By Phil Cauthon, Jim McLean & Mike Sherry-KHI News Service

The political dynamics are a bit different in Kansas than in Missouri, but in both states supporters of expanded Medicaid programs are taking the same tack in hopes of persuading reluctant Republican policymakers to eliminate the so-called “Medicaid gap” that is leaving more than 340,000 low-income Kansans and Missourians without health insurance.

The Affordable Care Act, as written, would have expanded Medicaid in every state, including Missouri and Kansas where the eligibility restrictions are relatively tight. But the U.S. Supreme Court in 2012 ruled that expansion was a decision for each state to make on its own.

Kansas and Missouri are among the 24 states that so far have chosen against broadening the program, despite entreaties from hospitals, doctors, consumer advocates and others.

Kansas, led by Republican Gov. Sam Brownback and a GOP-dominated Legislature, is expected to reconsider the issue in the weeks ahead.

In Missouri, Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat, has been urging the Republican-controlled General Assembly to do the same.

In this package of stories, KHI News Service looks at the latest developments in each state as their legislatures prepare to convene 2014 sessions.

Also included are profiles of families in each state that earn too much to qualify for Medicaid as it is currently configured, but too little for the subsidies intended to help people (earning between 100 percent and 400 percent of federal poverty guidelines) buy private health coverage through the new marketplaces created by the Affordable Care Act.
By Phil Cauthon, Jim McLean & Mike Sherry-KHI News Service

(AP) – The Kansas City Animal Shelter says it is bulging at the seams with animals brought in as bitter cold settled over the region.

The shelter says about 90 animals have been brought in to the shelter in recent days, either by the public or animal control officers.  Some were taken from yards with little or no shelter and frozen water bowls.

City officials on Monday reminded citizens that animal control officers will impound pets found outside in freezing conditions and issue citations to their owners.

Shelter spokeswoman Tori Fugate says the shelter is getting “close to desperate” and need the public’s help finding homes for the animals.

Beginning Friday, the shelter will offer special rates for some pet adoptions.

(AP) A Missouri man was sentenced a total of 14 years in prison for a fatal traffic accident that killed his 3-year-old son and injured four other people.

34-year-old John Clark of Sparta was sentenced Friday to four seven-year prison sentences. He will serve two of the sentences concurrently, then serve the other two sentences concurrently. Clark pleaded guilty in October to first-degree involuntary manslaughter and three counts of second-degree assault.

(AP) — A Kansas woman has been given five years of probation in an Omaha prostitution case.

Omaha television station KETV said Tabatha Ashburn, Junction City, had made a plea deal with prosecutors who had indicted Ashburn and four other people.

Christopher Tierney also was given probation. The station says Ashburn’s mother, Tammy Schuck, Omaha, is serving prison time, as are William Knox and Kim Bivens.

Authorities say Schuck operated three “spas” in Omaha from April 2008 to January 2012 where customers paid for sex acts from workers, rather than receiving legitimate spa services.

(AP) – A southwest Missouri lawmaker wants to let motorists push the pedal down a little farther when they’re driving on rural highways.

Rep. Mike Kelley, a Republican from Lamar, pre-filed a bill Monday to raise the maximum speed limit to 75 mph in rural parts of the state. The state’s current limit is 70 mph.

His measure would apply to cars and trucks traveling on parts of interstates and other four-lane roads that lie outside urban areas.

The change would put Missouri in line with Kansas’ rural highway limit. Missouri’s current speed limit was put in place after Congress repealed the 55 mph federal limit in 1995.

Missouri lawmakers are scheduled to begin their annual session Wednesday.

 (AP) – A Missouri man who drove to Maine with a car full of guns intending to kill his estranged wife and her boyfriend has been sentenced to more than eight years in prison.

Benjamin Lee was sentenced Monday in U.S. District Court in Portland to eight years and four months behind bars.

He was convicted in September of two counts of interstate stalking after a five-day trial.

The 52-year-old Lee was arrested in September 2012 after he was spotted driving past the couple’s Limerick home.

Police say they found five guns, three of which were loaded, ammunition, a machete, handcuffs, duct tape, and other items in his car.

His lawyer says Lee only made threats while under the influence of medication he was prescribed for pain sustained in a car crash.