RENO COUNTY— Five people were arrested after a chase with Hutchinson police just before 4:30p..m Wednesday.
Clinton Smith -photo Butler Co. Jail
Lance Moody, 17, was taken into custody and faces possible charges of felony flee and elude, interference with law enforcement, and leaving the scene of an accident after the vehicle he was driving struck a parked vehicle during the chase in the 400 block of North Adams Street.
Four passengers in the vehicle — 21-year-old Clinton Smith, 23-year-old Zach Mountain, 21-year-old Richard Marshall and 19-year-old Nikkita Obrist were all arrested for interference with law enforcement when they fled the vehicle after the crash.
They are free on bond, according to online booking records.
JOHNSON COUNTY — Lenexa police reported Thursday they had identified the suspect in the alleged checkbook theft. The investigation continues, according to police. They released no additional details.
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JOHNSON COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating an alleged theft.
According to Wednesday afternoon social media report from Lenexa police, a victim accidentally left behind a checkbook on the store check-out counter.
Here’s the story: vic accidentally left her checkbook on the store counter. This shopper (suspect) picks it up and rather than turning it in to the clerk, stuffs it into her purse (theft of lost or mislaid property). If you can help us ID this suspect, DM or call 913-825-8097 pic.twitter.com/P3tHwWeKEq
The shopper(suspect) in the security camera video picks it up, and rather than turning it in to the clerk, stuffs it into a purse. This is a theft of lost or mislaid property, according to police.
If you can help ID this suspect and the victim, send a direct message to Lenexa Police or call 913-825-8097.
Rep. Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican FILE PHOTO / KANSAS NEWS SERVICE
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Rural state lawmakers are pushing a plan to allow the Kansas Farm Bureau to offer health insurance coverage to members without having to comply with federal Affordable Care Act mandates in hopes that the influential agriculture group can offer a lower-cost product.
But the proposal is drawing strong criticism from Democrats and health groups because the Farm Bureau would not be required to cover people with pre-existing medical conditions. The Farm Bureau also would face relatively little regulation, and critics of the bill worry that the group could lure healthy individuals away from other, more-regulated plans, making them less affordable.
The state Senate approved the bill Wednesday on a 28-11 vote , sending it to the House. The bill’s support came mostly from Republicans, who see it as an opportunity to give consumers a choice after spikes in health insurance rates that they blame on the 2010 federal health overhaul championed by former President Barack Obama, a Democrat.
The Kansas bill also was inspired by a long-standing law in Tennessee and new ones in Iowa and Nebraska.
“The goal has been stated many times, to increase the number of Kansans with coverage,” said state Sen. Elaine Bowers, a Concordia Republican. “Let’s allow Farm Bureau members across the state to help reach these people, who find the ACA plans unaffordable.”
The bill would allow the Kansas Farm Bureau to provide “benefit coverage” to members and their dependents to cover their health costs.
While its coverage might work like health insurance, the measure, like the Iowa law enacted last year, declares that the coverage “shall not be considered insurance.” That would effectively exempt it from federal mandates and most state insurance regulations.
Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat and Insurance Commissioner Vicki Schmidt, a Republican, have not yet taken a public position on the legislation.
The Kansas Farm Bureau has about 100,000 members, and the Senate vote was a testament to its political clout, particularly with rural Republicans. All but one GOP senator — Majority Leader Jim Denning, an Overland Park Republican — supported the bill.
Farm Bureau officials said they expect about 42,000 people eventually to take its coverage if the law passes and that rates will be significantly lower than plans that comply with Affordable Care Act mandates. They said their coverage would be targeted to individuals who either have no coverage now or people who are struggling to find or pay for individual coverage.
Kansas has seen the number of individual coverage plans offered through the federal ACA marketplace decline to 23 for 2019 from 42 in 2016, according to the Kansas Insurance Department. While average rate increases for 2019 were smaller than in past years, they’ve sometimes previously topped 25 percent, according to the department’s annual reports .
