KANSAS BUDGET-DISABLED SERVICES
Kan. budget plan ends 'carve out' for disabilities
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - Kansas legislators are backing the Brownback administration's desires to shift services for the intellectually and developmentally disabled into the state's new managed care system, a move opposed by disability advocates.
The plan ends a special exemption or carve-out as it is called, for developmental disability services. It puts those clients in the state's KanCare health system, which is managed by three private health insurance companies.
Advocates are wary of putting the services in the hands of insurance companies
Governor Sam Brownback and his allies believe that the Medicaid overhaul that took effect in January will cut the state's costs and provide better-coordinated and more effective care.
Representative Arlen Siegfreid, an Olathe (oh-LAY'-thuh) Republican, said studies suggest that bringing the developmentally disabled under a managed care system produces the best outcomes.
KANSAS LAKES-DROUGHT
Kansas lake levels low for Memorial Day
(Information in the following story is from: The Hutchinson (Kan.) News, http://www.hutchnews.com)
KANOPOLIS, Kan. (AP) - Thanks to the extended drought, water levels at several lakes across Kansas are considerably lower than they should be. And that could affect Memorial Day weekend plans.
Memorial Day weekend in Kansas is usually the busiest lake holiday of the year. The Hutchinson News reports that this includes at Kanopolis, where more than 15,000 lake visitors gather to camp, fish or boat.
But water levels at Kanopolis are low, and across the western half of the state, other lakes are also reporting low levels.
For Kanopolis, the extensive drought means dredging an area of the lake for the fourth time in 35 years in an effort to open the lake for tourism. Officials also note that age is creeping up on Kansas' oldest reservoir as sedimentation issues increase.
NEWBORN TRASH-INVESTIGATION
Wichita police investigate newborn's death
(Information in the following story is from: The Wichita (Kan.) Eagle, http://www.kansas.com)
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) - Wichita police say the investigation continues into the death of a newborn whose body was found in a trash bin in January.
Police Lieutenant Randy Reynolds says that police are awaiting additional test results before presenting the case to District Attorney Marc Bennett's office. The prosecutor's office will then determine if charges will be filed.
Police found the full-term infant girl's body January 16th in a trash bin at a shopping mall. An autopsy said it was unclear if the full-term, 6-pound, 10-ounce girl was born alive and what caused her death. The autopsy examination "revealed no evidence of trauma or natural disease" and no conclusive sign the infant had drawn a breath.
Police said the 17-year-old mother told authorities the infant was stillborn.
DUNE BUGGY-FATAL
Colo. woman killed in Kan. dune buggy accident
(Information in the following story is from: The Hutchinson (Kan.) News, http://hutchnews.com/)
SYRACUSE, Kan. (AP) - A Colorado woman died after the dune buggy she was in over turned on a rural road in southwest Kansas.
Nineteen-year-old Rachael Finley of Larkspur, Colorado died in the accident Friday evening. The Kansas Highway Patrol says the driver of the dune buggy lost control on a curve on a road outside Syracuse.
The driver of the dune buggy was also injured.
TRAIN KILLS MAN
Sheriff IDs man killed by train in western Iowa
LOGAN, Iowa (AP) - Authorities have identified a man killed by a train in western Iowa as a Kansas man.
Harrison County Sheriff Patrick Sears says Friday that 59-year-old Alan Nelson of Lawrence, Kansas died Monday after being struck by a Union Pacific train just east of the Missouri River. Sears says the death has been ruled a suicide.
The Omaha World-Herald reports the 110-car train was carrying freight from California to Chicago.
MAYETTA SHOOTING
Woman sentenced for role in NE Kan. homicide
(Information in the following story is from: The Topeka (Kan.) Capital-Journal, http://www.cjonline.com)
HOLTON, Kan. (AP) - A 23-year-old northeast Kansas woman has been sentenced to eight months in prison for her role in a January shooting death.
Desiree Shopteese was sentenced Friday in Jackson County District Court to eight months in prison followed by 18 months of probation.
Shopteese, of Topeka, and 23-year-old Lloyd Wabaunsee of Mayetta, were originally charged with intentional second-degree murder in the shooting death of Kevin Stanley on January 10th. Stanley was shot at his home in Mayetta.
In April, however, prosecutors reduced the murder charge against Shopteese to obstructing apprehension or prosecution in the case.
Wabaunsee has a preliminary hearing in the case next month.
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