PAWNEE COUNTY- 1 person died in an accident just before 5p.m. on Sunday in Pawnee County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2006 Harley Davidson Motorcycle driven by Joseph E. Freeman, 39, Broken Arrow, OK., was westbound on U.S. 56 one mile west of Pawnee Rock.
The driver lost control due to icy, slushy road conditions and collided with an eastbound 2014 Chevy Traverse driven by Jessica A. Poe, 38, Great Bend.
Freeman was transported to the hospital in Larned where he died.
Poe was transported to Great Bend Regional Medical Center.
Freeman was wearing a helmet, according to the KHP.
GRAY COUNTY – One person died and two were injured in an accident just before 4:30 p.m. on Sunday in Gray County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 1993 Mercedes 190 driven by Amedeo Grieco, 71, Santa Barbara, CA., was traveling westbound on U.S. 50 fifteen miles west of Cimarron.
The driver started losing control on slushy roads. The vehicle crossed the centerline and collided with a 2015 Toyota Highlander driven by Sallie J. Olomon, 47, Garden City.
Grieco was pronounced dead at the scene.
Olomon and a passenger in the Mercedes, Graziella L. Greico, 64, Garden City were transported to St. Catherine’s Hospital.
All were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.
GEARY COUNTY –Two people were injured in an accident just before 4p.m. on Sunday in Geary County.
The Kansas Highway patrol reported a 2011 Dodge Caravan driven by Theodore C. Fuller, 56, Gladstone, MO., was eastbound on Interstate 70 three miles east of Marshall Air Field.
The vehicle entered the south ditch and struck a rock embankment.
Fuller and a passenger Fuller, Tina M. Fuller, 51, Gladstone, Mo., were transported to the Geary Community Hospital.
Both were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.
Great Bend fire trucks at the scene in front of After Hours Night Club at 1318 Kansas Ave. Sunday afternoon.
GREAT BEND – Fire officials are investigating the cause of a fire downtown Great Bend Sunday afternoon.
Firefighters responded to a building in the 1300 Block Kansas Avenue.
The building has been closed since it was condemned by the City of Great Bend as an unsafe structure. something that Great Bend Fire Department Battalion Commander Eugene Perkins says was on the mind of fire fighters.
Perkins says there were no injuries since no one was in the building at the time of the fire.
An investigation will take place since there was no electricity or gas connected to the structure.
No damage estimate has been made at this time.
Last week, the Great Bend City Council was informed that the two owners of the building had taken the proper steps to have the building repaired. Those plans have been put on hold thanks to the Sunday blaze.
FORD COUNTY – Five people were injured in an accident just before 3:30 p.m. on Sunday in Ford County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2008 Ford F-150 driven by Deborah K. Schroeder, 38, Hutchinson was westbound on U.S.50 three miles east of Spearville.
The driver attempted to pass another vehicle and lost control of the pickup on icy roads.
The pickup left the roadway, entered the south ditch and rolled.
Schroeder and passengers Jerrica P. Schroeder, 10, Cody C. Schroeder, 15, Callie R. Schroeder, 7, all of Hutchinson, and Abana Blackburn, 8, Mentor, were transported to Western Plains Medical Center.
All were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Wichita double amputee says she didn’t have time to panic before managing to crawl to safety after waking up to flames next to her bed.
KAKE-TV reports Theresa Williams threw herself off her bed Sunday morning and struggled to get out of her home as it began to burn.
She was able to crawl from her bedroom to her front door, but that was the easy part compared to reaching two locks to get the door open.
A next-door neighbor called 911 after hearing Williams yelling and falling to the floor.
By the time Williams got out of her home neighbors were coming to her aid.
She lost all of her possessions and home in the blaze.
HUTCHINSON– The Hutchinson Fire Department responded to the 1600 Block of North Harding for a report of a barn that had collapsed and pinned four horses early Sunday morning.
Fire officials reported one unit along with a structural collapse team responded and found a 20’ x 15’ barn that had blown approximately 15 feet off of its foundation, pinning 4 ponies.
Crews used the Jaws of Life to lift the structure off of the ponies.
One pony self-extricated and the remaining three were removed manually.
The ponies were transferred to the care of the owner’s veterinarian.
The condition of the animals is not known at this time.
Hutchinson Fire responded with four units and was assisted by Hutchinson Police and Animal Control.
OSKALOOSA, Kan. (AP) — An eastern Kansas mental health facility director is uncertain if the facility will accept a $1.1 million federal loan because of concerns about state funding.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture says it’s awarded the $1.1 million loan to The Guidance Center to expand its Oskaloosa clinic.
Keith Rickard, executive director of The Guidance Center, told The Topeka Capital-Journal the center’s board of directors hasn’t decided if it will take the money because of funding concerns. He says the center relies on Medicaid, which provides about $6.5 million of its budget. The state general fund also granted it about $960,000 in past years.
Kansas Department of Aging and Disability Services spokeswoman Angela de Rocha said concerns about state grant funding are likely unfounded.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is taking up a group of cases challenging laws that make it a crime for people arrested for drunken driving to refuse to take a chemical test that can detect the presence of alcohol.
The justices agreed Friday to consider whether states can criminalize a refusal to test for alcohol in a driver’s blood, breath or urine even if police have not obtained a warrant.
More than a dozen states make it a crime to refuse to consent to warrantless alcohol testing. State supreme courts in Minnesota and North Dakota have ruled the laws don’t violate constitutional rights.
The Supreme Court ruled in 2013 that police usually must try to obtain a search warrant before ordering blood tests for drunken-driving suspects.
