HUTCHINSON (AP) — The federal government has cited the Tyson Foods plant in Hutchinson for safety violations after a worker’s hand was severed last summer.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration labeled the plant a severe violator, meaning future inspections will ensure the violations have been corrected. OSHA also recommended a $147,000 fine for four violations found during a recent inspection.
The worker’s hand was severed in June while he and three others were cleaning a conveyor belt and his arm was pulled into the equipment.
The Hutchinson News reported OSHA has found seven serious violations at the plant in the last decade and some of the latest violations were considered willful.
Tyson officials say the company is reviewing the citations and will work with OSHA to resolve the concerns.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Lottery officials said winning ticket tickets were sold in California and Georgia for the $636 million Mega Millions jackpot, the second-largest lottery prize in U.S. history.
The winning numbers were: 8, 14, 17, 20, 39; Mega Ball: 7.
Paula Otto, the Virginia Lottery’s executive director and the lead director of Mega Millions, said $336 million in tickets were sold for Tuesday’s drawing.
California Lottery spokesman Alex Traverso said Tuesday one ticket was sold at Jennifer’s Gift Shop in San Jose, Calif.
The lucky Georgia ticket was sold at a Gateway Newsstand in the affluent Buckhead area of Atlanta. Owner Young Soolee grinned as she arrived this morning at the shop, off the beaten path to the public and frequented by workers from the Alliance Center office building.
The jackpot resets to $15 million for the next drawing, which is on Friday night.
(TOPEKA)— Sandy Praeger, Kansas Commissioner of Insurance, announced today in a news release the Kansas Insurance Department (KID) will receive $510,146 in settlement funds from seven different insurance companies following a review of the companies’ death benefit practices.
The department has or will receive the following amounts from these insurance companies: ING, $114,726; New York Life, $110,255; Lincoln National, $78,182; TransAmerica, $67,668; TIAA-CREF, $67,620; Aviva and Global Atlantic, $48,057; and Midland, $23,638. The funds are the Kansas portion of the national settlements for each company.
Previously, life insurance companies used the Social Security Death Master File to search for and stop payments to deceased annuity holders, but they hadn’t used the database to identify deceased life insurance policyholders in order to pay beneficiaries promptly. Under the settlement agreement, they now have to.
The settlement money, under Kansas law, goes to the state’s general fund budget.
MANHATTAN – A two-way verbal exchange between Kansas’ cattle producers and extension specialists is the new approach to K-State’s 2014 Winter Ranch Management Seminar Series, set to kick-off in January and conclude mid-February.
The series has a history of being a successful stretch of meetings, which are hosted throughout the state of Kansas, said Bob Weaber, beef breeding, genetics and cow/calf specialist for K-State Research and Extension. Unlike previous years where the program has had a Web-based delivery for part of the content, originating on campus or at a particular ranch, this year the specialists will deliver the series in a face-to-face “town hall” meeting format.
Weaber, along with other state, district and local extension staff, will take part in the series to help answer producers’ questions about beef cattle issues surrounding animal health, nutrition, management, genetics and reproduction.
“Because of the wide range of topics and variety of climatic conditions over the past year in Kansas, there are many different issues facing producers,” Weaber said. “This is a great opportunity for us as state specialists to take our expertise out in the country and do a series of ‘town hall’ format meetings, where we don’t have a specific agenda. We want to be responsive to the questions and needs of our producer clientele.”
Weaber said producers should come to the meetings prepared with questions. Some of the hot topics he foresees discussing include drought management and recovery, winter feeding and cow management, preparation for calving season, and, as the bull buying season approaches in the spring, new trichomoniasis regulations (https://www.asi.k-state.edu/species/beef/research-and-extension/finaltrichrules.pdf), bull selection and genetics issues.
Although most of the questions will probably focus on winter issues, Weaber said extension staff is open to questions regarding producers’ plans next year for breeding, calving and weaning.
“January is always a great time for producers, when the weather is bad and after they get chores done, to sit back, think and plan for the coming year, the calves that will be born in the spring and how they might manage those,” he said. “Certainly think about business strategy opportunities moving forward in terms of expansion.”
Northwest Kansas locations include:
Downs: Jan. 23 (evening), Memorial Hall, 500 Morgan Ave. For more information, contact Neil Cates, Post Rock District, (785) 738-3597, or Rachael Boyle, Phillips-Rooks District, (785) 425-6851.
Colby: Jan. 28 (mid-day), 4-H Building, 1100 Cedar St. For more information, contact Kurt Sexton, Thomas County, (785) 460-4582.
