By BRIAN GRIMMETT

Moderate Republican Rep. Steve Becker of Buhler lost his primary in August, but he hasn’t conceded his Kansas House seat to his conservative challenger just yet. He’s mounting a write-in campaign.

Two years ago, when Becker was elected to his third term, a slew of moderate Republicans won seats in the Kansas House. Democrats made equally substantial gains. The Legislature shifted significantly toward the center.

Then, moderate Republicans and Democrats, Becker among them, teamed up and rolled back former Gov. Sam Brownback’s tax cuts. They came within three votes of overturning Brownback’s veto to expand eligibility for Medicaid too.

The Senate isn’t up this year, but conservative candidates and political groups are trying to reclaim some of the more than two dozen House seats they lost in 2016.

A rare write-in campaign

In this summer’s GOP primary, conservative Paul Waggoner beat Becker by a measly nine votes in the 104th District.

The 22 votes written in for Becker on Democratic ballots, according to The Hutchinson News, didn’t count in the partisan primary. But with no Democrat running, Democratic voters could push Becker over the top in the general election.

“He’s just a really nice person and he believes in people,” said Riley Withrow, himself a Democrat. “And I believe that he will look out for his constituents more than Paul Waggoner will.”

Becker was there with a group of supporters working to convince passersby to fill in his name on the Nov. 6 ballot. They handed out leaflets with instructions on how to do it and the tagline, “Don’t write him off, write him in!”

“It seems to me that everybody in my district ought to have a vote on who their representative is, not just Republicans,” Becker said.

He says Paul Waggoner is just too conservative.

Waggoner, on the other hand, calls Becker a “RINO”: Republican In Name Only. 

“You know, maybe identity theft is not only about finances, it’s also about politics,” Waggoner said.

He says Becker’s views are too far left and out of step with most of this central Kansas district.

During the primary campaign, he sent out mailers against Becker, including one with a picture of a bucking donkey labeled with the incumbent’s name in large letters.

“We had pin the tail on the Democrat,” Waggoner explained.

Political action committees are postcarding

The Kansas Chamber and Americans For Prosperity Kansas — political groups that advocate for lower taxes and smaller government — have also spent tens of thousands of dollars on mailers, door knocking, and online ads, including more than $2,000 for Waggoner, in an effort to oust moderates.

The Chamber’s political action committee endorsed candidates in GOP primaries for seven seats that moderates took two years ago. Their candidates won six of those primaries.

“I just think this is more, in a lot of these districts, just reverting back to the political mean,” Waggoner said.

Republican Rep. Joy Koesten of Leawood was one of those moderates who unseated a conservative in 2016 and then lost this August. But she doesn’t think her defeat is an indication of the direction her Johnson County district is leaning.

“I think what happened this year is that the ultra-conservatives had two good years to try to figure out who was the most vulnerable in the Republican caucus,” she said.

Now the conservative candidate in the 28th District, Kellie Warren, has serious competition from Democrat Brian Clausen for Koesten’s seat.

63 general election races for House seats, many could be close

There are at least a dozen competitive matchups between conservatives and Democrats in legislative districts across the state.

That includes eight where the Chamber is backing challengers to Democrats who flipped seats two years ago.

It also includes three districts where Democrats are now vying for seats held by first-term moderates who the Chamber’s candidates knocked off in August. Those candidates have been endorsed by the Mainstream Coalition, which advocates for greater health care access, public school funding, and gun control.

In a couple of races, trouble for Republican nominees have spelled opportunity for Democrats. The GOP has withdrawn its support for Michael Capps in the 85th District in Wichita amid allegations he abused his foster children, giving Democrat Monica Marks a chance. In Olathe’s 26th District, Democrat Deann Mitchell is running against Republican Adam Thomas. Thomas was arrested and charged for election fraud following allegations that he falsified information about his residency on his candidate filing.

“This election will be a measure of how engaged people truly are and whether or not they’re paying attention to the policies that were created in 2016 and 2017 and whether or not they want to stay the course or go back to the Brownback era,” Koesten said.

