NEW YORK (AP) — Houston designated hitter Chris Carter, Kansas City reliever Kelvin Herrera and New York Mets closer Jennry Mejia are among 26 players with less than three years of major league service who have qualified for salary arbitration.
Oakland third baseman Josh Donaldson, New York Yankees pitcher David Phelps, Los Angeles Dodgers second baseman Dee Gordon and Los Angeles Angels pitcher Garrett Richards also are among the so-called Super 2s.
Chicago White Sox reliever Javy Guerra, Houston infielder Marwin Gonzalez and Chicago White Sox pitcher Jose Quintana were the last players to make it, with 2 years, 133 days of major league service, up from 122 days last year and down from 139 after the 2012 season.
JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – A panel of state lawmakers has been formed to look into allegations involving lobbyist perks and campaign contributions going to Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster.
Republican House Speaker Tim Jones on Wednesday announced the committee will review allegations reported in a New York Times article against Koster and attorneys general across the country.
The New York Times report addressed claims that Koster, a Democrat, changed policies and negotiated more favorable settlements after receiving campaign contributions and perks from lobbyists.
Koster has said the New York Times report distorts how his office dealt with the companies and cited previous legal actions taken against companies.
Republican state Rep. Jay Barnes of Jefferson City will be chairman of the review committee. Republican Rep. Stanley Cox of Sedalia will serve as vice chairman.
TOPEKA — The Kansas House member who last session championed a bill that expanded insurance coverage for autism treatment said it may be adjusted in the upcoming legislative session.
Rep. John Rubin, a Shawnee Republican who was re-elected last week, said he will propose changes to House Bill 2744, which was a compromise struck between insurance companies and autism treatment advocates.
“We’re going to continue on it,” Rubin said of the autism bill. “As with a lot of kind of significant legislation, there’s some cleanup that I think needs to be done.”
The bill passed last session was expected to extend coverage to about 750 Kansas children from birth to age 5, which is about 20 percent of those estimated to need such treatment in the state. The new mandate requires insurance companies to cover up to 25 hours per week of a therapy known as applied behavior analysis treatment.
Rubin said when the legislative session begins in January, he will push to loosen licensure requirements established in HB 2744 that restrict who can provide the treatment.
“I recognize it was part of the compromise to get the bill passed last year, but I just don’t think it’s necessary,” he said. “I actually think it’s interfering with the intent of the legislation, to provide the services, because there will be fewer providers available.”
Mike Wasmer, director of state government affairs for the advocacy group Autism Speaks, said the licensing requirements were added at the end of the process by the health insurance lobby. His group is hosting a meeting of autism treatment providers Dec. 5 at the University of Kansas Edwards Campus to discuss potential changes to the law.
“We want to take it out but then introduce a licensure piece with the benefit of thoughtful input from the provider community and consumers,” Wasmer said.
Rubin said he’d also like to expand upon the coverage mandated by HB 2744, but said that might be a difficult proposition without changes to the federal health care reforms spearheaded by President Barack Obama.
The bill passed in Kansas last session requires large-group insurance plans to offer the autism coverage starting Jan. 1, while individual and small-group plans that are grandfathered into the federal Affordable Care Act must offer the coverage starting in July 2016.
The provisions in HB 2744 did not affect plans for several large employers in Kansas — including Cerner, Garmin and Koch Industries — whose self-insured group plans already covered autism.
Rubin said he would like to see post-ACA individual and small-group plans require the treatment as well, but the federal law might make adding the autism coverage mandate prohibitively expensive.
Kansas did not choose in 2012 to include autism coverage as one of the mandated essential health benefits for plans to be sold in the online health insurance marketplace. If any new mandates, such as autism treatment coverage, are subsequently added to the plans on the marketplace, the federal law stipulates that the cost must be borne by the state.
Wasmer said his group has not received a clear answer from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on whether that means the state would have to pay all autism treatment claims for exchange plans or just the difference in premiums after adding autism coverage.
In either case, the state is facing a projected $278 million deficit in the current fiscal year, and taking on any new expenses appears unlikely.
“From a fiscal standpoint, that could be difficult,” Wasmer said.
Prior to this year, only the Kansas state employee health plan mandated coverage of autism treatments.
Rubin said he would like the “cleanup” bill to clarify that the limitations on the coverage set in HB 2744 do not apply to the state employee health plan.
