By DAN MARGOLIES

A Kansas law prohibiting drug-induced abortions via telemedicine is being challenged by a women’s health clinic in Wichita that provides abortions.

Trust Women Wichita on Thursday filed a lawsuit seeking to block the law from taking effect on Jan. 1.

“Our mission as an organization is to provide reproductive health care to people in the state of Kansas and elsewhere, and to provide that care to underserved communities,” said Julie Burkhart, founder and CEO of Trust Women Wichita.

“So this (telemedicine) is a way for us to reach underserved communities and a way to expand access to abortion care.”

Kansas already requires a physician to be present for medication abortions. The procedure entails the administration of two pills – one in the clinic and the other outside the clinic. The complication rate is low.

“This ban has no medical basis; its sole purpose is to create more hurdles for Kansas women seeking an abortion,” Nancy Northrop, CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, which filed the suit on behalf of Trust Women, said in a statement. “In all medical contexts except abortion, Kansas authorizes physicians to use telemedicine to provide treatment and prescribe medication.”

The Kansas Telemedicine Act, which was signed into law by Gov. Jeff Colyer in May, is intended to encourage the use of telemedicine – the remote diagnosis and treatment of patients using telecommunications technology. The measure defines telemedicine and requires insurers to cover services provided via telemedicine in the same way they cover in-person office visits.

Anti-abortion language was thrown in at the last minute and was opposed by then-Sen. Laura Kelly, a Democrat who this week was elected governor of Kansas and will be sworn in Jan. 14.

“The bill has been hijacked and highly politicized by inserting an unnecessary and unprecedented non-severability clause,” Kelly told the Topeka Capital-Journal at the time.

Kelly was referring to a provision in the law that would automatically wipe the entire telemedicine law off the books if the abortion ban is struck down.

Burkhart said the situation “illustrates how abortion care should not be segregated out from health care, because abortion care is health care.”

Kansans for Life, the state’s largest anti-abortion organization, fought to keep the non-severability clause in the bill in order to discourage court challenges.

In its lawsuit, Trust Women says there is no medical justification for prohibiting medication abortions administered through telemedicine.

“Studies have shown that telemedicine improves access to early medication abortion in underserved areas, enables women to be evaluated and treated sooner, and provides them with greater choice of abortion procedure,” it says.

The Wichita clinic says nearly half its abortion patients last year had medication abortions. Since introducing telemedicine, it’s been able to expand the provision of medication abortions from two days a week to additional weekdays and Saturdays, it says.

“Trust Women intends to further expand access to abortion care by offering medication abortion via telemedicine during evening hours and in more rural locations throughout Kansas, so that women are able to receive care closer to their homes,” the lawsuit states.

Trust Women Wichita is one of a handful of abortion facilities in Kansas. Others include Planned Parenthood facilities in Overland Park and Wichita, and the Center for Women’s Health in Overland Park.

The telemedicine ban is one of several abortion restrictions enacted by Kansas, as Trust Women Wichita’s lawsuit notes. Other restrictions include a ban on abortion after 22 weeks unless the mother’s life or health is imperiled; a ban on dilation and evacuation abortions; and a mandatory 24-hour wait period for women seeking abortions.

Dan Margolies is a senior reporter and editor in conjunction with the Kansas News Service. You can reach him on Twitter @DanMargolies.

WICHITA– A Mexican citizen pleaded guilty this week to unlawfully driving himself and 10 other illegal aliens from Arizona to Kansas, according to U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister.

Alex They Maya-Dimas, 37, a citizen of Mexico, pleaded guilty to one count of transporting illegal aliens. In his plea, he admitted he was driving a 2002 GMC Yukon when a Ford County deputy stopped him.

Maya-Dimas and 10 other occupants of the vehicle were Mexican citizens who were in the United States illegally. The passengers told investigators Maya-Dimas drove them from Arizona to Kansas City through Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Sentencing is set for Jan. 24. He faces up to five years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000.

