A study shows that giving teens free birth control encourages them to use long-acting methods and greatly cuts the chances they will become pregnant or have an abortion.
The study involved a project in St. Louis that offered 1,400 girls their choice of methods but stressed the benefits of IUDs and hormone implants that last three to 10 years over less reliable methods like birth control pills and condoms.
The average annual pregnancy rate was only one-fifth of the national average for sexually active teens. Birth and abortion rates also were much lower for teens offered free birth control.
The project also included about 7,500 older women. Similar results for the group as a whole were reported two years ago.
Results are in the New England Journal of Medicine.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — State representatives are raising concerns over whether troopers patrolling Missouri’s waterways were properly trained following a 2011 highway and water patrol merger.
During a hearing Wednesday at the Capitol, lawmakers questioned Missouri State Highway Patrol officials on how much training troopers receive before heading onto the water.
The review comes after the death of a 20-year-old man who drowned May 31 in the Lake of the Ozarks. A state trooper had arrested the man for drunken boating and handcuffed him before the man slipped into the water and out of his lifejacket.
The hearing is the first of several intended to review management and training in the Highway Patrol since the water patrol was folded into its operations.
Valeo Behavioral Health Care plans to open a crisis intervention center at 400 S.W. Oakley in Topeka. Services at the new facility will include short residential stays, lasting three to five days.-photo by Dave Ranney
By Dave Ranney
KHI News Service
TOPEKA — The community mental health center here on Thursday will formally open a 26-bed crisis intervention center that’s expected to lead to fewer mentally ill adults being referred to Osawatomie State Hospital or ending up in jail.
“We’re hoping this new facility will take some pressure off the state hospital,” said Glea Ashley, chief executive at Valeo Behavioral Health Care. “But our main goal is to get people the services they need so they don’t deteriorate to the point where they end up in Osawatomie, or in jail, or in the emergency room. If we can get them stabilized and get them the wrap-around services they need, then hopefully we can get them back on their feet. That’s the goal.”
Last year Valeo referred 207 patients to Osawatomie State Hospital, one of two state-run hospitals for the mentally ill.
In recent weeks, the state hospital has admitted record numbers of patients. And more than 900 of the 9,600 inmates in the state’s prison system are known to have serious and persistent mental illnesses.
Valeo will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 10 a.m. Thursday at the new facility, 400 S.W. Oakley. Several city, county and state officials, including Susan Mosier, director of Medicaid services in Kansas, are scheduled to address the gathering. The ceremony will coincide with a come-and-go reception that’s expected to last until 2 p.m.
“I think this is going to be great,” said Jim Mosbacher, director at Breakthrough House, a drop-in program for adults with severe and persistent mental illnesses. “It’s desperately needed. It should help keep some people from sleeping under the bridge.”
Most of the new facility’s services will target Shawnee County residents.
“We always take care of Shawnee County first,” Ashley said. “But we’ll take individuals from throughout the state if we can and if they meet the criteria.”
Services at the new facility will include short residential stays, lasting three to five days.
The facility, she said, is not meant to replicate Rainbow Services Inc., the now-privatized crisis stabilization unit that replaced Rainbow Mental Health Facility, a state-run psychiatric hospital in Kansas City.
“As I understand it, a lot of the services at Rainbow now are new. It’s a new model,” Ashley said. “But a lot of what we’re doing will be more of an expansion of what we’ve been doing. We’re taking crisis services that we’ve had spread out over eight locations and we’re consolidating them into one central location.”
The new building, she said, also “should free up some space in the other eight locations, which are just packed with people now.”
Ashley said most of the facility’s services will be financed through the state’s Medicaid program.
Valeo, she said, is covering the project’s $5.4 million in construction costs.
“This has been a long time coming,” Ashley said. “This is 10 years of saving up our reserves. We’d thought of doing a separate capital campaign, but it would have taken too long and the need was just so great. We knew we needed to get it up and going.”
The new facility will not include additional detox beds, she said, because the operational funding is not available. “That’s a major issue,” Ashley said. “But the funding isn’t there. It’s not increasing; if anything, it’s decreasing.”
Valeo, she said, currently has 11 detox beds but only has enough funding for eight.
Last year, the mental health center served about 7,100 patients. Its annual budget – a mix of city, county, state and federal monies, plus private pay, donations and grants – stands at $19 million.
KANSAS CITY- Two women were injured in an accident just before 11 a.m. on Wednesday in Wyandotte County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2008 Chevy Equinox driven by Tracy A. Weisehan, Arnold, Mo., was northbound on Interstate 635 just north of Shawnee Drive.
