HUTCHINSON — A 31-year-old Arkansas man jailed for inappropriate involvement with a 10-year-old child was sentenced Friday to just over 12 years in prison.
Dustin Kennedy was given that sentence after Judge Joe McCarville agreed to go along with a recommendation to depart from Jessica’s Law to a level-two person felony and then sentence him on that grid based on any previous criminal history.
Kennedy had earlier waived his right to a preliminary hearing and entered a guilty plea to aggravated criminal sodomy, while the state dropped a second charge or alternate count of aggravated indecent liberties with a child.
Kennedy had been charged after the November 2011 incident where he was living with his girlfriend and was alone with her child when the crime occurred. The child apparently told her mother of about the incident, and she then confronted Kennedy. She told him he needed help, so he went to the hospital and asked for help. He was told to contact the police and was arrested shortly after.
District Attorney Keith Schroeder said he agreed to the recommendation and the plea agreement so the child victim would not have to testify. The victim’s mother told the judge that no matter the sentence, it won’t be enough.
In addition to the 12-plus years in prison, Kennedy will be required to register as sex offender and will be on lifetime post-release supervision.
By Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services
TOPEKA – In 2002, the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services (KDADS) became a national leader in the push to bring about “culture change” in nursing home facilities across the State of Kansas by developing a now popular and on-going initiative known as “Promoting Excellent Alternatives in Kansas Nursing Homes (PEAK)”.
Traditionally, high-quality care is seen as the gold standard for high-quality nursing homes. But Kansas has been a pioneer in raising the bar, changing that standard to include quality of life as an element equally important in assessing a facility’s success.
In 2011, KDADS introduced an even more progressive model, PEAK 2.0. Building on the success of the original PEAK, providers, consumers and advocates developed a pay-for-performance incentive program, under which nursing homes can be placed in one of five incentive levels to track how they are pursuing culture change, that they met minimum competencies in providing person-centered care and have sustained person-centered care, and that they are using their experience to mentor other facilities in providing person-centered care. Attainment of each level is tied to an incentive payment through Medicaid reimbursement to encourage more nursing homes to move towards person-centered care.
“More than 160 nursing homes in Kansas have demonstrated their commitment to excellence and to person-centered care, making life rewarding and enjoyable for their residents through this PEAK 2.0 program,” KDADS Secretary Shawn Sullivan. “We are eager to expand that spirit to all the nursing facilities in our state. Improving the quality of life enjoyed by nursing home residents is a significant—and measurable—priority. Person-centered care should be the standard of care for all Kansas nursing home residents instead of an institutional and medical based model.”
Since the beginning, the PEAK program has two goals. The first is to recognize those Kansas nursing homes that pursue progressive models of care, the second to provide education to nursing home providers about how to implement change and document its value.
KDADS contracted with the Kansas State University (KSU) Center on Aging in 2012 to administer the program and work toward achieving those goals. KDADS continues to oversee the program and apply the incentive to Medicaid reimbursements, but KSU handles administrative functions such as application, training and evaluation.
Today, KDADS has 162 active participants in the PEAK 2.0 program and continues to move toward statewide changes that refocus caregiving from the institutional model of accomplishing tasks to emphasizing the person — person-centered care. To achieve these changes, nursing homes have begun to shift from solely providing the services and supports that their residents need to concentrate on four area essential to creating a person-centered care environment:
· Resident Choice – This involves guiding organizations away from the regimented top-down practices of the traditional model to a new approach based on personalized care/service plans, resident input and actively engaged families. It emphasizes customer service, hospitality and attentiveness to individual needs. Providing and promoting choices to residents is the most essential principle of resident-centered care. It provides resident with real choices across the board in their day-to-day living, relationships, activities, learning, leisure, and end-of-life.
· Staff Empowerment – This embraces the empowerment of staff to successfully function in many different roles and make decisions and respond to the choices of residents by building a relationship with them. KDADS has seen this increase job satisfaction for employees and quality of care for resident. Staff is given the latitude and authority, necessary training and flexibility to respond to the needs of the residents they serve. Staff have input into their work schedules and assignments, and are encouraged to work together as teams to innovate and solve problems.
