WASHINGTON, DC — U.S. Senator Pat Roberts today released the names of the young Kansans who will receive his nomination for appointments to U.S. Service Academies.

“I am very pleased to announce this year’s nominees,” Senator Roberts said. “These men and women are outstanding representatives of Kansas in every way, and I wish them all the best as they pursue their education and service to our nation.”

In making the nominations, Senator Roberts followed the recommendations of his Academy Screening Board. The nonpartisan board is comprised of seven volunteers from across Kansas and is overseen by Gilda Lintz, Senator Roberts’ District Director and Military Academy Coordinator in Topeka. As part of the decision-making process, board members conduct personal interviews with the applicants, as well as review their written applications, G.P.A. and standardized test scores.

Once nominated by Senator Roberts, the applicants then must meet the individual admission requirements of each academy. The academies will make the final decision on who will receive an appointment of admission. Due to the limited number of openings at each academy, not every nominee will receive an appointment. The academies this spring will announce appointments for the class entering in July 2015. Senator Roberts’ nominees are as follows:

United States Military Academy at West Point Nominees

Ryan Brunner, Topeka

John Flott, Topeka

Anna Frick, Ft Riley

Derek Martin, Conway Springs

Anthony Nilles, Halstead

Joshua Winton, Leavenworth

 

United States Air Force Academy Nominees

Nicholas Clark, Manhattan

Kaitlyn Emerson, Topeka

Stephanie Farney, McPherson

Mattie Germann, Leawood

Sofia Gilkeson, Wichita

Abbie Lavin, Lenexa

Zach Marcolesco, Andale

Caleb Mathes, Bartlett

Kelly Nguyen, Wichita

Matthew Scherer, Wamego

 

United States Naval Academy Nominees

Kynedi Allison, Delphos

Charles Beck, Wichita

Eli Cosner, Overland Park

Frank Dwornicki, Wichita

Kenneth Englert, Shawnee

Kyle Garton, Overland Park

Grace Gomez, Topeka

Chenxi He, Olathe

Michael Healy, Leawood

Elizabeth Jarvis, Wichita

John Kelly, Minneapolis

Austin Koch, Topeka

Elyjah Lyons, Parsons

Michael Marsh, Topeka

Madeleine Pershall, Topeka

Frederick Porter, Neodesha

Chelsey Ratzlaff, Wichita

Charles Schillings, Wichita

Gwyneth Schuler, Wichita

Thomas Williams, Overland Park

 

United States Merchant Marine Academy Nominee

Cameron Hamm, Overland Park

Senator Roberts will begin accepting applications in March for nominations to academy classes entering in July 2016. Applicants wishing to find out more information on the process for nominations should visit Senator Roberts’ website at: roberts.senate.gov

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – Missouri officials are ratcheting back their expectations for the state’s finances while forecasting modest growth for the future.

Gov. Jay Nixon said Thursday that he has agreed on new revenue projections with budget leaders from the Missouri House and Senate. That agreement is noteworthy, because the Democratic governor and Republican lawmakers were unable to reach a consensus revenue estimate a year ago.

The officials now are predicting Missouri revenues of $8.37 billion for the 2015 fiscal year that runs through June. That’s down about $367 million from what Nixon originally had forecast and down about $218 million from what lawmakers originally predicted.

The governor and legislators are predicting the state’s 2016 revenues to grow by about 3.6 percent over that revised forecast for 2015.

By Mary Agnes Carey
Kaiser Health News

WASHINGTON, D.C. — More than 1 million people selected a health plan during the fourth week of the health law’s open enrollment and nearly 2.5 million have done so since it began Nov. 15, federal officials said Tuesday.

“And this was before an extremely busy weekend,” said Andy Slavitt, principal deputy administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which oversees the federal online marketplace used by 37 states, including Kansas.

Tuesday’s report did not include enrollment for the final three days before the Dec. 15 deadline for people to enroll if they want coverage to begin Jan. 1.

Just over half of those individuals who have selected plans since the health law’s second open enrollment season began are returning customers. Enrollment in the states running their own exchanges is not yet available.

As expected, interest in healthcare.gov soared in the final days before the mid-December deadline, with 1.6 million people phoning the call center from Dec. 13 through Dec. 15, officials told reporters.

To avoid longer waiting times, nearly 500,000 people who called just hours before the Dec. 15 midnight PST deadline left their contact information. Website officials have begun to call them back, Slavitt said, and they will be able to enroll in coverage to begin Jan. 1.

At its peak volume Monday, healthcare.gov had more than 125,000 concurrent users. But “we did not run into capacity constraints,” Slavitt said. “In other words, we are able to handle even more volume in the coming months ahead.” One website “waiting room” was used for about 90 minutes for “several thousand” individuals creating new accounts, Slavitt said. Their average wait time was about three minutes. Returning customers or those doing “window shopping” were not affected, Slavitt added.

In a call with reporters, Slavitt and Kevin Counihan, the CEO of healthcare.gov, said federal officials have begun to automatically re-enroll 2014 customers who have not selected a new plan for 2015. Less than 5 percent of current enrollees could not be automatically re-enrolled, Counihan said.

Counihan said the website has been sending daily updates to insurers to let them know about people that have switched health plans, helping to avoid confusion that could lead to insurers double-billing consumers. Separately Tuesday, America’s Health Insurance Plans said it would give consumers additional time to pay premiums due Jan. 1 and would provide prompt refunds if individuals were mistakenly billed for two health plans.

Several states, including California and Minnesota, have extended enrollment deadlines for coverage to begin Jan. 1.

Earlier Tuesday the consulting firm Avalere Health estimated that 10.5 million people would enroll in the health law’s state and federal exchanges by the end of 2015. Administration officials have estimated that about 9 million people would enroll in the exchanges while the Congressional Budget Office has estimated 13 million.

 

Mary Agnes Carey is a reporter for Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas House Speaker Ray Merrick has replaced the leaders of two key committees and filled vacancies in two other chairmanships.

Merrick spokeswoman Rachel Whitten confirmed Thursday that Rep. Ron Ryckman Jr. of Olathe will be chairman of the budget-writing Appropriations Committee.

Ryckman replaces Rep. Gene Suellentrop of Wichita.

Merrick appointed Rep. Ron Highland of Wamego as Education Committee chairman. He replaces Rep. Kasha Kelley of Arkansas City.

Whitten declined to discuss the reasons behind the changes.

Merrick appointed Rep. Marvin Kleeb of Overland Park as Taxation Committee chairman and John Barker of Abilene as Judiciary Committee chairman. The previous chairmen did not seek re-election this year.

Merrick is a Stilwell Republican. All of the new chairmen are Republicans, in keeping the GOP’s 97-to-28 majority in the House.

CLEVELAND (AP) — Authorities say the man suspected of fatally shooting a former Kansas State University football player outside a Cleveland nightclub has been arrested in northeast Ohio.

The U.S. Marshals Service says 30-year-old Barry Blevins of East Cleveland was arrested early Wednesday in Cleveland.

Blevins was sought on an aggravated murder warrant after the October shooting of 26-year-old David Garrett. Police say Garrett was struck in the chest when Blevins fired into a crowd after a fight that began in a Cleveland nightclub spilled outside.

Garrett earned all-Big 12 honorable mention honors as a Kansas State defensive back in 2010 and 2011. He graduated from Thomas W. Harvey High School in Painesville, east of Cleveland and played arena football in Kansas City in 2013.

No attorney information for Blevins was available Thursday.