House Majority Leader Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican, said the bill has appeal among GOP lawmakers outside rural areas because, “a lot of people look at that as a free market thing, giving people choice.”
But Democrats noted that people don’t have to be farmers or work in agriculture to join the Farm Bureau, only pay a $50 annual membership fee. Also, the bill requires only that Farm Bureau file a certified statement of its coverage plan’s reserves annually with the Kansas Insurance Department.
And they honed in on how Farm Bureau would be able to set higher rates or reject coverage for people who have pre-existing medical conditions, a feature of the Iowa law . Groups including the American Diabetes Association, the Cancer Action Network and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society have opposed the bill for that reason.
Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, a Topeka Democrat, proposed an amendment to require the Farm Bureau’s plan to cover pre-existing conditions. But it was voted down, 24-15 , with Republicans arguing that such a requirement would eliminate the flexibility Farm Bureau needs to offer an affordable product.
“Consumers with pre-existing conditions will almost certainly surely be turned away or offered excessive prices,” said Sen. Tom Hawk, a Democrat from Manhattan, where the Kansas Farm Bureau has its headquarters.
RILEY COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect in connection with a Kansas murder trial and have made an arrest.
Samantha Bland is being held in Laredo, Texas-photo Courtesy Webb Co. Sheriff
On Tuesday, Bland was arrested in Texas on a Riley County District Court warrant for aggravated intimidation of a witness who testified against her brother Steven Meredith during the January preliminary hearing for murder, according to Riley County Attorney Barry Wilkerson.
The judge found sufficient evidence for Meredith of Junction City to stand trial in the killing of a confidential drug informant 48-year-old Carrie Jones. Her body was found by deer hunters in rural Riley County.
During the preliminary hearing, witnesses testified that Meredith believed Jones might reveal information about him and others in a 2013 drug case.
One witness testified that Meredith told her that he and another man drove Jones to a field, forced her to get out of the vehicle and then shot her.
Bland remains jailed in Webb County Texas on a $125,000 bond. Meredith was arrested almost a year after Jones’ body was found in October 2017.
BARTON COUNTY — One person was injured in an accident just before 8a.m. Wednesday in Barton County
A 2001 Sterling trash truck driven by Charles Feist, 54, was eastbound in the 1100 block of Northwest 40 Road just southeast of Albert, according to the Barton County Sheriff. The driver fell asleep at the wheel.
The truck traveled off the road, struck a bridge rail and overturned. Feist was transported to the hospital in Great Bend for his injuries.
The Sheriff’s Office was assisted by the Kansas Highway Patrol, Albert Fire Department, and Great Bend EMS at the scene.
PAWNEE COUNTY – A Kansas man has waived his right to a preliminary hearing and entered a guilty plea to one count of Attempted First-Degree Murder.
Anthony Ruiz-Hernandez-photo Pawnee Co.
According to a media release from the Pawnee County Attorney, the charge stems from patient on patient attacks October 22, 2018 at the Isaac Ray Building on the campus of Larned State Hospital (LSH).
Two patients sustained great bodily harm requiring transport to outside medical facilities. One of the patient’s injuries were life-threatening at the time due to severe head trauma. All individuals involved were at LSH at the time for forensic evaluations related to out of county criminal charges.
Anthony Ruiz-Hernandez, 22 of Topeka, told investigators the attacks were done in part to gain standing in a prison gang.
In exchange for his plea, the State agreed to dismiss two counts of Conspiracy to Commit First Degree Murder and one count of Aggravated Battery, against Ruiz-Hernandez. The Attempted First-Degree Murder carries a maximum penalty of 653 months with the Department of Corrections.
Ruiz-Hernandez is currently being housed on local charges in the Shawnee County Adult Detention Center. His Sentencing has been scheduled for April 15, 2019.
Co-defendant Andres Gustavo Barrientos, 24 of Leavenworth, is scheduled for Arraignment on March 14, 2019. He is being housed in the Leavenworth County Jail on local charges
WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo appears to be ruling out a Kansas Senate race in 2020.