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. (AP) – Investigators say a house fire that killed an elderly woman in western Missouri likely started in an electrical fan in the home’s living room.

The fan was located between a couch and chair in the living room.

Police say the woman was pulled from the burning home last Monday after being found in a hallway. Emergency responders began CPR before pronouncing her dead. Her name has still not been released. Police say she lived in the home with her husband and daughter.

A statement from the state fire marshal’s office says the fire has been listed as accidental.

LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) — A man caught trying to smuggle drugs into a Kansas prison has been placed on probation.

Leavenworth County prosecutors wanted 56-year-old Charles Anthony Newsome to be sentenced to two years in prison after he pleaded no contest to trafficking contraband in a correctional facility.

A judge granted Newsome’s request for probation. He would have to serve four years in prison if he violates his probation.

Newsome worked for a company that makes deliveries to the Lansing Correctional Facility.

Leavenworth County Attorney Todd Thompson said Newsome was caught in April 2016 with almost 200 grams of marijuana and synthetic marijuana during a random check by prison staff.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A Missouri  man has been convicted by a federal trial jury of leading a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in Jasper County, according to the United State’s Attorney.

Donald B. Loomis, 36, was found guilty  of participating in a conspiracy to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine in Jasper County from March 1, 2015, to Sept. 24, 2016.

Law enforcement officers began investigating methamphetamine trafficking in the Joplin area in April 2015, focusing on a violent gang that identified themselves as the Joplin Honkeys. Evidence introduced at trial indicated that Loomis, a member of the Joplin Honkeys, was the leader of a drug-trafficking organization and supplied multiple pounds of methamphetamine per week to distribute to others in the Joplin area.

Loomis is among five defendants convicted in this case. Co-defendants Kelly C. Walker, 46, of Joplin, and Alisha D. Courtney, 48, and Terrance E. Romero, 43, both of Webb City, Mo., have pleaded guilty to their roles in the drug-trafficking conspiracy. Romero also pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm in relation to a drug-trafficking crime. Co-defendant Lisa M. Allison, 40, of Neosho, Mo., pleaded guilty to distributing methamphetamine.

Following the presentation of evidence, the jury in the U.S. District Court in Springfield, Mo., deliberated for about an hour before returning the guilty verdict to U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool on Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2018, ending a trial that began Monday, Nov. 5, 2018.

Under federal statutes, Loomis is subject to a mandatory sentence of life in federal prison without parole due to his prior felony convictions. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Democratic Gov.-elect Laura Kelly learned Friday that she stands a better chance of fulfilling a campaign promise to boost spending on Kansas’ public schools without raising taxes with a new, more optimistic fiscal forecast showing it’s possible in the short-term.

The state’s official revenue-estimating group increased by $291 million the projection for tax collections expected during the current fiscal year, which began in July. That’s 4.2 percent higher than the previous fiscal forecast made in April and brings the prediction for tax collections to $7.2 billion.

The forecasters also predicted tax collections will grow by 2.7 percent during the fiscal year that begins in July 2019, to $7.4 billion. The picture isn’t completely rosy: The forecast assumes economic growth flags in 2021 and tax collections grow then by 1.6 percent, to roughly $7.5 billion.

But the Legislature’s nonpartisan research staff released a budget profile showing Kansas can increase its annual spending on schools in each of the next two fiscal years after covering anticipated higher social services costs.

Kelly said during her campaign that she wanted to increase public school funding, and the Kansas Department of Education estimates another $90 million a year is necessary to comply with state Supreme Court mandates in an ongoing education funding lawsuit. Kelly also wants to expand the state’s Medicaid health coverage as encouraged by the 2010 federal Affordable Care Act.

“This is good news for our families and the state of Kansas,” Kelly said in a statement. “I will continue to work with leaders of both parties to keep our state on the road to recovery so we can invest in our schools, expand Medicaid and balance the budget without new taxes.”

