LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas courthouse is open again after being evacuated when an employee found a couple of liquid-filled bottles taped together near a handicapped entrance.
Douglas County sheriff’s spokesman Lt. Steve Lewis says investigators decided not to take any chances after the suspicious bottles were found around 8:30 a.m. Friday at the old courthouse in Lawrence.
Lewis says the Olathe bomb squad was called in to handle the items, and after a robot retrieved them a search dog sniffed around and didn’t find any signs of explosives.
The courthouse was reopened at 1 p.m. Friday and Lewis says the incident is considered resolved.
The Rainbow Mental Health Facility in Kansas City, Kan., has been mostly closed since 2011 but will reopen in April as an around-the-clock crisis stabilization center for people with mental illness-Photo by Alex Smith
By Mike Sherry
Hale Center for Journalism
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — A reconstituted mental health facility in Kansas City, Kan., has been a financial and therapeutic success in its first five months of operation, officials involved in the transition said Wednesday.
“It’s great news so far,” said Kari Bruffett, secretary of the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services, “and I think it’s only going to get better.”
Bruffett spoke to a group of about 30 people gathered at the Rainbow Mental Health Facility, which reopened in April as a collaboration between the state and mental health/substance abuse providers in Johnson and Wyandotte counties.
According to data presented at the briefing, the new Rainbow has served nearly 560 clients, including some more than once. Officials also estimate the facility has saved more than $2 million by diverting patients from Osawatomie State Hospital or hospital emergency rooms.
Once a 50-bed inpatient hospital operated by the state, Rainbow now has a 30-person capacity split equally between a short-term sobering area, an observation station designed for a maximum stay of 23 hours and a crisis-stabilization section for maximum stays of 10 days.
Wyandot Inc., a family of organizations in Kansas City, Kan., that includes a community mental health center, is operating the new center under a three-year contract with KDADS worth $3.5 million annually.
In announcing the new arrangement earlier this year, state officials said spending on the new Rainbow equaled its previous budget when also taking into account inpatient dollars the state has shifted from Rainbow to Osawatomie.
Reopening Rainbow this spring culminated a lengthy process, which began in the fall of 2011 when the state shifted the beds to Osawatomie after authorities cited fire-safety concerns with the facility.
Year-over-year data provided at the briefing also showed that:
• Osawatomie State Hospital has had fewer admissions from the Rainbow service area since the facility opened, with the largest decrease of 42.4 percent coming in June.
• Clients from the Rainbow area have logged 900 fewer bed days at Osawatomie from April through August this year compared with the same period last year.
• Based on information gathered during intake, the emergency room would have been the alternative for about half of the patients served at Rainbow.
Despite the decrease in admissions from the Rainbow service area, Osawatomie has been over capacity several times in recent months, setting a 10-year high of 258 patients on Aug. 26.
One item on the wish list for Rainbow is the capacity to serve clients who are so intoxicated that they need medical attention, said Wyandot Inc. CEO Randy Callstrom.
Officer Thomas Keary of the Overland Park Police Department, who attended the briefing, said Rainbow proved its worth during a call in June involving a male who was drunk and suicidal.
Without Rainbow, Keary said, his best alternative would probably have been an emergency room where he would have had to spend at least two hours.
At Rainbow, he said, “I was in and out of the door in 13 minutes.”
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Electric customers of Ameren Missouri will see a small increase on their bills starting later this month.
The Missouri Public Service Commission says a typical residential customer will pay an additional $1.54 a month to Ameren to offset increases in the utility’s costs to purchase fuel or power.
Ameren Missouri is the state’s largest electricity provider, with about 1.2 million customers. The cost increase will take effect Sept. 24.
State utility regulators approved a similar fuel-based cost increase earlier this month for customers of Kansas City Power & Light Co.
St. Joseph Christian School Secondary Principal Danny Maggart said he was waiting for his 7th grade daughter’s first cross country meet when he saw something that would be etched into his mind forever.
“Trophies and medals end up in boxes in attics and garages, but moral victories last a lifetime and truly inspire others,” Maggart said.
He said he caught the end of the 8th grade boys race where he saw two boys get their legs tangled and fall during the race. Then, Ryan Dale from Truman Middle school who was just a few feet away from the finish line went back and helped his fallen competitor up.
“The crowd was cheering loudly, and I remember hearing several shout out, probably including me ‘Finish!” Maggart said.
But Maggart said Dale helped his competitors up off the ground, and let him finish ahead of him giving up a first place finish for third.
