SAVANNAH- A Kansas woman was injured in an accident just after 2 p.m. on Wednesday in Andrew County.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2002 Saturn driven by Deborah M. Peak, 22, Atchison, was eastbound on U.S. 59 three miles west of Savannah.
The vehicle traveled off the south side of the road, the driver overcorrected and the vehicle went off the road again. The vehicle went down an embankment and overturned.
Peak was transported to Heartland Regional Medical Center.
The MSHP reported Peak was properly restrained at the time of the accident.
WASHINGTON (AP) — It’s not Obamacare or climate change. It’s not yet terrorism or fear of the Islamic State group. Those issues are on the minds of voters as they begin casting ballots in this year’s midterm elections, but nothing matters to American voters as much the economy.
An Associated Press-GfK poll released Wednesday finds 9 in 10 likely voters call the economy an extremely or very important issue.
Few see change coming once voting closes November 4. A majority of likely voters expect Democrats to retain control of the Senate, with 68 percent saying the GOP will keep the House. Voters are split on which party they would like to see win control of Congress, 45 percent prefer Republicans and 42 percent say Democrats.
MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas university says it’s leading a five-year food project that includes other schools and developing countries in examining ways small farms can increase production.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports (http://bit.ly/1ozCROW ) Kansas State University recently announced that it received a $50 million grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Vara Prasad, who will be the project’s director, says part of the issue is also reducing the amount of spoiled food. The project will also look at the nutritional needs of people farming the land.
The school will coordinate studies in Ghana, Senegal, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Bangladesh and Myanmar. The grant will fund one or two projects proposed by colleges and nonprofits in each country.
A study shows that giving teens free birth control encourages them to use long-acting methods and greatly cuts the chances they will become pregnant or have an abortion.
The study involved a project in St. Louis that offered 1,400 girls their choice of methods but stressed the benefits of IUDs and hormone implants that last three to 10 years over less reliable methods like birth control pills and condoms.
The average annual pregnancy rate was only one-fifth of the national average for sexually active teens. Birth and abortion rates also were much lower for teens offered free birth control.
The project also included about 7,500 older women. Similar results for the group as a whole were reported two years ago.
Results are in the New England Journal of Medicine.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — State representatives are raising concerns over whether troopers patrolling Missouri’s waterways were properly trained following a 2011 highway and water patrol merger.
During a hearing Wednesday at the Capitol, lawmakers questioned Missouri State Highway Patrol officials on how much training troopers receive before heading onto the water.
The review comes after the death of a 20-year-old man who drowned May 31 in the Lake of the Ozarks. A state trooper had arrested the man for drunken boating and handcuffed him before the man slipped into the water and out of his lifejacket.
The hearing is the first of several intended to review management and training in the Highway Patrol since the water patrol was folded into its operations.
Valeo Behavioral Health Care plans to open a crisis intervention center at 400 S.W. Oakley in Topeka. Services at the new facility will include short residential stays, lasting three to five days.-photo by Dave Ranney
By Dave Ranney
KHI News Service
TOPEKA — The community mental health center here on Thursday will formally open a 26-bed crisis intervention center that’s expected to lead to fewer mentally ill adults being referred to Osawatomie State Hospital or ending up in jail.
“We’re hoping this new facility will take some pressure off the state hospital,” said Glea Ashley, chief executive at Valeo Behavioral Health Care. “But our main goal is to get people the services they need so they don’t deteriorate to the point where they end up in Osawatomie, or in jail, or in the emergency room. If we can get them stabilized and get them the wrap-around services they need, then hopefully we can get them back on their feet. That’s the goal.”
Last year Valeo referred 207 patients to Osawatomie State Hospital, one of two state-run hospitals for the mentally ill.
In recent weeks, the state hospital has admitted record numbers of patients. And more than 900 of the 9,600 inmates in the state’s prison system are known to have serious and persistent mental illnesses.
Valeo will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 10 a.m. Thursday at the new facility, 400 S.W. Oakley. Several city, county and state officials, including Susan Mosier, director of Medicaid services in Kansas, are scheduled to address the gathering. The ceremony will coincide with a come-and-go reception that’s expected to last until 2 p.m.