Ness City: Jan. 28 (evening), Comm. Bank of Midwest, 210 S. Kansas. For more information, contact Jared Petersilie, Walnut Creek District, (785) 222-2710.
Evening events with start at approximately 5 p.m. with registration, dinner at 6 p.m. and program 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Mid-day meetings will begin with registration at approximately 11:30 a.m., lunch at noon and program 12:30 to 2:30 p.m.
Participants are asked to RSVP for a selected location by the close of business the Friday before the event. Registration fees, which cover a meal, vary by location. Interested participants should reach out to their local host contact for registration and RSVP details.
More information about the K-State Winter Ranch Management Seminar Series is available at www.ksubeef.org.
TOPEKA – Kansas has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to block a new EPA regulation affecting stationary-source businesses and industries that generate greenhouse gases, Attorney General Derek Schmidt said today.
Litigation challenging the EPA greenhouse gas regulation has been ongoing since 2009. Kansas was unable to join as a plaintiff along with Texas and the 11 other states that have brought the legal challenge because the deadline for doing so passed before Schmidt took office. Four other states also independently challenged the EPA’s regulation.
Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt
However, with the Texas-led litigation now having reached the Supreme Court, Schmidt yesterday filed a friend of the court brief on behalf of Kansas and five other states in support of Texas and the other states challenging EPA. The new Kansas filing brings to 21 the number of states challenging the validity of the EPA regulation.
“The Kansas economy relies heavily on both the production and use of fossil fuels,” Schmidt said. “The effect of these new regulations is disproportionately harmful to Kansans’ pocketbooks. We’re insisting the EPA follow the rules and stay within the limits of its authority granted by Congress.”
On June 26, 2012, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld the EPA’s greenhouse gas stationary source
regulatory scheme, and later denied a petition for rehearing en banc. On October 15, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court granted six separate petitions for certiorari limited to the question of whether EPA permissibly determined that its regulation of greenhouse gas emissions from new motor vehicles also triggered permitting requirements under the Clean Air Act for stationary sources that emit greenhouse gases.
The most recent filing by Kansas is in Utility Air Regulatory Group v. EPA, and consolidated cases, which is scheduled for oral argument at the Supreme Court on February 24, 2014. Kansas is a party to two other lawsuits challenging new EPA air regulations. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court heard arguments in the challenge to the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule. Kansas also is a plaintiff in a challenge to the new electric utility steam generating units rule for mercury and air toxics that is presently before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
“The cost of this cascade of new regulations will fall on every Kansas family who pays a utility bill,” Schmidt said. “If left unchecked, the federal administration’s so-called war on coal will leave casualties throughout the Kansas economy.”
WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., released the following statement today regarding the Ryan-Murray budget plan:
“I appreciate the efforts of Rep. Paul Ryan and Sen. Patty Murray to work together in an attempt to get our spending un
Sen. Jerry Moran, R.-Kan.
der control. Unfortunately, the final agreement falls far short of making the meaningful spending reforms we need to address our out-of-control debt and deficit.
“The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 replaces sequester spending cuts with a spending increase of $63 billion over two years, split between defense and non-defense programs. This increased spending is paid for through increased aviation fees, changes in retirement pay for the Armed Forces, and the promise of future mandatory spending reductions – much of which will take place a decade from now”
“What remains missing from this agreement is a genuine effort to address the real cause of our debt problems: mandatory spending. As long as the solvency and unfunded liabilities of Social Security and Medicare remain ignored in favor of minor tweaks to discretionary spending, our budget crisis will never go away.”
“While I didn’t vote for sequestration, the reality is it forced Washington to acknowledge the hard truth of our spending and set budget caps. It is disappointing to see Congress change the law to increase spending now while delaying further spending cuts until many years in the future. With the national debt soaring above $17 trillion, we should not allow ourselves to – yet again – postpone responsible fiscal policy.”
TOPEKA (AP) — A federal panel says the KanCare takeover of long-term services for the developmentally disabled should be delayed.
KanCare, the state’s privatized program for the poor and disabled, is scheduled to begin providing those services Jan. 1. However, it needs a waiver from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services by Jan. 1.
The National Council on Disability is recommending that Medicaid delay the waiver for one year. The panel said the state has not adequately considered concerns raised by clients, guardians and service providers about the expansion.
The Wichita Eagle reported the state Department for Aging and Disability Services officials disagreed with the panel’s recommendations. They say the panel didn’t spend enough time in Kansas to understand the safeguards KanCare has to protect the rights of the disabled.
RIVERTON (AP) — The victim in a fatal head-on collision in southeast Kansas has been identified as a Pittsburg State University student.