Pompeo, who represented Kansas’ 4th Congressional District from 2011 to 2017, says he’ll serve as secretary of state as long as President Donald Trump wants him to.
Pompeo was asked on NBC’s “Today” show Thursday if he’s interested in running for the Senate and replied, “I love doing what I’m doing.” When an interviewer said Pompeo sounded as though he wasn’t ruling it out, Pompeo said, “It’s ruled out.”
Last month, Pompeo deflected speculation he might run for retiring Republican Sen. Pat Roberts’ seat, telling Fox News he was focused on his current job.
OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — Court records say a suburban Kansas City man told investigators he didn’t seek medical care for his ailing mother before she died weighing just 58 pounds (26 kilograms) and suffering from open bed sores.
McManness -photo Johnson County
Records were released Wednesday in the case against 51-year-old Raymond McManness, of Olathe, Kansas. He’s jailed on $1 million bond on charges of first-degree murder and mistreatment of a dependent adult in the death last month of 75-year-old Sharon McManness.
His attorney didn’t immediately return a phone message from The Associated Press.
Court records say Raymond McManness told police he didn’t follow advice to take his mother to a doctor because the holidays had made him busy and he was “scared because he had not been taking adequate care of her.”
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s election created a national buzz about a possible shift to the left in Kansas politics, but many Republicans remain unimpressed and feel little pressure to take up her big initiatives.
Gov. Kelly discusses her budget with KDOT workers -photo courtesy Kansas Governor’s office.
The GOP-dominated Legislature has yet to have committee hearings on her plan to expand the state’s Medicaid health coverage for the needy. It has ignored her call to approve an increase in public school funding by the end of this month. A key part of her budget already appears dead . Top Republicans are pursuing a tax relief bill she considers fiscally reckless.
She and other Democrats believe her victory represented a repudiation of Republican predecessors’ policies. Three current lawmakers from the Kansas City area, where Kelly ran especially well, switched to the Democratic Party in December, drawing even more attention to what had been seen as a reliably red state.
Yet many Republican legislators treat Kelly’s victory as a fluke. She won with 48 percent of the vote and her political strength was concentrated in relatively few populous counties. More-local races left the Legislature more conservative, and the party switching didn’t change the balance of power because Democrats attracted GOP moderates likely to help Kelly anyway.
“There doesn’t seem to be a lot of enthusiasm for her governorship,” said Senate President Susan Wagle, a conservative Wichita Republican.
Democrats hold 23 governor’s offices after picking up seven in last year’s midterm elections as they tapped discontent with President Donald Trump, particularly in suburbs. Victories in governor’s races in Kansas, Michigan and Wisconsin broke GOP strangleholds on those state governments.
Kelly and her top advisers have said repeatedly that voters elected her to “fix” state government after Republican policies wrecked it. She said earlier this month, “I’m very confident that the people of Kansas are behind me.”
“Gov. Kelly won election in a Republican state. I say that’s a mandate,” said state Rep. Kathy Wolfe Moore, a Kansas City Democrat.
But Republicans repeatedly note Kelly’s failure to get a majority of the vote against the conservative GOP nominee, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, with independent candidate Greg Orman taking about 6.5 percent. Also, Kelly carried only nine of the state’s 105 counties.
Former U.S. Rep. Kevin Yoder, who lost his seat in his Kansas City-area congressional district last year, said Democrats are “misreading the tea leaves.”
“I don’t see this as an endorsement of the more liberal policies that Gov. Kelly is suggesting,” said Yoder, also a former Kansas House member. “The role of the Republican legislators is to represent the traditional Republican values that have made Kansas strong, keeping taxes down, small government, a focus on business.”
Republicans’ views about Kelly’s victories are partly shaped by an ongoing post-mortem of Kobach’s candidacy within the GOP.