· Home Environment – In this area the goal is for nursing homes to adopt a person-centered approach that shapes the physical environment, organizational structure and interpersonal relationships in ways that create a genuine atmosphere of home. It provides residents with clear opportunities to direct their own lives. Physical environments should be more homelike and less institutional. Larger nursing units are replaced with smaller “households” of 10 to 15 residents, residents would have access to beverages and snacks 24/7 just like they would at home, and overhead public address systems would be eliminated to create a homelike environment.
· Meaningful Life – Staff who work in nursing homes shape the physical environment, organizational structure, and interpersonal relationships with residents in ways that create an atmosphere of home. This includes building on lifelong interests and offering new activities/experiences for residents.
Educational objective modules of the PEAK program were researched and designed by staff at the in KSU Center on Aging and have been distributed to all Kanas nursing homes and other advocates in the profession. They are also available at the KDADS website at https://www.kdads.ks.gov/LongTermCare/PEAK/peak.html.
EMPORIA (AP) — A range fire has burned about 4,000 acres in east-central Kansas, injuring one firefighter.
KVOE reports the injured firefighter suffered minor burns in the blaze Thursday. Authorities say the grass fire, which also destroyed a fire truck, started in Lyon County and pushed into Osage and Coffey counties.
Rick Frevert, with Lyon County Emergency Management, said more than 4,000 acres had burned as of late Thursday.
Authorities say that in a separate incident in southern Lyons County, a fire sparked by a controlled burn that rekindled destroyed a house, outbuilding, truck and tractor.
JUNCTION CITY — Fire crews responded to a grass fire south of Interstate 70 and along U.S. 57 Thursday afternoon.
Garry Berges, Geary County Rural Fire chief, said embers from a controlled burn south of U.S. 57 jumped the highway and caught grass and cedar trees east of the highway on fire.
“We’re estimating probably around 40 acres is what ended up burning on the north side of the roadway,” Berges said.
No damage was reported but Berges did say that a pumper truck from Grandview Plaza was called in to protect several houses along a row of cedar trees that had caught fire.
The blaze was reported just after noon Thursday and was contained by 2 p.m. Berges confirmed.
Crews from the Geary County Rural Fire Department, Grandview Plaza Fire Department and the Fort Riley Fire Department responded
By Kansas Department of Wildlife,Parks and Tourism
PRATT – Whether it’s a snapshot of a peaceful moment fishing on the lake, the fiery colors of a Kansas sunset, or the image of a white-tailed fawn at rest, Kansas Wildlife & Parks magazine staff want to see Kansas outdoors through the lens of your camera. Photo submissions for the 2nd annual “Wild About Kansas” junior photo contest are being accepted now through Oct. 24, 2014. Participants can submit photos in three categories: wildlife, outdoor recreation or landscapes. There is no fee to enter, and the contest is open to both residents and nonresidents, age 18 or younger.
“Kansas is a state filled with a plethora of diverse and awe-inspiring natural resources, and this contest is just one more way we can enjoy and share those resources with others,” said Kansas Wildlife & Parks magazine associate editor, Nadia Marji.
Budding photographers can submit up to three photos and multiple entries may be submitted in the same category. Photos must be taken within the state of Kansas and must be the entrant’s original work. Each photo will be judged on creativity, composition, subject matter, lighting, and the overall sharpness. First, 2nd, and 3rd place prizes will be awarded in each category, as well as one honorable mention per category. Winners will be featured in the Kansas Wildlife & Parks January/February 2015 photo issue.
Entries must be received no later than 5 p.m. on Oct. 24, 2014. An entry form must be submitted for each participant. Photo format should be JPEG and a file size should be not less than 1mb and not more than 5mb.
TOPEKA — In an 11-10 vote, the House Taxation Committee passed HB 2607 on Wednesday to implement a sales tax holiday and exempt sales tax from purchases of school supplies, clothing and computers.