The vehicle hydroplaned, slid sideways out of control and was struck by a 2007 Toyota RAV 4 driven by Brenna K Stewart, 36 Olathe.
Weisehan was transported to KU Medical Center. Stewart was transported to Shawnee Mission Medical Center.
The KHP reported both women were properly restrained at the time of the accident.
The National Weather Service in Pleasant Hill Mo has issued a
flood warning for the following rivers in Kansas...Missouri...
Missouri River at St Joseph affecting Doniphan...Andrew and
Buchanan Counties.
Missouri River at Atchison affecting Atchison...Buchanan and Platte
Counties.
Missouri River at Leavenworth affecting Leavenworth and Platte
Counties.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
Do not drive through flowing water. Nearly half of all flood
fatalities are vehicle related. As little as 6 inches of water may
cause you to lose control of your vehicle. Two feet of water will
carry most vehicles away
Secret Service Director Julia Pierson before a Congressional Committee on Tuesday
ALICIA A. CALDWELL, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Secret Service Director Julia Pierson has resigned amid security lapses at the White House.
Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said Wednesday that Pierson offered her resignation, and he accepted it.
The move came one day after her appearance before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in a congressional hearing focused on recent security lapses at the White House.
Pierson had worked at the Secret Service for 30 years.
MANHATTAN, Kan.-Alexander Edmond McConnell, Army Corporal Specialist, made his first court appearance Wednesday in Riley County Court via webcam from the Riley County Jail.
McConnell was arrested on Monday and charged with 1st degree murder and abuse of a child.
The hearing with Judge Hochhauser began with a review of the charges including an alternative second charge of abuse of a child including knowingly torturing or cruelly beating or shaking to cause bodily harm.
McConnell applied to have a state attorney represent him, which was denied by Judge Hochhauser due to McConnell’s financial holdings. David McDonald is McConnell’s current attorney.
A preliminary hearing for McConnell will be on October 14th at 1 p.m. with Judge William Malcolm presiding.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas court has ruled that Democrats can go without a U.S. Senate candidate after their nominee dropped out of the race against three-term Republican Sen. Pat Roberts.
The ruling Wednesday is a blow to the GOP in a key race in the national battle over Senate control.
A panel of three Shawnee County District Court judges said a state election law does not require Democrats to fill the candidate vacancy.
The judges also said the disgruntled who filed a lawsuit to force Democrats to act didn’t prove his case because he failed to show up for a Monday hearing.
Some Democrats pushed their nominee out of the race because they saw independent candidate Greg Orman as the stronger rival for Roberts and didn’t want to split the anti-Roberts vote.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has saluted the 2013 Major League Soccer champions Sporting Kansas City. He credits the “dedicated fans” of Kansas City for helping the sport grow in the United States.
Obama paid tribute to the team Wednesday for winning the MLS trophy 10 months ago in a freezing penalty kick shootout.
Obama singled out Kansas City defender Matt Besler and midfielder Graham Zusi, who were on the U.S. Men’s National Team for this summer’s World Cup in Brazil.
The president also noted that Kansas City was enjoying a banner athletic week. The Kansas City Royals won the American League wild card game Tuesday and the NFL Kansas City Chiefs defeated the New England Patriots Monday.
Obama said: “Clearly something is going on in Kansas City.”
BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — The U.S. Postal Service and a Colorado man are arguing over where on postal property people can carry guns.
Judges from the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments Wednesday in the case involving Tab Bonidy, a licensed handgun owner who sued the Postal Service over its ban on guns in post offices. The agency also barred Bonidy from leaving a gun in his vehicle in the parking lot.
A federal judge last year ruled that the ban on firearms in postal parking lots violated the Second Amendment. But the agency can keep Bonidy from carrying a gun in the lobby.
Both Bonidy and the Postal Service appealed.
A Department of Justice attorney says it’s a safety issue. Bonidy says it is inconvenient to disarm just to pick up his mail.
——————
SADIE GURMAN, Associated Press
BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — The U.S. Postal Service and a Colorado man are arguing over where on postal property people can carry guns.
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is set to hear arguments Wednesday in the case involving Tab Bonidy, a licensed handgun owner who in 2010 sued the Postal Service over its ban on guns in post offices. The agency also barred Bonidy from leaving a gun in his vehicle in the parking lot.
A federal judge last year ruled that the ban on firearms in postal parking lots violated the Second Amendment. But he also said the agency could prohibit Bonidy from carrying a gun in a post office lobby.
Both Bonidy and the Postal Service appealed.
They disagree over what constitutes a sensitive place where guns can be legally banned.
MARILYNN MARCHIONE, AP Chief Medical Writer