Kobach barely unseated Gov. Jeff Colyer in the GOP primary and has since faced Republican grumbling that he ran a lackluster general-election campaign. Kobach’s vocal advocacy of tough immigration laws and take-no-prisoners style of conservatism alienated GOP moderates.
Some Republicans contend the more affable Colyer would have given Kelly a tougher race.
“I think she won because a lot of people were voting against Kobach,” said state Rep. Kyle Hoffman, a GOP conservative from southwest Kansas.
Republicans retained their legislative supermajorities and didn’t see their small net loss of seats until the party switching in December. GOP conservatives picked up at least half a dozen seats in the House and one in the Senate at the expense of moderates.
“The center of Kansas politics was somewhat hollowed out,” said state Rep. Don Hineman, a moderate Republican from western Kansas ousted as House majority leader after the election.
Many Republicans contend that the collective outcome of dozens of legislative races demonstrates that voters aren’t enthusiastic about Kelly’s agenda.
“It’s the legislative elections that are the more indicative of what is going on in the state,” said Sen. Ty Masterson, a conservative Wichita-area Republican who has called Kelly’s election “a tragic collision of timing.”
Republican resistance has meant a rocky start for Kelly’s administration. The House last week rejected a plan from Kelly to reduce the state’s annual payments to its public pension system to create breathing room in the budget, with GOP members united. When the Senate approved its tax relief bill earlier this month, most moderates backed it.
The lack of movement on Medicaid expansion is particularly frustrating for Kelly and fellow Democrats.
Her plan revives a bill that passed with bipartisan majorities in 2017, only to be vetoed by then-conservative GOP Gov. Sam Brownback. Supporters believe a majority of lawmakers still support Medicaid expansion, but opponents hold key leadership posts and committee chairmanships in both chambers, effectively blocking action for now.
The governor sent a letter this week to committee leaders in the House and Senate, asking for hearings on her plan — a courtesy routinely granted in the past, even when lawmakers strongly opposed a governor’s major initiatives.
Many Democrats and even some moderate Republicans believe their GOP colleagues are merely posturing at the beginning of Kelly’s administration. Also, the new governor’s power to veto GOP legislation means Republicans can’t write her off.
But Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, a Topeka Democrat and Kelly ally, said, “At some point, I think she’s going to have to probably get their attention.”
CHEROKEE COUNTY— One person died in an accident just after 9p.m. Wednesday in Cherokee County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a Jeep Commander driven by Russell, Julissa Russell, 50, Rincon, GA., was westbound on Kansas 66 one mile west of Galena.
The Jeep struck a bicycle ridden by David Furry, 47, Galena, that had crossed in front of the vehicle travelling from South to North crossing the highway.
Furry was pronounced dead at the scene and was transported to Frontier Forensics.
Russell was not injured and was properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.
KANSAS – The certified public accounting firm of Adams, Brown, Beran & Ball, Chartered (ABBB) has jointly released the results from the 2019 ABBB/Leading Edge Alliance National Manufacturing Outlook Survey. The survey asked about manufacturing companies’ performance in 2018, managers’ expectations for 2019, and the strategies that high-performing manufacturers find most effective.
“This report helps us to prepare solutions that will lead to growth for our own manufacturing clients,” said Julie Wondra, CPA, Partner & Manufacturing Industry Leader. “With this great insight and data, we are able to position our clients for success in the coming year.”
Eight out of ten U.S. manufacturers expect to grow sales this year, buoyed by their optimism about the strength of regional, national and global economies, according to the 2019 National Manufacturing Survey Report prepared by Leading Edge Alliance (LEA), a global association of 220 accounting and consulting firms.
“Across the board, manufacturers are optimistic about the regional economy, sector growth, and increasing revenue expectations in 2019,” the report states. “Looking ahead, manufacturers expect raw materials, labor costs, lack of available talent and competition to be significant hurdles in 2019. The tariffs implemented by President Trump provide productivity issues; however, an increase in spending on Big Data and business intelligence are delivering innovative technology for minimizing productivity concerns.”