PRATT–Current Kansas regulations require hunters to tag their deer before being moved from the site of the kill. Unless a hunter has an either-sex permit, the head must remain attached to the carcass while in transit to a residence, place of commercial processing or place of preservation. For hunters who want to bone out deer onsite prior to transport, the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism (KDWPT) offers a voluntary electronic deer check-in system. To access the electronic deer check-in, visit www.ksoutdoors.com, and click “Hunting/Hunting Regulations/Deer/Electronic Registration.”
Electronic registration is completely voluntary, but it’s a convenient option that allows hunters to register their deer through the Internet, using photos taken at the harvest site. If Internet access is unavailable at the kill site, the hunter can retain the photographs while in transit and a registration number can be obtained later.
This registration process requires a hunter to submit two digital photographs — one close-up clearly showing the completed tag attached to the deer and a second showing the entire body of the deer with the head still attached. Once logged on to ksoutdoors.com, a hunter must submit the photos and enter the KDWPT number from their permit, time and date of the kill and the county where the deer was taken. A confirmation number will be issued by email when the photos and data are successfully received. This confirmation number must be retained during transportation.
The system allows KDWPT staff to see the deer and the hunter’s completed tag without the time and expense of maintaining physical check stations. This flexibility is a benefit to both the hunter and KDWPT.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Republican Gov. Sam Brownback argues that Kansas legislators shouldn’t tinker further with tax laws next year.
He says the state budget is in good shape despite a projected shortfall because his economic policies are working.
The governor spent much of a recent Associated Press interview throwing out statistics aimed at bolstering his argument that deep cuts in personal income taxes he championed in past years are boosting the economy. The state has struggled to balance its $15 billion budget since those reductions; it hiked sales and cigarette taxes earlier this year and still faces a projected deficit of about $160 million for the fiscal year that begins in July.
Senate Democratic Leader Anthony Hensley of Topeka says the state’s budget problems show that Brownback’s policies have failed.
TOPEKA- The Kansas Court of Appeals on Friday upheld the conviction and sentence for contempt of court involving a Kansas man’s refusal to testify in a murder trial where he was a co-defendant.
Jose Delacruz was called by the state to testify, on three separate days, in the trial of Anthony Waller but refused and was found in contempt of court.
Delacruz was sentenced to a total of nine years and then appealed.
That sentence was ordered consecutive to the nearly 7-years for the conviction of aggravated robbery in association with the murder of Joshua Haines.
He had been found “not guilty” of murder, but convicted of the aggravated robbery charge against him and sentenced to 83-months in prison.
Delacruz argued six issues before the appeals court including his claim that he and his right to remain silent under the 5th amendment.
He also argued that a special prosecutor should have tried the case, that his contempt was a single ongoing event and not three separate events.
He also complained that the delay in filing and docketing his appeal deprived him of due process. He also complained that the nine year sentence is excessive and the result of bias and prejudice. He says the cumulative errors deprived him of due process and a fair trial. But, the appeals court ruled Friday that his arguments lacked merit and upheld the conviction and sentence.
Joshua Haines was murdered on April 10, 2010. He was savagely beaten and strangled at another co-defendants apartment and then placed in his own car and driven to a nearby street. He was found later that day.
Though both showed improvements, Kansas and Missouri continue to rank in the bottom half of states on measures of health care access, quality, costs and outcomes, according to a new report by the Commonwealth Fund.
Overall, Kansas tied for 28th among the 50 states and the District of Columbia and Missouri ranked 36th. Kansas improved on 10 indicators and worsened on one while Missouri improved on nine and worsened on one.
The report, which was released today, looks at 42 health indicators broadly grouped under five categories: access and affordability; prevention and treatment; potentially avoidable hospital use and cost; and premature deaths and health risk behaviors such as smoking.
Overall, the report finds that states’ health care systems improved more than they declined since the Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation that focuses on health policy, last measured them in 2014. At the same time, it says that wide differences persist among the states.
One stark example of the latter: Uninsured rates for low-income working-age adults varied as much as six-fold: The lowest rate, 8 percent, was in Massachusetts; the highest, 46 percent, was in Texas.
Notably, states that expanded Medicaid by January 2014 saw the biggest declines in the uninsured rate for low-income adults, 13 to 18 percentage points, according to the report. States that did not, including Kansas and Missouri, were among those with the lowest declines.
Kansas performed well in a handful of categories. Among them:
Children with emotional, behavioral or developmental problems who received needed mental health care in the past year
Breast cancer deaths per 100,000 female population
Children ages 19 -35 months who received all recommended doses of seven key vaccines
Hospitalized patients who reported hospital staff always managed pain well, responded when needed help and explained medicines and their side effects
One category that saw no improvement nationwide: African Americans were more likely to die early from a treatable condition in every single state.
“Potentially preventable death rates were higher for blacks than whites in all states and in 11 states they were at least twice as high,” David C. Radley, one of the authors of the report, said in a telephone conference with reporters on Tuesday.
But Radley also noted that there was more than a two-fold spread in premature death rates among states’ white populations, with high rates in the South and South Central states and lower rates clustering in the Northeast and in states like Colorado, Minnesota Utah and Washington.
The states that ranked at the top and the bottom of Commonwealth’s last scorecard remained the same: Minnesota, Vermont, Hawaii and Massachusetts took top honors and Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Mississippi remained at the bottom.
Dan Margolies, editor of the Heartland Health Monitor team, is based at KCUR. You can reach him on Twitter @DanMargolies.
PAWNEE COUNTY- 1 person died in an accident just before 5p.m. on Sunday in Pawnee County.