Outcomes will matter

The margins are razor thin. On the last day of the legislative session this spring, the House deadlocked 59 to 59 on a bill that would have marked a return to cutting taxes.

Of course, who controls the Legislature won’t be the only factor determining which direction Kansas goes. Who is governor will matter too. And voters across the state have a lot on their minds in deciding.

“I really don’t see myself voting for anybody who doesn’t support gun rights and who is for abortion,” said Kansas State University student Ryan Bare.

“Education and health care are usually pretty important for us,” Trista Crawford said as she stood along the sidelines of the Overland Park Fall Fest parade.

If Democrat Laura Kelly comes out on top in the governor’s race, the 2019 legislative session could see another attempt at Medicaid expansion. If it’s conservative Republican Kris Kobach, lawmakers will likely fight over spending and tax cuts.

That one legislative race could matter in determining the eventual outcomes on those issues is a big reason why Becker is mounting an improbable write-in campaign to keep his House seat.

“It’s so important that I get back in.”

Brian Grimmett is a reporter for the Kansas News Service.  Follow him on Twitter @briangrimmett.

SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating the cause of a fire and have made an arrest.

Just before 2p.m. Sunday, the Topeka Fire Department responded to a reported structure fire located at Providence Living Center, 1112 SE Republican in Topeka, according to Fire Marshal Michael Martin.

The facility was evacuated and the fire was quickly extinguished.

Fire crews discovered a fire had occurred in one of the rooms within the multi-person facility.

The Topeka Fire Department Investigation’s Unit responded to the scene to perform an origin and cause scene investigation.  As a result of the investigation, police arrested 32-year-old Tamisha L. Brown for Aggravated Arson, according to Martin.

Crews in Topeka responded to four additional weekend fires including fires blamed on careless smoking at an apartment at 4420 SW 34th Street and at 5991 SW 22th Street,  an electrical fire 507 NE Paramore and another suspicious fire at a home 1401 SE Washington Street, according to Martin.  There were no injuries reported in the fires, according to Martin.

PHILADELPHIA, Miss. (AP) — A Mississippi man pleaded guilty Friday to another murder in a series of violent crimes in Kansas and two other states separated by nearly 2,000 miles.

Alex Deaton pleaded guilty Friday in Neshoba County Circuit Court to the February 2017 murder of Brenda Pinter, a 69-year-old woman who was cleaning a rural Baptist church. Circuit Judge Christopher Collins sentenced him to life without parole, the second such sentence Deaton has received in Mississippi, in addition to a prison sentence of nearly 13 years in Kansas.

Still unclear is why Deaton shot Pinter multiple times. District Attorney Steven Kilgore says that prosecutors were never able to discern a motive.

“We were able to prove he was the one that did it, but as to why he though he needed to kill this 69-year-old lady, we don’t know,” Kilgore said.

Deaton did tell the judge he was on drugs at the time of the shooting. He has earlier testified he has bipolar disorder.

Pinter’s death came the day after Deaton strangled his girlfriend in her suburban Jackson apartment, stole her SUV and shot and wounded a jogger near Robinson’s home. Deaton admitted to those crimes in August when he pleaded guilty in Rankin County. Rankin County Circuit Judge William Chapman also sentenced him to life in prison. Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey has said he believes Deaton’s series of crimes were sparked when Robinson tried to break up with him.

The 30-year-old Deaton also faces a multicount indictment in New Mexico’s Sandoval County, accusing him of trying to kidnap two teenage hikers. Authorities say he shot and wounded one of them and stole a car.

Deaton already pleaded guilty in July 2017 to the final act in his criminal drama — robbing, stealing a car from and shooting a convenience store clerk in Pratt, Kansas. Deaton was sentenced in October to nearly 13 years in prison in Kansas for attempted first-degree murder and aggravated robbery there.

“We’re all working toward the same goal and trying to make sure this man never sees the light of day again,” Kilgore said.

