WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump and European Union leaders announced Wednesday they have agreed to work toward “zero tariffs” and “zero subsidies” on non-automobile goods and would work to resolve U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum imports that have roiled European markets.
The president, in a hastily called Rose Garden statement with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, said the EU had agreed to buy “a lot of soybeans” and increase its imports of liquefied natural gas from the U.S. Juncker, meanwhile, said the U.S. and EU had agreed to hold off on further tariffs as part of trade talks aimed at averting a crippling trade dispute involving the lucrative automobile market.
Trump told reporters it was a “very big day for free and fair trade” and vowed to “resolve the steel and aluminum tariff issues and we will resolve retaliatory tariffs. We have some tariffs that are retaliatory and that will get resolved as part of what we’re doing.”
“We’re starting the negotiation right now, but we know very much where it’s going,” Trump said after talks with European counterparts.
Juncker said he had an “intention to make a deal today and we made a deal today. We have identified a number of areas on which to work together, work towards zero tariffs on industrial goods. That was my main intention, for those to come down to zero tariffs on industrial goods.”
As U.S. soybean farmers have struggled against retaliatory tariffs, Juncker said the EU “can import more soybeans from the U.S. and it will be done.” He said the two sides also agreed to work together to reform the World Trade Organization, which Trump has vehemently criticized as being unfair to the U.S.
Earlier in the Oval Office, Juncker told Trump that the two trading partners were “allies, not enemies” and said they needed to work together to address recent frictions involving Trump’s threats to impose tariffs on auto imports and EU plans to retaliate.
Trump has placed tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, saying they pose a threat to U.S. national security, an argument that the EU and Canada reject. He has also threatened to slap tariffs on imported cars, trucks and auto parts, potentially targeting imports that last year totaled $335 billion.
The president has repeatedly called the EU — which includes many of the U.S.’ oldest and most committed allies — an unfair trading partner and even labeled it a “foe.”
The European Union has warned that it will retaliate with tariffs on products worth $20 billion if Trump puts duties on cars and auto parts from Europe.
JACKSON COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect on child sex allegations.
Woltje -photo Shawnee Co.
On Tuesday, The U.S. Marshal’s Task Force arrested Jamie Michael Woltje, 28, of Topeka on a Jackson County District Court warrant in connection with a Jackson County Sheriff’s Office investigation regarding allegations of sex crimes involving a minor child, according Sheriff Tim Morse.
A warrant was issued for Woltje on July 10, 2018 for rape of a child under 14 years of age, aggravated criminal sodomy of a child under the age of 14 years of age, and aggravated indecent liberties with a child under the age of 14 years of age.
The crime is believed to have taken place in March of 2015 in the City of Holton. Woltje is currently being held in the Shawnee County Jail with a bond of $25,000.00.
Students who are defrauded by their schools would have a harder time getting their federal loans erased under new rules proposed by the Trump administration Wednesday.
U.S. Secretary of Education DeVoss during a June 6, Senate hearing- image courtesy U.S. Dept. of Education
The proposal, which aims to replace a set of Obama-era rules that were never implemented, drew applause from the for-profit industry but sharp criticism from advocacy groups that represent student borrowers.
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said the proposal lays out clear rules schools must follow to avoid trouble, while also protecting students harmed by deception.
Today ED took action to protect student borrowers and hold higher education institutions accountable for deceptive practices. See our proposal: https://t.co/Xl0KLCf7YM
“Our commitment and our focus has been and remains on protecting students from fraud,” DeVos said.
Under the proposal, students would be eligible for loan relief if they can prove their schools knowingly misled them with statements or actions that directly led them to take out loans or enroll at the school.
That would be a higher bar than the borrower defense rules finalized under Obama in 2016 after the collapse of two for-profit schools, Corinthian Colleges and ITT Technical Institute. Those rules allowed relief in a wider range of cases dealing with breach of contract.
Education Department documents supporting DeVos’ proposal argue that, while students should be protected from fraud, they also have an obligation to do their research before picking schools.
“Postsecondary students are adults who can be reasonably expected to make informed decisions if they have access to relevant and reliable data about program outcomes,” the department said.
The new proposal is estimated to save nearly $13 billion over the next decade compared with spending estimates under the Obama rules, primarily by reducing the amount of loan relief awarded to students.