Rep. Don Hineman, R-Dighton
“I’m in favor of this, simply because I think it’s something our constituents are excited about,” said Rep. Carolyn Bridges, D-Wichita. “People like to know their state Legislature is doing something that benefits them totally.”
Other legislators such as Rep. Ronald Ryckman Sr., R- Meade, opposed the bill, saying this implementation is just a gimmick.
“If we really want to cut sales tax, let’s cut sales tax. If that’s what we want to do, let’s do it all year-round,” Ryckman said. “If we really want to help a certain class of people, then help that certain class of people.”
Other raised concerns that the bill place a burden on retailers during the tax holiday and the unaffected buying habits of consumers, since evidence shows the annual spending in states with similar implementation remains the same. According to the bill’s fiscal note, the state and local revenue loss would be nearly $7 million for 2015.
To combat these issues, Rep. Julie Menghini, D- Pittsburg, proposed an amendment to bring the statute into compliance with the streamlined sales tax agreement. The amendment also changed the language to an implementation date of 2015 in order to avoid a problem with notifying retailers at least 60 days in advance of the holiday.
Rep. Don Hineman, R-Dighton, indicated how he would vote when he read documents from the Tax Foundation saying: “Sales tax holidays have enjoyed political success, but recently, policy makers are reevaluating them. Rather than providing a valuable tax cut or a boost to the economy, sales tax holidays impose serious costs on consumers and business without providing off-setting benefits. Sales tax holidays are no part of sound tax policy.”
The bill passed as amended and will move forward for consideration by the House.
Hannah Swank is a University of Kansas senior from Topeka majoring in journalism.
HUTCHINSON — The Hutchinson Police Department is seeking information related to the location of a missing teen.
On March 14, Itzayana Mendoza was reported as a runaway after last being seen at the Hutchinson Mall. She is entered into the National Crime Information Center database as a missing person.
Mendoza is a 16-year-old Hispanic female. She is approximately 4 foot, 11 inches and weighs 120 pounds. She has black hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a green sweatshirt and black shorts.
Contact the Hutchinson Police Department at (620) 694-2834 or CrimeStoppers at (800) 222-TIPS if you have information related to Itzayana’s whereabouts.
TOPEKA — Medicaid expansion is nowhere to be found on Gov. Sam Brownback’s list of priorities and those of Republican legislative leaders as they work through a legislative session now dominated by school finance issues.
But that didn’t stop nearly 200 expansion supporters from crowding into a wing of the Statehouse adjacent to the governor’s office on Tuesday for a noisy rally. The event was staged by more than 50 health care and social service organizations organized under the banner of the Kansas Medicaid Access Coalition.
Sean Gatewood, a former Democratic legislator from Topeka and director of the coalition, outlined the case for expansion by reminding the crowd that the state’s current Medicaid program is one of the most restrictive in the nation.
“If you don’t have kids and you don’t have a disability and you’re just a childless adult there is no Medicaid for you. It doesn’t matter if you don’t make a dime,” Gatewood said.
In Kansas, childless adults are not eligible for Medicaid no matter how poor they are. Adults with children are eligible but only if they earn less than 32 percent of poverty, about $630 a month for a three-person household.
The federal health reform law allows states to increase Medicaid eligibility for all adults with annual earnings up to 138 percent of poverty – $15,856 for individuals and $35,325 for a family of four. And the law requires the federal government to pay 100 percent of the costs for three years. After that, the federal share gradually declines until it reaches 90 percent.
Without expansion, an estimated 80,000 uninsured Kansans are expected to fall into what is being called the Medicaid gap. They are ineligible for the existing Medicaid program but are too poor to qualify for federal subsidies to help cover the cost of private coverage in the Obamacare marketplace.
Georgia Masterson traveled from Iola to attend the rally and lobby legislators from her area. A former state employee, Masterson now helps people select health coverage on the healthcare.gov website as a certified navigator. She said she’s counseled several people who made too little to qualify for federal subsidies and too much for Medicaid.
“It’s very frustrating and it’s very heartbreaking,” Masterson said.
