OHN O’CONNOR, Associated Press
JIM SALTER, Associated Press

FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) — Crews erected barricades around the building where a grand jury has been considering whether to indict the Ferguson police officer who shot and killed Michael Brown, even as a grand jury decision seemed unlikely this weekend.

Tension has been mounting in Ferguson and elsewhere in the St. Louis area in recent days, with many speculating that the grand jury’s decision would be announced on Sunday. That seemed increasingly unlikely by late Saturday, although there was a noticeable uptick in the preparations being made.

Downtown STL Inc., a St. Louis civic group that promotes downtown businesses, told members in an email Saturday that the grand jury will reconvene Monday to continue deliberating whether charges are warranted against Ferguson police Officer Darren Wilson in the Aug. 9 fatal shooting of Brown.

BY DIANE OLSON

Fall is in the air. Harvest is nearing completion. Thanksgiving is almost here! Thanksgiving brings together family and friends to share a mostly traditional meal and fellowship. As a child growing up in a family retail food business, I recall the frenzy of making sure all the staples for the feast day were available for local shoppers. Turkey, cubed stuffing mix, cranberries, sweet potatoes and pumpkin were included on most grocery lists. Unlike today, restaurants were closed on holidays making meal planning and purchasing a priority. Shoppers are constantly aware of prices, and food items are no exception. Since 1986, the

American Farm Bureau and each state Farm Bureau has conducted a Marketbasket Survey to track prices for items used to prepare a Thanksgiving Day meal. In order to compare year-over-year prices, items such as the stuffing originate from pre-seasoned cube stuffing rather than a family recipe. Prices are checked on a menu that includes food for 10 people with some leftovers. The survey is comprised of a 16-pound turkey, cubed stuffing, sweet potatoes, fresh cranberries, peas, brown-and-serve rolls with butter, and carrot and celery sticks. Milk and coffee are the beverage offerings. Dessert consists of two pumpkin pies with real whipped cream.

Missouri shoppers this year will find the average price for this meal rings in at $50.52. This translates into a $5.05 per-person cost. The national average was slightly less showing a total of $49.41, or $4.94 per person. Turkey, the centerpiece of the meal, averages $1.24 per pound in Missouri, which is less than the national average of $1.35. Items from the dairy case — a gallon of whole milk, a half pint of whipping cream and butter — create the largest price increases year-over-year and compared to the national average. Sweet potatoes were significantly higher with no real explanation. As consumer demand for fresh sweet potatoes is strong, harvested acres are expected to be up this year compared to last year.

Thanksgiving provides a wonderful time for reflection and giving thanks for the blessings we enjoy. One of the things we often take for granted is the farmer who works all year to provide food and fiber for all of us. So, as you gather to share and partake of a meal with loved ones, remember not only those who prepared it…but those who produced it. 

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Officials in southeastern Nebraska say a Lincoln man has died in an accident at a turkey farm in Waverly.

The Lancaster County Sheriff’s office says the accident happened Friday afternoon at Bevans Enterprises, Inc. Investigators say the man, 34-year-old Joaquin Danilo Mina Munoz, was killed after his clothing became caught in the auger of a grain truck.

An autopsy has been ordered.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — A grand jury indictment alleges that a central Missouri prosecutor was under the influence of alcohol last month when he crashed into a popular downtown Columbia restaurant.

The Columbia Daily Tribune reports that the indictment returned Friday charges 36-year-old Shayne Healea with felony leaving the scene of an accident and four counts of second-degree assault.

Columbia police said the Moniteau County prosecutor backed his pickup truck, which had the tailgate down, into a part of the building made of glass blocks before moving his truck around the corner. Four restaurant customers were injured by flying debris.

Healea has said in a written statement he wasn’t initially aware of the crash but immediately returned to the restaurant and identified himself to police as the driver when alerted.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — An infant chimpanzee named in honor of the American League champion Royals has died at the Kansas City Zoo.
The chimp was born Oct. 16 while the Royals were on a post-season winning streak that ended with a World Series loss to the San Francisco Giants. The

Kansas City Star  reports that anonymous donors named him Royal George.

The zoo announced Friday that the chimp was discovered lifeless when zookeepers arrived Wednesday. The zoo said an initial necropsy was inconclusive, and further tests to determine the cause of death will take several weeks.

The veterinary staff had monitored the pregnancy of his first-time mother with ultrasound and other measurements. The zoo reported the infant was well-tended by his mother and extended family.

By JIM MCLEAN
The Kansas Hospital Association on Thursday continued its campaign for Medicaid expansion by reminding policymakers how much the state is losing by not claiming federal dollars to cover more low-income adults.

