LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — The University of Kansas has developed a new mandatory training program for student-athletes designed to help prevent sexual violence.

The university’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Education Center has worked with KU Athletics to launch the Gender Based Violence Prevention Seminar this fall.

“Kansas Athletics was that first group to step up and say, ‘This is important, and we recognize that and we want to be a part of it,'” said Jen Brockman, who leads the center. “They could see the application. They could see the worth and how this would improve the lives of their students.”

Brockman said many institutions just train student-athletes in sexual violence prevention for 10 or 20 minutes. The university’s training will provide evidence-based instruction over four years, giving student-athletes 45 hours of direct education on gender-based violence prevention through their time at the school.

“We like quick and easy fixes, so we think, ‘If I just tell people not to do this bad thing, then they won’t do this bad thing anymore'” Brockman said. “But that’s not how changing attitudes, behaviors and beliefs works, because the messaging that our students are getting surrounding gender-based violence, they are inundated with daily.”

The program will focus on four areas over the course of its installments: individual, relationships, community and societal. The seminar is based on the four-level model for understanding violence and the potential effects of violence prevention methods.

It will take time and research to determine how effective the training is, Brockman said. But seeing the program come to fruition has been the center’s “dream” since the free-standing facility’s founding more than two years ago.

 

 

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – The Latest on the funeral for five of the nine members of an Indianapolis family killed when a tourist boat sank on a Missouri lake (all times local):

12:50 p.m.

Hundreds of people are attending the funeral for five of the nine members of an Indianapolis family who were killed when a tourist boat sank on a Missouri lake during a storm.

Gov. Eric Holcomb is among the mourners at Saturday’s services at Eastern Star Church in Indianapolis to honor 70-year-old Horace Coleman; his 69-year-old wife, Belinda Coleman; 76-year-old Ervin Coleman; 45-year-old Angela Coleman; and her 2-year-old son, Maxwell Coleman.

Eleven members of the Coleman family were aboard the duck boat when it sank July 19 in Table Rock Lake in Branson, Missouri, killing 17 people . Tia Coleman and her 13-year-old nephew were the family’s only survivors.

A funeral was held Friday for Tia Coleman’s husband, 40-year-old Glenn Coleman, and three children – 9-year-old Reece, 7-year-old Evan and 1-year-old Arya.

10:08 a.m.

An Indiana family that lost nine relatives when a tourist boat sank on a Missouri lake is preparing to say goodbye to the last five of those loved ones.

Saturday’s services at Eastern Star Church in Indianapolis will honor 70-year-old Horace Coleman; his 69-year-old wife, Belinda Coleman; 76-year-old Ervin Coleman; 45-year-old Angela Coleman; and her 2-year-old son, Maxwell Coleman.

Eleven members of the Coleman family were aboard the duck boat when it sank in Table Rock Lake in Branson, Missouri, on July 19. Tia Coleman and her 13-year-old nephew were the family’s only survivors when the boat capsized and sank during a storm, killing 17 people.

A funeral was held Friday for Tia Coleman’s husband and three children, 40-year-old Glenn Coleman, 9-year-old Reece, 7-year-old Evan and 1-year-old Arya.

————————-

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — An Indiana family that lost nine relatives when a tourist boat sank on a Missouri lake is preparing to say goodbye to the last five of those loved ones.

Saturday’s services at Eastern Star Church in Indianapolis will honor 70-year-old Horace Coleman; his 69-year-old wife, Belinda Coleman; 76-year-old Ervin Coleman; 45-year-old Angela Coleman; and her 2-year-old son, Maxwell Coleman.

Eleven members of the Coleman family were aboard the duck boat when it sank in Table Rock Lake in Branson, Missouri, on July 19. Tia Coleman and her 13-year-old nephew were the family’s only survivors when the boat capsized and sank during a storm, killing 17 people .

A funeral was held Friday for Tia Coleman’s husband and three children, 40-year-old Glenn Coleman, 9-year-old Reece, 7-year-old Evan and 1-year-old Arya.

————-

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -Hundreds of people have filled an Indianapolis church for funeral services for four of the nine Indiana family members killed when a tourist boat sank on a Missouri lake.

Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb, first lady Janet Holcomb and U.S. Rep. Andre Carson are among the dignitaries attending Friday’s funeral services at Grace Apostolic Church for the husband and three children of Tia Coleman.

Mourners were still filing into the church at noon for the services for 40-year-old Glenn Coleman, 9-year-old Reece, 7-year-old Evan and 1-year-old Arya.

The funeral comes eight days after a duck boat capsized and sank during a storm in Branson, killing 17 people.

Tia Coleman and a nephew were the only survivors among 11 Coleman family members who boarded the boat on July 19.

————–

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – An Indiana family that lost nine relatives when a tourist boat sank on a Missouri lake is preparing to say goodbye to four of those loved ones.

Friday’s funeral services at Grace Apostolic Church in Indianapolis will honor the husband and three children of Tia Coleman.

The services for 40-year-old Glenn Coleman, 9-year-old Reece, 7-year-old Evan and 1-year-old Arya come eight days after a duck boat capsized and sank during a storm in Branson, killing 17 people .

Tia Coleman and a nephew were the only survivors among 11 Coleman family members who boarded the boat on July 19.

A funeral will be held Saturday for 70-year-old Horace Coleman and his 69-year-old wife, Belinda, 76-year-old Ervin Coleman, 45-year-old Angela Coleman and her 2-year-old son, Maxwell.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — The interim superintendent for the Kansas City, Kansas, school district has resigned after less than a month leading the district.

Julie Ford resigned Friday, effective immediately. She did not explain her decision, which comes just days before incoming superintendent Charles Foust begins his tenure.

