KANSAS CITY (AP) – The U.S. Justice Department says it has reached a settlement with the Missouri National Guard over allegations it violated the employment rights of its civilian dual technician employees.

The DOJ’s Civil Rights Division said in a news release Thursday that the agreement resolves allegations that the Guard unlawfully required Kinata Holt to give up her civilian employment as a condition of being called to active duty with the Guard’s reserve program.

The Guard’s refusal to place Holt on furlough or leave of absence from her civilian job resulted in the loss of paid military leave to which she would otherwise have been entitled.

As part of the settlement, the Missouri National Guard will also compensate 137 other civilian National Guard dual technicians who were similarly denied military leave benefits.

DETROIT (AP) — General Motors Co. is recalling some Chevrolet Volt gas-electric hybrid cars to fix a problem that can cause carbon monoxide to build up in an enclosed space.
The recall covers just over 64,000 Volts from the 2011 through 2013 model years in the U.S., Canada and elsewhere.
The Detroit company says if a driver exits the car and leaves it on, the battery could eventually drain and the gas generator would start running. If that happens in a garage or other enclosed space, the dangerous gas could build up.
GM said Thursday it’s aware of two unspecified injuries but no deaths from the problem.
Dealers will update software that limits how long a Volt can be left idling.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri Gas Energy will change some of its emergency procedures, increase staff training and offer more training to firefighters in response to a fatal 2013 blast caused by a gas leak at a Kansas City restaurant.

The company, owned by the Laclede Group, and the state’s Public Service Commission reached an agreement approved Thursday to resolve a complaint filed in 2014.

The complaint alleged the company did not take adequate steps to ensure people’s safety before the blast a JJ’s restaurant that killed one and injured more than a dozen people.

The agreement says MGE will add more detail to its emergency plan, work more closely with fire departments to implement training programs and establish inspections when excavations take place near company facilities.

SHILOH, Mo. (AP) — A 19-year-old woman has been charged with kidnapping an elderly man who let her into his home when she came to his door asking for help.

KSDK reported Thursday that Brittany Davis is charged with kidnapping and aggravated battery. A man is also in custody but has not yet been charged.

The St. Clair County prosecutor says the 77-year-old victim let the woman into his home near Shiloh Saturday night. Once inside, she let a man in through the back door.

The suspects allegedly tied the man up after robbing him. They then forced him into the trunk of his car and drove him a few blocks away, where he was able to free himself and get out the trunk.

FORT SCOTT, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas manufacturer of water tanks and other products is facing proposed fines of $60,200 for allegedly exposing welders to toxic fumes and other violations endangering workers.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration said in a news release Thursday that Niece Products of Kansas received 15 serious safety and health citations.

Those include failure to use respiratory equipment for welders in confined spaces like large tanks at its Fort Scott facility. OSHA says that during an October inspection it also found electrical hazards, improper storage of flammable materials and other safety issues.

Patrick Flanagan, a managing partner at Niece Products, says the company is working closely with OSHA. He says they have every expectation they run a safe company and will continue to do so.

The Associated Press

12:30 P.M.

President Barack Obama says his thoughts and prayers are with the two police officers who were wounded in a shooting in Ferguson, Missouri.

The president took to Twitter on Thursday to relay his prayers to the officers who were shot during a protest outside Ferguson police headquarters.

Obama also denounced violence against police, writing that the “path to justice is one all of us must travel together.”

Obama signed the tweet with his initials, which indicates he personally composed the note.

The officers have been released from the hospital. One was shot in the face, while the other was shot in the shoulder.

12:20 P.M.

The family of 18-year-old Michael Brown, whose fatal shooting by a Ferguson police officer last year sparked widespread protests, is condemning the recent shooting of two Ferguson officers.

The family released a statement through their attorney, saying the shootings during a protest early Thursday were “senseless.” They say they won’t tolerate “any kind of violence directed toward members of law enforcement.”

Brown’s family also echoed sentiments by local activists denouncing the actions of “stand-alone agitators” who they say are trying to derail the nonviolent nationwide movement to address police brutality.

The family says its thoughts and prayers are with the officers and their families.

11:20 A.M.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder says the shooting of two police officers in Ferguson, Missouri, was “inexcusable and repugnant.”

Holder released a statement Thursday condemning violence against any public safety officials, calling it “cowardly.”

He cited the early morning shootings in Ferguson that wounded two officers, along with this week’s death of a deputy federal marshal in Louisiana and last week’s killing of an officer in Philadelphia.

Holder says “such senseless acts of violence threaten the very reforms that non-violent protesters in Ferguson and around the country” have been working toward for several months.

He says he hopes for the full and speedy recovery of the Ferguson officer, and said the U.S. Justice Department stands ready to assist in the investigation.

