TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Although falling gas prices are reducing the amount of oil severance taxes Kansas is expected to collect, state lawmakers say there’s a bright spot to the otherwise dim projections. Residents will have more money in their pockets to spend on other things.

Kansas Legislative Research Department economist Chris Courtwright appeared Tuesday before the House Appropriations Committee. He says forecasters in November revised their estimate of how much severance tax money would come in by nearly $8.2 million, based on oil prices of $80 a barrel.

But with the price of Kansas oil at $35.75 a barrel as of Tuesday, Courtwright says severance tax receipts are bound to go much lower.

He says there’s a chance the low prices could stimulate the economy and raise tax revenues elsewhere.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced in a media release today that a Kansas City, Mo., was sentenced in federal court today for his role in a multi-million dollar drug-trafficking conspiracy and an unsuccessful murder-for-hire conspiracy.

Andre Taylor, also known as “Dre,” 49, of Kansas City, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gary A. Fenner to life plus 30 years in federal prison without parole. The court sentenced Taylor to life in prison for the drug-trafficking and murder-for-hire convictions. The court also sentenced Taylor to a consecutive term of 30 years for possessing a machine gun in furtherance of a crime of violence.

On Sept. 10, 2014, Taylor was found guilty at trial of participating in a conspiracy to distribute large quantities of marijuana and cocaine between Feb. 1, 2010, and Feb. 25, 2014. Taylor was also convicted of participating in a conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, aiding and abetting the distribution of cocaine and possessing a machine gun in furtherance of a crime of violence (the murder-for-hire conspiracy).

Evidence introduced during the trial indicated that Taylor was the head of a major cocaine and marijuana distribution organization in the metropolitan area. A Mexico-based cartel supplied narcotics to the drug-trafficking organization and Taylor sometimes traveled to Mexico to buy drugs for resale within the Kansas City area. Taylor boasted that he personally sent $20 million back to Mexico. Numerous shipments of cocaine, totaling more than 100 kilograms, were transported to Kansas City from Mexico.

Taylor’s relatives and others assisted him in recruiting buyers and arranging sales. His base of operation was in the 2300 block of Hardesty in Kansas City, Mo., where his family owned three houses next door to each other. Confidential informants participated in numerous controlled buys of narcotics. Many of those buys took place in, around, or outside of the three Taylor houses.

In intercepted telephone conversations, Taylor boasted of spending millions of dollars to buy drugs to sell in the Kansas City area. Based on telephone interceptions, a murder-for-hire plot was discovered during the conspiracy. The intended victim was a co-conspirator and former trusted associate of Taylor’s.

Co-defendant Victor Vickers, also known as “VV,” 30, of Kansas City, was found guilty at trial of participating in a conspiracy to distribute less than 100 kilograms of marijuana. In addition to Taylor and Vickers, 17 co-defendants have pleaded guilty to charges contained in the federal indictment.

Drug-Trafficking Conspiracy

A confidential source completed a series of controlled purchases of cocaine from Taylor and his co-conspirators in 2011 and 2012.

On Sept. 27, 2012, search warrants were executed at the three homes owned by the Taylor family at 23rd and Hardesty. Approximately 227 pounds of marijuana was seized, as well as an assault rifle and body-armor-piercing bullets. In addition, on Nov. 30, 2012, more than 1,000 pounds of marijuana, which was intended for delivery to Taylor, was recovered from a truck and trailer being driven by a co-conspirator. This co-conspirator told investigators that he had delivered marijuana to Kansas City to Taylor seven or eight times, and he had transported $500,000 to $700,000 to Arizona for these drug shipments.

FBI agents conservatively estimate that Taylor was responsible for distributing at least 120 kilograms of cocaine and at least 2,000 pounds of marijuana, either himself or through one of his many confederates.

Murder for Hire Conspiracy

The intended victim of the murder-for-hire conspiracy was co-defendant William E. Brown, also known as “Billy,” 43, of Kansas City. Taylor believed that Brown, a one-time trusted associate, stole $500,000 and more than 13 kilograms of cocaine from Taylor’s downtown loft apartment. (Taylor also maintained a residence at a luxury apartment on the County Club Plaza.) Taylor sought to hire a “hit man” to do the job and contacted co-defendant Kenneth Vaughn Cooper, 32, of Kansas City.