School board members appointed Assistant Superintendent Jayson Strickland to be acting superintendent until Foust arrives.

A district spokeswoman said Foust, the former chief school performance officer for Union County Public Schools in North Carolina, is expected to start in early August.

Foust was chosen over Strickland in June to succeed former Superintendent Cindy Lane, who retired this year. The decision was controversial because some thought Strickland, who has spent his 30-year career in Kansas City, Kansas, was better suited to lead the district.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) – University of Missouri President Mun Choi has received a two-year contract extension.

Choi has been president of the university system since March 2017. The extension granted Friday will continue his job until at least June 30, 2024. The extension doesn’t include any changes in the contract, which pays Choi $530,000 a year, plus $50,000 in deferred compensation, a house and a car.

Choi declined a pay raise. He said the university needed to increase salaries of underpaid faculty first.

Since taking the job, Choi has presided over deep budget and staff cuts on the Columbia campus and smaller reductions at the other three universities as enrollment and state aid both were reduced.

Board chairman David Steelman called the extension a show of support for Choi.

By JIM MCLEAN

Several members of a task force formed by Kansas Gov. Jeff Colyer to address the opioid crisis claim his refusal to consider Medicaid expansion undermines their work.

State Sen. Barbara Bollier, a moderate Republican and retired physician from Mission Hills, called expansion and the increased federal funding it would trigger critical to implementing many of the recommendations being considered by the group.

“Everybody in that room, with possible exception of two or three, knows that expanding Medicaid would help us pay for the services we need to deal with this crisis,” Bollier said Thursday after the group’s most recent meeting.

But she said Greg Lakin, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment official leading the task force, has made expansion off limits for discussion.

“Because the governor doesn’t support it … we’re essentially not allowed to make that recommendation,” Bollier said. She said “it’s very possible” that members who disagree will issue a competing set of recommendations that include expansion.

Sheldon Weisgrau, a policy advisor to the pro-Medicaid expansion advocacy group Alliance for a Healthy Kansas, called the task force “a farce” in a series of tweets sent during Thursday’s meeting.

Honest minutes? Why would anyone care about that? (smh) https://t.co/FQ6YeuJzPT

— Bryan Thompson (@KSNewsBryan) July 26, 2018

At Gov’s Task Force on Substance Use Disorder. Rep. Bishop asks why discussion of #ExpandKanCare is not reflected in minutes. Chair Dr. Greg Lakin replies that they will only record and recommend policies the Gov will approve.

— (((Sheldon Weisgrau))) (@ACAResource) July 26, 2018

Lakin, the state’s chief medical officer, bristled at the contention that he imposed what amounts to a gag order. He insisted the directives were necessary to keep members focused on developing a targeted set of affordable and politically viable policy recommendations.

“There are a million different subjects and everybody’s got their own agenda,” Lakin said. For instance, he said also discouraged discussion of medical marijuana.

“I’m just trying to keep us on task,” he said.

After years of fruitless advocacy, the Kansas Hospital Association and organizations belonging to the alliance pushed an expansion bill through the Legislature in 2016. But then-Gov. Sam Brownback vetoed the measure and lawmakers failed by a few votes to override him.

Expansion advocates hoped that Colyer’s desire for a fresh start after serving for seven years as Brownback’s lieutenant governor would make him open to compromise on the issue.

That didn’t happen. Instead, Colyer, a Republican running to keep the office, quickly reiterated his opposition and lawmakers backed away from plans to force another showdown on the issue.

Current eligibility for KanCare, the state’s privatized Medicaid program, is limited to children, pregnant women, people with disabilities and low-income seniors in need of nursing home care.

Single adults without children aren’t eligible for KanCare regardless of income. Parents can qualify, but only if they earn less than a third of the federal poverty level, which for a family of four is less than $10,000 a year.

Expansion would make all Kansans who earn up to 138 percent of the poverty level eligible. That’s about $17,000 for an individual and roughly $34,000 for a family of four.

About 150,000 Kansans — mostly low-income adults — currently fall in what is known as the “Medicaid gap.” They’re ineligible for KanCare but unable to afford private coverage.

Colyer has said he favors helping low-income Kansans get better jobs rather than increasing their dependency on government. 

The task force, officially known as the Substance Use Disorder Task Force,  is scheduled to deliver its recommendations to the governor by Sept. 1.

Jim McLean is managing director of the Kansas News Service. You can reach him on Twitter @jmcleanks. 

ST. LOUIS (AP) – Video and audio recordings from a fatal tourist boat accident in Missouri show that the lake went from calm to deadly dangerous in a matter of minutes.

The National Transportation Safety Board on Friday released information gathered from the video recorder camera system salvaged by divers after the duck boat sank July 19 at Table Rock Lake near Branson. Seventeen of the 31 people on board died.

The recordings show that the lake was calm when the vessel entered the lake around 6:55 p.m.

But the NTSB says whitecaps suddenly appeared at 7 p.m., and winds increased. The captain twice made calls on a handheld radio and alarms sounded. Water began splashing the passenger compartment around 7:05 p.m.

About eight minutes after whitecaps emerged, the video recording ended.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) – A southwest Missouri man has been sentenced to 18 year in prison for his sixth bank robbery.

The U.S. attorney’s office says 42-year-old Anthony Carlton Dunlap, of Springfield, was sentenced Friday for one count of bank robbery and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Court records say Dunlap stole nearly $4,000 in January from a Bank of America in Springfield after handing a teller a note that said, “stay calm.” The teller believed Dunlap was armed because of the way he looked toward his hand, which was in his coat pocket.

Dunlap was found with the same amount of cash that had been stolen from the bank and a loaded pistol. He told authorities he robbed the bank to get money to buy heroin.