Department officials say they have received more than 100,000 fraud claims since 2015, and most are still under review. But the new rules would apply only to loans taken out after July 1, 2019, officials said.
Schools would gain an opportunity to respond to claims of fraud under the new proposal, which says schools deserve to defend themselves against accusations that could damage their reputations and revenue.
It also would allow schools to force students into arbitration agreements barring them from suing the school, a practice used by some for-profit colleges that would have been banned under Obama’s rules.
Opponents blasted the proposal, saying it places schools ahead of students and discourages victims from pursuing financial relief.
“It encourages abusive and predatory institutions to continue to rip off students with impunity, while slamming the door on the debt relief that Congress has instructed the department to provide to cheated students,” said Toby Merrill, director of the Project on Predatory Student Lending at Harvard University.
Bob Shireman, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation and a former education official under Obama, said the proposal “is perhaps the most damaging action Betsy DeVos has taken since assuming office.”
“These changes would effectively strip students of their right to recourse if they believe that a college or university has misled them, making it next to impossible for defrauded students to get the relief they are entitled to,” he said.
But the changes were hailed as an improvement by the for-profit college industry and some Republicans.
Steve Gunderson, president and CEO of the trade group Career Education Colleges and Universities, said previous versions of the rules allowed for “carte blanche approval” of fraud claims, to the detriment of schools and their students.
“The department has undertaken a thoughtful and deliberate approach to this rule, and we applaud their hard work on this important matter,” Gunderson said.
Sen. Lamar Alexander, a Republican from Tennessee and chairman of the Senate education committee, said DeVos’ proposal will prevent taxpayers from footing the bill for “unreasonable or unsubstantiated claims of fraud.”
“The Obama administration went too far in rewriting this provision by setting overly broad and vague standards and as a result, put taxpayers on the hook for too many loans,” he said.
Obama’s education officials created new rules to clarify the debt relief process after thousands of students said they were defrauded by for-profit colleges. Before that, the process was rarely used and relied on a patchwork of state laws to determine if students deserved loan forgiveness.
The updated rules were scheduled to take effect in July 2017, but DeVos delayed them after a California group representing for-profit schools sued to block the regulations. DeVos began the process to replace them soon after.
Meanwhile, the department has only recently begun to process a backlog of fraud claims, announcing in December that it will provide only partial relief to borrowers based on their incomes. Under the Obama administration, students were granted full relief for their loans.
On Wednesday, the department said it will be gathering public input on the proposed for the next 30 days. Along with opinions on the rules, officials are also asking if borrowers still making payments on their loans should be able to apply for forgiveness at all, or if it should be reserved for those who default.
According to the American Red Cross, there continues to be an emergency need for donations of all blood types, especially type O, to address a severe blood shortage.
According to a press release, Red Cross blood donations are being distributed to hospitals faster than they are coming in, and right now there is less than a five-day blood supply on hand. The Red Cross strives to keep a five-day supply of blood to meet the needs of patients and to be prepared for emergencies that require significant volumes of donated blood products.
There is a particular need for type O blood, which plays an important role in ongoing patient care and emergencies. Type O positive is the most transfused blood type and can be given to patients with any Rh-positive blood type. Type O negative is the universal blood type and can
be given to any patient. It’s what emergency room personnel reach for when there is no time to determine the blood type of patients in the most serious situations.
Anyone who donates blood or platelets anytime July 30th through Aug. 30th will receive a $5 Amazon.com Gift Card via email.
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A Missouri man who worked as a paramedic and EMT for several emergency medical transportation companies pleaded guilty in federal court today to stealing fentanyl and morphine and replacing the drugs with saline solution, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.
Zachary L. McCleary, 30, waived his right to a grand jury and pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge David P. Rush to a federal information that charges him with two counts of tampering with a consumer product.
McCleary worked at several health care facilities as an emergency medical technician (EMT) between Sept. 25, 2015, and Feb. 21, 2018. During this time, McCleary worked for the Grove, Okla., Emergency Medical Service as an EMT, as a paramedic for Cox Health in Springfield, as a paramedic for Mercy Health in Carthage, Mo., and as a paramedic with Barton County, Mo., Emergency Medical Service.
