OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — An Overland Park woman says she was robbed of her diamond necklace after two men broke into her home and one held a knife to her neck.

Overland Park police officer Gary Mason tells KMBC-TV the robbery was reported on Thursday. The woman tells police the men entered her house after breaking a window next to the front door.

Mason says the woman screamed, which might have scared the men away. He says the suspects left without taking anything else and got into a white four-door vehicle driven by a third person.

Police are investigating.

NORTH KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri woman convicted of pouring rubbing alcohol into drinks for her twin infant daughters has been sentenced to probation.

The Kansas City Star reports jurors on Thursday sentenced 24-year-old Gloria Jones to five years in prison, but that sentence will be suspended while she serves probation. The judge says she will serve the prison time if she violates probation.

Jones was convicted in June on two counts of first-degree child endangerment in connection to the October 2012 incident.

Officials at a children’s hospital alerted police that the girls had ingested rubbing alcohol, which nearly killed one of them. Jones told officers she poured the rubbing alcohol into their sipping cups of milk to calm them down because they were “whiny.”

The girls have fully recovered and are living with relatives.

PRATT, Kan. (AP) — Kansas is so intent on filling five open game warden’s jobs that it’s publicly urging people who enjoy the outdoors to take the test necessary to get into the hiring pool.

The state Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism said Thursday it will take applications until Nov. 7 and administer the test Dec. 20 in Salina.

The department says people interested in becoming game wardens should contact the agency’s human resources section at its Pratt office or visit its website.

The department currently has 75 game wardens, with vacancies in Atchison, Jewell, Miami, Scott and Seward counties. The positions pay about $19 an hour.

DETROIT (AP) — Nissan is recalling more than 220,000 Altima midsize cars in the U.S. because the hoods could fly open while they’re being driven.

The recall covers cars from the 2013 model year, but the company says it could affect other Nissan models.

The automaker says in documents posted by federal regulators that the secondary hood latch can bind and remain unlatched when the hood is closed. If it’s unlatched and the main latch is inadvertently released, the hood could open while the car is in motion.

Nissan says dealers will modify the latch lever, as well as clean and lubricate the secondary latch joint. The latch assembly could be replaced. The company hasn’t come up with a schedule to notify owners.

Owners with questions can call Nissan at (800) 647-7261.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — Springfield officials say the contaminant that was pumped out of a spring in September may have been spilled milk.

The Springfield News-Leader reports Dairy Farmers of America told city leaders it discharged 5,000 gallons of cream, condensed skim milk and sugar into the city’s sewer system the day before the contamination was discovered. It said the discharge was caused by a faulty valve.

The city pumped thousands of gallons of white contaminated water from the Fulbright spring.
A city official says employees tried to use dye to trace the source of the contamination but aren’t certain it came from the dairy building. He says water tests found levels of E. coli bacteria nearly eight times higher than the state standard for what’s safe enough to swim in.

JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – A southeast Missouri lawmaker said he has pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated and has been sentenced to probation.

Democratic Rep. Steve Hodges of East Prairie said he pleaded guilty Thursday in Cole County Circuit Court to two charges stemming from incidents earlier this year.

Hodges said his driver’s license was suspended and he was sentenced to two years of probation. He was also ordered to participate in a substance abuse traffic offender program.

The 65-year-old lawmaker was first elected to the House in 2006 and is barred by term limits from seeking re-election this year. Hodges was cleaning out his Capitol office Thursday but does not plan to resign before his term ends in January.

He said he completed a voluntary 30-day substance abuse treatment program earlier this year.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Police in Topeka say a driver involved in an accident that killed an 85-year-old motorcycle rider told officers he was looking at his CD player just before the collision.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports it paid $5 to the city’s Police Department Thursday for a copy of the report on the Sept. 12 accident.

