NEW YORK (AP) — Glenn Frey, who co-founded the Eagles and with Don Henley became one of history’s most successful songwriting teams with such hits as “Hotel California” and “Life in the Fast Lane,” has died.
Frey was 67 and had been battling multiple ailments. He died Monday. The band’s website says he died in New York.
Guitarist Frey and drummer Henley formed the Eagles in Los Angeles in the early 1970s, along with guitarist Bernie Leadon and bassist Randy Meisner. They would become a top act over the next decade, embodying the melodic California sound.
An Eagles greatest hits collection from the mid-1970s and “Hotel California” are among the best-selling albums in history.
Frey was born in Detroit and was raised in the suburbs. His solo hits include “The Heat Is On” and “Smuggler’s Blues.”
SUMNER COUNTY- The victim in a fatal Sumner County ATV accident has been identified as Nathan Lee Doll, 10, Conway Springs.
A memorial service for the boy is scheduled for Tuesday, according to the Ebersole Mortuary web site.
The accident in the 900 Block of North Ryan Road happened just after 4:30p.m. on Friday, according to the Sumner County Sheriff’s Department. He was pronounced dead at scene.
A memorial has been established at St. Joseph Catholic School in Conway Springs, according to the Mortuary. Doll was a fourth grade student at the school.
The Sumner County Sheriff’s office is expected to release additional details on Tuesday.
LARNED, Kan. (AP) — Internal reports show that employees at one of Kansas’ state mental hospitals have racked up significant overtime hours.
The Topeka Capital-Journal obtained four weeks of overtime data for the hospital’s nursing department covering much of December. The paper says its analysis shows that in recent weeks more than half of all employees in Larned State Hospital’s nursing department have worked overtime. Hundreds of workers have accumulated more than eight hours of overtime during a single week. And some have logged more than 40 hours of overtime in that span.
The new leader of the Kansas Department of Aging and Disability Services — which oversees state hospitals — told employees this past week that he wants to cut nursing vacancies in half. The agency says it’s taking steps to improve.
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — An association that operates a historic railroad in northeast Kansas has suffered tens of thousands of dollars in damages from vandals and other intruders over the past several years.
The Lawrence Journal-World reports that the Midland Railroad Historical Association hauls around 25,000 passengers between Baldwin City and Ottawa each year. It also showcases multiple historic pieces of train equipment.
General Manager Allen Kinsley says that last week, a passenger car built in 1916 was vandalized yet again. The car was taken out of service years ago and sidelined until some wheel work could be done.
Since it’s been out of service, the car has been frequently visited by vandals and thieves looking for scrap copper.
He says damage estimates exceed the insurance policy maximum of $30,000.
Republican Rep. Jim Kelly represents Independence, the southeast Kansas community that recently lost its only hospital. Kelly was named Wednesday to Gov. Sam Brownback’s new rural health care working group. KHI NEWS SERVICE
A key member of Gov. Sam Brownback’s new rural health working group says he hopes the initiative is a serious effort to address problems facing rural providers, not an attempt to divert attention from a renewed push to expand the state’s Medicaid program.
Republican Rep. Jim Kelly represents Independence, the southeast Kansas community that recently lost its only hospital due to budget problems exacerbated by federal reductions in Medicare reimbursement rates and the state’s rejection of Medicaid expansion.
Kelly supports Medicaid expansion. But he said continuing opposition from Brownback and Republican legislative leaders makes it unlikely that expansion advocates will win approval of a plan this session to draw down millions of additional federal dollars and provide health coverage to more poor adults, many of whom are now uninsured.
Still, he’s hopeful that the working group can stimulate a meaningful discussion about what else the state can do to help both providers and rural Kansans struggling to get health care.
“I hope it (the working group) is a serious effort to try to come up with a way to address the situation before another one, two or three hospitals close and we have other communities experiencing the same thing that I’ve lived through the last six months,” Kelly said.
Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer, who will head the nine-member working group, said it was formed to address the problems of health care delivery in rural Kansas.
“As a fifth-generation rural Kansan and a physician, I understand that rural hospitals are often the lifeblood of their community,” Colyer said in a news release issued by the governor’s office. “We must continue to form Kansas solutions to sustain rural health care.”
Colyer, a plastic surgeon, grew up in Hays but now lives in Overland Park.
Brownback announced the formation of the group Tuesday in his State of the State speech immediately after charging that the Affordable Care Act, which he referred to as Obamacare, was responsible for the increased financial pressures on rural providers.
“We should not expand Obamacare to solve the problem,” he said, reasserting his opposition to Medicaid expansion.
Despite what is certain to be an uphill battle, the Kansas Hospital Association is preparing to renew its push for an expansion plan modeled after those adopted in other red states headed by Republican governors generally opposed to the ACA.
