PAOLA, Kan. (AP) The Miami County Commission has decided once more to forgo government money for contraceptives. Commissioners on Wednesday revisited an earlier decision not to seek the government contraceptive funds. About 75 people attended the meeting, and audience members spoke on both sides of the issue. The Kansas City Star reports that the board voted 3-2 against taking the funds. The commission also voted 3-2 earlier this month to delete about $9,000 from the county’s annual grant request from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. The grant money has subsidized the cost of contraceptives for low-income women for…
Author: KMAN Staff
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) Judges from the Kansas Court of Appeals will travel to Overland Park next month to hear cases at Johnson County Community College. The college says three-judge panels will hear arguments on cases from throughout the state on April 17 in the Nerman Museum for Contemporary Art. The public is invited to watch the sessions, scheduled from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Appeals court members sit in three-person panels at locations across the state. Each panel typically takes up 30 appeals during a two-day period each month.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Twenty-three Kansas hospitals will share more than $10 million in Medicaid incentive payments for moving toward electronic health records. The Department of Health and Environment says the incentives will be distributed over three years, with the first payments being made Thursday. The hospitals are being rewarded for taking steps to improve medical coordination and improving services for patients. Along with the hospitals, KDHE says 10 medical professionals will share about $212,000 for participating in the electronic records program.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) The Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism will hold open houses at state parks later this month. The free events are scheduled March 31 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at all state parks. The agency says the open houses will offer visitors a chance to see facilities and recreation opportunities. Staff will also be demonstrating the department’s new system for streamlining park reservations throughout the state. The Outdoor Reservation Management System goes online on April 17. Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism: http://www.ksoutdoors.com.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A committee in the Kansas House expects to debate proposals next week for cracking down on illegal immigration. Chairman Steve Brunk, a Bel Aire Republican, says the Federal and State Affairs Committee will take up immigration issues Monday. Brunk said the panel will start with a proposal to require government contractors to check the immigration status of their workers using the federal E-Verify database. Also before the committee are bills making it a crime to knowingly harbor an illegal immigrant; requiring applicants for government assistance to prove they’re in the U.S. legally; and directing law enforcement officers…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A bitter split among majority Republicans has prompted the Kansas Senate to delay a vote on a bill redrawing the boundaries of its 40 districts. The Senate spent three hours Wednesday debating a redistricting plan favored by the chamber’s moderate GOP leaders. Legislators must redraw their districts this year to account for changes in the state’s population over the past decade. Conservative Republicans believed the proposal favored GOP moderates facing challenges in the August party primary elections. Conservatives blocked a vote, and the Senate returned the measure to committee. The plan put four conservative Senate candidates in…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The defense has rested its case in the Topeka trial of an Oklahoma woman accused of killing her ex-husband and his fiancee in 2002. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that a former neighbor was among the last witnesses to testify Wednesday in the trial of 51-year-old Dana L. Chandler, of Duncan, Okla. The neighbor, Ken Crockett, told jurors that one of the victims, 53-year-old Karen Harkness, sometimes left open her garage and front doors while taking walks. Chandler is charged with two counts of premeditated first-degree murder in the slayings of Harkness and 47-year-old Mike Sisco. They were…
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) The Kansas Democratic Party has determined that anti-abortion activist Randall Terry is not a bona fide Democrat and won’t be awarded any delegates from the party’s April 14 Kansas caucuses. Terry, the founder of Operation Rescue, is seeking the Democratic nomination for president. His supporters were setting up Kansas campaign headquarters Wednesday in Wichita. But Kansas Democratic Party attorney Joe Sandler says the party’s delegate selection rules only recognize candidates who have demonstrated a commitment to the party’s goals and objectives. He says Terry also missed two state deadlines and submitted his application only days ago. The…
STOCKTON, Kan. (AP) A new, regional airport with a 5,000-foot runway is set to open next month in northwestern Kansas. The Hays Daily News reports that paving on the runway of Rooks County Regional Airport has been completed, and the opening is scheduled for April 5. Not all amenities will be available at that time. Rooks County officials say a parking lot and taxiway will be added, and construction of a hangar is also planned. Once more work is done, officials plan to have a grand opening, possibly in the summer.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Kansas House Speaker Mike O’Neal is no longer pushing for a congressional redistricting plan that would split the Kansas City area between two districts. O’Neal, a Hutchinson Republican, took that stance Wednesday even though the House rejected an alternate plan that would have kept Kansas City in a single district. The vote was 76-48 against that measure. But O’Neal said the fact that an alternative to his plan emerged from House debate shows that many lawmakers don’t want to divide the Kansas City area. He said the alternate plan probably failed over other issues. It dramatically redrew…