(AP) — A Missouri woman who as a teenager wrote that killing a young neighbor girl was an “ahmazing” thrill is now asking a judge to overturn her guilty plea.

Alyssa Bustamante testified in court Thursday that she wouldn’t have pleaded guilty to the 2009 slaying of 9-year-old Elizabeth Olten if she’d known about a pending U.S. Supreme Court case involving juvenile murder defendants.

Bustamante had been facing a first-degree murder charge punishable by life without parole. She pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in January 2012 and was sentenced to life with the chance of parole.

The Supreme Court later ruled that mandatory life prison sentences for juveniles were unconstitutional.

Bustamante’s new attorney is citing that case as a reason to undo the plea agreement.

 

By Dave Ranney
KHI News Service

The Kansas Department of Corrections is working with local law enforcement officials on a plan that would help county jail keepers bill Medicaid for a portion of their inmates’ health care costs.

The move could save Kansas jails between $1.2 million and $2.4 million a year, said Viola Riggin, director of health care services at the Kansas Department of Corrections.

The state already has a system for billing Medicaid to cover the relatively few prisoners in state lock-ups who are eligible for the coverage. The plan would allow the counties to tap the state’s expertise in that area.

“KDoC has access to Medicaid for a limited number of patients; those who are over 64 or under 19, those who are severely disabled, and for women, those who are pregnant,” Riggin said.

Medicaid reimbursements for state prisoners cover about $750,000 of the department’s health care costs each year, she said.
Most of the department’s health care costs are covered by the state’s $49.3 million contract with Correct Care Solutions, Inc., a Tennessee-based company that provides prison health services.

KDoC is responsible for providing health care to approximately 9,500 inmates in 14 correctional facilities across the state.

County jails, Riggin said, also could be billing Medicaid for services to eligible inmates. But the jails often lack staff and expertise to handling the program’s complicated billing procedures.

KDoC, Riggin said, is looking for ways to expand its current Medicaid contract to include the county jails.

The arrangement, she said, would be similar to an existing department’s program that allows local jails to buy prescription drugs for inmates through KDoC, which purchases at discount in large quantities.

Riggin said the expanded Medicaid plan should be up and running by July 1. It does not require legislative approval, officials said, though agency managers have included several legislators in their discussions.

The planning, she said, has involved the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, which is the state’s lead Medicaid agency, the Kansas Association of Counties and the Kansas Sheriff’s Association.

“This would help all of the jails in Kansas reduce some of the costs that they incur in treating the inmates who are in their custody,” said Johnson County Sheriff Frank Denning, head of the sheriff association’s legislative committee.

Johnson County is the state’s most populous and Denning said his department is large enough to bill Medicaid on its own.

“But what happens now,” he said, “is that most sheriffs can’t afford to take on the responsibility of paying for these individuals’ medical bills. So what they’ll do when they go out to pick somebody up, they’ll take them to the (hospital) emergency room first, wait until they’re treated, and then make an arrest. That’s just not a good way of doing things.”

That arrangement, he said, has the effect of shifting much of the jails’ would-be medical costs for the inmates onto the hospitals.

Denning is the brother of State Sen. Jim Denning, an Overland Park Republican.

DETROIT (AP) — Toyota has told North American dealers to stop selling six popular models because the seat fabric doesn’t meet flammability standards.

Company spokesman John Hanson says one soft material beneath the seat covers doesn’t comply. No fires or injuries have been reported. Toyota is still totaling how many vehicles are affected, but it will be in the thousands.

The move affects Camry, Avalon, Sienna and Tacoma models from the 2013 and 2014 model years. Also covered are Corollas and Tundras from 2014.

It’s not clear what will happen with vehicles that have already been sold. Hanson says Toyota has reported the problem to U.S. safety regulators, who will decide if the vehicles must be recalled.

The Camry is the top-selling car in the U.S., with more than 408,000 sold last year.

 

(AP) – Special Olympics Missouri is raising funds as it considers moving its headquarters and athletic training facility from Jefferson City to near Columbia.

If the project is successful, the Training for Life Campus would be the first statewide athletic training campus for people with intellectual disabilities.

Special Olympics Missouri has not made a decision but is considering building at the Central Missouri Events Center at the Boone County fairground.

The Missouri Development Finance Board approved a tax-incentive program that will allow donors to use $1.75 million in tax credits toward the project.

The capital campaign’s goal is $12.5 million. Supporters envision a 44,000-square-foot facility for year-round training and health screenings for about 17,000 athletes, their coaches and volunteers.

(AP) — A three-story Branson condominium building burned to the ground, leaving 10 families homeless.

No injuries were reported from the fire Wednesday at The Woodlands Condos. All but two of the 12 condos were occupied. The three-story building is a complete loss.

Fire officials say everyone had evacuated safely before firefighters arrived. More than 50 firefighters worked the scene. Fire Chief Chris Berndt, of the Western Taney County Fire District, said tanker trucks were used to bring water to the scene because of water pressure problems at nearby fire hydrants.

The cause of the fire has not been determined.

 (AP) — A rural Leavenworth man will stand trial for second-degree murder in the shooting death of another man at his home.

Forty-eight-year-old Jeffery Sifford on Wednesday was found competent to stand trial for the death of 58-year-old Richard E. Luse, of rural Easton.

Luse was shot last December in a travel trailer at Sifford’s home. He died later at a hospital.

A preliminary hearing was scheduled for March 7.

Sifford remains jailed in Leavenworth County on $250,000 bail.