TOM KRISHER, AP Auto Writer

MILFORD, Mich. (AP) — General Motors CEO Mary Barra says the company has enough parts available to fix all the faulty ignition switches that are blamed for at least 23 deaths nationwide.

Barra told reporters at an investor conference Wednesday that GM’s parts supplier finished making the parts a few days before a goal of early October. GM recalled 2.6 million cars in February and says it has repaired about 1.1 million. That’s just under half the vehicles when scrapped cars are excluded.

Barra says GM is trying to get the rest of the owners to bring their cars in for repairs.

She also says GM sees nothing to indicate that it will spend more than the $400 million to $600 million it has estimated to compensate ignition switch crash victims.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) — A Hutchinson woman who was critically injured in May while helping another driver at an accident scene near Kansas City is ready to return to her former life.

Lacey Deardoff of Hutchinson spent 50 days in hospitals and weeks of rehabilitation in Hutchinson since she was injured on a freeway in Overland Park. She had stopped to at the accident scene when another driver swerved to avoid debris and hit her and the other driver.

The Hutchinson News reports that Deardoff, the daughter of Hutchinson’s city manager, was unconscious for two weeks before waking up. She returned to Hutchinson in July to continue her rehabilitation.

Deardoff says she plans to move back to the Kansas City area Wednesday and return to work in about a month.

LEAWOOD, Kan. (AP) — Federal attorneys and a Kansas-based bitcoin company are negotiating over whether the company could resume some of its operations.

The Federal Trade Commission has sued Butterfly Labs, based in Leawood, claiming the company defrauded consumers out of between $20 million to $50 million. Butterfly Labs is under temporary control of a federally appointed receiver.

The Kansas City Star reports that after a hearing Monday, the temporary order was extended and attorneys began negotiations.

The FTC alleges Butterfly Labs did not deliver machines or sent worthless equipment that could not produce bitcoins.

Butterfly Labs has denied wrongdoing and called the FTC action “heavy-handed.”

Bitcoins are virtual currency that is becoming popular as a way to buy and sell some goods and services without using government-issued money.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — The city of Springfield has donated $10,000 to prevent the demolition of a temple that has historic significance to the city’s black community.

The city made the pledge this week to a group trying to save Timmons Temple. The funds are from the Minor Neighborhood Improvement Program.

The Springfield News-Leader reports Timmons Temple was built in 1932 and was a place of worship for four generations of the city’s black residents.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A monthly economic survey index for nine Midwestern and Plains dropped in September, suggesting slowing economic growth in the months ahead.

A survey report issued Wednesday says the overall Mid-America Business Conditions Index dropped nearly three percentage points to 54.3, from 57.2 the previous month.

Creighton University economist Ernie Goss, who oversees the survey, says a drop in grain prices over the past year has led to a pullback in economic activity for the heavily agrarian region.

The survey results from supply managers are compiled into a collection of indexes ranging from zero to 100. Survey organizers say any score above 50 suggests economic growth, while a score below that suggests decline.

The survey covers Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota.

By Cody Newill

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The state of Kansas City’s mental health care services is dire, according to a forthcoming new documentary.
Journalist and documentary filmmaker Michael Price’s “Lost Minds: KC’s Mental Health Crisis” focuses on the growing number of confrontations between people with mental illness and police on Kansas City’s streets. The locally produced documentary airs at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 1, on KCPT.

There are five professional mental health liaisons in Kansas City, Mo., who ride along with Kansas City Police Department officers once a month to visit with mentally ill Kansas Citians — residents who could pose a danger to themselves and others.

In an interview with Steve Kraske on KCUR’s “Up to Date,” Price said the liaisons are dealing with nearly three times the number of cases they ordinarily would oversee. And that means they aren’t getting enough time to help individuals who need their attention most.

“They’re being asked to swim against a tsunami,” Price said. “In the 10 months up to last July, KCPD Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) officers and liaisons dealt with nearly 60 incidents where a mentally ill person was in crisis and armed with a weapon.”

Though liaisons are overwhelmed, KCPD officers have been receiving crisis intervention team training to learn how to de-escalate confrontations with mentally ill individuals. “Rather than rolling out of their cop cars with guns pulled, CIT-trained officers try to talk people down,” Price said. “Unfortunately, only 15 percent of law enforcement agencies in the U.S. offer this kind of training.”
One of the biggest obstacles to improving mental health care is funding. Missouri state Sen. Kiki Curls, who sits on the Senate’s appropriations committee, told “Up to Date” that politics often comes into play when dealing with funding for mental health care.

“I think everyone recognizes that this is a critical issue,” Curls said. “But even this year, there was money that was vetoed by Gov. Jay Nixon, and specifically a project here in Kansas City to create a crisis stabilization center.”

Dr. Keith Schafer, director of the Missouri Department of Mental Health, agreed that more funding is needed for mental health services. Schafer told “Up to Date” that expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, which the Missouri Legislature has not done, would help extend mental health care to more individuals.

“If we would expand Medicaid in this state, 300,000 people would get benefits, and 50,000 of those people need mental health or substance abuse help,” Schafer said. “It is the greatest issue in the state of Missouri, in terms of resources [for mental health care].”

While Price agreed that Medicaid expansion would greatly help, he said the situation on the streets requires more immediate action and could be done for much less money.

“For each liaison to go out twice a week with a police escort would cost $20,000 a year,” Price said. “Relatively speaking, that’s peanuts [compared to Medicaid expansion].”

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s office says it had no written or email correspondence with national Republican groups or U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts’ re-election campaign as a legal dispute over the contest unfolded.

Kobach’s office responded this week to an open records request from The Associated Press.

The request sought copies of written and email correspondence from Aug. 25 through Sept. 19 between Kobach and top aides with two national GOP groups, Roberts and his top campaign aides.

The legal dispute stems from Democrat Chad Taylor’s withdrawal from the Senate race. A three-judge panel in Shawnee County District Court is reviewing a voter’s lawsuit aimed at forcing Kansas Democrats to name a new nominee.

Taylor’s move was seen has helping independent candidate Greg Orman’s chances of defeating Roberts.

KANSAS CITY (AP) – A national award-winning police dog in Kansas City has been put down after becoming ill.

The Kansas City police department announced Tuesday that the Belgian Malinois named Brunie died on Sunday. The nearly 4-year-old dog contracted a nervous system disease. Officers believe the dog ingested something toxic on Sept. 20 while searching for a suspect in a wooded area near Belton.

Brunie had been with the department since August 2012.

The National Police Canine Association gave Brunie the Patrol Case of the Year award in 2013. Brunie and officer Jason Brungardt responded to a carjacking in August 2013. The suspect pulled out a gun but was disarmed by the dog.