COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — The Columbia City Council is backing legislation that would ban gay conversion therapy for minors.
Mayor Brian Treece -photo courtesy city of Columbia
The council members voiced their support Monday for the Youth Mental Health Preservation Act, which was introduced last month in the House.
More than a dozen states have already enacted laws prohibiting licensed therapists from trying to change a minor’s sexual orientation. The American Psychological Association opposes the practice, saying it doesn’t work and can cause harm.
Columbia Mayor Brian Treece says the city “has always been a leader when it comes to nondiscrimination and pro-equality ordinances.”
Earlier this month, Columbia’s Commission on Human Rights unanimously voted to draft legislation recommending that the city adopt a law making conversion therapy on minors by licensed professionals a misdemeanor.
Hannah Woodson leaps into Colden Pond. 2016 file photo courtesy Northwest Missouri State University.
MARYVILLE, Mo – Northwest Missouri State University’s Up ‘til Dawn chapter has rescheduled its annual Colden Pond Plunge.
According to a press release from Northwest, six Northwest students who raised the most money in anticipation of the event will jump into the campus pond, continuing a tradition to raise awareness for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The event was previously set for Jan. 25 but canceled due to that day’s cold temperatures. It is now scheduled for 5 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 21.
Most recently, Up ‘til Dawn hosted its “Big Event” from midnight to 6 a.m., Feb. 10, in Bearcat Arena. The annual challenge is a tribute to the patients and families who undergo sleepless nights during treatment. Teams of fundraisers are invited to attend the all-night celebration.
In November, 74 individuals participated in Up ‘til Dawn’s “Cut Loose” event and raised more than $400 for St. Jude by cutting at least 8 inches of their hair for Children With Hair Loss. Up ‘til Dawn also hosted the Harvest Festival last October at the Dot Family Farm west of Maryville and generated $780 by offering a variety of family-friendly activities.
The Northwest chapter has raised more than $37,400 during its 2018-19 campaign, which exceeds the total it raised a year ago. While Up ‘til Dawn chapters are on college campuses throughout the nation, the Northwest chapter this year set a goal of raising $40,000.
The Up ‘til Dawn Executive Board consists of 13 Northwest students dedicated to raising awareness and funding for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. St. Jude provides treatment for childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases at no cost.
St. Jude is the only pediatric cancer research center where families never pay for treatment not covered by insurance. The hospital’s efforts have helped push overall survival rates from childhood cancers from less than 20 percent when the hospital opened in 1962 to 80 percent today. While its daily operating costs reach $1.7 million, an average of 7,800 active patients visit the hospital every year, most of whom are treated on an outpatient basis.
For more information about Northwest’s Up ‘til Dawn chapter and its fundraising events, contact Up ‘til Dawn Executive Director Carina Harding at S523470@nwmissouri.edu.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Advocates for low-income families joined small-town grocers and others encouraging Kansas lawmakers to reduce the state’s sales tax on groceries, while lobbyists for some organizations warned doing so might lead to efforts to reduce other types of taxes.
Photo Kansas News Service
A hearing Monday before the House Taxation committee was the first testimony on a bill to reduce the 6.5 percent state tax rate on groceries by 1 percent. The reduction would lower state revenues by $60 million, The Topeka Capital-Journal reported .
Oberlin City Administrator Halley Roberson said her northwest Kansas town is losing tax revenue because residents drive to nearby Nebraska, which doesn’t have a sales tax on groceries. She said her town could use the sales tax revenue for badly needed infrastructure repairs.
Legislative Research data showed sales and excise tax accounts for 8 percent of family income for those in the bottom 20 percent of Kansas wage earners. The impact decreases as income rises, with the top 1 percent of wage earners using only 1 percent for sales tax.
State lawmakers raised the rate to 6.5 percent in 2015 when the state was facing continuing revenue shortfalls. Kansas residents pay one of the highest tax rates on groceries of any jurisdiction in the country when state and local taxes are combined.
