Flooding along the Amtrak line photo by Edie Madison
The Associated Press
The latest developments on flooding in the Midwest (all times local):
8:20 a.m.
Amtrak has suspended traffic on a route that runs from Kansas City to St. Louis because of flooding in Missouri.
Amtrak spokesman Craig Schulz says the cancellations started Wednesday.
He says passengers with tickets on the River Runner will be bused on Thursday, though that service will bypass the two cities that are popular because of nearby wineries.
Train service from Kansas City to Jefferson City will resume Friday. People going on to St. Louis will have to ride a bus.
The Amtrak route shares a line that is also used for freight traffic.
Kari Bruffett, secretary of the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services, told an oversight committee Tuesday there are issues to consider before deciding whether to pursue recertification of Osawatomie State Hospital. JIM MCLEAN / HEARTLAND HEALTH MONITOR
By JIM MCLEAN
State officials have not decided whether to seek federal recertification of the Osawatomie State Hospital for Kansans with mental illness.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services decertified the hospital earlier this month because of the state’s failure to address security and safety issues cited by federal inspectors, who concluded the sexual assault of a hospital worker by a patient in October was due in part to lax security.
Decertification is expected to cost the hospital approximately $1 million a month in Medicare reimbursements and other federal payments.
Even so, Kari Bruffett, secretary of the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services, told members of a legislative oversight committee Tuesday that there are issues to consider before deciding whether to pursue recertification.
“Part of the question for the agency, the administration, legislators and policymakers is what is the trade-off for the bed capacity versus the funding that comes with certification,” Bruffett said.
Renovations prompted by an earlier federal inspection have reduced the hospital’s capacity by 60 beds at a time when in-patient psychiatric beds are in short supply across the state. Recertification would require additional renovations, which Bruffett said would force the state to continue limiting admissions.
The hospital is licensed for 206 beds, but the renovations have reduced its capacity to 146. Osawatomie is one of two state-run inpatient treatment facilities for Kansans with severe and persistent mental illness. The other is in Larned.
Recertification also would require the state to administratively separate the portion of Osawatomie hospital in which Medicare patients would be treated from the rest of the facility and to maintain separate nursing staffs. That could be difficult, Bruffett said, given the problems officials have staffing the existing facility.
“It’s very difficult (to recruit staff) in an area that’s close to the Kansas City metro area,” Bruffett said, explaining that the state often can’t match the salaries offered by private hospitals. “Absolutely, that ability to compete on salary is part of the issue.”
The cost of maintaining separate nursing staffs is another consideration, she said.
“It isn’t about providing more care, it’s about meeting an administrative requirement to have separate nursing staff,” Bruffett said.
Rep. Jim Ward, a Wichita Democrat and member of the joint legislative committee charged with overseeing KanCare, the state’s privatized Medicaid program, criticized Bruffett and other state officials for failing to address longstanding problems at Osawatomie that led to decertification.
“The (federal) findings say there’s been a systemic failure at the hospital to provide basic services,” Ward said. “That’s shameful, and it should be fixed.”
Privatizing some or all of the hospital’s services is among the options being considered, Bruffett said. She said finding a private partner to help maintain and operate the psychiatric hospital could be a way to fund needed improvements.
“Any discussion of privatizing some or all of the hospital’s services, beds or whatever has to be tied to an increase in investment,” Bruffett said. “We’ve looked at other states where they’ve worked with private partners and got new hospital construction as part of the deal.”
The question of whether to pursue recertification has added urgency to the privatization discussions, said Bruffett, who is in her last days as KDADS secretary. She will start work in 2016 as director of policy for the Kansas Health Institute.
Editor’s note: Heartland Health Monitor partner KHI News Service is affiliated with but editorially independent of the Kansas Health Institute.
Jim McLean is executive editor of KHI News Service in Topeka, a partner in the Heartland Health Monitor team.
SALINA- Law enforcement authorities in Saline County are investigating an employee at Sam’s Club in Salina for alleged theft.
James Riley Connor, 24, Assaria, was arrested on Tuesday on
requested charges of felony theft after he gave away three sets of tires from the store’s automotive department, according to
Salina Police Captain Chris Trocheck .
Conner gave the tires away on October 27, to a girlfriend, his landlord and one other person.
The value of the tires has been placed at $2,400, according to police.