Kansas experienced persistent budget shortfalls after an experiment in cutting state income taxes in 2012-13 engineered by then-GOP Gov. Sam Brownback. Kansas became a national example of how not to do trickle-down economics, and bipartisan legislative majorities reversed most of Brownback’s tax cuts in 2017. Tax collections have exceeded expectations ever since.

In the governor’s race, Republican nominee Kris Kobach promised to slash taxes and shrink government spending at the same time to keep the budget balanced.

Departing Republican Gov. Jeff Colyer — who narrowly lost to Kobach in the August primary — said of the new forecast: “This also puts us in a better position to give back to Kansans by lowering taxes, funding education, and making other critical investments in our state.”

Kelly said during a news conference Thursday that increasing school funding is her top priority, but during her campaign, she had a list of other neglected areas of the budget, including higher education, social services and mental health services.

Top GOP lawmakers, frustrated by what they see as unrealistic promises, said the Republican-controlled Legislature will hold her to her promise not to raise taxes.

But Kelly may have some leeway with voters to raise new revenues.

A majority of Kansas voters were at least somewhat supportive of increasing taxes to provide additional funds for public schools, according to AP VoteCast, a nationwide survey of about 139,000 voters and nonvoters. The survey, conducted for The Associated Press by NORC at the University of Chicago, included 3,963 voters and 780 nonvoters in Kansas.

Fifty-eight percent of voters said they strongly supported or somewhat supported raising taxes to boost education funding, and a majority of them backed Kelly. Forty-one percent strongly or somewhat opposed a tax increase, and roughly two-thirds of them backed Kobach.

“That surprises me, but I don’t think a tax increase to fund schools is going to be necessary,” said Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, a Topeka Democrat, adding that with the new forecast, Kelly has “a lot of flexibility.”

State officials had expected a more optimistic forecast because the state’s tax collections have exceeded expectations for 17 consecutive months, the longest streak since at least February 1966, according to data compiled by The Associated Press. The forecasting group is made up of legislative researchers, Department of Revenue officials and state university economists.

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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – It will cost more to stay at an electric campsite in Missouri’s parks, beginning May 1.

Missouri state parks administrators announced Friday that the agency is increasing the overnight price of an electric campsite by $2, bringing the average cost for a campsite to $23 per night. The average rate for a premium electric site will rise to $25 per night.

The agency says it needs more revenue to upgrade its electric sites and to fix sites in disrepair.

State Parks Director Ben Ellis said in a statement that the rate increase will pay for electrification projects, including upgrading electrical service to 50 amp and repairing electrical systems. He says the power issues have caused the closure of some campsites.

By MADELINE FOX

A University of Kansas study linked tighter welfare rules to a growing foster care load.

The state agency overseeing those programs backed those same new rules. Now, it’s hired a research team to question the findings of the KU study.

A team headed by University of Maryland professor Douglas Besharov — who once worked for a conservative think tank and who head’s the school’s welfare reform program — has been reviewing KU’s research.

But he said his goal is to see if the KU researchers’ conclusions hold up to scrutiny, and that he’s in the mainstream of data-driven opinions on welfare.

“I share the consensus view that some form of work-related activity is very good for welfare programs and welfare recipients,” he said.

Besharov is working with Neil Gilbert, a professor at the University of California Berkeley, to review KU’s findings. The two have written on welfare’s impact on marriage together for R Street, a conservative and libertarian think tank. They’ve also written for the Weekly Standard, a conservative opinion magazine.

Department for Children and Families spokeswoman Taylor Forrest said Besharov was suggested to the agency as a leading expert in child welfare and welfare programs.

She said the department approached Besharov to review the KU researchers’ work and, by extension, DCF’s policies. Forrest said DCF isn’t required to post an open call to researchers for consulting purposes.