“I think this is going to be great,” said Jim Mosbacher, director at Breakthrough House, a drop-in program for adults with severe and persistent mental illnesses. “It’s desperately needed. It should help keep some people from sleeping under the bridge.”
Most of the new facility’s services will target Shawnee County residents.
“We always take care of Shawnee County first,” Ashley said. “But we’ll take individuals from throughout the state if we can and if they meet the criteria.”
Services at the new facility will include short residential stays, lasting three to five days.
The facility, she said, is not meant to replicate Rainbow Services Inc., the now-privatized crisis stabilization unit that replaced Rainbow Mental Health Facility, a state-run psychiatric hospital in Kansas City.
“As I understand it, a lot of the services at Rainbow now are new. It’s a new model,” Ashley said. “But a lot of what we’re doing will be more of an expansion of what we’ve been doing. We’re taking crisis services that we’ve had spread out over eight locations and we’re consolidating them into one central location.”
The new building, she said, also “should free up some space in the other eight locations, which are just packed with people now.”
Ashley said most of the facility’s services will be financed through the state’s Medicaid program.
Valeo, she said, is covering the project’s $5.4 million in construction costs.
“This has been a long time coming,” Ashley said. “This is 10 years of saving up our reserves. We’d thought of doing a separate capital campaign, but it would have taken too long and the need was just so great. We knew we needed to get it up and going.”
The new facility will not include additional detox beds, she said, because the operational funding is not available. “That’s a major issue,” Ashley said. “But the funding isn’t there. It’s not increasing; if anything, it’s decreasing.”
Valeo, she said, currently has 11 detox beds but only has enough funding for eight.
Last year, the mental health center served about 7,100 patients. Its annual budget – a mix of city, county, state and federal monies, plus private pay, donations and grants – stands at $19 million.
KANSAS CITY- Two women were injured in an accident just before 11 a.m. on Wednesday in Wyandotte County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2008 Chevy Equinox driven by Tracy A. Weisehan, Arnold, Mo., was northbound on Interstate 635 just north of Shawnee Drive.
The vehicle hydroplaned, slid sideways out of control and was struck by a 2007 Toyota RAV 4 driven by Brenna K Stewart, 36 Olathe.
Weisehan was transported to KU Medical Center. Stewart was transported to Shawnee Mission Medical Center.
The KHP reported both women were properly restrained at the time of the accident.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has saluted the 2013 Major League Soccer champions Sporting Kansas City. He credits the “dedicated fans” of Kansas City for helping the sport grow in the United States.
Obama paid tribute to the team Wednesday for winning the MLS trophy 10 months ago in a freezing penalty kick shootout.
Obama singled out Kansas City defender Matt Besler and midfielder Graham Zusi, who were on the U.S. Men’s National Team for this summer’s World Cup in Brazil.
The president also noted that Kansas City was enjoying a banner athletic week. The Kansas City Royals won the American League wild card game Tuesday and the NFL Kansas City Chiefs defeated the New England Patriots Monday.
Obama said: “Clearly something is going on in Kansas City.”
BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — The U.S. Postal Service and a Colorado man are arguing over where on postal property people can carry guns.
Judges from the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments Wednesday in the case involving Tab Bonidy, a licensed handgun owner who sued the Postal Service over its ban on guns in post offices. The agency also barred Bonidy from leaving a gun in his vehicle in the parking lot.
A federal judge last year ruled that the ban on firearms in postal parking lots violated the Second Amendment. But the agency can keep Bonidy from carrying a gun in the lobby.
Both Bonidy and the Postal Service appealed.
A Department of Justice attorney says it’s a safety issue. Bonidy says it is inconvenient to disarm just to pick up his mail.
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SADIE GURMAN, Associated Press
BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — The U.S. Postal Service and a Colorado man are arguing over where on postal property people can carry guns.
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is set to hear arguments Wednesday in the case involving Tab Bonidy, a licensed handgun owner who in 2010 sued the Postal Service over its ban on guns in post offices. The agency also barred Bonidy from leaving a gun in his vehicle in the parking lot.
A federal judge last year ruled that the ban on firearms in postal parking lots violated the Second Amendment. But he also said the agency could prohibit Bonidy from carrying a gun in a post office lobby.
Both Bonidy and the Postal Service appealed.
They disagree over what constitutes a sensitive place where guns can be legally banned.