The proposal, which could be introduced next week as a bill, is expected to resemble a so-called consumer-driven plan adopted in Indiana that requires beneficiaries to contribute to the cost of their care and penalizes those who don’t pay their premiums on time.
Cindy Samuelson, a KHA spokesperson, said the association’s focus on expansion doesn’t mean its members aren’t also open to ideas generated by the governor’s working group.
“Expanding KanCare is just one opportunity we have to help rural providers,” Samuelson said. “We hope the new group would add a sense of urgency to the issues facing the delivery of health care in rural Kansas.”
KanCare is the name given to Kansas’ Medicaid program when it was privatized in 2013.
The working group includes four legislators, all Republicans. In addition to Kelly they are Sen. Mitch Holmes, of St. John, and the chairs of the House and Senate health committees: Rep. Dan Hawkins, of Wichita, and Sen. Mary Pilcher-Cook, of Olathe.
Also serving are Susan Mosier, secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, and Kari Bruffett, a former secretary of the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services who now directs policy at the Kansas Health Institute, parent organization of the editorially independent KHI News Service.
Two rural health care providers round out the group’s members: Linda Stalcup, CEO of Stevens County Hospital in Hugoton, and Dr. Jenifer Cook.
No date has been set for the working group’s first meeting, but Colyer said it would occur during the 2016 legislative session, which started this week and is scheduled to end in May.
Brownback has given the group a year to finish its work.
Jim McLean is executive editor of KHI News Service in Topeka, a partner in the Heartland Health Monitor team.
Elon Musk has posted a video on his Instagram account of the moment SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket landed on a floating ocean barge, toppled over and exploded into pieces.
The rocket made the hard landing Sunday after launching from Vandenberg Air Force Base, northwest of Los Angeles, and successfully delivering an ocean-monitoring satellite into orbit.
Musk tweeted that the lockout collet on one of the rocket’s four legs didn’t latch, causing it to tip over after landing. He said the “root cause may have been ice buildup due to condensation from heavy fog at liftoff.”
The failed landing was a setback for the Hawthorne, California, company’s plan to reduce launch costs by reusing rockets rather than having them fall into the ocean.
___
2:15 p.m.
SpaceX says its Falcon 9 rocket toppled over upon landing on a floating ocean barge because one of its support legs didn’t lock as planned.
The California company said on Twitter Sunday that data now show that the rocket’s first stage landed softly within 1.3 meters of the center of the 300-by-170 foot landing pad.
Founder Elon Musk tweeted that the rocket’s speed at touchdown was OK, “but a leg lockout didn’t latch, so it tipped over after landing.” Officials previously said the support leg broke.
The rocket successfully delivered an ocean-monitoring satellite into orbit after launching from Vandenberg Air Force Base, northwest of Los Angeles.
SpaceX hopes to reduce launch costs by reusing rockets rather than having them fall into the ocean.
NASA says the U.S.-European Jason-3 satellite is in orbit and “ready for science operations.”
___
11:45 a.m.
The first stage of a SpaceX rocket that delivered an ocean-monitoring satellite into orbit made a hard landing on an ocean barge and broke a support leg.
SpaceX announcers said the Falcon 9 was not upright after reaching the 300-by-170 foot landing pad west of San Diego on Sunday morning. No further details were immediately available.
The rocket launched as planned at 10:42 a.m. from Vandenberg Air Force Base, northwest of Los Angeles, sending its second stage and a Jason-3 satellite into orbit.
The failed landing is a blow to the California-based company’s plan to reduce launch costs by reusing rockets rather than having them fall into the ocean.
The mission of Jason-3 is to continue an unbroken record of more than two decades of sea level measurements from orbit.
___
11 a.m.
An ocean-monitoring satellite that launched from the California coast has separated from its SpaceX rocket and been sent toward orbit.
With the Falcon 9 rocket’s second stage and the Jason-3 satellite continuing toward orbit, SpaceX will now try to land its first stage on a floating barge in the Pacific Ocean.
Liftoff occurred as planned at 10:42 a.m. Sunday from Vandenberg Air Force Base, northwest of Los Angeles.
The mission of the Jason-3 satellite is to continue an unbroken record of more than two decades of sea level measurements from orbit.
California-based SpaceX hopes to reduce launch costs by reusing rockets rather than having them fall into the ocean.
___
10:45 a.m.
A U.S.-European satellite designed to detect and measure ocean phenomena has launched aboard a SpaceX rocket under mostly cloudy skies from the California coast.
Liftoff occurred as planned at 10:42 a.m. Sunday from Vandenberg Air Force Base, northwest of Los Angeles.
After sending the Jason-3 satellite into orbit the Falcon 9 rocket will attempt to land its discarded first stage on a floating barge in the Pacific Ocean.
