t expand Medicaid unless and until we eliminate the waiting lists … at the same time that you’re actually cutting funding for HCBS (home and community-based services),” Nichols said.
“If that’s important to you, then you need to do what? You need to put your money where your mouth is.” The governor’s spokeswoman, Eileen Hawley, said funding is not being cut for the disability services that have waiting lists.
The governor’s budget, on page 84, proposes to increase funding for physical disability services by almost $2 million in the current fiscal year but then decrease it by about $1.6 million in the fiscal year that begins in July. Developmental disability services would get a $1.2 million decrease in the current fiscal year and a $500,000 increase in the next.
The changes represent less than 2 percent of the total budgets for the programs. Hawley said the differences are a function of transfers between the medical programs of the waiver populations and their support programs, but the total money remains the same.
“We have not cut, nor are we considering a cut to, HCBS,” Hawley said. Medicaid in Kansas, known as KanCare, provides coverage for medical care mainly for people with disabilities and lower-income children and pregnant women.
The waiting lists are for Medicaid waiver services that provide supports for Kansans with disabilities who already may be receiving their medical care through Medicaid.
Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act would extend coverage to an estimated 150,000 low-income Kansans. Nichols said telling Kansans they must choose one or the other is a “false narrative.”
Medicaid expansion is fully federally funded until next year.
Then the federal share begins gradually decreasing to 90 percent, although President Barack Obama has proposed an extension of the full funding for states such as Kansas that haven’t yet expanded Medicaid.
Nichols said expanding Medicaid could help make the waiver services more accessible by improving the job market for direct care workers and personal attendants. He said ending the waiting lists has long been the coalition’s main goal, but the group also advocates Medicaid expansion.
“We can walk and chew gum at the same time, and we expect Kansas policymakers to do the same,” Nichols said.
He contrasted Brownback’s proposed budget with that of Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon, who Nichols said proposed sinking an extra $131 million into that state’s waiting list for developmental disability support services.
Nichols said the Missouri proposal received bipartisan support, with one Republican committee chairman even suggesting $131 million was not enough. The waiting lists have existed in Kansas throughout several administrations.
Mike Oxford, executive director of the Topeka Independent Living Center, said the Big Tent Coalition protested their growth under Republican Gov. Bill Graves and Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. Brownback’s administration used savings from the switch to Medicaid managed care under KanCare to reduce the lists when KanCare first rolled out.
But Oxford said the governor has lately fallen short on that promise, which is written into the KanCare contract Kansas signed with federal officials.
RILEY COUNTY- A Kansas man was injured in an accident just after 2 a.m. on Saturday in Riley County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2004 GMC Sierra driven by Brandon Scott Tucker, Fort Riley, 28, was westbound on K18 three miles west of the Manhattan airport.
The vehicle left the roadway entered the median, struck a culvert and overturned.
Tucker was transported to Via Christi in Manhattan.
He was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.
PRATT–Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism license and permit fee increases took effect Jan. 1, 2016 and with those fee changes, some new licenses are being offered. Five-year hunting, fishing and hunt/fish combination licenses are now available and offer significant savings compared to purchasing licenses individually each year. A five-year hunting or fishing license is $102.50, compared to purchasing the $27.50 annual hunting or fishing license each year for five years – $137.50. A five-year hunt/fish combination license is $182.50, compared to buying an annual combination hunt/fish license for five years – $212.50 if purchased before Feb. 1, or $237.50 if purchased after Jan. 31.
The five-year licenses offer convenience and savings; however, they do not provide the holder resident status if they should move from Kansas before the license expires. The license is valid through its expiration date, even if the holder moves to another state, but a five-year hunting license holder who becomes a nonresident is required to purchase nonresident deer and turkey permits. And therein lies the difference and perhaps confusion when comparing the five-year licenses to lifetime licenses. The holders of lifetime hunting licenses are always considered Kansas residents when purchasing turkey and big game permits, regardless of where they live.
Another new license offered this year is the early-purchase annual hunting/fishing combination license. If purchased before Feb. 1, the price is $42.50. If purchased after Jan. 31, the price is $47.50. If you purchase your hunting and fishing licenses individually, you’ll spend $55.
The license fee increases were necessary to maintain and enhance pivotal hunting and fishing programs. Deer and turkey permit prices had not increased since 1984 and general hunting and fishing license fees had remained the same since 2002. Youth and senior lifetime pass license fees were not increased.
For more information on 2016 license and permit fees, go to www.ksoutdoors.com and click “Licenses & Permits” in the top menu.
WICHITA – A Kansas teen was injured in an accident just after 9p.m. on Friday in Sedgwick County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2000 Ford F250 driven by Schmidt, Tamara D. Schmidt, 17, Wichita, was westbound on U.S. 54 at Meridan and struck a 2016 Ford Fusion driven by Demi M. Webber, 25, Wichita.
The pickup continued to the right and struck a 2004 Nissan Xterra driven by Troy D. Eck, 51, Wichita, and a 2014 Chevy Cruz driven by Ronnie P. Torrez Jr., 29, El Dorado.
Then the pickup left the roadway and overturned on the on ramp from Meridian to Westbound Kellogg.
Schmidt was transported to St. Francis Medical Center.
Webber, Eck and Torrez Jr., were not injured.
Schmidt was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas City, Kansas, man has been sentenced to life in prison in the death of a woman 18 years ago.
The Kansas City Star reports that the sentence was ordered Friday for 35-year-old Jason L. Rucker. He was convicted last year of first-degree murder in the October 1997 killing of 33-year-old Vicky Ernst.
Co-defendant Torry M. Johnson pleaded guilty in September to first-degree murder. He was sentenced last month to life in prison.
Under the law in place at the time of the killing, they will have to serve 15 years before being considered for parole.
Rucker and Johnson were teenagers when Ernst was beaten and her throat slashed inside her Kansas City, Kansas, home.
A fresh review of the case led prosecutors to charge the two men.
The three zoos want to bring a total of 18 elephants from Swaziland to their facilities. Importing the animals would allow the country to make room for critically endangered rhinos that have been threatened by drought conditions.
The Sedgwick County Zoo has a new elephant exhibit that will be opening in the spring. The facility is looking to get one male and five female elephants.
SALINE COUNTY – A Kansas woman was injured in an accident just after 2p.m. on Saturday in Saline County.
