JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – A conservative group has spent an estimated $670,000 so far on TV ads encouraging Missouri voters to back a proposed constitutional amendment limiting the governor’s budget-cutting powers.
The Missouri Club for Growth has been running ads criticizing Gov. Jay Nixon’s decisions to freeze or slow spending for public schools and other state budget items.
Proposed Constitutional Amendment 10 on the November ballot would allow Missouri lawmakers to overturn gubernatorial spending reductions by getting a two-thirds vote of the Legislature. That’s the same threshold already required to override vetoes.
The estimate of TV advertising spending comes from an analysis by the Center for Public Integrity of preliminary data produced by the media tracking service Kantar Media/CMAG.
Reps. Susan Concannon, R-Beloit, and David Crum, R-Augusta, served on the House Health and Human Services Committee.-Photo by Phil Cauthon
By Andy Marso
KHI News Service
TOPEKA — Medicaid expansion is more likely to be considered in the upcoming session of the Kansas Legislature if Rep. Susan Concannon is appointed to chair the House Health and Human Services Committee.
The panel is now chaired by Rep. David Crum, an Augusta Republican who has declined to hold hearings on the expansion issue for the past two sessions. But Crum is not running for a fifth term.
Concannon, a Beloit Republican and vice chair of the health committee, said she’s open to discussing expansion if the post-election political environment allows for it. She said she expects the Kansas Hospital Association to come forward with a plan.
“I do think there are some alternatives being looked at by the hospital association and I think that will come out a little more after the election,” said Concannon, whose husband is a doctor at Mitchell County Hospital Health Systems, a critical access hospital in Beloit.
Although he is more conservative than Concannon, Crum said “politics aside” she would be his choice to take over the committee.
“I just think she has the understanding of health care issues and has been very effective as the vice chairman of the committee,” Crum said.
Committee chairmanships are assigned by the House speaker and generally reflect the leadership’s political philosophies.
“I can’t get involved in all the politics of it,” Crum said, “and obviously I won’t be part of the politics of it.”
House Speaker Ray Merrick, in a statement released by his office, said committee assignments will not be discussed until December.
Concannon is unopposed in the general election. She said she has not spoken with Crum or Merrick about the health committee chairmanship but is interested in the post and would be disappointed if she’s not chosen.
Under the Affordable Care Act spearheaded by President Barack Obama, Medicaid coverage was to be extended to all families earning up to 138 percent of the poverty level, including an estimated 151,000 Kansans. The cost of the expansion would be borne entirely by the federal government through 2016 and then phase down to a 90 percent/10 percent federal-state partnership by 2020.
The state would continue to pay approximately 40 percent of the cost of covering Kansans previously eligible for Medicaid.
After a legal challenge to the law, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states could not be forced to expand Medicaid. About half the states, including Kansas, have chosen not to expand eligibility.
In Kansas, Medicaid expansion has been a political non-starter for conservatives who staunchly oppose the health reform law, also known as Obamacare, and have expressed doubt that the federal government will meet its funding obligation.
But the state’s hospitals stand to lose federal money for uncompensated care because the federal law assumed Medicaid expansion would reduce the state’s uninsured population.
Rep. Tom Moxley, a Republican from Council Grove, said the combination of not expanding Medicaid and losing uncompensated care funds could doom some small-town hospitals.
“Medicaid expansion seems to be extremely important to rural hospitals that are suffering through a real hardship period now, anyway,” Moxley said. “If they don’t get assistance, we’re going to lose some of them.”
Hospitals in urban settings that care for large numbers of uninsured Kansans also could be squeezed financially.
Moxley also pointed to low-income Kansans who would have been covered by the expansion but now find themselves in a coverage gap. They make too much to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to qualify for federal subsidies to buy private insurance on the online marketplace also established by the ACA.
Moxley, also unopposed in the upcoming election, said he hopes that the new health committee chair, whomever it turns out to be, will schedule hearings on the expansion issue.
Senate President Susan Wagle, a conservative Republican from Wichita, has expressed some openness to accepting federal money for Medicaid expansion under an alternative model, like one used successfully in Arkansas to give premium assistance to those buying private plans on the marketplace.