Many of those expected to end up in the gap are seniors who lost their jobs and health insurance before they were old enough to qualify for Medicare, said Mary Tritsch of AARP Kansas.
“They’re not eligible to be on Medicare until they’re 65 so they’re caught in a gap and they really need this,”Tritsch said. “We’re estimating that a little over 20,000 Kansans are in that position.”
The rejection of Medicaid expansion is also squeezing Kansas hospitals financially. They’re being forced to absorb cuts in Medicare reimbursements that were supposed to be offset by higher Medicaid spending.
A report from the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured estimated that rejecting expansion would cost Kansas $5.3 billion in federal aid between 2013 and 2022.
By Tuesday evening, a ticker on the Kansas Health Consumer website that continuously updates how much money Kansas has lost since Jan. 1 was closing in on $83 million.
None of the arguments advanced by expansion supporters have carried the day with opponents. Just last week, Brownback restated his opposition to expansion, saying it would be wrong to allow more able-bodied adults into Medicaid when thousands of people with physical and developmental disabilities are still on waiting lists for services.
“I want us (first) to take care of the people who are on the waiting lists now,” Brownback said after addressing an event organized by mental health advocates.
A Medicaid expansion bill introduced early in the session by Rep. Jim Ward, a Wichita Democrat, never received a hearing and remains bottled up in a House committee.
Senate President Susan Wagle, a Wichita Republican, has said she is open to discussing the kind of private-sector approaches to expansion being taken in other states by GOP governors. Those plans require federal approval to use Medicaid money to subsidize the purchase of private coverage.
“I believe if the federal government would give us the flexibility then we could arrive at a plan that works for Kansas,” Wagle said.
Wagle said continued opposition to the Affordable Care Act and problems with its implementation made it impossible to discussed the related Medicaid expansion issue this session.
“We don’t have a predictable environment to legislate from,” she said.
Jacki Chase is the head nurse for the Iola school district and the daughter of the late Robert Talkington, the president of the Kansas Senate from 1985-1989. She said she supports Medicaid expansion but understands why some legislators don’t want to deal with it in an election year.
“It is a politically charged issue that relates back to the Affordable Care Act and whether that is going to be successful,” Chase said. “I think they don’t want to address it and possibly have it used against them in this year’s election.”
In 2010, political organizations spending hundreds of thousands of dollars used the Obamacare issue to defeat several moderate Republican members of the Kansas Senate.
GREAT BEND — The United States Department of Transportation issued an order selecting SeaPort Airlines to provide commercial air service to and from Great Bend. The contract period is for two years.
SeaPort will provide 18 round-trip flights per week. There will be two daily trips to Wichita, and one daily trip to Kansas City on the weekdays. Three flights are also planned on the weekend, although a schedule has yet to be determined.
Martin Miller, airport manager, met with SeaPort CEO Rob McKinney on Monday at the Salina Regional Airport, where SeaPort has been operating since 2010.
According to SeaPort’s bid for air service, an introductory fare of $39 one-way, including taxes and fees, will be offered for the first 30 days, on every seat and every flight.
“SeaPort is now preparing to establish its operation here. Due to the late decision by DOT, it’s not clear when the first scheduled flights can commence,” Miller said. “It’s also important to note that DOT awarded SkyWest service to Denver in 50-seat jet aircraft on the same order. This allows residents of the entire region the option of flying east from Great Bend or west from Hays.
SALINA (AP) — The brother of a 93-year-old Salina man who was killed when a car struck his four-wheel mobility scooter last year has filed a wrongful death suit against the driver.
The Salina Journal reports Leon E. Olson filed the suit last week claiming Dennis Campbell was negligent when he crashed into Eugene Olson’s scooter Sept. 9.
Campbell’s car struck the scooter from behind at an intersection. Salina police say that because there were no sidewalks in that block, scooters are permitted to be driven on the street.
Eugene Olson died at a local hospital two days after the crash.
Campbell has not been charged in the accident, which remains under investigation.