Under then-Gov. Sam Brownback, Kansas added a requirement that able-bodied cash welfare recipients work 20 hours per week or take job training. Cash assistance benefits were also capped at 24 months over a recipient’s lifetime.

Annie McKay, head of the child advocacy group Kansas Action for Children, said the hiring of academics to challenge an ongoing study looks like an effort to shop for research backing up its policies rather than testing them.

“(DCF) wants to go poking holes in something rather than buckling down and owning the crisis at hand,” she said. “We have an administration that wants to continue to protect an ideology that is costing Kansas kids.”

Since DCF hired Besharov and his team to review KU’s findings, he and the KU researchers have clashed over sharing data.

Besharov emailed KU economist Donna Ginther and Ohio State social work professor Michelle Johnson-Motoyama on Oct. 5 to let the two know he was asked to evaluate their work. He asked about some of their methods and asked the researchers to share their state-level data.

Johnson-Motoyama replied a week later saying that their research is still a draft, not yet ready to be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal.

“We view the peer review process as the most objective and independent approach to refereeing original research,” she said in the email. Johnson-Motoyama added that they’d be happy to share the study with Besharov once it’s published.

But Besharov pushed back. He emailed back on Oct. 18 saying he and Gilbert were “surprised” and hoped Ginther and Johnson-Motoyama would reconsider their decision to not share more information.

“The problem is that whether or not they have official findings, they’ve testified at official hearings,” Besharov told the Kansas News Service. “You can’t do it halfway. You can’t put it out there and say ‘it’s not done, so you can’t review it.’”

Johnson-Motoyama presented KU’s preliminary findings to members of the House Children and Seniors Committee and to a task force examining the state’s child welfare policies during the last legislative session.

The KU study is still ongoing, but researchers said preliminary results last year showed Kansas’ spike in foster kids — a 42 percent increase over the number of kids in 2012 — correlated with the new welfare policies.

Ginther said they’ve presented their preliminary findings to policymakers to alert them to potential harm to children.

“We’re talking about children’s lives,” Ginther said. “We have evidence that (Kansas’ welfare) policy is putting children at risk … so you inform the policymakers who are in a position to make a decision.”

Ginther and Johnson-Motoyama also presented their preliminary results linking Kansas’ changes in welfare policy to more kids in foster care at a conference in December. Ginther says they’ve continued to follow a standard protocol since then — talking with subject matter experts, adding data, and working on a draft to submit for peer review.

She said she was “stunned” by the request to see her data and programs.

“You don’t share your data and programs before your paper’s finished — it’s just not done,” she said.

Ginther said she also couldn’t share the data they used on child abuse and neglect because it’s restricted. She said she got that information from the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect, through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families.

The agency’s website says “Restricted use files of (child abuse and neglect) data are archived at the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and  Neglect (NDACAN) at Cornell University and available to researchers who are interested in using these data for statistical analyses.” Officials from the Administration for Children and Families did not return calls for this story.

After Besharov’s second email, Ginther said she was contacted by KU’s department of public affairs passing on a request from Gov. Jeff Colyer’s office asking why KU couldn’t share the study data and programs.

Kara Zeyer, a spokeswoman for Colyer, confirmed that the governor’s office reached out to KU at Besharov’s request.

Zeyer said the governor’s office got involved because if the KU study showed Kansas’ welfare policy was harmful, “we would be happy to have that information so we could make improvements.” Zeyer said it’s a matter of transparency — if KU has the information, it should be able to share that data with Besharov and his team.

Besharov said he was initially given an Oct. 31 deadline to complete his review. He said he let DCF know he wouldn’t be able to make the deadline, and didn’t receive any pushback about his review not being complete before the November elections.

Ginther said she’s shocked by Besharov’s pushing to get her data and the governor’s response of reaching out to KU.

“I’m just flabbergasted by the steps they’ve taken,” she said.

Madeline Fox  is a reporter for the Kansas News Service. You can reach her on Twitter @maddycfox.