Concannon said she thinks the Kansas Hospital Association plans to propose something different than the Arkansas plan, “but it’s another way to get to the same result.”
“With my background coming from a family of providers and understanding the critical access hospitals, it would certainly be something we should look at,” Concannon said.
Concannon said she understands the struggles that small-town hospitals face.
In 2008 she started a foundation to aid the hospital where her husband works, which she calls one of the “anchors” of small-town life. A shrinking tax base made it a challenge to fund the hospital, she said.
One of her first projects involved raising funds to build an acute care wing.
“In our little town of 4,000 and the area around us, I raised $3.1 million over a five-year pledge period,” Concannon said.
The foundation also raised the money to purchase a 140-year-old limestone house next to the hospital. The lower level serves as the foundation’s offices, while bedrooms on the upper levels are reserved for out-of-town families with hospitalized loved ones.
“Kind of like a mini-Ronald McDonald house,” Concannon said.
Concannon still volunteers at the foundation, but she stepped down as executive director last year to focus on her legislative duties.
Andy Marso is a reporter for Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.
MANHATTAN, Kan. – The architect of the “greatest turnaround in the history of college football,” Kansas State head coach Bill Snyder was one of six coaches from the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) placed on the 2015 ballot for induction into the College Football Hall of Fame, the National Football Foundation (NFF) announced Wednesday.
A five-time National Coach of the Year honoree and seven-time conference coach of the year recipient, Snyder has compiled an amazing 183-91-1 record in his 22-plus years as the helm of the Wildcat program. He ranks 35th all-time in victories among FBS coaches and continues to climb the ladder with each win.
“Coach Snyder’s career as a leader, football coach and most importantly mentor to so many people is truly remarkable and inspirational,” Athletics Director John Currie said. “We are so fortunate to have one of the very best coaches in college football history leading our student-athletes, while his transformational impact has greatly benefited K-State and the Manhattan community. Being recognized as one of the top coaches of all-time by inclusion on this year’s hall of fame ballot is a testament to his hard work, dedication and the respect he has garnered from the college football community.”
Snyder is one of 193 total individuals on the ballot, which includes players and coaches from both the FBS and divisional ranks. The announcement of the 2015 class will be made Friday, January 9, 2015, at the media hotel for the College Football Playoff National Championship Game, which will be played at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
To be eligible for the ballot, coaches must have coached a minimum of 10 years and 100 games as a head coach; won at least 60 percent of their games; and be retired from coaching for at least three years. However, if he is over the age of 75, he is eligible as an active coach, as is the case with Snyder.
The ballot was emailed Wednesday morning to more than 12,000 NFF members and current Hall of Famers whose votes will be tabulated and submitted to the NFF’s Honor Court, which deliberates and selects the class. Chaired by Gene Corrigan, a former ACC Commissioner and NCAA president, the 17-member NFF Honors Court includes an elite and geographically diverse pool of athletic administrators, Hall of Famers and members of the media.
“We are so proud of Coach Snyder,” said K-State President Kirk Schulz. “He has represented Kansas State University, the Manhattan community and college athletics with the utmost class and integrity. This is such a fitting honor for someone who has positively influenced the lives of countless student-athletes and the entire K-State family.”
Called the “coach of the century” by hall of fame coach Barry Switzer, Snyder’s accomplishments at K-State are nearly unthinkable considering what he inherited during his first tour of duty beginning in 1989. The Wildcat program was in the midst of an 0-26-1 run when he was hired and had been just one bowl game in its first 93 seasons. During a the span of 11-straight bowl seasons (1993-2003), Snyder’s Wildcats won nearly 80 percent of their games, chalking up 109 victories – a staggering 10 wins per season – and making K-State the nation’s second winningest program over that period. His first tenure included a Big 12 Championship in 2003 in a 35-7 win over No. 1 Oklahoma, while his 1998 team held a No. 1 ranking in the BCS Standings. Snyder retired from coaching prior to the last game of the 2005 season, and the Wildcats sent him out with a 36-28 come-from-behind home victory over Missouri in the first game of the newly renamed Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
Following a three-year hiatus, Snyder returned to the sidelines in 2009, and it has been more of the same as his teams have accumulated a 47-23 record through five-plus seasons. The Wildcats are in the midst of four straight bowl seasons, including a pair of 10-win campaigns in 2011 (10-3) and 2012 (11-2). The 2012 Wildcats captured the program’s second Big 12 Championship and held another No. 1 national ranking. After turning 75 years old two weeks ago on Oct. 7 – which qualified him to be included on this year’s ballot – Snyder’s team promptly traveled to No. 11 Oklahoma and pulled out a 31-30 victory to run its record to 5-1.
