KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The former director of a home for the disabled in Missouri was sentenced to three years and one month in federal prison without parole for embezzling more than $300,000 from the organization.
Federal prosecutors announced Friday that 51-year-old Terri Arlene Marr, of Warrensburg, also was ordered to pay $317,544 in restitution for money she took from the Progressive Alternative Living organization in Higginsville. She was director of the home from 1991 through 2013.
Marr pleaded guilty in April to two counts of theft.
Marr admitted that she used PAL credit cards and money to pay personal expenses, and also issued payroll checks to a person who did not work for the organization.
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A former high school superintendent pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of a Springfield couple.
Fifty-three-year-old Mark Porter of Ozark entered his plea Friday. He is charged with killing Gary and Jan Tyrrell in May at their Springfield home.
KYTV reports prosecutors say Porter was about $320,000 in debt and had asked Gary Tyrrell for a loan, which was denied.
Investigators say Porter sold about $18,500 worth of collectible coins right after the Tyrrells were killed, about the same amount of coins missing from the couple’s home after they died. Court documents indicate Gary Tyrrell was shot and Jan Tyrrell suffered severe head trauma.
Porter was superintendent when Gary Tyrrell was assistant superintendent in the Mountain Grove school system.
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Shooting guard Conner Frankamp will not begin his sophomore season with the Kansas men’s basketball team. Friday morning, head coach Bill Self announced Frankamp’s decision to leave the University of Kansas.
“I met with Conner and his father (Martin Frankamp) Wednesday to discuss his situation and opportunity this season at Kansas,” Self said. “On Thursday he informed me he was going to transfer at the end of this fall semester. From this point forward he is no longer part of this team and will not participate this semester so he can transfer after Christmas and have two-and-a-half years remaining when he becomes eligible after sitting out one full academic year.”
The all-time scoring leader in the Wichita City League from Wichita North High School, Frankamp came in and played in 27 games as a freshman in 2013-14. He was a key factor in the Jayhawks’ 2014 NCAA Tournament as he averaged 11.0 points per game and went 7-for-14 from three-point range. By the end of his rookie season, Frankamp was averaging 8.3 minutes a game and shooting over 31 percent from behind the arc.
“I’ve been thinking about this for a while now,” Frankamp said. “I love KU and I love the Jayhawks. I feel like I’ve improved quite a bit since I’ve been here. I love my teammates but I just don’t feel like it’s the right fit for me. We have many good guards and so many big-time players. I want to be at a place where I could play a bigger role.”
Frankamp progressed through the year, recording his best game of his career in the last game of the 2013-14 season when he scored a career-high 12 points on 4-of-7 threes vs. Stanford (3/23). In KU’s first game of the NCAA Tournament, he tallied 10 points against Eastern Kentucky (3/21). In conference play, Frankamp’s best outing was a 2-for-3 effort from three-point range at Kansas State (2/10).
“This was disappointing news to us. Conner is a fine young man, a very good basketball player and certainly part of what we had envisioned not only our future but also as an impact guy for this upcoming season,” Self said. “We still have six other very good perimeter players. We’re looking forward to all six of those guys contributing in a big way and meaningful minutes throughout the course of the year. Conner will finish this semester academically and will continue to get academic support from us. We wish him the best in his decision making of his new school and in his future basketball endeavors.”
“Coach Self has been a great coach to me, I’ve learned so much under him,” Frankamp said. “He’s not only a great coach but has been a great mentor for me. I can talk to him about almost anything.
“The Kansas fans are amazing, probably the best in the country,” Frankamp added. “I want to wish my teammates good luck. They are like family to me and I want to see them succeed. I’ll still be rooting for them to win and everything.”
No. 5 Kansas, picked to win its 11th-straight Big 12 Conference regular season title, will unofficially open the season when the Jayhawks welcome Washburn to Allen Fieldhouse for an exhibition contest on Monday, Nov. 3. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.
TOPEKA — A once-obscure effort by a group of states to get out from under federal health care regulations has become an issue in the final days of the Kansas governor’s race.
On Wednesday, Democratic lieutenant governor candidate Jill Docking teamed with Republican Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger at a Wichita news conference to criticize Republican Gov. Sam Brownback for signing a bill authorizing Kansas’ membership in a multi-state health care compact. Docking, Democrat Paul Davis’ running mate, said the compact could put the “Medicare benefits of Kansas seniors at risk.”
If the compact is approved by Congress, its nine member states could suspend federal health care regulations within their borders and take over several programs now administered by the federal government.
Docking, Praeger and other critics of the compact charge that it opens the door to a possible state takeover of Medicare, the health care program that serves approximately 450,000 Kansas seniors.
“Supporters of the (compact) bill may tell you it does not affect Medicare, but that is just false,” Praeger said. “It would be a serious mistake to turn Medicare over to state control.”
The issue has been gaining momentum in recent weeks, partially because of an effort by legislative supporters of the compact to stifle a Johnson County advisory group’s effort to publish their concerns about it in a newsletter mailed to country residents.
On Thursday, State Budget Director Shawn Sullivan entered the fray. In a column sent to Kansas media outlets from Gov. Sam Brownback’s office, Sullivan, a former nursing home administrator, sought to address what he called “the considerable misinformation” coming from critics of the compact.
“Many politicians and editorial board writers have tried to frighten our seniors by saying the compact would privatize the Medicare system in Kansas. That’s just not true,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan, who served as secretary of the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services before taking the budget director’s post in May, said Brownback signed the bill to exempt the state from requirements of the Affordable Care Act. He said the governor has “no desire to take over the Medicare program.”
Even so, some conservative legislators who voted for the compact have said the state should have the option of running Medicare if the cash-strapped federal government can’t manage it.