Kilgore said Deaton has family members in Neshoba County, but said they bore no responsibility for Pinter’s killing or Deaton’s other acts. He said a bullet pried from the wall of Dixon Baptist Church matched a gun recovered with Dixon when he was arrested in a snowy Kansas field after overturning his vehicle during a police chase. Kilgore said surveillance video also links Deaton to Pinter’s death.

Pinter’s family didn’t make a statement in court.

BY DAN MARGOLIES
Kansas News Service

Kansas has agreed to cover the cost of drugs to treat Medicaid patients with chronic hepatitis C without subjecting them to a lengthy list of requirements.

A legal settlement, which awaits final court approval, resolves a class action lawsuit alleging the state made it too difficult for hepatitis C patients to receive the potentially life-saving treatments.

The parties first notified the court in July that they had resolved the case after mediation. On Tuesday, the court set deadlines for approval of a final settlement.

“Essentially, the agreement is that all hep C patients who use Medicaid to get their drugs will be entitled to Mavyret or Harvoni, the two curative drugs, regardless of their fibrosis score,” said Lauren Bonds, legal director of the ACLU of Kansas, which along with the Shook Hardy & Bacon law firm, sued Kansas officials over the state’s hep C treatment guidelines in February.

Fibrosis scores measure the health of the liver. Scores range from F0, referring to mild or no scarring of the liver, to F4, referring to significant liver damage or cirrhosis. Kansas’ privatized Medicaid program, known as KanCare, had limited coverage to patients with a fibrosis score of F3 or F4.

Theresa Freed, a spokeswoman for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, confirmed that Kansas has stopped limiting coverage to patients with F3 or F4 scores.

The state had imposed other conditions for treatment as well, including denying direct-acting antiviral drugs, the current standard of care, to patients who tested positive for alcohol or illicit drug use. In addition, patients had to undergo six months of “abstinence” testing before KanCare would consider covering the drugs.

Bonds said the settlement resolves all the claims laid out in the lawsuit.

KanCare has about 360,000 enrollees. The U.S. Census Bureau in 2014 estimated that about 35,000 Kansans had hepatitis C, but it’s not known how many of them are enrolled in KanCare. The lawsuit estimates the number to be in the thousands.

“I think the law is very clear on this front,” Bonds said. “We’re one of probably 15 cases on this issue that have been filed and there’s been a very clear trend of how they’re being resolved — and that’s in favor of the plaintiffs.”

Many states balked at paying for the high-priced drugs and limited treatment for Medicaid patients and prison inmates. But recent court decisions have ruled that states cannot deny treatment because of the drugs’ costs.

Most recently, a federal judge in Indiana found that withholding hepatitis C treatment from prison inmates violated the Eighth Amendment’s “cruel and unusual punishments” clause. Similar rulings have been handed down or settlements reached in other states, including Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan, Washington and Colorado.

A lawsuit against Missouri was dropped in November 2017 after the state agreed to cover the cost of direct-acting antiviral drugs.

Hepatitis C is a contagious infection that can cause severe damage to the liver and even death. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that between 2.7 million and 3.9 million people in the United States have chronic hepatitis C. Most people become infected by sharing needles, syringes or other equipment to inject drugs.

Until recently, there was no effective treatment for chronic hepatitis C infections. But in 2013, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a new class of highly effective direct-acting antiviral drugs that have few side effects and boast a cure rate of more than 90 percent.

The drugs are extremely expensive. Mavyret runs about $26,400 per treatment course, before discounts. And Harvoni runs about $94,500 per treatment course, also before discounts.

Bonds said her understanding is that the state has funding in place to cover the drugs.

“We were assured about that, but don’t know a ton of the specifics,” Bonds said.

U.S. District Judge Daniel D. Crabtree must approve the settlement, final details of which are being hammered out.

Jennifer Montgomery, a spokeswoman for the Kansas Attorney General’s office, which defended the lawsuit, said work on the settlement was proceeding and the office was “optimistic about getting it resolved.”