POTTAWOTOMIE COUNTY- Law enforcement authorities in Pottawatomie County continues the investigation of Tuesday’s shooting incident.
Two vehicles are believed to be involved in this incident, a blue 2001 Buick LeSabre driven by the suspect and a red 1992 Chevrolet pickup driven by the victim.
The suspect, Dakota Fair, 18, is believed to have fired a gun from his at the pickup the victim was driving.
These vehicles may have been together around 4:30 p.m. this same day in the area South of Highway 24 and Flush Road, and are believed to have left this location together, ending up west of Lake Elbo Road on Mt. Zion Road, according to the Sheriff’s Department.
The victim and suspect are believed to have known each other.
The shooting victim has been identified as Tyrel C. Britton, 23, Westmoreland.
A female passenger in the suspect vehicle who was interviewed has also been taken into custody and identified as Melissa Umscheid, 21, of rural Wamego.
She is currently being held at the Pottawatomie County Jail for Criminal Solicitation. Bond has not been set at this time.
Anyone having information on this incident is asked to contact the Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office at 785-457-3353. At this time no further suspects are being sought.
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POTAWATOMIE COUNTY- Law enforcement authorities in Pottawatomie County are investigating a Tuesday shooting.
Just before 5 p.m., the Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Dispatch received a 911 call of a man walking towards a residence who was bleeding, according to a Sheriff’s Department media release.
The caller who lived west of Lake Elbo Road on Mt. Zion Road had also reported hearing what they believed was the sound of a gunshot.
Sheriff Deputies and emergency medical and fire units responded to the area. Deputies arriving on scene learned the man who was bleeding had been shot.
The victim was able to name the suspect to the Deputies. It was also discovered that the suspect had a woman passenger with him in his vehicle.
During the evening the Sheriff’s Office searched in the area west of Louisville and also received reports on the whereabouts of the suspect.
At about 6:45 p.m., the woman passenger who was reported to have been in the suspect’s car was located and taken to the Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office to be interviewed about the shooting.
At about 8:30 p.m. the suspect was taken into custody at his residence, 16575 Cannonball Rd in Louisville. The suspect, Dakota Blake Fair, 18, was transported to the Pottawatomie County Jail. He is being held for attempted murder.
The victims name is not being released at this time. He was flown from the scene to a hospital in Topeka.
MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — Up to 10,000 New Year’s Eve revelers are expected to turn out in the Kansas town known as the Little Apple for a ball-drop event modeled after the one in New York’s Times Square.
Manhattan is staging its annual New Year’s Eve celebration in the Aggieville bar and entertainment district. Thursday’s festivities begin at 10:30 p.m. and include music and fireworks. The event culminates at midnight with the lowering of a ball from atop Varney’s bookstore.
It’s reminiscent of the ball drop in the Big Apple, a Times Square tradition for more than a century.
Lawrence Memorial Hospital CREDIT SUSIE FAGAN / HEARTLAND HEALTH MONITOR
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Lawrence Memorial Hospital officials say the three insurance companies managing Kansas’ Medicaid system routinely turn down legitimate claims to hold down costs.
The three contractors for the state’s privatized Medicaid system, known as KanCare, deny the accusation. The Lawrence Journal-World reports other hospitals have made such accusations in the past.
Taryn Schraad, who deals with insurance claims appeals at the Lawrence hospital, told a state legislative panel Tuesday that the facility frequently gets denial notices, often with no explanation given. Officials from the three companies that manage the system insisted they don’t send out such notices without an explanation.
The committee encouraged Lawrence hospital officials to return to the next meeting with examples of claim denials they found were unreasonable or unexplained.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Five people have been arrested in the stabbing death of a Wichita man whose body was found in a sport utility vehicle on Christmas Eve.
The Wichita Eagle reports that the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Capt. Greg Pollock announced the arrests during a news conference Tuesday. The suspects range in age from 20 to 28.
The five suspects are jailed in the death of 42-year-old Moises Arias-Aranda. Park City police officer found Arias-Aranda dead in a maroon, 1994 Ford Explorer shortly before 7 p.m. Dec. 24. Four were arrested Monday in Wichita, while an Oklahoma man was arrested there on Tuesday.
Three of the other suspects are from Wichita, while the fifth is from California.