“Does anybody believe that the federal government is not going to make wholesale, major cuts to all programs?” said Rep. Jerry Lunn, a Republican from Overland Park. “This (Medicare) would be included. We’re trying to do something to get out ahead of that because this is going to come back to the states to try to manage and fix this mess.”
Lunn made the comments during one of the September meetings attended by legislators and members of a group that advises the Johnson County Area Agency on Aging.
The compact also is an issue in the race for Kansas insurance commissioner. Democrat Dennis Anderson has called it a “terrible idea” because of its potential impact on Medicare. Republican Ken Selzer, who is leading in the polls, supports the compact as a way to bring decision-making to the state level but recently has tried to distance himself from the controversy by saying it’s “a legislative issue, not an insurance commissioner issue.”
Jim McLean is a reporter for Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — The Rev. Al Sharpton returned to St. Louis Friday to renew calls for the federal prosecution of a white police officer who shot and killed a black 18-year-old in the nearby suburb of Ferguson.
A St. Louis County grand jury’s deliberations about whether to indict Ferguson officer Darren Wilson in Michael Brown’s killing are expected to be complete by mid-November. The U.S. Justice Department is also investigating whether Wilson violated Brown’s civil rights and conducting a broad investigation of police in Ferguson and the St. Louis area.
Sharpton returned to New York after meeting with Brown’s parents and local activists. He’s scheduled to again join Brown’s parents Monday at a get-out-the-vote rally in St. Louis.
Sharpton’s breakfast speech was followed by a training of volunteer “justice disciples” to monitor the police response to anticipated protests over the upcoming grand jury decision
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ST. LOUIS (AP) – The Rev. Al Sharpton is scheduled to return to St. Louis Friday for a new round of protests and rallies connected to Michael Brown’s police shooting death.
The civil rights activist and television commentator will meet with local activists and Brown’s parents Friday morning, followed by a training of volunteer “justice disciples” who will monitor the police response to anticipated protests over the upcoming grand jury decision on whether to indict Ferguson officer Darren Wilson in Browns’ killing.
Sharpton plans to remain in the area through Monday, when he will again be joined by Brown’s parents at a get-out-the-vote rally before the next day’s general election.
Sharpton delivered the eulogy at Brown’s funeral and later joined Brown’s family at news conferences in Ferguson, Atlanta and Washington.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A finance report shows that the Kansas Democratic Party contributed $90,000 in the past week to gubernatorial nominee Paul Davis’ campaign against Republican Gov. Sam Brownback.
The report filed Thursday also showed that Davis raised an additional $85,400 in contributions from individuals, businesses and political action committees after Oct. 23.
His total fundraising of $175,400 for the period far surpassed the $65,250 reported by Brownback’s campaign.
But Brownback began Oct. 24 with more than $1 million in his campaign account, thanks to a $500,000 loan from his running mate, Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer, and another $200,000 loan from the governor and his wife.
Davis’ report showed that the state Democratic Party contributed $50,000 to his campaign Monday, then an additional $40,000 two days later.
FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) — The embattled police chief of the suburban St. Louis town where a white officer’s fatal shooting of a black 18-year-old remains under investigation has criticized Attorney General Eric Holder’s recent call for “wholesale change” in the department.
Ferguson chief Tom Jackson tells the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that Holder’s comments in Washington this week were “irresponsible” while federal investigations into both Michael Brown’s Aug. 9 death and the broader Ferguson police operations are still going on.
A St. Louis County grand jury considering whether to bring criminal charges against Ferguson officer Darren Wilson.
Jackson said he is “low-hanging fruit” after a series of published reports suggesting he was being forced to step down to soothe department critics. The chief said he has no plans to resign.
KANSAS CITY- Two people were injured in an accident just after 7:30 a.m. on Friday in Wyandotte County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2005 Chevy passenger car driven by Jose M. Madrigal, 74, Kansas City, was southbound on 18th Street just north of Metropolitan in the right lane. The driver was making a lane change, lost control and struck the concrete wall several times.
Madrigal and a passenger Maria D Madrigal, 17, Kansas City, were transported to Shawnee Mission Medical Center.
The KHP reported both were properly restrained at the time of the accident.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas House candidate is facing criticism for a Facebook post that joked about black fathers.
Republican Cordell Fischer told The Topeka Capital-Journal that he removed the post when he became aware of it. He says his wife tagged him in the post and that it wasn’t supposed to be public.
The post featured a Darth Vader photo with the caption, “FIRST BLACK GUY TO ADMIT HE IS THE FATHER,” a reference to the “Star Wars” villain telling Luke Skywalker he was his father.
Fischer is running against Democratic Rep. Harold Lane, whose district covers eastern Topeka. Lane says he “found it appalling that anyone would post something so inappropriate.” Both candidates are white.
Fischer, a church pastor, says he apologizes for “whatever it looked like to the public.”
WASHINGTON (AP) — A government watchdog agency says Medicare’s prescription drug program kept paying for costly medications even after patients were dead.
The problem apparently started with a bureaucratic rule that’s now getting a second look.
A report coming out Friday from the Health and Human Services Department’s inspector general says Medicare has been allowing payment for prescriptions filled up to 32 days after a patient’s death.
The report looked at a tiny sliver of Medicare prescriptions — those for HIV drugs. It found that Medicare paid $292,381 for AIDS drugs for 158 dead beneficiaries in 2012.
Investigators say they think the problem is much bigger, because the same payment rule applies to all medications dispensed through the $85 billion program.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The former director of a home for the disabled in Missouri was sentenced to three years and one month in federal prison without parole for embezzling more than $300,000 from the organization.
