TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A man charged as a juvenile with plotting to kill four adults at a Topeka high school has pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated assault.
As part of Monday’s plea agreement, four counts of soliciting first-degree murder were dismissed.
Prosecutors say the defendant tried to hire two people to kill the adults at Topeka West, where he was a student. He was 17 when he was arrested in January 2014.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports the man was released on a recognizance bond to the supervision of relatives. Sentencing is Dec. 8.
A Shawnee County judge denied prosecutors’ request to try the suspect as an adult. However, the man will face a longer sentence as an adult if he doesn’t meet the requirements of his juvenile sentence.
HUTCHINSON – The second of two inmates suspected of beating another Reno County Correctional Facility inmate so severely that he was taken to a Wichita hospital made a court appearance Monday for the reading of formal charges.
Now, both William and Antoine Alexander are charged by the state with a single count of aggravated battery. The minimum sentence on the charge is three years and two months in prison. The maximum is 14-years and four months in prison.
The two are accused of beating Darrell Beachy, 30, on September 26, in one of the pods at the new Reno County jail.
The cases will move to a waiver-status docket on Oct. 28, and both are jailed in this case with bonds of $7,500.
Janet Williams is the founder of Minds Matter in Overland Park, an organization that provides services to people who have suffered traumatic brain injuries. -submitted photo
BY ANDY MARSO
Advocates for elderly and disabled Kansans are anxiously awaiting the publication of the state’s plan to combine seven Medicaid waivers into one.
The waivers currently provide home and community-based services for people within a range of support categories, including developmental disability, physical disability, traumatic brain injury or frail/elderly.
Janet Williams, who runs an Overland Park company that provides services for brain injury survivors, said the waiver integration plan is a hot topic for people in her line of work.
“It’s all anybody’s talking about,” Williams said.
Officials with the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services initially said they planned to post details of the proposal on Sept. 30.
But Angela de Rocha, a spokeswoman for the agency, said in an email Tuesday that was not a hard deadline and the plan may not be published until late this week or early next week.
Waivers allow states to try new ways to deliver and pay for Medicaid services. The waivers at issue allow Kansas to provide longer-term care in home and community settings rather than institutional ones.
State officials say combining the seven waivers will reduce bureaucracy and allow enrollees to receive services that better fit their individual needs, rather than being constrained by a disability label.
But advocates for Kansans with disabilities have expressed anxiety about the overhaul.
Williams said she hopes the result will protect the rights of Kansans with the most severe disabilities to remain in their homes rather than live in institutions.
“Combining waivers to me is watering down what’s available to people with the most significant disabilities,” she said. “You can’t design a waiver that’s going to meet every need. That’s why you’ve got individual waivers.”
The waiver integration plan was also on the agenda when a new advocacy group for case managers met Sept. 17 at an Overland Park church.
Minutes from that meeting show that while some of the case managers saw the potential for positives to come from the change, they believed it had to be done carefully to avoid losing services.
Others said problems with the eligibility process for the individual waivers should be addressed before they’re combined. KDADS will seek public comment on the proposal after it is posted.
Williams, whose company has lately seen people with brain injuries struggle with the amount of documentation required to qualify for the waiver, echoed that sentiment.
Matt Fletcher, associate executive director of Topeka-based developmental disability provider network Interhab, said the waiver integration plan is “potentially the most profound change to service delivery in the last 20 years or so.”
He said that includes KanCare, the state’s recent move to place nearly all Medicaid services in managed care administered by three private insurance companies.
Fletcher said much of the discussion in the disability community about waiver integration has focused on the state’s “very aggressive timeline” for completing the change.
State officials expect to submit their plan to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services by the start of 2016. If CMS signs on, the state plans to implement the changes by July 2016.
“It might behoove the state to have perhaps a slower timeline that allows for greater amounts of collaboration so we make sure we can do this in best possible way,” Fletcher said.
In that sense, he said it might be a good sign if the waiver integration plan is not released Sept. 30 as originally expected.
“If they don’t feel like it’s ready, then move the timeline back,” Fletcher said. “That’s responsible.”
Andy Marso is a reporter for Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.
MANHATTAN – A Kansas man, who agreed to a plea deal for the charge of vehicular homicide, was sentenced in Riley County court on Monday.
Derek Kesler, 33, Rossville, was sentence to 12 months at the Riley County Jail, but parole would be granted after 22 weekends (or 44 days) in jail. Parole would be granted for a year, and Kesler will also pay $2,500 fine.
Kesler was driving a truck and hit 49-year-old Mark Jilka, Manhattan, who was riding his bicycle on Kansas Highway 177 south of Manhattan
Reports say that Kesler said in a voluntary statement that he was typing a location into his phone’s GPS when his truck hit Kesler.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas has plans to reduce the insurance assistance for children of lower-income state workers next year and also allow those children to be enrolled in a federal health program.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports (https://bit.ly/1GsnFMG ) workers who qualify will be able in 2016 to sign their children up for coverage through the federal Children’s Health Insurance Program, CHIP. Prior to the federal Affordable Care Act state workers weren’t allowed to sign up for CHIP.