OSAGE COUNTY – A Kansas woman was injured in an accident just after 8a.m. on Wednesday in Osage County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2003 Jeep Liberty driven by Rebecca Ann Linville, 22, Mission Hills, was southbound on Interstate 35 near U.S. 75. The driver crossed the Coal Creek Bridge and lost control of the vehicle. It entered the center median and overturned.
Linville was transported to Overland Park Regional Medical Center.
She was properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.
GREAT BEND -A Kansas man was arrested on kidnapping and aggravated battery charges after an incident Tuesday night Southeast of Great Bend.
Officers responded just before 6:30 p.m. to the 100 bock of Kiowa Road to a report that a woman had been taken against her will.
Barton County Sheriff Brian Bellendir says at that point an “attempt to locate” bulletin was issued.
“At about 8p.m. a trooper with the Kansas Highway Patrol located a vehicle at the intersection of 12th and Adams in Great Bend,” said Bellendir. “When he attempted to stop the driver, the suspect bolted from the truck and fled on foot.”
Great Bend Police and Sheriff’s deputies surrounded and conducted a search of the area between 10th and 12th Street between Adams and Jefferson.
The suspect identified as Dalton L Contrerez, 28, Great Bend, was found hiding in a crawl space of a residence, according to Belinder.
Contrerez was taken into custody without incident and was arrested and booked on charges of kidnapping, aggravated battery and interference with a law enforcement officer. He is being held in the Barton County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bond.
The female victim was located in the area and was found to have minor injuries. The case is still under investigation by the Barton County Sheriff’s Office.
WICHITA- Law enforcement authorities in Sedgwick County are investigating a series of crimes involving ATM thefts.
In the seven December cases, suspects approach people in their cars in parking lots demanding to get in, according to report from the Wichita Police Department.
Once they get in, they make the victims drive to an ATM and withdraw money. The suspect description has been the same on all 5 robberies
One suspect is described as a black male 20-25 years old, 5’10 to 6’ tall, slender build, black hair, possibly braided, and facial hair.
The second suspect is described as a black male 20-26 years old 5’8” to 6’ tall, medium build, black hair and facial hair.
A possible suspect vehicle is described as a Green 90’s 4-door sedan
In all of the robberies, the suspects were armed with a handgun.
Police encourage the public to help in reporting anything they see that is suspicious to 911 immediately.
Additionally, police encourage the public to take the following safety precautions:
Be aware of your surroundings
Do not leave valuables in plain sight in your vehicle
Park in well-lit areas
Have your cell phone in hand to report suspicious activity
Let people know when you are leaving or returning
PARK CITY – Three people were injured in an accident just after 6a.m. on Wednesday in Sedgwick County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2016 Kenworth semi driven by Rick Alan Janes, 38, Princeton, was northbound on Interstate 135 at Park City.
The semi collided with a 2004 Jeep driven by Pamela A. Martinez-Manriquez, 24, Grand Island, Nebraska. She had lost control of the vehicle due to slick road conditions.
Martinez-Manriquez and passengers in the Jeep Isael Rios, 36, and Reyna Manrrquez, 39, all of Grand Island, NE., were transported to St. Francis Medical Center.
Janes was not injured.
All were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.
Spring River about to cross U166 East of Baxter Springs -Photo Cherokee County Emergency Mgmt
CARL JUNCTION, Mo. (AP) — Authorities have recovered the body of a missing Kansas man from the Spring River in southwest Missouri. Thirty-year-old Christopher Foreman of Erie is counted among the 13 people who’ve died in Missouri flooding since the weekend.
Nearly all of them were in vehicles that drove into water covering roads.
NEW YORK (AP) — Law enforcement officials say New York Knicks player Cleanthony Early has been shot in the leg during a robbery outside a Queens strip club.
The two officials say Early was in a cab at around 4:30 a.m. Wednesday outside the club CityScapes when the vehicle was surrounded by at least two other cars.
The officials say masked men got out and demanded Early’s “gold,” took a necklace and other belongings and shot him in the right leg.
The officials were not authorized to release the victim’s name and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
The 24-year-old Early is hospitalized in stable condition. The team said in a statement that it was aware of the incident and relieved it wasn’t life-threatening.
Early attended Witchita State and was drafted in 2014. The Bronx, NY-native led the Shockers to an undefeated regular season (34-0), with averages of 16.4 points on 48.6-percent shooting and 5.9 rebounds.