The mission of Jason-3 is to continue an unbroken record of more than two decades of sea level measurements from orbit.
Like its predecessors, Jason-3 is equipped with radar altimeter to bounce microwave energy off the ocean and a GPS system to identify the satellite’s precise location.
The cost of the mission, including five years of operation, was put at $180 million.
Cumulative number of earthquakes with a magnitude of 3.0 or larger in the central and eastern United States, 1973-2015. The rate of earthquakes began to increase starting around 2009 and accelerated in 2013-2014-USGS image CLICK to ENLARGE
SETH BORENSTEIN, Associated Press
KELLY P. KISSEL, Associated Press
SEAN MURPHY, Associated Press
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma and Kansas changed their drilling regulations amid a rise in the number of earthquakes last year, but only Kansas has seen a marked drop in the number of temblors.
An Associated Press analysis shows that between late 2014 and late 2015, the number of Kansas quakes fell by 60 percent. Oklahoma’s rose 10 percent over the same period.
Kansas regulated how much wastewater could be injected into the earth after its use in oil and gas drilling. Oklahoma initially put limits on how deep the water could go.
Scientists say it is too early to reach firm conclusions, but fear that Oklahoma’s trend of having more, smaller earthquakes could be setting a course for the big one. Earthquakes two weeks ago knocked out power in an Oklahoma City suburb.
HUTCHINSON -A Kansas teenager was injured in an accident just after 12:15 p.m. on Sunday in Reno County.
The Reno County Sheriff reported a vehicle driven by Kenda Raber, 17, Nickerson, was traveling near the intersection of 56th and Lorraine. She lost control of the vehicle and it rolled.
Raber was transported to Hutchinson Regional Medical Center with a head injury, according to deputies.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A national networking event for businesses, entrepreneurs and start-ups is coming to Wichita.
KWCH-TV reports that the program, called 1 Million Cups, is a weekly gathering that allows business owners, start-ups, or anyone with an idea they want to pursue meet and talk.
The program will be free and open to the public every Wednesday from 9 to 10 a.m. starting Feb. 10 at Wichita State University Old Town location. People in Wichita will present their ideas to the audience and then engage in a question-and-answer session.
The program started in Kansas City and is now in 80 cities across the U.S.
The program’s representatives say they have seen 1 Million Cups improve business life across the county, and they expect to see similar results in Wichita.
Oregon State has suspended Jarmal Reid at least four games for tripping a referee during Sunday night’s loss at Utah. Watch the play here.
Coach Wayne Tinkle announced the suspension on Monday. Reid also issued a statement apologizing for his actions.
Tinkle said Reid’s conduct over the next two weeks will determine if additional discipline will be taken.
Reid sent referee Tommy Nunez tumbling to the court and was ejected with 2:56 remaining in Utah’s 59-53 victory over Oregon State on Sunday night.
After stealing the ball from Utah’s Jacob Poeltl, who was driving to the basket, Reid tried dribbling upcourt. But Poeltl appeared to bump Reid and the Oregon State forward slipped and fell to the floor.
Reid, a senior, complained that there was no foul call, and while getting up he seemed to make eye contact with the Nunez. Then, he stuck his right leg out and Nunez tumbled to the court.
KAREEM COPELAND, AP Sports Writer
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Oregon State forward Jarmal Reid tripped a referee and was ejected with 2:56 remaining, starting Utah’s rally that led to a 59-53 victory Sunday night. Watch the play here.
Reid fell to the floor when a Utah player, lunging for the ball, seemed to bump the Oregon State forward as he dribbled out from the paint. Reid complained that there was no foul call and while getting up it appeared that he made eye contact with the referee and stuck his right leg out. The ref tripped and stumbled to the court.
Reid was assessed a Flagrant 2, and Brandon Taylor made the free throw to give Utah a 53-52 lead.
The Beavers were outscored 6-1 the rest of the way.
HOISINGTON – Law enforcement authorities in Barton County continue to investigate a case of alleged stolen property and drugs at 117 East 4th Street in Hoisington.
Since the original search warrant at the address, there have been two additional search warrants executed for stolen property and drugs according to a press release.
Just after 11 a.m. on January 16, the Hoisington Police Department along with Detectives with the Barton County Sheriff’s Office and Great Bend Police Department executed the third search warrant at this address.
Items seized included drugs and drug paraphernalia as well as more stolen property to include another stolen firearm.
Arrested at the scene was Timothy Orr for possession of methamphetamine, two counts of possession of marijuana, three counts of possession of drug paraphernalia and three counts of possession of stolen property. Orr was booked into the Barton County Jail in lieu of bond.
HILLEL ITALIE, AP National Writer