KANSAS CITY (AP) – A special prosecutor who was reviewing the case of a handcuffed Iowa man who drowned in the Lake of the Ozarks has recused herself, citing that it would be a conflict if she stayed on the case.

The Kansas City Star reports that Osage County Prosecutor Amanda Grellner filed a motion Wednesday to take herself off the case. Grellner said that she stepped down because a conflict had recently developed in the additional investigation that is being performed.

She did not reveal the nature of the conflict.

A new prosecutor will be appointed.

Brandon Ellingson, who drowned in May 2014 while in custody of a Missouri Highway Patrol trooper. Grellner had initially decided to not file charges after jurors at a coroner’s inquest found the death to be accidental.

The prosecutor reopened the case in January after receiving new information.

by ALEX SMITH

In the pediatric clinic at Samuel U. Rodgers Health Center, nurse Constance Grayson gives newborn-care instructions to a jittery-looking young couple.

Samuel U. Rodgers is one of Kansas City’s largest safety net health clinics, and the doctors and nurses here take pride in offering care to all. That means learning to expect the unexpected.

But cuts in funding are something else, according to CEO Hilda Fuentes, who recently got a letter explaining that the money she gets from the city would be cut this fiscal year by more than 10 percent, or about $167,000.

“I was quite surprised,” Fuentes says. “I think more so, I was shocked. And I was very disappointed.”

The funding comes from Kansas City’s health levy, a property tax that generates around $51 million dollars a year and is divvied up mostly among several hospitals and clinics that provide care to the indigent.

But some of that funding could be shifted to the fire department as a result of a decision made by the city manager. And further cuts could be extended into the coming fiscal year if they’re approved by the Kansas City Council.

“Over the years, we’ve seen minor cuts. Maybe a 2 percent cut, a 3 percent cut. But we’re oftentimes informed of it,” Fuentes says.

Samuel U. Rodgers has an annual budget of $21 million, so the cuts aren’t catastrophic. But to an indigent care clinic with a budget already stretched thin, the money isn’t insignificant either.

“It is a physician,” Fuentes says, referring to what the money could pay for. “Or two nurse practitioners, not including benefits.”

Other safety net providers, including Truman Medical Centers, Swope Health Services, KC Care Clinic, also got letters announcing cuts that, collectively, add up to about $2 million.

“We call it ‘the sweeps’,” says City Councilman Ed Ford, who also serves on the Kansas City Health Commission. “Basically, money that’s spent here that should’ve been spent here – all that is kind of corrected after the fact.”
Ford says the fund shifting resulted from an end-of-the-year budget adjustment by City Manager Troy Schulte.

Instead of going to hospitals and clinics, the money would go to the fire department, which runs the ambulance service and is one of the big recipients of health levy funds. The fire department is running a budget deficit, and there are a number of reasons for that. But for Ford, one issue tops the list.

“What has happened in the last year is the overtime has really, in my opinion, gotten out of control for the fire department, especially the ambulance,” Ford says.

Fire Chief Paul Berardi acknowledges that overtime has been an issue.

“There were overtime costs due to staffing levels,” he says. “We had vacancies in the department that we had to fill just for the basic operation of the service that we provide.”

But Berardi says the department has faced a couple of additional problems in the past year that have also taken a financial toll. A settlement for a labor lawsuit cost the department $2 million. And after an attempt to outsource billing failed, the department has scrambled in recent months to update its in-house billing and catch up on delayed payments.

“Now we have a third billing software, and that system is proving to work out very well, and so the revenue is improving a great deal,” Berardi says.

In fact, revenue collections in recent months are up considerably, enough that the city manager has agreed to ease off on the safety net cuts, at least in part.

“At least half of the cut is likely to be restored,” says Rex Archer, director of the Kansas City Health Department. “And then the rest depends on those projections that are coming in right now from collections and other revenue sources.”

But that may prove a temporary fix. As long as Missouri refuses to expand Medicaid to cover additional lower-income residents, Archer says, the wrangling for public health funds is almost certain to continue.

“Our tax dollars are going to give care in other states but aren’t present here, so that puts more of a burden locally to provide illness care for folks that don’t have care,” he says.

The City Council is expected to vote on the 2016 budget on March 26. Meanwhile, Samuel U. Rodgers and other safety net providers are waiting to see if this year’s cuts will be restored.

Fuentes says that in the absence of Medicaid expansion, which doesn’t appear likely to happen anytime soon, it’s paramount that the city continue to fund health care providers for the indigent.

“Without this funding, there are going to be many long-term effects,” she says. “People will go to the emergency room to receive their care instead of a primary setting. And so the overall healthcare costs to the community are going to increase.”

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