Rep. Tim Hodge, a North Newton Democrat who campaigned on lowering food sales taxes, criticized past lawmakers for raising the sales tax rather than repealing tax cuts during a budget crisis.
“For the last 10 years, we have used and abused the sales tax whenever there’s any kind of recession or shortage at the state government level,” he said.
John Donley of the Kansas Farm Bureau warned that reducing the sales tax on groceries could eventually lead to replacing the sales tax with a value-added tax system, which would apply to production of goods.
“I probably am being paranoid, but I’m here today to basically put the line in the sand, stake the flag, saying we do not support reducing the state sales tax because we do believe that the next step is, well, what about that livestock exemption?” Donley said.
Adrienne Olejnik of Kansas Action for Children said the state should reconsider a food sales tax rebate program that was eliminated in 2013, rather than lowering the sales tax on groceries. The program’s refunds were available for households with less than $30,615 in annual income.
“There are a lot of unknowns and things that need to be resolved before we consider buying down the food sales tax rate,” Olejnik said.
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — The University of Missouri says a student has been diagnosed with active tuberculosis and left campus voluntarily.
The school said in a news release that campus and local health officials are working to track down other people who might need testing. The school described the student as cooperative but declined to release the student’s condition or other details, citing student privacy laws.
Tuberculosis is a serious disease that usually affects the lungs and can be deadly if not treated.
In developed countries, it has largely been brought under control. But it’s a major scourge in less affluent places.
Symptoms include persistent coughing, weight loss and fatigue.
OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — A 48-year-old man who allegedly stabbed a woman to death and stuffed her body into a trash can was ordered to stand trial for intentional second-degree murder.
Kidwell -photo Johnson Co.
Ronald Lee Kidwell is charged in the July 2018 death of 43-year-old MeShon Cooper, whose body was found at Kidwell’s home.
According to testimony, Kidwell told police he killed Cooper in a rage after she threatened to tell people he was HIV positive.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri House is advancing a bill that would largely undo mandatory minimum sentencing laws.
House members gave the measure initial approval in a voice vote Tuesday. It needs another vote of approval to move to the Senate.
The legislation would allow judges to ignore mandatory minimum sentencing requirements for some nonviolent offenders.
Judges still would have to follow minimum sentencing laws for those convicted of violent crimes, sexual crimes against minors or crimes involving a gun.
The Republican-sponsored measure has bipartisan support in the House.
Republican Rep. Shamed Dogan during a Missouri Legislative Black Caucus press conference Monday also cited revamping mandatory minimum sentencing as a priority in the push for broader changes to the criminal justice system.
A similar Senate proposal has not yet had a hearing.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas will receive about $922,000 as its part of a national settlement with Walgreens concerning over-dispensing of insulin pens to Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries.
Attorney General Derek Schmidt’s office said in a news release the settlement resolves allegations that Walgreens repeatedly dispensed more insulin than had been prescribed to patients. The company was accused of submitting false claims for reimbursement to Medicare and Medicaid.
Schmidt said Walgreens agreed to pay the U.S. and states $209.2 million, with $89.1 million going to state Medicaid programs. Kansas will receive $922,126, which will be used to reimburse federal and state funds spent by the Kansas Medicaid program, and to recover the cost of the investigation that led to the settlement.
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — An employee of a Vans Off the Wall footwear and apparel store in a suburban Kansas City shopping mall no longer has a job after a confrontation with a teen wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat.
Part of Saturday’s encounter at Oak Park Mall in Overland Park, Kansas, was caught on video . The mother said on the video that was posted online Sunday that her 14-year-old son was asked to take off his MAGA hat as he entered the store. She said that when he didn’t respond, the employee said a curse word.
Vans Global Brand Communications spokeswoman Laura Doherty says the employee’s actions were “in contrast with our company’s values and belief in personal expression.”
The new chairman of the Kansas Republican Party is focused on winning back the governorship and the 3rd Congressional District. He told party leaders this weekend how he plans to do it.