According to today’s plea agreement, 18 separate adverse event reports were filed by individuals who received emergency medical services from Barton County EMS. In each of those reports, individuals advised that various opioid drugs were administered to provide pain relief, but due to McCleary’s theft of the drugs, and tampering by replacing the drugs with saline solution, each of these individuals did not receive the pain relief intended and experienced continued pain that resulted from McCleary’s reckless disregard to risk of serious bodily injury and harm to these patients.
In February 2018, agents with the Food and Drug Administration-Office of Criminal Investigations (FDA-OCI) opened an investigation regarding the repeated theft and dilution of opioid drugs from various health care providers throughout southwest Missouri. Agents learned that while McCleary was employed as either an EMT or paramedic, various vials containing opioid-based drugs, including fentanyl, morphine, hydrocodone and ketamine, were stolen. Medical service officials advised agents that in some instances the vials were stolen and in other instances, the vials were tampered with so that the drugs were removed and saline was injected to the vials to make it appear that the drugs had not been stolen.
McCleary specifically pleaded guilty to tampering with vials that contained fentanyl and morphine sulfate, by removing those drugs from their vials and replacing them with saline solution, while working for Barton County Emergency Medical Service between Jan. 20 and Feb. 21, 2018. McCleary also specifically pleaded guilty to tampering with vials that contained fentanyl and morphine sulfate, by removing those drugs from their vials and replacing them with saline solution, while working for Cox Health from April 1 to May 19, 2017.
Under federal statutes, McCleary is subject to a sentence of up to 10 years in federal prison without parole. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.
A contract dispute that could disrupt the health care of more than 400,000 Kansans enrolled in the state’s privatized Medicaid program has landed in court.
Amerigroup, one of three companies that since 2013 has managed the delivery of care to low-income, elderly and disabled through KanCare, is contesting a recent decision by state officials to replace it with Aetna when new contracts take effect in January.
The Virginia-based company filed a lawsuit Friday in Shawnee County District Court requesting the new contracts be set aside. It is also wants the court to order the state to rebid the contracts. Such an order would likely force the state to seek federal approval to extend the current program for at least another year.
The company is alleging that state officials involved in the contracting process ignored directives from the Legislature. Specifically, directives aimed at curtailing Gov. Jeff Colyer’s plan to make significant changes to the program as part of his KanCare 2.0 initiative, including adding a work requirement and a lifetime benefits cap.
“We obviously strongly believe that the agencies acted inappropriately and outside their authority by not following the direction of the Legislature,” said Frank Klepper, CEO of Amerigroup Kansas.
Amerigroup included in its court filing copies of email exchanges between the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and the state procurement office that indicated officials knew about but ignored legislation requiring them to make changes in the request for proposals used in the contracting process.
The officials, the lawsuit says, “failed to follow procedure required by law and executed unauthorized contracts … that exceeded their legal authority.”
Jon Hamdorf, the KDHE official in charge of KanCare, said in an email that he couldn’t respond to specific allegations in the lawsuit because the agency hadn’t been served with a copy.
As a general defense, he said all the companies that bid on the new contracts were treated equally.
“All bidders were evaluated on the same criteria,” Hamdorf said. “We consistently conveyed the same (information) to all parties throughout the process.”
The problem, Amerigroup contends in the lawsuit, is that the agency used the wrong criteria. It awarded contracts based on bids submitted for KanCare 2.0 instead of making the changes to the RFP demanded by lawmakers and allowing companies to revise their bids accordingly.
In addition, the company is claiming that KDHE finalized the new contracts before notifying all bidders of its intention to award them, a violation of state procurement rules.
Amerigroup’s lawsuit requests an emergency order because, the company says, uncertainty about whether it will continue as a KanCare MCO is hindering its ability to provide care to its approximately 125,000 Kansas members. Key staff are leaving for more secure jobs and providers are requiring that Amerigroup members switch to a new plan in anticipation of the announced changes.
“The potential health impact from this significant disruption to our membership is quite frankly extremely troubling to me,” Klepper said. “We have members with very vulnerable medical conditions who now have to go through this process essentially because the agency didn’t do what the Legislature told them to do.”
A few strong to perhaps an isolated severe storms will be possible across northeastern Kansas and northwestern Missouri this evening. The main threat with these storms will be for strong gusty winds to perhaps an isolated damaging wind gust. General thunderstorms will then be possible across much of the area tonight into the overnight. Highs today will rise into the upper 80s to lower 90s. Here’s the 7-day forecast from the National Weather Service:
Today: Sunny, with a high near 90. South wind 5 to 9 mph.