Dan Margolies is a senior reporter and editor at KCUR. You can reach him on Twitter @DanMargolies.

KANSAS CITY, KAN. – A convicted felon who was under house arrest was indicted Friday on a federal charge of escaping custody, according to U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister.

Joaquin Florez, 42, Kansas City, Kan., is charged with one count of escaping federal custody. According to documents filed in the case, Florez was sentenced to federal prison in 2015 after being convicted on a drug charge. He was transferred from federal prison to home confinement in Kansas City, Kan.

On Sept. 13, 2018, the Bonner Springs Police Department notified the U.S. Probation Office that Florez was involved in a police chase in Bonner Springs. On the same day, Florez called the Grossman Residential Reentry Center in Leavenworth to say he was in a bind. He said he had purchased a vehicle and allowed a friend to drive it. He said the friend was involved in a chase with police. The director of the center ordered Florez to return to the center immediately. Florez did not report as required.

If convicted, he faces up to five years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000.

OTTAWA COUNTY — One person died in an accident just before 2p.m. Sunday in Ottawa County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2007 Nissan Altima driven by Meghan Stanley, 17, Bennington, was stopped on Eastbound on Kansas 18 waiting to turn North on 170th.

The Altima made a left turn in front of a southbound 1988 Suzuki motorcycle driven by Brian Montague, 43, Delphos.  The motorcycle struck the left sice of the Nissan.

Montague was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to Geisendorf Funeral Home.

Stanley and two passengers in the Nissan were properly restrained and not injured.  Montague was wearing a helmet, according to the KHP.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — The Lawrence school district will survey whether students, parents and staff would support starting high school classes later in the morning.

Lawrence Deputy Superintendent Anna Stubblefield said the surveys will be sent no later than Nov. 12. A phone survey of randomly selected parents also will be conducted.

Phone and online surveys done last school year showed wide support for the change among district parents and high school staff.

The district surveys will ask respondents if they prefer keeping the high school start time at 8:05 a.m. and release time at 3:10 p.m. It will also propose possible changes, such as from 8:30 a.m. and 3:35 p.m., or 9 a.m. and 4:05 p.m.

School board member Rick Ingram says the district will consider the possible challenges of the changes.

RENO COUNTY — An Arizona man convicted of being in possession of 44 pounds of marijuana during a Reno County traffic stop was sentenced Friday for intent to distribute and conspiracy to distribute the marijuana.

In September, a Reno County jury took approximately 90 minutes to find 25-year-old Dominic Holder, guilty.

During a Reno County traffic stop for speeding on April 15, 2017, officers found Holder had conspired with 31-year Alyssa Holler to distribute 44-pounds of marijuana. Both were traveling together in separate vehicles from Mesa, Arizona to Indianapolis.

The defense was denied any relief, including motions for a new trial. The judge also denied any departure from prison or for a lesser sentence.

“Justice is done,” Deputy District Attorney Tom Stanton said after the sentencing.

Holler entered a plea in this case and was granted three years community corrections.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The third Navy ship to bear the city of Wichita’s name will be sent into active duty early next year.

The littoral combat ship USS Wichita will be commissioned Jan. 12 at a Naval Station in Mayport, Florida. Littoral combat ships are the Navy’s fastest ships and are used for minesweeping, anti-submarine, drug trafficking or humanitarian operations.

The ship is 387 feet long, 57 feet wide and has a top speed of more than 45 knots — or nearly 52 mph.

The USS Wichita also is equipped with a launching pad for two, MH-60 Seahawk helicopters.

The first USS Wichita was a heavy cruiser that earned 13 battle stars during World War II. The second was a replenishment oiler that earned four battle stars in Vietnam.

CORONA, Calif. — Jimmy Page once painted a dragon, and used it to slay.

The guitar guru was so bursting with creative inspiration 50 years ago that he felt compelled to pick up a brush and use his skills from art school to take poster paints to his favorite instrument, a 1959 Fender Telecaster, and decorate it with a psychedelic beast.