Brown pleaded guilty to his role in the drug-trafficking conspiracy and admitted that he purchased at least five kilograms of cocaine from Taylor. Cooper pleaded guilty to his role in the murder-for-hire conspiracy and admitted that he was supposed to be paid a share of the stolen $500,000 for committing the murder.

On Aug. 18, 2012, FBI agents intercepted a telephone call in which Taylor said, “it’s necessary to kill him,” referring to Brown.

On Aug. 21, 2012, agents intercepted a phone call between Cooper and Taylor. Taylor said he had a “hammer” at “23rd and Hardesty” and Cooper said he was going to come and get it. Later that day, Jackson County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Cooper on outstanding warrants while he was a passenger in a truck driven by his father. As deputies approached the vehicle they could smell burnt marijuana coming from inside. When the vehicle was searched, deputies recovered a firearms case behind the driver’s seat that contained a machine gun – a MAC-10 style homemade .45-caliber firearm with no serial number – and a metal stick magazine with 18 live rounds of .45-caliber ammunition.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Stefan C. Hughes and Cindi Woolery. It was investigated by the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, IRS-Criminal Investigation, the Jackson County Drug Task Force, the Lee’s Summit, Mo., Police Department, and the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department.

By DAN MARGOLIES
Even as prospects appear bleak for Medicaid expansion in Missouri, a new report says the state would save $81 million right off the bat and $100 million annually later on if it expands the program.

The report by the Missouri Budget Project, a nonpartisan think tank in St. Louis, says the savings would come from money the state currently spends on Medicaid services provided to pregnant women, mental health patients and prisoners in need of medical care.

“This is a real asset to the state,” says Amy Blouin, executive director of the Missouri Budget Project, referring to expansion. “There were legislators who were concerned about the need to invest more state funding in health care services, but what we’re showing in the data is that not only do we invest more dollars overall in health care – not only is it a health care benefit – but because of the cost savings, we actually have a net benefit in general revenue that can be used to support other services as well.”

RELATED: Kansas Hospitals Advance Economic Argument For Medicaid Expansion

In Missouri, Medicaid eligibility for the non-disabled is limited to non-elderly adults with dependent children whose incomes don’t exceed 19 percent of the federal poverty level – or $3,700 for a family of three. The federal government pays 63 percent of the costs of the state-federal program; Missouri pays 37 percent.

Under the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, states have the option of expanding Medicaid eligibility to individuals making up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level – about $16,104 in annual income for an individual and $26,000 for a family of three. The federal government would pay for 100 percent of the costs through 2016 and 90 percent every year after that.

About 260,000 uninsured Missourians would be eligible for Medicaid if the program were expanded. As things stand now, those Missourians make too much for Medicaid but too little to qualify for the subsidies available through the marketplaces, or exchanges, established under the Affordable Care Act.

Missouri lawmakers have resisted expansion, claiming the federal government can’t be trusted to deliver on its promises. Senate President Pro-tem Tom Dempsey, a St. Charles Republican, told reporters last week that the General Assembly would work to reform Medicaid without expanding it.

The Missouri Budget Project report says Missouri can’t afford not to expand Medicaid and argues that the state’s 10 percent share after 2016 would actually end up as just 6.7 percent once savings generated by expansion are taken into account.

Under expansion, the report says, the federal government would pick up no less than 90 percent of the tab for expenditures the state currently shoulders in whole or in part for pregnant women making less than 138 percent of the federal poverty level, mental health patients and prisoners in the custody of the Department of Corrections.

“One of the easy examples is individuals with mental health needs,” Blouin says. “The Department of Mental Health provides services at 100 percent state funding for about 40,000 individuals who will actually be eligible for Medicaid under the expanded Medicaid eligibility.”

The report also notes that the state would benefit from expansion because, for every $1 in taxes hospitals pay to help cover Missouri’s Medicaid costs, the hospitals get back $2 from the federal government to cover the Medicaid services they provide.

Missouri Sen. Ryan Silvey, a Kansas City Republican, has proposed a Medicaid expansion bill that seeks to address the concerns of conservative members of the General Assembly, but prospects for its passage don’t appear encouraging. Last week, The Kansas City Star reported that a group of Republican senators has promised to filibuster expansion if it manages to get any traction.

