LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — The University of Kansas received nearly twice as many sexual assault complaints in 2014 than the year before. School officials attribute the increase to improved awareness of the crime.

The school’s Office of Institutional Opportunity and Access says it received 169 complaints last year, compared with 85 in 2013.

IOA Executive Director Jane McQueeny says 120 of the 169 complaints were filed under Title IX, which requires campuses to provide an education environment that is free from sexual harassment, sexual assault and domestic violence.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports McQueeny estimated half of the 2014 complaints came in after September, when students protested against the university’s handling of alleged rape complaints.

She says 28 of the complaints remain open, and five new complaints have been filed so far this year.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Republican U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts from Kansas has named senior staff for the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee.

Roberts is the committee chairman and named Julian Baer, formerly of OFW Law, as senior policy adviser for nutrition. Janae Brady, a former lobbyist for the soybean industry, will serve as senior professional staff for trade and food aid. James Glueck will move from deputy staff director to senior policy adviser for biotechnology, risk management and grain inspection.

Roberts also named his former staffers Darin Guries and Wayne Stoskopf to positions. They will work as senior professional staff for rural development, energy and transportation and professional staff for commodities, crop insurance and day, respectively.

Andrew Vlasaty, who joined the committee in 2011, will serve as senior professional staff for conservation, environment and forestry.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, has introduced legislation, the Veterans Access to Community Care Act of 2015 (S. 207), requiring the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to utilize its authority to offer community care to veterans who currently are unable to receive the healthcare services they need from a VA medical facility within 40 miles of where they live. The bipartisan bill is cosponsored by U.S. Senators Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Angus King (I-Maine), Steve Daines (R-Mont.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine).

“The Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act of 2014 (VACAA) was passed with the intention of providing veterans the choice to access health care outside the VA when the burden of travel puts their well-being at risk,” Sen. Moran said. “Unfortunately, many rural Kansas veterans are still unable to access the care they need because common sense is not prevailing. It has become clear that the VA is implementing the Choice Act in a way that only takes into account distance to a VA medical facility, and not whether that facility can actually provide the medical services a veteran requires.”

“For example, while the services offered at Community-Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs) are invaluable, they cannot meet every health care need for all veterans. Living near a CBOC should not prevent a veteran from accessing care that the CBOC cannot provide,” Sen. Moran continued. “The VA has the authority to fix this problem, yet remains unwilling to do what is in the best interest of the veteran. Enough is enough. In the absence of VA action, I have introduced legislation that would make certain veterans still struggling with access to care are not dismissed or forgotten just because of where they live.”

In July 2014, the House and Senate came together to pass VACAA, comprehensive legislation to respond to VA wait-time manipulation and failure to provide timely, quality health care to veterans. This legislation permitted veterans across the country to access non-VA community care if they live more than 40 miles from a VA medical facility, including CBOCs, or their wait time for an appointment is more than 30 days. Even with this new law, many rural Kansas veterans are still unable to access the care they require because their nearest VA facility does not offer those medical services.

This legislation is supported and endorsed by the National Rural Health Association, the Association of Community Mental Health Centers of Kansas, Inc., the National Association of County Behavioral Health & Developmental Disability Directors, the National Association of Rural Mental Health, the National Council for Behavioral Health, the Eastern Maine Medical Center, and the National Guard Association of the United States.

“Thousands of rural and frontier veterans have no access to VA services because of their rural, remote locations. The result is that when our heroes transition back into civilians life, they may not be close to enough to VA resources or assistance when they need mental health care,” said Kyle Kessler, Association of Community Mental Health Centers of Kansas, Inc., Executive Director. “ The Association of Community Mental Health Centers of Kansas supports the Veterans Access to Community Care Act of 2015 to give veterans the choice to see their community provider when the closest VA medical facility that can offer mental health care services to a veteran is more than 40 miles from where a veteran lives.”

The introduction of S. 207 comes on the heels of several months of efforts by Sen. Moran to work with the VA on this issue. On Sept. 9, 2014, Sen. Moran questioned VA Secretary Bob McDonald during a Senate Veterans Affairs’ Committee hearing on the VA’s interpretation of the 40 mile eligibility criteria of the Choice Act.

On Nov. 14, 2014, Sen. Moran called on Sec. McDonald to meet in-person to discuss the VACAA and make certain the legislation is implemented and upheld the way it was intended and in the best interest of veterans. This includes offering non-VA care to veterans who are unable to receive the healthcare services they requite from a VA medical facility within 40 miles of where they live.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas’ top prosecutor has announced plans to appeal a district court panel ruling that found the state isn’t spending enough money on its public schools to provide a suitable education.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that Attorney General Derek Schmidt announced the appeal plans Friday morning. Later, his office announced it had filed a motion asking for a clearer explanation of the ruling.

Schmidt also said he doesn’t distinguish between the formula and the funding of the formula. Part of the debate over school finance has centered on whether the formula itself is flawed or simply underfunded.

Schmidt told lawmakers in the House Appropriations Committee new court filings will come soon. The appeals deadline in the case comes next week.