“I thought we made it clear in the bill, but we’ll make it doubly clear next year,” he said. “Nothing in the bill applies to anybody that was previously covered under the state employee health system.”
Andy Marso is a reporter for Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — More than 3,000 Missouri residents are asking the state to drop its appeal of a federal ruling that overturns its constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.
Members of the Show-Me Marriage coalition delivered 3,100 petitions Wednesday to the St. Louis office of Attorney General Chris Koster.
They want Koster to drop the legal challenge to a federal judge’s ruling last week that found a 2004 Missouri constitutional amendment barring gay marriage violated the U.S. Constitution.
The federal ruling came two days after a similar decision by a state judge in St. Louis. Koster has said he personally supports gay marriage but is pursuing the appeals to clarify the legal uncertainty.
St. Louis, St. Louis County and Jackson County are issuing same-sex marriage licenses, but officials elsewhere are not.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kansas City police have a suspect in custody after a shooting downtown near City Hall left one man dead in an attack that came during a busy time of morning.
Several Twitter posts from Police Chief Darryl Forte’s account Wednesday morning say a man was found shot near a municipal parking garage. Forte’s tweets say the man, who worked in the area, died in surgery an hour after the 7:30 a.m. shooting.
The suspect was arrested a block from the scene after a brief chase. Police have not determined the relationship between the men or what prompted the shooting.
Two blocks of a street near City Hall were closed while investigators searched for a gun, but the city said in a news release that City Hall remained open.
NEW YORK (AP) — A veterinarians’ group has put out guidance on handling pets that may have been infected by Ebola. It says that if an animal tests positive, it should be euthanized.
The American Veterinary Medical Association released the guidelines Wednesday. Work on them started a month ago, after a dog in Spain was euthanized because its owner contracted Ebola and a dog belonging to an infected nurse in Dallas was quarantined and then released.
The guidelines say a pet that may have been infected should be quarantined for 21 days. The animal’s handlers should wear protective equipment similar to what’s recommended for hospital workers who treat Ebola patients.
Federal health officials must authorize Ebola testing for animals. If an animal does test positive, it should be killed and the body incinerated.
DUNCANVILLE, Texas (AP) — A Dallas-area school district has suspended a teacher over what administrators call “reprehensible” and racially charged tweets about the killing of a black Missouri 18-year-old by a white police officer.
Duncanville Independent School District trustees will meet Friday, and could fire Vinita Hegwood (HEG’-wood).
Hegwood, who is black, taught English at Duncanville High School prior to the tweets posted Friday with expletives and derogatory references to whites and blacks.
A publicly listed phone number for Hegwood couldn’t be found Wednesday.
The school district says Hegwood met with district officials Monday and was suspended without pay pending discharge. In a statement, the district said Hegwood’s personal social media account contained “reprehensible personal opinions.”
Michael Brown was unarmed when he was killed Aug. 9 in Ferguson, Missouri, leading to ongoing community unrest.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — An attorney for Michael Brown’s family says a private forensic pathologist who performed an autopsy on the 18-year-old will testify Thursday before the grand jury deciding whether to charge the Ferguson police officer who shot him.
Attorney Benjamin Crump said Wednesday that former New York City Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Michael Baden is scheduled to testify. Crump says Brown’s parents are pleased because they are concerned that the St. Louis County Medical Examiner’s office, which also did an autopsy, is too closely tied to police and prosecutors.
Brown was shot by Officer Darren Wilson in the St. Louis suburb on Aug. 9. The grand jury is expected to decide this month whether to charge Wilson.
A third autopsy was performed for the U.S. Justice Department, which is also investigating.
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — Supporters are mapping out a plan to defend a new Springfield ordinance that adds protection against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Shortly after the city council approved the ordinance in October, opponents began a petition drive to repeal it by forcing a public vote on the issue. The group has submitted petitions with more than 2,500 signatures, which have not yet been certified.
This week, about 150 supporters began planning their political campaign to defend the ordinance.
The Springfield News-Leader reports that the group of supporters is registering with the Missouri Ethics Commission and already has thousands of dollars in pledges of support.
The group’s efforts will include targeting frequent voters, and using traditional campaign ads and social media to state its case.
RONALD BLUM, AP Sports Writer