The lawsuit in Saline County District Court is seeking more than $75,000 in damages.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — With the deadline fast approaching to get health coverage this year through the Affordable Care Act’s marketplace plans, a final push is on across Kansas, Missouri and other states to get people signed up.
“We have stepped up efforts with our outreach activities. Our navigators have jam-packed their schedules, getting appointments made to get people enrolled,” said Katrina McGivern, communications coordinator for the Kansas Association for the Medically Underserved, one of the Kansas groups given federal grant dollars to help get people enrolled. The association represents Kansas’ various safety net clinics.
A sign outside the Topeka-Shawnee County Public Library invites people to sign up for a health insurance plan through the Affordable Care Act’s online marketplace. Photo by Dave Ranney, KHI.
KAMU already had billboard advertisements for the Obamacare marketplace up in various parts of the state, but this past weekend also began airing ads in movie theaters. Radio and TV ads also have been airing in the various markets.
The last day of open enrollment is March 31 and most involved with it report that the pace has picked up considerably since the marketplace’s slow start in October 2013. Starting this year, most people who don’t have health insurance but can afford it will face penalties.
‘Starting to realize’
“I think people are starting to realize the deadline is coming. We’re seeing a lot of people who have never had insurance before. They don’t know about co-pays and deductibles. We’re really working with them from square one,” said Misty Kruger of the Shawnee County Health Agency in Topeka.
The agency hired certified navigators and counselors to help people get enrolled and stationed the workers at the public library, a popular community gathering spot, with hours that extend into the evenings and weekends.
Earlier this month in Kansas City, Kan., organizers held a two-day health fair as part of efforts to get the word out.
Salvador Lopez, an Excelsior Springs, Mo. farm worker, was among those who attended the event. He came with his wife and two daughters.
He said he would like health insurance so he could afford diabetes medicine. The coverage also could help his wife, who said she wasn’t feeling well as she had her blood pressure checked.
Lopez said Medicaid already covers his daughters and he was optimistic he would be able to find a plan he could afford through the new marketplace.
“It’s going to help me a lot,” he said.
“I would say the majority of people that we see have no idea what health insurance is, have never had it,” said Pam Seymour, executive director of Shepherd’s Center Central. The nonprofit has two locations in Kansas City, Mo., and has more than a dozen trained workers to help individuals navigate the enrollment process using the federal website.
Surge expected
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported last that 4.2 million people nationwide had purchased exchange plans through the end of February. The Congressional Budget Office had originally projected that 7 million people would enroll in private plans in the first year of the marketplace. Last month it revised that downward to 6 million.
The latest numbers from HHS included about 104,000 people who were signed up in Missouri and Kansas. According to federal estimates, about 1.1 million people in the two states are uninsured and eligible to participate in the exchange. Nationally, the number of uninsured people in 2012 was estimated at about 47 million.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that about 6 million people will get coverage through the Obamacare marketplaces this year, about 20 percent less than originally projected.
But officials said they are expecting there will be a flurry of enrollments at or near the deadline.
“What we are finding,” HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said with the release of the new enrollment numbers, “is that as more Americans learn just how affordable marketplace insurance can be, more are signing up.”
A department spokeswoman said agency officials were “busy preparing to handle an anticipated surge in enrollment as we approach the end of March.”
HHS officials said they had hired an additional 2,000 workers for the department’s help line – bringing the total to about 14,000 representatives.
Drafters of the Affordable Care Act intended the health insurance marketplaces to operate much like online systems that allow shoppers to compare prices on airline tickets or hotel rooms. The idea behind that was that competition among plans would yield the best deals for consumers.
There also was the assumption that the marketplace could give individuals the clout of being part of a large group similar to people enrolled in a large, employer-based plan.
Resistance
The health-reform law gave states the option of establishing their own marketplace or participating in a federally run exchange.
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, 17 states have their own exchanges. The remaining states are relying on the federal marketplace or created a hybrid federal-state operation.
In many instances, as in Missouri and Kansas, the decision not to establish a state exchange stemmed from conservative Republican and/or voter opposition to Obamacare.
In November 2012, Missouri voters approved a proposition barring the governor or any state agency from helping establish an exchange without legislative or voter approval.