The new tradition of announcing the College Football Hall of Fame inductees on the Friday before the national title game will have no impact on the induction ceremonies, which will continue to take place during the NFF Annual Awards Dinner in New York City at the Waldorf Astoria, and the 2015 class will be inducted Dec. 8, 2015.
No. 11 Kansas State returns home this weekend to take on Texas in its annual Homecoming game at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. The game, which kicks off at 11 a.m., and will be televised by ESPN, will be the 18th-consecutive sellout, but standing-room only tickets remain available. Those tickets may be purchased by contacting the K-State Athletics Ticket office online at www.k-statesports.com/tickets, by phone at 1-800-221-CATS or in person at the main office inside Bramlage Coliseum.
INDEPENDENCE (AP) – The Jackson County Courthouse Annex in Independence will be undergoing a $6.8 million renovation and expansion.
The county Legislature this week approved a contract for the work at the annex, which will get five new courtrooms. The project is expected to be completed by late 2015.
The Independence Examiner reports because of population shifts the small annex could not handle the increased caseloads and some cases that normally would be heard in Independence have been sent to Kansas City.
County Executive Mike Sanders says the five new courtrooms should meet the county’s needs for at least 20 years.
The county created space for the changes in 2013 when renovations of the nearby Truman Courthouse allowed the county to move some offices there.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Salvador Perez and the pesky Kansas City Royals fought back from a Game 1 flop to beat the San Francisco Giants’ brilliant bullpen and even the World Series.
Perez broke Game 2 open with a two-run double in a five-run sixth inning, and the Royals’ own cast of clutch relievers kept the Giants in check for a 7-2 victory Wednesday night that spiced things up as the Series shifts to San Francisco for the next three games.
Jeremy Guthrie will be on the mound Friday night for the Royals, who had won eight straight playoff games before a 7-1 loss in the opener. Tim Hudson will start for San Francisco.
The Royals had already pulled ahead 3-2 on Billy Butler’s RBI single in the sixth when Perez doubled into the left-field gap. Omar Infante followed with a two-run shot off Hunter Strickland, the fifth home run the feisty Giants reliever had allowed to 23 postseason batters.
Strickland appeared to mutter to himself as he stalked back to the mound, and Perez overheard him. The two exchanged words and players from both dugouts spilled onto the field. More streamed in from the outfield bullpens before order was finally restored.
Suddenly, a series that began with a sleepy blowout had some life.
Young flamethrower Yordano Ventura, with his 100 mph fastball singeing the brims of the Giants’ batting helmets, allowed just two runs while pitching into the sixth inning. The 23-year-old hardly looked like the first rookie to make a World Series start in Royals history, calmly working through a lineup that ravaged staff ace James Shields just 24 hours earlier.
The dynamic trio of Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland did the rest.
Herrera got the final two outs of the sixth to escape a jam, two of his first three pitches clocking 101 mph on the radar gun. He also survived a shaky seventh that included a pair of walks before Davis locked down the eighth, striking out two in a perfect inning.
Greg Holland, who saved each game in the Royals’ sweep of Baltimore in the AL Championship Series, allowed a two-out single to Brandon Crawford before fanning Gregor Blanco to end the game.
The Giants’ only runs came on a homer by Blanco and a double by Brandon Belt, their streak of seven straight World Series wins ending on a crisp, breezy night.
Early on, though, it looked as if they could be heading back to the Bay Area with a big lead.
The fleet-footed Blanco silenced a rollicking sea of blue, becoming the 10th player to open a World Series game with a home run. He deposited Ventura’s 98 mph fastball in the bullpen in right field, just his 17th home run in more than 2,300 at-bats.