Johnson County attorney Mike Kuckelman was the only one to present a full slate of leadership candidates for party officials to consider at their state convention Saturday.
Virginia Crossland-Macha is the party’s new vice chair. She’s currently a member of the Kansas State Fair Board with connections to the construction industry.
Overland Park attorney Mike Kuckelman became chair of the Kansas Republican Party without opposition at the state convention Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019. STEPHEN KORANDA / KANSAS NEWS SERVICE
Emily Wellman will serve as party secretary and Bob Dool, who was treasurer for Kris Kobach’s gubernatorial campaign, will now be treasurer of the party.
Kuckelman told the GOP activists gathered for the convention that the party needs to improve its fundraising and engage unaffiliated voters in order to boost turnout and rebound from some stinging recent losses.
He urged the crowd to be prepared to pay for outreach to gather more votes.
“I will be asking for money. It’s just that important,” Kuckelman said. “We need the money to get this done.”
He joked that some Republicans might start hiding their wallets when they see him coming.
The Kansas GOP’s new leader takes over not long after Republicans saw their streak of congressional and statewide wins broken in 2018.
While Republicans held all other statewide offices and congressional seats, Democrat Sharice Davids unseated four-term 3rd District Rep. Kevin Yoder in the Kansas City area. And Democrat Laura Kelly beat the polarizing former Secretary of State Kris Kobach by a five-point margin in the governor’s race as she drew some Republican and unaffiliated voters.
Well over 500,000 Kansas voters are unaffiliated – nearly a third of the total registered.
“They don’t know who to vote for,” Kuckelman said Saturday. “They don’t understand why they should be a part of the Republican Party.”
Along with engaging unaffiliated voters, Kuckelman said Latinos could also be key to reinvigorating the Kansas GOP.
Kuckelman said in an interview that immigration rhetoric from President Donald Trump and others makes them harder to reach.
“If you look at the Republican platform, we’re strongly in favor of immigration,” he said. “What the Republicans are opposed to, everyone I assume is opposed to, is people who violate the law.”
The state party platform calls “legal immigration … a blessing to this country,” but emphasizes border security, opposes sanctuary policies, and asserts that employers should have the right to fire workers who are not competent in English.
Kuckelman has represented Republicans in a number of high-profile legal fights.
In 2014, Kuckelman also helped U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts successfully fend off a complaint that he didn’t really live in Kansas to stay on the ballot.
Outgoing Kansas GOP Chairman Kelly Arnold decided not to run for reelection after six years in the post.
Kelly led the party through that contentious 2014 campaign when Roberts and then-Gov. Sam Brownback faced tough challenges but both ultimately won reelection.
But in 2016, conservatives lost some of their grip on the Kansas Legislature, with more moderate Republicans and Democrats winning dozens of seats – enough to form a coalition majority to reverse Brownback’s signature tax cuts and pass school funding increases conservatives had long fought.
Conservatives regained some ground in 2018 and Republicans maintained their dominance in the Legislature, but after the fall elections several moderate lawmakers defected to the Democratic Party.
Kuckelman is promising to build more unity in the Kansas GOP.
To conservative John Hoffman, from Maple Hill, building unity doesn’t mean putting together a more moderate party platform.
He said members of the Republican Party should support the platform. If they can’t, they should consider whether the GOP is the right fit.
“They get to the point where they can’t agree … they leave. That seems to be a logical result,” he said.
The contentious gubernatorial primary between Kobach and then-Gov. Jeff Colyer – two conservatives with very different styles – also left divisions. Hoffman is typical of party members who want to see more unity.
“There was not very much party unity coming out of the primaries,” he said. “I’m hoping that we can get a little more organized.”
Despite his calls for outreach, Kuckelman doesn’t expect to moderate the party’s platform.
“Republicans in Kansas are always conservative,” he said. “I think it will continue to be a conservative party.”