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback, a conservative Republican who ran for office campaigning against the health reform law, rejected $31.5 million in federal grant money that would have allowed the state to build its own exchange. He also rejected a plan that would have let the state partner with the federal government on a marketplace, opting instead for one run solely by the national government.
Final push
At the Shepherd’s Center in Kansas City, Seymour said, “everybody is ready and up to the challenge of getting these last-minute people enrolled. We are going to pull out all the stops and do whatever we need to do.”
Shepherd’s Center is among the various groups in Missouri and Kansas that are working to inform people that time is running out to buy insurance for 2014 through the marketplace. The next enrollment period starts in November.
Among the initiatives in the Kansas City metro area are Enroll Wyandotte, the coalition that sponsored the recent health fair, and CoverKC, a $700,000 effort bankrolled by the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City.
The St. Louis-based Missouri Foundation for Health has a statewide project called Cover Missouri.
In Kansas, the state insurance department is working with KAMU and other outside organizations to spread the word about the Obamacare health plans.
Various activities
Here are some of the efforts to date and plans for the next couple of weeks:
• Cover Missouri: Has helped enroll about 68,000 Missourians for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act, said Ryan Barker, health policy vice president at the Missouri Foundation for Health. That total includes some people who turned out to be eligible for Medicaid. With a multimedia campaign on tap, Barker said he hopes the effort can have 130,000 people enrolled by the end of the month.
• Among KAMU’s efforts is a text messaging campaign. And various KAMU members are running their own ad campaigns and enrollment events, including an “enrollment blitz” scheduled from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Center for Health and Wellness in Wichita. The Wyandotte Health Department will be taking enrollments from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the deadline day.
• CoverKC: Since January, workers have knocked on more than 35,000 doors in the urban cores of Kansas City, Mo., and Kansas City, Kan., according to Jessica Hembree, program and policy officer for the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City. Organizers said they hope to have knocked at 70,000 doors by the end of this month, supplemented by mail, telephone and digital marketing.
• Enroll Wyandotte workers aim to have reached about 18,000 residents by the end of the month, said Jerry Jones, executive director of the Community Health Council of Wyandotte County. By the end of the next enrollment period, which ends in mid-January, Jones said the goal is to have 12,000 previously uninsured county residents enrolled in plans through the marketplace.
Enrollment workers said the federal website is working much better than it did last fall.
Field workers said it still can take upwards of two, three or five hours to enroll, if the case is complex, but that they are cautiously optimistic the anticipated surge of sign-ups in the next couple of weeks will not lead to another meltdown.
“We hope the process works better,” said Linda Sheppard, special counsel and director of health care policy and analysis at the Kansas Department of Insurance. “I assume it will. We will see what happens.”
TOPEKA – A Salina man today pleaded guilty today to a federal gun and drug charge, U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said in a news release.
Stephen M. Smith, Jr., 45, Salina, pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking.
In his plea, he admitted that he possessed a .40 caliber handgun when he was arrested Sept. 6, 2013, at his residence in Salina. Police, who were called to the residence by a Kansas State Parole officer, seized a distribution quantity of methamphetamine and the gun.
Sentencing is set for June 9. Both sides have agreed to recommend a sentence of five years in federal prison.
Grissom commended the Kansas Department of Corrections, the Salina Police Department, the I-135/I-70 Drug Task Force and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Assistant U.S. Attorney Mike Warner for their work on the case.
HUTCHINSON — An 18-year-old Hutchinson woman was arrested over the weekend after she allegedly stabbed her boyfriend in the knee.
The incident occurred at a home at 702 N. Adams at approximately 2:17 p.m. Saturday. Mahrya Scaglione was arrested on allegations of with reckless aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia and no tax stamp. Police reported finding 48 grams of marijuana found in the home.
An ambulance was called to the scene, but it’s unclear if the boyfriend, who was not identified, was transported to the hospital.
Bond in the case was set at $18,500, and Scaglione is scheduled to be in court Wednesday for a status hearing.