The crowd, energized from the moment that Hall of Famer George Brett delivered the ceremonial first pitch, was left waiting for something good to happen for the second straight night.
This time, the scrappy Royals gave it to them.
ALCS MVP Lorenzo Cain stretched a liner to left field into a two-out double later in the first, and Eric Hosmer walked on four pitches. Butler, Peavy’s long-time nemesis, then bounced a single past the outstretched glove of Crawford at shortstop to knot the game 1-all.
The Royals kept the pressure on in second. Infante doubled over the head of Travis Ishikawa in left field, and Escobar sliced a two-out double down the right-field line to give Kansas City a 2-1 lead, its first in the World Series since Game 7 in 1985.
The Giants, so accustomed to October baseball, still didn’t look rattled — even as Ventura kept pounding the strike zone with a steady dose of 100 mph fastballs.
Eventually, Pablo Sandoval sent a high fly to the warning track leading off the fourth, and a stiff wind blowing out to left turned Cain around. The ball caromed away for a double, and Belt drove in Sandoval with a double that bounced off Nori Aoki’s glove in right field.
The game was still knotted at 2 when the Royals got their first two batters aboard in the sixth. Giants manager Bruce Bochy finally pulled the fiery Peavy, hoping to play for matchups with his bullpen. Butler promptly hit a go-ahead single off Jean Machi, and Strickland came in two batters later to face Perez, whose homer in Game 1 represented the Royals’ only run.
From there, well, the Royals showed they still had plenty of fight left.
PANDA POWER
Sandoval has reached base safely in 25 consecutive playoff games. The only players to have done that more are Miguel Cabrera (31) and Chase Utley (27).
LINCECUM LEAVES
Two-time Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum worked 1 2-3 innings of relief before he appeared to hurt himself on a pitch with two outs in the eighth. Santiago Casilla replaced him.
UP NEXT
Giants: Hudson has appeared in 12 postseason games and started 11 of them, first with Oakland and then Atlanta. But he’s never been on the mound in the World Series. He shut down Washington in the NLDS, giving up one run in 7 1-3 innings, but struggled against St. Louis in the NLCS.
Royals: Guthrie, an 11-year veteran, did not pitch in the Royals’ sweep of the Angels in the ALDS. He made his first career postseason start in the ALCS against the Orioles, allowing one run on three hits over five innings in his first outing since Sept. 26.
The Missouri Western women’s Basketball Team was selected 10th in the preseason MIAA Women’s Basketball Coaches Poll. Emporia State received the most votes in the poll followed by Pittsburg State and Washburn.
The Griffons are coming off a 10-16 record and a 5-14 mark in MIAA play that left them 13th in the conference standings and out of the MIAA tournament. A host of newcomers join a handful of returners on a squad that head coach Rob Edmisson expects to be much improved.
Missouri Western will open the season in SEC country with an exhibition game at the University of Missouri before two games at the Quincy Classic. The Griffons first home game will be on Nov. 20 when they host Rockhurst in the MWSU Fieldhouse.
2014-15 MIAA Preseason Coaches Poll
1. Emporia State (5) 160
2. Pittsburg State (5) 153
3. Washburn (3) 142
4. Fort Hays State (1) 138
5. Central Missouri 127
6. Missouri Southern 94
7. Lindenwood 85
8. Northeastern State 83
9. Northwest Missouri 74
10. Central Oklahoma 66 11. Missouri Western 60
12. Southwest Baptist 44
13. Nebraska-Kearney 30
14. Lincoln 18
Kansas State senior defensive end Ryan Mueller has been named a quarterfinalist for the Lott IMPACT Trophy, the Pacific Club IMPACT Foundation announced Wednesday.
Mueller, a product of Leawood, Kansas, is one of 20 quarterfinalists nationally for the award that honors the player that best embodies the IMPACT moniker – Integrity, Maturity, Performance, Academics, Community and Tenacity. He is the second Wildcat in the last three years to be named a quarterfinalist for the award as Arthur Brown was one of four finalists in 2012, while Ty Zimmerman was a preseason candidate last season.