“I was not going to take the win like that, I’ll get them next time, It wasn’t right.” Dale said when asked about his act of sportsmanship.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans’ campaign arm raised more than $6 million last month and spent more than twice that in an effort to claim the majority.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee on Friday said it spent about $13 million in August and still has more than $19 million saved.
Party committees typically spend heavily in August and September to buy ads ahead of November’s elections.
The group’s Democratic rival says its fundraising reports for August are not yet completed. Party-run campaign committees have until Sept. 20 to file reports.
Heading into August, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee had outraised the GOP peer in 17 of the 19 most recent months.
Senate Republicans need to pick up a net of six seats to regain the majority, which they lost in the 2006 elections.
Many routes in Northwest Missouri remain CLOSED due to water over the roads while others have reopened, according to the Missouri Department of Transportation. MoDOT encourages travelers to check the Traveler Information Map at www.modot.org/northwest for closures before heading out. The following routes are closed for travel until further notice:
Andrew County
Route 48 at Rosendale (One Hundred and Two River)
Atchison County
Route N from Route 46 to Route HH in Holt County (Little Tarkio)
Buchanan County
Route C from U.S. Hwy 36 to the end of state maintenance (Third Fork of the Platte River)
Route H in Agency (Platte River)
Route MM from Loutermilch Road to Route 116 (Platte River)
Chariton County
Route 11 from Route E to Route C (Yellow Creek)
Route 129 from Route O to Route W (Chariton River)
Route D from Mussel Fork Avenue to Route DD (Mussel Fork)
Route E from Route JJ to Route 11 (Yellow Creek)
Route CC from Route 11 to Route E (Yellow Creek)
Daviess County
U.S. Hwy 69 from Route DD to Route Z (Grand River)
Route AA from Route T to Route Z in Gentry County (Grand River and Big Creek)
Route T west of U.S. Hwy 69 (Big Creek)
Route Z from Route D to U.S. Hwy 69 (Grand River and Big Creek)
Gentry County
Route H at the Andy Denton river access (Grand River)
Route Z from Route D to Route T in Daviess County (Grand River and Big Creek)
Harrison County
Route AA between U.S. Hwy 69 and I-35 (Big Creek
Holt County
Routes N and C from Route HH to Route 46 in Atchison County (Little Tarkio)
Linn County
Route B one mile west of Route 5 (Locust Creek)
Route C one-half mile west of Route CC (West Yellow Creek)
Route WW from Route ZZ to Route 129 in Macon County (Van Dorsen Creek, Mussel Fork Creek and Brush Creek)
Livingston County
U.S. Hwy 36 westbound lanes are closed near Wheeling. Traffic is head to head in the eastbound lanes. (Medicine Creek)
U.S. Hwy 36 westbound lanes are closed three miles west of Chillicothe near Utica. Traffic is head to head in the eastbound lanes (Medicine Creek)
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Law enforcement officials and people from across Kansas are remembering a Topeka police corporal killed in the line of duty.
Cpl. Jason Harwood will lie in state from 3 to 6 p.m. Friday in Exhibition Hall at the Kansas Expocentre in Topeka. His funeral is Saturday morning.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports officers from the Kansas Highway Patrol, the Topeka Police Department and several other departments gathered at a Topeka church Thursday as a U.S. Honor Flag was delivered.
The flag was brought from Texas to Kansas, where members of the Topeka Police Department honor guard carried it into the church.
Harwood was a decorated 15-year police veteran who was shot after he pulled over a car Sunday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Secret Service officers apprehended a man wearing a Pokemon mask who jumped over the White House’s North Fence and appeared to be heading in the direction of the presidential residence.
The officers with their guns drawn ordered the man to lie down.
Secret Service officers deal with fence jumpers or bags tossed over the fence as serious potential threats. Thursday’s episode occurred on the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The Nebraska Department of Roads announces the reopening of US-75 just in time for the Applejack Festival in Nebraska City.
According to the announcement Friday morning, you can now drive between Union and Nebraska City on US-75 over two newly surfaced concrete lanes. The project included new concrete shoulders, improved drainage, four newly repaired bridges, and a new guardrail.
Cedar Valley Paving of Waterloo, Iowa, performed the work.
The $11,116,000 highway improvement project began in March. Lane markings were installed this week and opened to traffic early Friday morning.
Grading, bridge sealing and permanent seeding work continues. The use of lane closures and pilot vehicles will be needed to complete that work. Delays at work zone flagging stations may occur. Completion of all work items will occur later this fall.
The newly paved US-75 opens just in time for the popular Applejack Festival, September 19– 21, in historic Nebraska City, to kick off the apple harvest season.