The report quotes the 48-year-old pickup truck driver as saying he was trying to put a compact disc into his CD player just before the collision. The man said he looked up and slammed on his brakes but hit the motorcycle ridden by Harold Eulert.

The motorcycle then struck the back of another pickup. Eulert died at a hospital.

Police are continuing to investigate, and no charges have been filed.

Little Apple Post

MANHATTAN — The Kansas State University Police Department has issued a statement that the recent crimes near the K-State Manhattan require students and university employees to be aware.

The Riley County Police Department is investigating two robberies in the past 48 hours that occurred off campus — one in the 1200 block of Kearney Street and one in the 700 block of Bertrand Street.

The K-State Police Department has also received calls in the past 48 hours for suspicious activity that may be related to the robberies. In those instances, students reported subjects made contact or attempted to make contact while the students were walking. In all of the incidents the students were walking by themselves. The comments and demeanor of the subjects alarmed the students, and they reported the activity to K-State police. All of the incidents occurred during the overnight hours.

K-State police are urging members of the campus community to use services such as Wildcat Walk and Safe Ride, be aware of surroundings when walking at night, travel in groups, report crimes immediately when they occur, and report any suspicious activity.

By Julie Appleby
Kaiser Health News

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Consumers using the federal healthcare.gov website when open enrollment begins next month should expect a faster website with a shorter application form and features making it easier to use on mobile devices, Obama administration officials said Wednesday.

In a briefing with reporters, they showed off a live version of the updated site and said it has already been used to enroll about 20,000 people.

Still, they did not promise that the website will be glitch-free when it opens for purchases on Nov. 15.

Nonetheless, the administration is focused on “everyone having a good consumer experience,” said Andrew Slavitt, the principal deputy administrator at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Last year, the website’s debut was disastrous: Consumers could not start or complete their applications and faced almost daily website crashes. Problems lasted for months before experts were able to stabilize the system. Eventually, more than 7 million people enrolled and paid premiums on their policies.

This year, the administration officials said they have spent far more time — five and half weeks — testing the revamped website, rather than the 10 days they tested it before last year’s launch. The most intense testing began this week and officials said full “load testing” — determining how many consumers the site can handle at one time — won’t begin in earnest until late October.

Slavitt would not release specific numbers, but said the website aims “to handle significantly more [consumers] than the highest peak day last year.”

That could be particularly important because the time period for enrollment is shorter this year. In addition to new enrollees, many of the people who signed up for this year will be reviewing their options and re-enrolling. They along with new customers who want coverage to begin Jan. 1 have only a month — from Nov. 15 to Dec. 15 — to select a plan. So a lot of activity is expected during the initial weeks.

After that, customers who enroll by Jan. 15 will get coverage Feb. 1, while those who wait until Feb. 15, when the enrollment period ends, will have coverage that begins March 1.

Since July, about 20,000 people have enrolled using the revamped website, all of whom were able to shop outside the official 2014 open enrollment period because they faced a special life circumstance, like the loss of a job or a divorce.

Changes for this year include:

• A shorter application form for new enrollees — 16 screen pages, down from 76. Officials said an estimated 70 percent of new enrollees will be able to use the shorter form. Others, with more complicated situations, will have to enter more information.

• There will be a “back button” that allows consumers to flip back to an earlier page if they need to correct information they’ve already entered, without having to start the entire application over, as was the case last year.

• Information will be sent through the “hub” of the system for verification in one batch, at the end of the application process, instead of question by question, which officials said should speed the process.

• The website is “optimized” for use on mobile devices, which last year were used by about 20 percent of applicants, said Kevin Counihan, chief executive officer of the website. That could make it easier to reach some target consumers, such as young people and Latinos, more than 74 percent of whom have smart phones, he said.

Still, some things consumers want — such as easier access to the lists of doctors and hospitals that make up insurers’ networks of providers — won’t be included on this year’s revamp.

And those who want to start shopping in advance by comparing prices for coverage will have to wait until about Nov. 9, officials said.