One of only two quarterfinalists from the Big 12 this season, Mueller is a former walk-on who worked his way into the starting lineup last season as he was named an All-American in 2013 in addition to Big 12 Defensive Lineman of the Year honors. Mueller recording a school-record tying 11.5 sacks in 2013 and has added to his total this year to rank in the school’s career top 10. In six starts this year for the 5-1 Wildcats, Mueller has recorded 16 tackles, four tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks and two pass breakups.
Off the field, Mueller has provided value to the community in many ways, but maybe none better than befriending a boy named Kaiden Schroeder, who has suffered from Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia. Mueller has traveled to Kansas City on many occasions to visit Kaiden, while he also traveled to Philadelphia when Kaiden was in the hospital. Additionally, the nine-year old has attended numerous K-State football events as a guest of Mueller.
Eight semifinalists for the 2014 Lott IMPACT Trophy will be chosen on November 11, while ballots will then be sent to more than 400 national voters – a panel that includes former coaches and players, members of the media, past Lott IMPACT Trophy winners and finalists, as well as members of the Board of Directors for the Pacific Club IMPACT Foundation.
Four finalists will fly to Newport Beach, California, for a black-tie gala at the Pacific Club on December 14, where the winner will be announced. The Pacific Club IMPACT Foundation will make a $25,000 donation to the general scholarship fund of the winner’s university and $5,000 to each school of the runner-up finishers.
No. 11 Kansas State hosts Texas on Saturday in an 11 a.m., contest at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
The Missouri Western women’s golf team finished the Lindenwood Fall Invitational in fourth place with a total score of 654 in the two rounds of golf. Central Oklahoma took the team title shooting a 602 for the event.
Celine Lim continues her consistent play tying for ninth place shooting an 81 and 75 in her rounds of golf. Missouri Western’s Madison Romjue was second on the team, finishing tied for 21st in the field and fired a score of 163.
Lindsey Bensch from Central Oklahoma won the tournament outright shooting a 147 in her two rounds of play.
This tournament will conclude the fall season for the Griffons. They will return to action in the spring of 2015. Please check out gogriffons.com for more information as the season gets closer.
Fans can get their first look at the 2014-2015 Missouri Western men’s and women’s basketball teams on Thursday, October 30 at 7:00 PM as the 11th Annual Griffon Basketball Tip-Off Party will take place in the MWSU Fieldhouse.
The night’s festivities will begin with the traditional basketball game pitting the MWSU Faculty against members of the local media. Then, the Western men’s and women’s basketball teams will be introduced followed by addresses from both Rob Edmisson and Brett Weiberg on the outlook of this years teams.
Both teams will showcase their skills with a short scrimmage followed by a slam dunk contest by the men’s team while the women will compete in a three point shootout.
Admission to the event is free with the first 500 fans in attendance receiving free t-shirts, pizza & refreshments.
Missouri Western students will also be highly involved in the event competing in various contests for gift cards, cash prizes and book scholarships with the grand finale of the evening featuring one lucky student having the opportunity to make a half-court shot for $10,000.
Exhibition play opens up for both teams in early November. On Saturday, November 8 the Griffon men travel to take on Oklahoma State at 2 PM while the Western women will head to Columbia to take on Missouri on Tuesday, November 11 at 7 PM.
The regular season gets underway for the Missouri Western women the following weekend as they compete in the Quincy Tip-Off Tournament November 14-15 while the Griffon men open the season in the 23rd Annual Hillyard Tip-Off Classic in the fieldhouse on November 21-22.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The government says millions of older Americans who rely on federal benefits will get a 1.7 percent increase in their monthly payments next year.
It’s the third year in a row the increase will be less than 2 percent.
The annual cost-of-living adjustment affects payments for more than 70 million Social Security recipients, disabled veterans and federal retirees.
The government announced the increase Wednesday, when it released the latest measure of consumer prices. By law, the increase is based on inflation, which is well below historical averages so far this year.
Congress enacted automatic increases for Social Security beneficiaries in 1975. Until recently, the increases were rarely less than 2 percent.