By Alyssa Scott, KU Statehouse Wire Service

TOPEKA – A regional educational organization will increase its costs by more than 17 percent next year but state officials say the savings for Kansas is well worth the cost.

The Midwestern Higher Education Compact (MHEC), an organization that provides higher education services to states in the Midwest, plans to increase its members’ annual fees by $20,000, effective next year.

Despite the increase, financial reports show that the money the 12 compact states save as a result of their membership makes it a valuable investment.

MHEC President Larry Isaak’s annual report to the Kansas Senate Ways and Means Committee showed that the state saved $6 million in 2014 by being a member of the 12-state compact, which include Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska, among others. According to Isaak, Kansas takes advantage of more MHEC services than any other state. These services mainly focus on risk management and technology, ranging from student health insurance to reduced computer costs.

“Every year we ask to do this because Kansas is a part of the program,” Isaak said. “We report to every state every year on how they are using our services.”

Since 2009, each member of the compact has paid a yearly fee of $95,000 to be a MHEC member. As college tuition increases, the fee has also increased. Starting in the 2016 fiscal year, states will pay an annual fee of $115,000.

Barry Swanson, University of Kansas associate vice provost for operations and chair of MHEC’s purchasing initiatives committee, said the increased fee is worth it.

“KU pays $95,000 to be a member, which is now increasing to $115,000, which is still a great value,” Swanson said. “We save more than that just on our insurance program.”

In addition to saving money, MHEC aims to facilitate collaboration between its members, and it does so with various forums and summits. For example, the Multi-State Collaborative on Military Credit, an interstate partnership, was created to allow states to share ideas to establish programs and systems to give military personnel college credit for their work.

“We use what makes sense for us, so it’s like the best of all worlds,” Swanson said. “There’s a lot of benefit just from collaborating to understand what other states are doing and seeing how we can benefit from that.”

MHEC also has programs that directly benefit students, such as health insurance and a reciprocity program that allows out-of-state students to pay reduced tuition. According to the MHEC, the exchange program has saved Kansas residents more than $56 million since 1994.

Diana Malott, KU chair of student health insurance plans and MHEC student health insurance committee representative, said the health insurance program also helps students save money.

“Most care at health care centers is 100 percent paid by insurance, so there are a lot of benefits offered for students,” Malott said. “The biggest part is it provides assurance for students that they’re protected not only here on campus, but also anywhere they travel or if they study abroad.”

Malott said the insurance plan is an advantage for international students in particular because it is something not all insurance companies offer. MHEC’s goal is to lower prices for all types of students, so this is one of the ways it does that.

Isaak introduced another program at the committee meeting that aims to benefit students by giving military personnel in Kansas an opportunity to earn class credit for certain military jobs and experiences. Because there are about 35,000 military personnel on the three Kansas military bases – Fort Riley, Fort Leavenworth, and McConnell Air Force Base — Isaak said he expects the program to be popular.

“MHEC is exactly what it says,” Malott said. “It wants to meet the needs of universities, and to do this it works to help the students at those universities too.”

Sen. Marci Francisco (D-Lawrence) said MHEC benefits extend beyond financial.

“Individuals are able to interact, talk with and learn from their counterparts in other states,” Francisco said. “You see how you can work with others and initiatives form from that.”

 

Alyssa Scott is a University of Kansas junior from Wichita majoring in journalism and French.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Topeka teen has been sentenced to nine years in prison for child abuse that left a baby with serious brain damage.

The Topeka reports that Koylen Corbin McKinney was sentenced Friday for abusing a 7-month-old boy in Holton. McKinney was two months shy of his 18th birthday when the abuse happened in April. He was tried as an adult.

Jackson County District Attorney Shawna Miller says the baby was hospitalized for an “extensive period of time and was not expected to live.” Miller said in a news release that the mother submitted a letter to the court, telling about the sadness she felt because her child would “never lead a normal life.”

By ALEX SMITH
Thousands of Kansans and Missourians signed up for insurance on the federal exchange last week, though the pace has slowed since the first several robust weeks of the second Affordable Care Act open enrollment period.

New figures released Wednesday by the Department of Health and Human Services show that during the week ending Jan. 16, 11,797 new or renewing enrollees in Missouri brought the state total to 209,336.

The total in Kansas reached 80,064 with the addition of 4,228 signing up.

In both states, last week’s numbers are roughly half the average weekly enrollment for the first eight weeks, which started on Nov. 15.

More than 400,000 were added to the national total last week, which does not include enrollment in states that run their own insurance marketplaces.

Alex Smith is a reporter for Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback says state lawmakers are responsible for the tax cuts that have put his state in a financial hole.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports the governor on Thursday told the Greater Topeka Chamber of Commerce at its annual luncheon that he initially had proposed a flat tax, with reductions elsewhere — or “pay-fors” — to make up for lost revenue.

Yet Brownback touted his income tax cuts last year on the campaign trail and chided naysayers for thinking they wouldn’t lead the state to prosperity. Instead, Kansas is facing a $280 million deficit this fiscal year and $436 million gap in the next.

Senate Democratic Leader Anthony Hensley pointed out that Brownback spent the last year in his campaign bragging about his tax cut experiment.