JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Democrats in the Missouri House have voted to retain their current leadership in next year’s legislative session.
The caucus on Thursday elected Jacob Hummel of St. Louis as minority leader and Gail McCann Beatty of Kansas City as assistant minority leader.

Tuesday’s elections and the decision by a Democratic incumbent to join the Republican Party widened the partisan gap in the 163-member House. Republicans gained eight seats this week and head into 2015 with 118 House members to the Democrats’ 45.

The Associated Press

If you’re flying somewhere for Thanksgiving, expect planes and airports to be even more crowded this year.

U.S. airlines expect to carry 24.6 million passengers over the 12 days surrounding Thanksgiving, up 1.5 percent from last year.

The worst day: The Sunday after Thanksgiving, Nov. 30, with 2.6 million people flying on U.S. airlines.

The forecast comes from Airlines for America, a trade group representing the biggest U.S. carriers. It covers Friday, Nov. 21 through Tuesday, Dec. 2.

The group’s chief economist said Thursday that rising personal incomes and job growth are helping boost demand for travel.

Last year, the airlines’ Thanksgiving-travel forecast turned out to be too high. The trade group blamed bad weather that caused widespread flight cancelations.

By Jay Hancock
Kaiser Health News

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Moving to close what many see as a major loophole in Affordable Care Act rules, the Obama administration will ban large-employer medical plans from qualifying under the law if they don’t offer hospitalization coverage.

The administration intends to disallow plans that “fail to provide substantial coverage for in-patient hospitalization services or for physician services,” the Treasury Department said in a notice Tuesday morning. It will issue final regulations banning such insurance next year, it said.

Hundreds of lower-wage employers such as retailers and temporary-staffing companies have been preparing to offer such plans for 2015, the first year large companies are liable for fines if they don’t provide minimum coverage. Some have enrolled workers for insurance beginning Oct. 1.

For employers that have committed as of Nov.4 to such coverage, the administration will temporarily allow it under the health reform law, the notice said.

As reported by Kaiser Health News in September, an online calculator published by the Department of Health and Human Services allows large-employer coverage to pass the law’s “minimum-value” standard even if it doesn’t include inpatient benefits. Many see the calculator as flawed.

For employees enrolled in such plans, the disadvantage is double, say consumer advocates. The employees not only lack hospital coverage: If they are offered insurance passing the minimum-value standard at work, they are barred from receiving federal subsidies to buy better coverage through online marketplaces.

The administration said in Tuesday’s bulletin that it intends to fix that problem, too. Final regulations will say that “in no event” will workers offered such coverage be disqualified from subsidies, the notice said.

The administration had signaled last month it would move to disallow plans without hospital benefits from passing the minimum-value test. Large employers that fail to offer minimum-value coverage next year could be fined up to $3,120 per worker.

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

Washington, DC – Today Congressman Tim Huelskamp (KS-01) announced that Kansas Veterans will soon receive the VA Veterans Choice Card, allowing eligible Veterans to receive medical care outside of the VA system. The Choice Card will arrive in Kansas mailboxes soon. The Veterans Choice Card provision advocated by Huelskamp was included in the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act, which passed into law in August.

Rep. Huelskamp issued the following statement:
“As a member of the Veterans Affairs Committee and a strong advocate for allowing Veterans to choose their doctor and their hospital, it is exciting to know that Kansas Veterans will soon receive their Choice Card in the mail. The Veteran Choice Card is something I have long advocated for during my time in Congress at countless VA committee hearings leading up to the drafting of this legislation. I am happy to see it is close to being a reality.
“After the failed rollout of ObamaCare a year ago, I will be watching the implementation of this law closely. Too many Veterans have already waited months for the care they need. Too many Veterans have been forced to drive hours to receive some of the most basic health care services. And too many Veterans have been restricted from picking their local hospital or doctor for their health care.
“Thousands of Kansas Veterans who live further than 40 miles from a VA facility— or those who have to wait more than 30 days for care— will soon be able to call their local doctor and get their healthcare needs met. If any Veteran encounters difficulties in the VA roll-out of this Choice Card, please contact my office. This Choice Card is a step in the right direction for improving medical care in the VA system— it is good for our Veterans, for their families, and for our local hospitals.”