Tonight: A slight chance of showers, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms after 10 p.m. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 67. South wind 5 to 7 mph becoming light and variable. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
Thursday: A slight chance of showers before 1 p.m. Mostly sunny, with a high near 84. North wind 5 to 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
Thursday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 60. North wind 5 to 9 mph becoming light in the evening.
Friday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 83. Calm wind becoming north northwest around 6 mph in the afternoon.
Friday Night: A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms after 1 a.m. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 63. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
Saturday: A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 77. Chance of precipitation is 50%.
Saturday Night: A chance of showers and thunderstorms after 1 a.m. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 63. Chance of precipitation is 30%.
Sunday: Mostly cloudy, with a high near 80.
Sunday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 61.
Monday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 82.
Monday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 61.
AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) – A Missouri man who pleaded guilty to making threatening phone calls to a Georgia mosque has been sentenced to two years in prison.
In a news release Tuesday, federal prosecutors said 50-year-old Preston Q. Howard, of Wright City, made numerous calls last year to the Islamic Society of Augusta, during which Howard threatened to “kill,” ”bomb,” ”shoot,” ”behead,” ”slaughter,” ”execute,” ”light on fire” and “murder” members of the mosque, to “hunt down” and “zone in” on Muslims and to “blow up the mosque.”
Howard admitted committing the acts and obstructing or attempting to obstruct the mosque members’ free exercise of their religious beliefs.
Authorities say U.S. District Chief Judge J. Randal Hall enhanced the sentence because Howard chose his victims based on their religion, “thereby committing a hate crime.”
Tuesday the United States Department of Agriculture announced that it would authorize $12 billion in programs to aid farmers harmed by retaliatory trade actions. These programs would provide relief to many Kansas producers who have been hurt the most from retaliatory tariffs, with pork, wheat, corn, soybeans and sorghum on the program’s list.
U.S. Senator Pat Roberts, R-Kan., Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry said in a media release, “Given the low prices farmers have been facing, the tariff situation is making things worse for producers as we speak,” Roberts said. “Trade remains the single best solution to the tough economy in farm country. I will look closely at the President’s assistance proposal, but I hope that the Administration is also working to quickly resolve the tariff situation and restore the export markets our farmers, ranchers, and growers rely on.”
Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., said the proposal was raised a month ago when senators visited the White House for a broad discussion on trade. He said the lawmakers told the president “that our farmers want markets, and not really a payment from government. And he said, ‘I’m surprised, I’ve never heard of anybody who didn’t want a payment from government.'”
First District Congressman Roger Marshall said, “This is a start, but it’s more or less putting a band-aid on a deep wound. I applaud the USDA for acknowledging the impact these tariffs have had on American producers, but this is only short-term relief, the main focus should still be on getting our trade agreements wrapped up.”
I think the message sent today by the USDA is for our farmers to hang on and believe in this administration, that our farmers are not being forgotten about.
USDA Secretary, Sonny Perdue said that today’s announcement serves as “a short-term solution to allow President Trump time to work on long-term trade deals to benefit agriculture and the entire U.S. economy.”
While today’s announced assistance package from @USDA is welcome news for KS farmers & ranchers, this is a short-term fix for a long-term issue. We need solutions for our agriculture industry including the Farm Bill & pursuing free & fair trade. Read more: https://t.co/QIiITlsCey
TOPEKA– A Kansas man was sentenced Tuesday to 14 years in federal prison for driving the getaway car during an armed robbery, according to U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister.
Patton -photo KDOC
Jermaine Tyrell Patton, 30, Topeka pleaded guilty to one count of aiding and abetting a commercial robbery and one count of aiding and abetting an armed robbery.
In his plea, Patton admitted taking part in a Nov. 5, 2016, robbery at Oakmark Convenience Store at 2518 N.E. Seward Avenue in Topeka.
Patton’s accomplice, who was carrying a firearm, entered the store and demanded money. Patton was behind the wheel of a blue PT Cruiser when he and the robber fled the scene. When police stopped the car, both men fled on foot. Patton was quickly arrested.
The other man, Christopher Curtis Harris of Topeka, was arrested and charged in Shawnee County District Court with shooting Topeka Police Detective Brian Hill when Hill tried to arrest him. Harris was convicted and sentenced to life