He calls the axe “the Excalibur” that he wielded through the wildly eventful year of 1968, when his old band, the Yardbirds, crashed, and his new band, Led Zeppelin, was born just two months later.

“My whole life is moving so fast at that point,” Page, now 74, said as he reflected on Led Zeppelin’s 50th anniversary in an interview with The Associated Press at the Fender guitar factory in California. “Absolutely just a roller-coaster ride.”

Page said he had Led Zeppelin’s sound, and first songs, fully formed in his mind before the Yardbirds were even done.

“I just knew what way to go,” Page said. “It was in my instinct.”

He found his first ally in singer Robert Plant, whom he invited to his house to thumb through records and talk music.

Page said he used an unlikely bit of folkie inspiration — Joan Baez — to show Plant the sound he wanted, playing her recording of the song “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You” and telling him to emulate the way she sang the top line of the song. Zeppelin would put the tune on its first album.

Page still marvels at how fast the whole thing took off after Plant brought on drummer John Bonham and Page pulled in his friend John Paul Jones to play bass.

“The whole journey of Led Zeppelin and the rise of Led Zeppelin, each tour was just extraordinary, and the growth and the respect and love of the band, and the people that were flooding to see us,” Page said.

The first record also included “Dazed and Confused,” with Page famously using a violin bow on the dragon guitar, which he played on every electric song on the record.

The guitar had been a cherished gift that guitarist Jeff Beck had given Page to thank him for recommending Beck for a job in the Yardbirds, which had brought a handsome payday.

“He’d bought a Corvette Stingray, and came roaring up my driveway with it,” Page remembered. “He said, ‘This is yours.’ I was absolutely thrilled to bits. It was given to me with so much affection.”

Page said he made immediate and intense use of the instrument, and wanted to “consecrate” it, so he went at it with paints that were used at the time for psychedelic posters, and summoned the dragon.

Page later left the guitar behind at his home in England on an early U.S. tour with Led Zeppelin in 1969. He’d come to regret it.

When he returned, exhausted and abuzz, he found that a ceramicist friend who had been serving as his house-sitter had painted over the dragon in his own mosaic style as a “gift” for Page.

“It was a disaster,” he said.

Page angrily stripped off all the paint and it sat in storage where it sat for decades.

Flash forward 50 years. Page was assembling a book for the band’s anniversary, and the dragon guitar kept popping up in pictures.

Page felt that maybe it was time to bring the old beast back to life. He worked with a graphic artist who helped illustrate the book, using photos to repaint the guitar, and recreate its old look.

He loved the result so much that he approached Fender, guitar maker happily signed on to make an anniversary rendition for the public.

“It’s absolutely identical,” Page said. “You wouldn’t see any difference. If anything, the colors were just slightly richer.”

Four different versions of the guitar will be released next year.

Along with the book, the instruments are a tribute to the band’s 50-year legacy.

Asked what kind of gift one might get for his bandmates for such a milestone, Page said, “I might give them a paintbrush, and the body of a guitar, and see if they can do something with it.”

SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating an attempted aggravated robbery and have a suspect in custody.

Just before 11p.m. Friday, police  responded to an aggravated robbery attempt to Lynn’s Liquor located at 3335 SW Gage in Topeka, according to Lt. John Trimble.

Employees of the store stated that after they had locked the doors for the night, 2 subjects wearing blue bandanas covering their faces and dark clothes attempted to enter the store. One of those subjects were armed with a handgun. Once the 2 subjects were unable to enter the store, they fled on foot in an unknown direction.

The investigation led police to a residence in the 3500 Block of NW Twilight in Topeka. Police arrested four people for questioning, according to Trimble. Two were identified as suspect in the attempted robbery including 35-year-old Joseph Toole. He was booked into the Shawnee County Department of Corrections. A juvenile was aldo booked into the Juvenile Detention Center for attempted aggravated robbery.