The Health Care Commission, which governs the State Employee Health Plan, voted to eliminate $2.2 million in funding for Kansas’ Healthy KIDS program, which helps subsidize health insurance for the children of lower-income state workers.
The Kansas Department for Health and Environment says it expects to file the required paperwork to enact the plan next month.
SALINA- Law enforcement authorities in Saline County are investigating a reported computer scam.
Salina Police Captain Mike Sweeney said a woman in her 60s told police she received a call on September 30th from someone claiming to be with Delota Technology, and they discovered her computer was attacked by malware.
The woman approved the repairs for her computer in the amount of $310 that came from her checking account.
She received another call requesting she wire by Western Union another $1950 to cover repair cost. She did so at a Dillon’s store.
When they called again saying there had been a problem with the Western Union money wire, she checked and found there was not a problem, and contacted police.
The scammers were also some how able to move $3,000 from the woman’s savings account to her checking account. She did not lose that money. But she was scammed out of $2,260, according to police.
MANHATTAN- Law enforcement authorities in Riley County are investigating an accident involving the arrest of a Kansas State University football player.
Officers with the Riley County Police Department responded to a single vehicle collision near the intersection of Poyntz Avenue and Evergreen Avenue in Manhattan just before 3a.m. on Sunday in Manhattan
Authorities, according to a media release, found that a 2014 Ford F150 driven by Cre Moore, 20, a defensive back on the KSU football team from Broken Arrow, OK., had left the roadway and collided with a light pole and a privately owned stone stairwell.
The vehicle sustained major damage to the front driver’s side as well as the front driver’s side wheel.
The wheel became detached as a result of the collision.
Moore was not injured in the collision.
After an investigation into the accident he was arrested for driving while under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Throughout the course of the investigation Moore was found to also be in possession of several pills, which were identified as depressants.
Moore was given a total bond of $3,500.00 for both offenses (DUI and possession of a depressant) and is no longer being held in the Riley County jail.
During the Big 12 coaches teleconference Monday, Kansas State coach Bill Snyder acknowledged the arrest and said he would handle the matter, but didn’t elaborate.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Lobbyists have spent more than $500,000 entertaining Kansas lawmakers so far this year.
Kansas law prohibits lobbyists from making campaign donations during the session and limits their spending to $100 on lawmaker gifts. But Kansas doesn’t limit the amount of food and drink a lobbyist can buy lawmakers.
The Wichita Eagle reports lobbyists have spent more than $500,000 since January treating Kansas lawmakers to dinner, drinks and other entertainment.
The Kansas Bankers Association spent the most on food and entertainment for lawmakers, at $26,135. The Kansas Chamber of Commerce was second with $20,139.
Advocates for transparency say such spending can help sway lawmakers’ votes, but lawmakers say free food doesn’t influence their votes.
COLDWATER- Law enforcement authorities in Comanche County continue to search for a suspect in connection with a fatal shooting on Friday night.
Few details on the shooting have been released.
Police in Coldwater reported they believe the suspect Frank Asebedo Jr. fled the south central Kansas community.
He is 5 ‘4″ tall, 140 pounds and considered armed and dangerous.
Asebedo Jr. has prior convictions for aggravated assault and drug charges in Ford County and has spent time in the Larned Correctional Mental Health Facility and been in jail in Norton, Hutchinson, and elsewhere in the state, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — The University of Kansas won’t give out employee raises while there’s still a chance for last-minute state budget cuts.
Provost Jeff Vitter says the university budgeted midyear, merit-based salary increases for select employees that would comprise about 1 percent of the university’s salary budget.
The Lawrence Journal-World reports that Vitter wrote in a recent memo to university faculty and staff that extending the raises will depend on a few things, including avoiding any possible state budget cuts. He says the decision will be made later this semester.
Vitter says many employees had asked about the raises.
There’s been speculation about the possibility of additional budget cuts since the Department of Revenue reported last week that the state collected $31 million less in taxes than anticipated for September.
CUBA – One person was injured in an accident just before 2a.m. on Monday in Republic County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2002 Peterbilt semi driven by Jaime Ocampo-Hernandez, 36, Nashville, TN., was westbound on U.S. 36 three miles east of Cuba.
The driver was unable to avoid striking a cow & calf in the roadway.
The semi left the roadway on the north side, struck a driveway entrance, overturned and came to rest in a pasture.
Ocampo-Hernandez was transported to Republic County Hospital.
He was properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A 12-year-old boy and a 13-year-old boy have been arrested after police say they stole items from a Wichita residence and set the garage door on fire.
According Wichita police Sgt. Brian Sigman, officers responded to a home at 2 a.m. Saturday. Police say they found the boys in the area with the items missing from the home, including a machete.
Sigman said the suspects used gasoline that was in the garage to set the door on fire the night before the robbery.
The Wichita Eagle reports both boys were arrested on suspicion of burglary and arson.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A man charged as a juvenile with plotting to kill four adults at a Topeka high school has pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated assault.