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — A long-term research project at the Konza Prairie will continue for at least six more years.

Kansas State University announced Thursday that the school’s Konza Prairie Biological Station has received a $6.76 million grant renewal from the National Science Foundation. It is the seventh consecutive renewal of the grant since 1980, bringing the total funding for the research to $29 million.

The Konza Prairie research station is jointly owned by Kansas State and The Nature Conservancy and managed by the university’s Division of Biology.

The university says the 8,600-acre native tallgrass prairie is one of the most endangered ecosystems in the world.

Projects at Konza Prairie include research on grassland responses to fire and grazing, woody plant encroachment, climate change and nutrient enrichment.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Abortion opponents are claiming some credit for victories in Kansas by Republican U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts and GOP Gov. Sam Brownback.

Leaders of the state Republican and Democratic parties said Thursday that their mailings, fliers and phone calls were a factor in the election’s outcome.

The anti-abortion group Kansans for Life says it sent about 640,000 mailings to households across during the general election campaign. Executive director Mary Kay Culp said the group also made about the same number of phone calls to get anti-abortion voters to the polls.

Both independent Senate candidate Greg Orman and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Paul Davis support abortion rights. Their contests with Roberts and Brownback were close going into Tuesday’s election.

But abortion-rights supporters said races did not turn on that issue.

JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – Supporters of legalized marijuana are getting an early start on a petition drive to put the measure on Missouri’s 2016 ballot.

Columbia attorney Dan Viets has already submitted an initiative petition to the secretary of state’s office. That’s the first step in an approval process that could clear the way for supporters to start collecting signatures from registered voters.

The proposed constitutional amendment would make it legal to manufacture, sell and use marijuana in Missouri for people age 21 and older. Viets said Thursday that the measure is intended to tax and regulate marijuana in the same way as alcohol.

The Missouri initiative comes after voters on Tuesday approved legalized marijuana in Alaska, Oregon and Washington, D.C. Recreational use of marijuana already is legal in Colorado and Washington state.

 KANSAS CITY-A Kansas man died in an accident just before 7 a.m. on Thursday in Johnson County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2000 Dodge SUV driven by Gregory P. Sifferman, 51, Leavenworth, swerved off the roadway and struck the bridge pillar for Northbound Interstate 435 at Johnson Drive.

Sifferman was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to Frontier Forensics.

The KHP reported he was not wearing a seat belt.

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KANSAS CITY-  A fatality is reported in an accident just before 7 a.m. on Thursday in Johnson County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a vehicle swerved off the roadway and struck the bridge pillar for Northbound Interstate 435 at Johnson Drive in Shawnee.

No additional details have been released. The accident remains under investigation.

Check St. Joseph Post for more information as it becomes available.

EMPORIA, Kan. (AP) — A 27-year-old suspect in a Kansas homicide has been detained in Mexico, where police say he fled after the killing.

Police said efforts are underway to extradite Gabino Ruiz-Ascencio to the U.S. for questioning in the April 2013 death of 25-year-old Adrian Peralta in Emporia.

Police said Wednesday that Ruiz-Ascencio was arrested in Zacapu, in the state of Michoacan, on minor charges and computer checks showed an arrest warrant from Emporia. Details of the arrest and when it occurred were not available.

Peralta and 22-year-old Michael Koy were shot at their home April 13, 2013. Koy survived, while Peralta died five days later.

Emporia police say the shootings apparently were drug and gang related.

Ruiz-Ascencio does not yet have an attorney.

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Postal Service will deliver packages on Sundays in major cities and high volume areas during the holiday season.

Seven-day delivery will run from Nov. 17 through Christmas Day in response to anticipated growing demands.

The agency expects a 12 percent growth in its package business this holiday season, or in the range of about 450 to 470 million packages.

The Postal Service says demand for package services has grown as online retailers ship more products to their customers.

The struggling agency lost $2 billion this spring despite increasing its volume and charging consumers more money to send mail.

The Postal Service is an independent agency that receives no tax dollars for day-to-day operations but is subject to congressional control.