In Kansas, where lawmakers have also shown little interest in expanding Medicaid, hospitals are touting expansion as an economic development initiative. Tom Bell, president of the Kansas Hospital Association, told Heartland Health Monitor that expansion would create jobs and stimulate the economy.

“There has been progress made clearly since last session in terms of people understanding the issue better, people feeling like we ought to really take a hard look at it,” Bell says. “But is there universal support among every faction in the Legislature? No I can’t tell you that. I think it’s still a heavy lift, it’s still an uphill battle, but I think our point is, look, we’ve waited too long already.”

A study published in August by the nonpartisan Urban Institute said that not expanding Medicaid would cost Kansas and Missouri hospitals more than $9 billion in federal funding over a 10-year period. Kansas hospitals would forgo $2.6 billion and Missouri hospitals would lose an estimated $6.8 billion from 2013 to 2022.

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

MERRIAM – A Kansas man was injured in an accident just before 1 p.m. on Tuesday in Johnson County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 1999 Ford passenger vehicle driven by Bryonie A. Gipson, 36, Overland Park, was south bound on Interstate 35 just south of 67th Street in Merriam.

The driver attempted to avoid collision and struck the median wall.

Gipson was transported to KU Medical Center.
The KHP reported he was properly restrained at the time of the accident.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — An eastern Missouri businessman says he’s running as an independent candidate for Missouri governor in 2016.

Les Turulli Jr. says he’s an evangelical Christian who felt a calling from the Lord to enter the race. He says he is conservative on business issues and liberal in supporting government assistance for those in need.

The field for the governor’s race is starting to shape up.

U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill said Monday that she won’t run, leaving the Democratic primary clear for Attorney General Chris Koster.

A Republican primary could occur. Former House Speaker Catherine Hanaway is running, and Auditor Tom Schweich says he will decide in the coming weeks.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A state lawmaker says proposed tax incentives could encourage more young farmers in Missouri.

State Sen. Brian Munzlinger of Williamstown announced legislation Monday to give tax credits to landowners who lease land to beginning farmers.

The Republican says the incentives are important to recruit younger workers now the average age of Missouri farmers and ranchers has reached 56.

Landowners who pay farmers to grow crops or care for livestock on their property also would get a tax credit. The credits would each be capped at $50,000 a year.

Missouri could give up to $12 million in incentives each year.

Other provisions in the bill would give tax incentives to landowners who sell to new farmers and would create a beginning farmer center with the University of Missouri’s extension program.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) — Kansas State Fair officials have begun the process of forming a new master plan to address renovations at the aging fairgrounds.

Fair Manager Denny Stoecklein says the plan could address issues such as a rarely-used racetrack to updating the Depression-era Bison Arena and an Expo Center built in the 1960s.

The Hutchinson News reports the last master plan was approved by the Kansas Legislature in 2001 and it took several years to complete the recommended renovations. Several costly projects were left out of that plan.

Stoecklein says two submit bids for compiling the master plan. The companies will be asked to visit the fairgrounds to evaluate the property, probably in the spring.

NEW YORK (AP) — The price of oil has dipped below $45 a barrel following the latest sign from OPEC that the group doesn’t plan to cut production.

The comments from the energy minister for the United Arab Emirates, a member of OPEC, put more downward pressure on crude Tuesday. The comments reaffirmed the position of OPEC’s Arab Gulf members that lowering production would only erode their market share and benefit rivals, such as shale drillers in the U.S.

Last November OPEC decided to keep production levels steady. That decision came despite calls from some from within the 12-member bloc to curb output in an effort to boost prices.

The price of U.S. benchmark crude traded as low at $44.20 a barrel early, the lowest since April 2009. The price has dropped since last June, when it reached $107.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia Commonwealth University has appointed Gail Hackett as provost and vice president of academic affairs.

Hackett also will serve as a professor of psychology in the university’s College of Humanities and Sciences. Her appointment is effective March 1.

Hackett has served as provost and executive vice chancellor at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, since 2008.

Virginia Commonwealth President Michael Rao announced Hackett’s appointment on Monday in a news release.