The association released a report based on an analysis done by the Center for Health Policy Research at George Washington University and Regional Economic Models Inc.

“If Kansas does not expand KanCare by 2016, more than $2.2 billion in federal matching funds will be lost between 2016 and 2020, stifling economic and employment growth,” the report said.

KanCare is the name of Kansas’ privatized Medicaid program, which is administered by three for-profit managed care companies.

The conclusions in the most recent KHA report are similar to those reached by the nonpartisan Urban Institute, which issued a report in August that pegged Kansas’ losses between 2013 and 2022 at $2.6 billion and Missouri’s at $6.8 billion.

Kansas hospitals have been lobbying for Medicaid expansion for two years, but Gov. Sam Brownback and the Legislature have refused to take up the issue.

This session, Tom Bell, chief executive of KHA, has said the association will be more aggressive in promoting its own bill. The legislative proposal will be unique to Kansas and build on the state’s already privatized system. Bell has said he has received signals from the Brownback administration and key legislators that with the election behind them they may now be willing to consider a proposal.

“Yes, we’ve had folks in the administration that have indicated that after the election this would be a different kind of discussion,” Bell said. “And we’re counting on that. We certainly plan to move forward.”

Brownback spokesperson Eileen Hawley didn’t immediately respond when asked whether the governor is now more open to discussing expansion.

Twenty-eight states and the District of Columbia have expanded Medicaid eligibility, while Kansas and 20 other states have not. Policymakers in two states are considering the issue, according to the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation.

Enrollment in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) increased by 23 percent from October 2013 to October of this year in the states that have expanded Medicaid eligibility, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. By contrast, enrollment has grown by only 6 percent in the states that haven’t expanded eligibility.

The KHA report also attempts to make an economic case for expansion, saying that it would create nearly 4,000 jobs by 2020, about half of which would be health care jobs.

“This ripple effect occurs because KanCare funding, received by hospitals, clinics or drug stores, is used to pay workers’ salaries and to buy other goods and services,” the report said. “The economic benefits multiply as these funds are, in turn, used to pay for mortgages or rent, buy food and pay state and county taxes.”

The KHA report estimates that expanding KanCare eligibility would allow 100,000 low-income adults to gain coverage in 2016 and another 144,000 in 2017. Generally speaking, adults who make more than 32 percent of the poverty level — annually about $3,730 for an individual and $7,630 for a family of four — are not currently eligible for KanCare. Expansion would expand eligibility to those who make less than 138 percent of the poverty level — about $16,100 for an individual and $32,900 for a family of four.

The Affordable Care Act obligates the federal government to pay 100 percent of expansion costs through 2016. The federal share declines to 95 percent in 2017, then to 90 percent by 2020. The KHA report estimates that expansion would add $312 million to the cost of KanCare between 2016 and 2020.

That additional cost could prove to be a big stumbling block given the state’s mounting budget problems. The governor and lawmakers need to cut spending or raise taxes to prevent a $280 million deficit in the current budget year, according to official revenue projections revised earlier this month. Revenues are projected to fall $436 million short of anticipated expenditures in 2016, the estimates show.

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

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Boone County commissioners want the ability to impose standards on rental properties outside the Columbia city limits.

The Columbia Daily Tribune reports that commissioners are complaining about “slum lords.” They’re asking the county’s legislative delegation to propose and support legislation that would give the county the authority to impose basic rental standards. Southern District Commissioner Karen Miller has now championed the rental standard cause for 10 years.

Miller said the Columbia Board of Realtors has supported legislation for Boone County rental standards, but the statewide Realtors association has opposed the measure.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas appeals court says probation and house arrest was not enough of a sentence for a former Kansas State University student whose drunken driving crash claimed two lives.

The Kansas Court of Appeals on Friday ordered a lower court to resentence Miles Theurer. He was 23 on May 14, 2012, when he drove in the wrong lane through a construction zone along Kansas 18 while returning to Manhattan after a night of drinking at a Junction City strip club.

The Topeka Capital-Journal  reports the crash at 2:45 a.m. killed two occupants in the second car.

The three-member appeals panel said the judge erred in applying an incorrect legal standard in departing from the presumptive sentence of 41 months behind bars.

BLUE SPRINGS- A Missouri woman was injured in an accident just after 5 a.m. on Saturday in Jackson County.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2013 Ford truck driven by Courtney L. Knight, 31, Blue Springs was eastbound on I-70 at Blue Springs. The vehicle traveled off the right side of the road and rolled.

Knight was transported to Centerpoint Medical Center.
The MSHP reported she was properly restrained at the time of the accident.