More than 350 manufacturing executives participated in the survey, which includes respondents who produce industrial/machining, transportation/automotive, construction, food and beverage, and other products.
2019 Survey Highlights
Growth: 81% of manufacturers expect their revenue to increase in 2019, and 61% expect their overall sector to expand in 2019.
Economy: Optimism for the regional, national and global economies has increased by more than 12 percentage points over the last two years.
Priorities: Manufacturers’ top three priorities are growing sales, improving profitability and addressing the workforce shortage.
Challenges: Most manufacturers (52%) cited labor/talent as their greatest barrier to growth, followed by competition (34%) and profitability (25%).
The survey identified three key growth strategies manufacturers will use to keep their companies on a growth track: Technology, mergers and acquisitions, and talent management.
Technology: Manufacturers plan to leverage technology as key to solving productivity concerns; 76% said that they will investigate/prioritize cybersecurity in 2019, and 43% said they will prioritize Big Data/ERP/IoT.
M&A: More manufacturers are considering a merger/sale or acquisition in 2019; 21% expect to acquire another business in 2019 and 16% are in the pre-planning stage of a merger or acquisition.
Talent: Faced with a growing labor shortage, manufacturers have turned to a range of tools to improve hiring and retention with 62% increasing compensation, 39% implementing retention strategies and 35% using internal training programs.
To view the full National Manufacturing Outlook and Insights report, visit www.abbb.com/resources.
Adams, Brown, Beran & Ball, Chartered provides a wide range of traditional and non-traditional CPA and consulting services to clients throughout Kansas, including agriculture organizations, construction companies, feed yards, financial institutions, governmental and not-for-profit organizations, manufacturers, medical practices, oil and gas companies, professional service firms, real estate companies and small businesses. Founded in 1945, today the firm maintains 13 office locations throughout the state. For more information about Adams, Brown, Beran & Ball, please visit www.abbb.com.
About LEA Founded in 1999, LEA Global/The Leading Edge Alliance is the second-largest international association in the world. It is a high-quality alliance of 220 independently owned accounting and consulting firms focused on accounting, financial and business advisory services. LEA Global firms operate from 620 offices in 110 countries, giving clients of LEA Global firms access to the knowledge, skills and experience of 2,313 partners and 21,355 staff members. For more information, visit www.leaglobal.com.
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A Lawrence man has been sentenced to 17 months in prison for shooting and wounding a 17-year-old girl as several people shot fireworks at him.
Gill photo from a previous arrest in Anderson Co.
21-year-old Rashan Gill apologized at Tuesday’s hearing, saying through tears that he “will never forget” what happened and that he could have killed the girl. In the early morning hours of July 5, 2018, he shot at a group of people who were firing Roman candle fireworks at him and his apartment.
One of the shots hit the girl who was in the group’s car. She suffered serious injuries but survived.
After a judge rejected Gill’s argument that he was justified in the shooting under Kansas’ stand-your-ground law, he pleaded no contest in January to attempted aggravated battery.
SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a case of alleged child abuse and have made an arrest.
Amanda Rogers-Moore -photo Sedgwick Co.
At 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, police responded to a call of a 2-year-old girl not breathing at a residence in the 1700 block of south Faulders in Wichita, according to officer Charley Davidson.
Upon arrival, officers contacted the girl, her stepmother 28-year-old Amanda Rogers-Moore, her 27-year-old father and several other children, ages 4, 7 and 8.
The 2-year-old girl was transported to an area hospital for medical treatment and remains hospitalized, according to Davidson.
The investigation revealed the 2-year-old girl vomiting and then not breathing awakened Rogers-Moore and her boyfriend. The boyfriend began life saving techniques on the girl. At the hospital, the girl was found to have critical head injuries, according to Davidson
Investigators arrested Rogers-Moore and booked her into jail on requested charges that include felony child abuse. The other three children have been placed in police protective custody.