A report from the Kansas Highway Patrol said James Lee Potocnik, 30, was killed shortly before 1 a.m. Sunday. The patrol says Potocnik was northbound on a highway north of Riverton when his SUV crossed the center line and struck a southbound tractor-trailer.
In a statement Monday, Pittsburg State officials said Potocnik was a junior majoring in electronics engineering. He was a native of the southeast Kansas town of Frontenac.
DENVER (AP) — The U.S. and Canadian military’s beloved Santa Tracker is facing something new this year — public criticism.
A children’s advocacy group said an animated video on the NORAD Tracks Santa website injects militarism into Christmas by showing fighter jets escorting Santa’s sleigh.
It’s a rare swipe at the popular Christmas Eve program that gives second-by-second updates on Santa’s global whereabouts.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command defended the video as non-threatening and safe for kids.
The kerfuffle erupted two weeks ago when the Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood said the video brings violence and militarism to a beloved tradition. Blogs and Twitter lit up with volleys from both sides.
Coalition officials said it’s a “media-manufactured controversy.” They say they hadn’t even known about the video until reporters called.
GARDEN CITY (AP) — A special prosecutor has announced that no criminal charges will be filed against the Hamilton County sheriff.
The Garden City Telegram reported Sheriff Richard Garza voluntarily placed himself on administrative leave following his arrest in September.
Scott City Attorney John Shirley said in an initial report that the incident stemmed from a “family matter” where no physical violence occurred. Shirley was appointed special prosecutor at the request of the Hamilton County attorney.
The Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office said Garza’s return to duty was effective Friday.
WASHINGTON — The National Council on Disability today sent a letter to federal health officials urging them to postpone for a year consideration of a request by the administration of Gov. Sam Brownback to include long-term services for the developmentally disabled in KanCare.
The council, which held two days of hearings last week in Topeka as part of its ongoing study of the ramifications of Medicaid managed care, said Kansas officials need to collaborate more with developmentally disabled (DD) service providers and families before moving forward with their plans.
The council also cited concerns over delayed payments and other problems reported with KanCare and said the state should be obliged to eliminate its existing waiting list for services before being allowed to expand its relatively new managed care initiative.
“We think that concerns of the stakeholders and affected individuals and families are so significant that there should be a sufficient time period to review all the concerns that have been articulated,” said council member Gary Blumenthal, a former Kansas legislator now living in Massachusetts. “We recommend a 12-month evaluation.”
Shawn Sullivan, secretary of the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services. Photo by PHIL CAUTHON, KHI
The council is a federal agency that advises executive branch agencies and Congress on disability policies. But the agencies are not bound by the council’s recommendations.
Eyes on Kansas
It is somewhat unusual for the panel, which generally makes broad or more general policy recommendations, to issue recommendations specific to a state Medicaid plan, but council officials said the national significance of what is happening in Kansas warranted the letter because the Kansas plan could be taken as a model by other states and needs to be done correctly, if at all.
“In a lot of ways, policymakers throughout the rest of the country are looking at Kansas and seeing what happens in Kansas as a potential model,” said council member Ari Ne’eman of Silver Springs, Md. “So, we focused on Kansas but we did so because we want to make sure that if managed care is done, it’s done properly and if it’s not being done properly then it’s not done.
“We were very specific in our concerns and in our recommendations and that speaks to the fact that program design is really the key to everything when it comes to the difference between a managed care framework that leads to improved outcome or one that produces potential harm. That was why we felt the need to focus on Kansas.”
Ne’eman said other states have used managed care for disabled populations but that the Kansas plan was distinct because of its scope and because KanCare was being run by “commercial insurance companies” as opposed to non-profit agencies.
Ne’eman said one of the council’s chief concerns with the Kansas plan was that it extended managed care to disabled persons in home- or community-based settings but exempted those in the state institutions.
He said that might create incentives for the managed care companies to send people with more costly or serious disabilities to the state institutions to get them off their ledgers. A longstanding goal of the council has been to end reliance on institutions such as the state hospitals.
‘Distorted’
A ranking Kansas official said the council’s letter merely repeated “distorted” reports the council heard when it was in Kansas last week without hearing all the information the Brownback administration could have provided about its planning and implementation of the program.
“Secretary Sullivan does not believe that that (the council) received an accurate picture of the managed care expansion in Kansas during the part of one day it spent hearing from the stakeholders,” said Angela de Rocha, a KDADS spokesperson. “The proceedings were set up in such a way as to paint a distorted picture of the detailed planning and consultation that has gone into including LTSS (long-term support services) for individuals in KanCare with I/DD (intellectual or developmental disabilities). This letter (sent to CMS) presents the same sorts of distortions.
