TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas House panel is reviewing a bill to significantly increase penalties for scrap metal theft.

The House Judiciary Committee had a hearing Monday on a bill to make damaging a building or other structure to steal scrap a felony punishable by up to 19 months in jail for a first offense.

Farm and law enforcement groups said scrap thieves often do thousands of dollars in damage when removing precious metals.

But Democratic Rep. Jim Ward of Wichita said that the state could not afford more-crowded prisons and suggested that the bill be coupled with legislation to reduce other prisoners’ sentences.

Republican Rep. Craig McPherson of Overland Park also said provisions in the measure to track scrap items would increase bureaucracy.

The Senate passed the bill in February.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas State University is offering an hour-long webinar to help farmers and others make decisions on crop insurance as the signup deadline at the end of March nears.

The university’s Department of Agricultural Economics hour-long webinar at 11 a.m. Wednesday by crop insurance experts Art Barnaby and Mykel Taylor. It will cover topics like changes in rules that may impact farms, new county data, and other resources to estimate payments and prices.

The link to register for the $25 webinar is http://commerce.cashnet.com/KSUAGECON

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A government report shows that the Kansas wheat crop and livestock are in generally positive shape so far this winter.

The National Agricultural Statistics Service reported Monday that 46 percent of the state’s winter wheat crop is in good to excellent condition. Another 41 percent is rated in fair condition. Only 13 percent was reported as being in poor or very poor shape.

Temperatures over the past month were near normal in most of the state but averaged between 6 and 9 degrees below normal in southeast Kansas.

The agency also positively graded livestock, as animals continue to graze on crop residue with supplemental feeding. It reported that 65 percent of cattle were in good or excellent condition; 32 percent were fair and only 2 percent were poor.

JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is calling for a home-grown, high-technology workforce to will help boost higher-wage employment at a time of stagnant incomes.

Obama announced a $100 million federal government grant program to improve training and hiring of high-tech workers.

He says the U.S. needs to position itself for a constantly changing global economy. He says: “If we’re not producing enough tech workers, over time that’s going to threaten our leadership in global innovation.”

Obama made his remarks Monday at a meeting of the National League of Cities. The White House says high-tech jobs pay 50 percent more than average private-sector American jobs.

Twenty-one cities and about 300 employers have made commitments to work jointly to train low-skilled workers to make them proficient for jobs in software development, network administration and cybersecurity.

By Andy Marso

Kansas midwives who say they can safely help women deliver babies without formal physician partnerships made their case this week before a legislative committee.

In a presentation that noted that midwifery dates back to ancient times, Johnson County midwife Catherine Gordon told the House Health and Human Services Committee that more women nationwide are turning to midwives rather than hospitals to help them during childbirth.

“What you’re going to see is a huge change in the U.S.,” Gordon said. “It’s already happening.” But while Gordon said more than 20 percent of babies in New Mexico are delivered by midwives, in Kansas midwives “catch” only 6 percent of the total births.

Several midwives, who are licensed advanced practice registered nurses, said that’s in part because of a state law that requires them to have a signed partnership with a physician. Gordon said formalizing the agreement can be onerous, and Kendra Wyatt, owner of a freestanding Overland Park “birth center,” said some doctors fear use of midwives will divert a steady stream of revenue.

“It’s hard to go to someone who considers you a competitor and say, ‘Sign my agreement,’” Wyatt said. House Bill 2280 would scuttle the requirement that a midwife work with a physician and instead require that any advanced practice registered nurse acting as a nurse midwife have a national certification approved by the Kansas Board of Nursing. The bill has been “blessed” so it is still eligible for a House vote this session.

But Rep. Dan Hawkins, chairman of the House health committee, said it’s “not in play.” The hearing on midwifery was meant only to give legislators background on the topic, as Hawkins reminded the room full of midwives during the briefing. “This is an informational hearing, it’s not a bill hearing,” he said. Several of the midwives who spoke at the hearing stressed that their desire is only to work with women in “normal,” or low-risk pregnancies.

High-risk pregnancies still should be handled by an obstetrician/gynecologist or neonatologist, they said. “The women who develop pregnancy complications are managed either in conjunction with a physician, or if their care became too complex, they were transferred to one of the physicians I worked with,” said Manya Schmidt, a retired midwife who worked at St. Francis Health in Topeka and is now an adjunct professor at Washburn University.

During the briefing, Rep. Barbara Bollier, a retired physician, said sometimes complications don’t emerge until the birth itself. She asked the midwives about meconium aspiration, in which babies inhale a mixture of amniotic fluid and feces as they are born. Cara Busenhart, a midwife educator, told Bollier that her students are prepared for such events, joking that they have buttons that say “Meconium happens.”

In a more serious tone, she assured legislators that her students are trained in neonatal resuscitation. Wyatt said increasing the use of midwives would reduce health care costs throughout the state. Many Kansas counties are without OB/GYNs, which means women must travel far to access them, and Wyatt said cesarean sections and the costly hospital stays that go along with them are less common among women who get their pregnancy care from a midwife.

The savings for Medicaid and the state employee health plan from fewer C-sections could help the state budget, she said. “If truly everything is on the table right now for the budget in Kansas, we have to address certified nurse midwives,” Wyatt said. “It is a solution to your problem. One of the solutions you desperately need.”

Rep. Les Osterman, a Republican from Wichita, was not fully convinced of the cost savings, saying he would expect fewer current C-sections from midwives versus doctors, given the population midwives serve.

“If you basically only do the healthy, your rate’s going to be less,” Osterman said. The Kansas Medical Society, an advocacy group for Kansas doctors that is one of the biggest state’s biggest campaign donors, opposes the midwife bill in its current form.
Andy Marso is a reporter for Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The former recreation director for an eastern Kansas city has been indicted on federal charges alleging he embezzled more than $125,000 on the job.

Fifty-three-year-old Ron Maring of Osawatomie is charged with four counts of tax fraud and 10 counts of money laundering. His first court appearance is scheduled for March 27.

The indictment alleges that Maring embezzled the funds 2008 to 2011 while heading the Osawatomie Recreation Commission.

He’s accused of writing checks from the commission’s account to himself and to American Legion Baseball, then converting the money to his own use.

The indictment alleges he failed to report the embezzled money as income on his federal income taxes from 2008 through 2011.

Online court records do not show Maring as having an attorney reachable for comment.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback says he continues to support the state’s rural opportunity zone program after some lawmakers questioned whether it is luring new residents and businesses to areas with declining populations.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that Brownback called it “a good concept.” He most recently talked about the program Thursday during a visit to St. Louis.

The Rural Opportunity Zones program spans 77 counties, covering wide swaths of western and southeastern Kansas. It seeks to lure people to rural areas with student loan forgiveness and income tax waivers.

At a Senate Commerce Committee hearing in late February, senators were less than convinced of the initiative’s usefulness. The state lost about $800,000 in revenue in 2014 from income tax waivers issued through the program.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas lawmaker has compared abortion to the Holocaust in arguing against a procedure used in about 8 percent of abortions in the state.

The House Federal and State Affairs Committee held a hearing on a bill Monday that would prohibit doctors from performing an abortion by removing a fetus from the womb in pieces.

Republican Rep. Dick Jones of Topeka called the ban a no-brainer. He said after the hearing that he views abortion as being a Holocaust against fetuses.

Opponents to the bill testified that banning the procedure would increase health risks to women. Some argued that the Legislature was unqualified to regulate medicine and accused politicians of harboring ulterior motives.