By ALEX SMITH
One of the biggest hospitals in the southern part of metropolitan Kansas City is about to get even bigger.

The Olathe City Council this week approved $47.1 million in bonds on behalf of Olathe Medical Center to help finance expansion of the hospital. The project carries an estimated $67 million dollar price tag.

“Projects of this magnitude show the commitment Olathe Medical Center has to this city and this region,” Erin Vader, a spokeswoman for the city, said in a phone interview.

The expansion calls for a 25,000 square foot-cancer center and a 105,000 square-foot patient-room tower for obstetrics and neonatal intensive care. Plans also envision a new entrance, kitchen and dining area.

The hospital, not the city, will be responsible for repaying the bonds.

The first phase of construction is expected to get underway by April.

Olathe Medical Center occupies nearly 250 acres at Interstate 35 and 151st Street. The 300-bed facility treats more than 42,000 patients annually.

In September, the hospital opened a $4.3 million, freestanding inpatient hospice with eight beds. The hospital eventually hopes to expand it to 32 beds.

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

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A 19-year-old man is dead after being shot by police who repeatedly ordered him to drop a pistol he was pointing at others.

The Topeka Capital-Journal  reports the shooting happened about 11:35 a.m. Saturday in Topeka after several crime reports earlier in the day.

City spokeswoman Suzie Gilbert says police responded at 9 a.m. to a domestic disturbance where a man reportedly strangled a woman. A witness saw the man flee the home with a knife and gun.

Officers responded to an attempted carjacking at 11:15 a.m. and found a woman who had been cut on her face with a knife.

Gilbert says police found the armed man at 11:30 a.m. as he was pointing the weapon at bystanders and police.

His name hasn’t been released.

Prosecutor Robert McCulloch says the records released Saturday were inadvertently not included with documents made public Nov. 24, when a grand jury decided not to charge Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson for killing Brown.

Among the newly released records is a transcript of an interview of Brown’s friend Dorian Johnson by the FBI and county police. The interview happened four days after the Aug. 9 confrontation in which the white officer shot the black 18-year-old.

Johnson later testified to the grand jury. A transcript of that testimony was released last month.

SPRINGFIELD (AP) – The pilot of a small, private airplane somehow avoided disaster after clipping a southwest Missouri cell phone tower and crashing into a vacant lot on a university campus.

The Springfield News-Leader reports four people were aboard the plane Friday afternoon when it hit the tower and traveled a mile-and-a-half over rush-hour traffic before going down on property owned by Evangel University less than 100 feet from several houses.

A Springfield spokeswoman says two people sustained minor injuries and the other two were unhurt.

KY3 reports the pilot was Bill Perkin, owner of KSPR-TV, while the plane was owned by Integrity Home Care of Springfield.

The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash. Investigators were expected to arrive at the scene Saturday morning.

JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – Gov. Jay Nixon’s administration is seeking to expand college scholarships to Missouri students enrolled in an online university but is facing opposition from some traditional schools.

Nixon helped spearhead the creation of a Missouri branch of Western Governors University, an online institution.

He issued an executive order nearly two years ago directing the Missouri Department of Higher Education to ensure that its students can receive the same financial aid as those at Missouri’s public universities.

The department is pursuing a rule change to make that happen. But it’s being opposed by the Independent Colleges and Universities of Missouri. That group says any change should require a new law, and it’s raising concerns about expanding scholarships too far.

A legislative committee is to hold a hearing Wednesday on the rule change.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback says privatization of the state’s child support collection system has been a good move because it made collecting the money more cost-effective.

But while the governor says Kansas collected $5.89 for every $1 spent collecting it in fiscal year 2014, other data indicate the state collected the lowest percentage of child support in the past 14 years.

The Topeka Capital Journal  reports the state collected 54 percent of current support that was due, the lowest percentage since the state had a 48 percent collection rate in 2000.

The state also collected less in total dollars for parents in 2014 than in the previous year, while the percentage of payments in arrears that was collected hit a 13-year low.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — City workers, residents and volunteers in Kansas City, Kansas, all agree the city must find a way to deal with several packs of stray dogs.

The Kansas City Star reports that Animal Control Director Michelle Angell acknowledged the city has a “huge” problem with dog packs. She says residents fear jogging downtown and children going to school are sometimes frightened by the animals.

Part of the problem is that animal control has six officers and a supervisor. A national animal control group says a city the size of Kansas City, Kansas, should have 20 officers.

The city said 271 dogs were captured in July, August and September, although the animal control division can house only 39 at a time.