“During the first (council) panel discussion, Dr. Susan Mosier and Secretary Sullivan were given no more than 10 minutes to provide an overview of KanCare and of the inclusion of LTSS into KanCare,” de Rocha said. “This was not sufficient time for the state to describe the process it has used for design, planning, implementation and evaluation of KanCare over the last three years.”
But council officials said they have been collecting information on KanCare for more than a year and that the agency’s review of KanCare and subsequent letter to CMS followed managed care guidelines first published by the council in March.
“We don’t in any way mean to take lightly Secretary Sullivan,” said council member Blumenthal. “We think he’s done an admirable job trying to pull together something that would be challenging to anyone. But this has national significance and given its size and scope we believe it is something that does really merit a cautious review.”
The council has been collecting information about Medicaid managed care nationwide and has similar hearings planned for Chicago, New York City, Tallahassee, Fla. and San Francisco.
Council members said they see potential benefits in managed care for the disabled but that it would be best done adhering to the guidelines it published in March.
The Brownback administration has been planning for at least two years to include long-term DD services in KanCare beginning Jan. 1, 2014. But officials at the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have not yet signaled their approval of the state’s plan, which is needed if it is to move forward.
Medical services for the developmentally disabled on Medicaid already are part of KanCare. The administration’s requested expansion of the program would fold in residential and other day-to-day living supports financed by Medicaid.
Decision coming ‘soon’
The state submitted its expansion request in the form of an amendment to the so-called Section 1115 waiver that authorized the state to launch the first phase of KanCare on Jan. 1 this year. Approval of that application by CMS didn’t come until Dec. 27, 2012, only days before Kansas undertook the major remake of it Medicaid program by shifting virtually all the state’s 380,000 program enrollees into health plans run by three private insurance companies: Amerigroup, UnitedHealthcare and Sunflower State Health Plan, a subsidiary of Centene.
Federal officials recently extended the public comment period on the state’s amendment request until midnight, Dec. 24 after learning that a website used to collect comments on the proposal was malfunctioning. The site since has been fixed. CMS officials said they are not obliged by policy or law to wait 15 days after the close of public comments to render a decision as was the case for the state’s initial 1115 waiver application. The wait period does not apply for application amendments, according to CMS spokesperson Emma Sandoe.
The agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the council’s letter it received.
Sandoe said the agency would decide “soon” on Kansas’ application but did not provide more specific detail.
Tom Laing, executive director of Interhab, an association that represents most of the state’s Community Developmental Disability Organizations, said he thought the council’s letter and hearings that preceded it were well done and that he agreed with most of the conclusions. Interhab has been at the forefront of efforts to bar or delay the Brownback administration’s efforts to include long-term DD services in KanCare.
“I would give satisfactory marks without hesitation to the state for their work over the last several months with our members,” Laing said.
“I think the horns of the dilemma is that the decision to do this was done far in advance of having these conversations. I think there was a decision early to throw the whole Medicaid ball of wax into KanCare and that this would somehow work out and that they (administration officials) had only slight understanding of some of the complications that might arise. I don’t fault them for the work they’ve done in the last several months but there’s a lot more work to do and they might have had a different decision, if they had engaged (stakeholders) more in the planning stages. I think there was an utter lack of dialogue then and now, in the implementation stages, there’s a lot of dialogue,” Laing said.
TOPEKA (AP) — Gov. Sam Brownback has seen an unusually high number of departures among his top leadership.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reported almost half of Brownback’s 11 permanent Cabinet secretary appointments will turn over in the first three years of his tenure. The percentage outpaces that of predecessors Kathleen Sebelius, a Democrat, and Bill Graves, a Republican.
Many other high-level appointed posts that pay approximately $100,000 a year also have been vacated. Those positions include Securities Commissioner Aaron Jack, information technology chief Jim Mann and Kansas Corporation Commission chairman Mark Sievers.
Brownback spokeswoman Sara Belfry said the turnover isn’t unusual compared to past governors, including Joan Finney. And Washburn University political science professor Bob Beatty said he saw little linking the departures.
WICHITA (AP) — A Secret Santa has given gold coins to three Wichita charities.
The Wichita Eagle reported Shelly Prichard from the Wichita Community Foundation helped distribute the coins. They went to the Lord’s Diner, the Center of Hope and the Guadalupe Clinic. The foundation said each coin is worth $1,400.
The Center of Hope works to prevent homelessness, the Lord’s Diner feeds the poor, and the clinic gives health care to the poor.
The Secret Santa has made the anonymous donations of gold coins a Christmas tradition.
