The Associated Press

WICHITA- The son of a North Carolina-based missionary says his mother is fighting the Ebola virus while in isolation in Liberia.

Jeremy Writebol in Wichita, Kansas, told NBC’s “Today” show Wednesday he’s been able to talk with Nancy Writebol as she fights the illness.

He says his mother is able to move around the home where she’s in isolation and has been able to get plenty of fluids.

Jeremey Writebol says he’s concerned about his father, David Writebol, who was exposed before his wife learned of her condition. Jeremy Writebol said his father is feeling fine and is checking his temperature every six hours to monitor his condition.

The Writebols’ Charlotte, North Carolina, church plans a prayer service Wednesday night for her and Kent Brantly, another medical missionary fighting the disease.

MATT HAMILTON, Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Officials say a broken water pipe that flooded parts of the UCLA campus has been shut off after releasing millions of gallons of water.

Los Angeles Department of Water and Power assistant general manager Jim McDaniel says the pipe was shut off around 7 p.m., some 3 1/2 hours after it broke under Sunset Boulevard and began spewing water onto the nearby campus.

McDaniel says an estimated eight to 10 million gallons were released. He says the entire city of Los Angeles uses 55 million gallons per day.

Workers had to slowly close three valves to safely shut off the 93-year-old pipe.

The mayor’s office said in a statement that water service and quality were not affected by the break.

 

By Missouri state law, the sales tax holiday begins on the first Friday in August and continues through the following Sunday. In 2014, the three-day holiday begins at 12:01 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 1, and runs through Sunday, Aug. 3. Certain back-to-school purchases, such as clothing, school supplies, computers, and other items as defined by the statute, are exempt from sales tax for this time period only.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill, the daughter of a World War II veteran and senior member of the Armed Services Committee, today released the following statement on the Senate’s bipartisan confirmation of Robert McDonald to be Secretary of Veterans Affairs:

“I’m very pleased with the Senate’s overwhelmingly bipartisan vote to confirm Robert McDonald. He has a lot of work ahead of him—and I fully expect he will work to restore a culture of accountability at the VA by ensuring that any employee retaliating against a whistleblower or who cooked the books on wait times, is fired, and that we can quickly recover bonuses paid to those fraudsters with taxpayer dollars. I believe Mr. McDonald stands ready to tackle these difficult issues and ensure our veterans are receiving the highest level of care.”

McCaskill last week met with McDonald to discuss how best to reform the VA following recent reports of misconduct at facilities across the country, while ensuring whistleblowers who report concerns are protected from retaliation.

As Chairman of the Subcommittee on Financial & Contracting Oversight, McCaskill recently introduced legislation that would mandate the firing of any VA employee found to have retaliated against a whistleblower. Currently, a finding of retaliation against a whistleblower is punishable by a range of actions, including fines and reprimand.

McCaskill also introduced legislation with Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) to take back bonuses paid to employees at the VA who were involved in the manipulation of electronic waitlists. The legislation requires VA employees who received bonuses in 2011 or later to repay those bonuses if they contributed to a deliberate omission from an electronic wait list the names of veterans waiting for health care. The employee’s superiors are also required to pay back bonuses if they knew, or reasonably should have known, of their subordinates’ purposeful omission of the names of veterans from electronic waitlists.

OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — A 22-year-old Kansas man is facing life in prison after pleading guilty to premeditated first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of another man in September.

The Kansas City Star reports Christopher Lamont Shelton-Jenkins on Tuesday admitted shooting 21-year-old Brandon Holmes at an Overland Park apartment.

Prosecutors say the Kansas City, Kansas, man was a roommate of Shelton-Jenkins’ wife, who found the body after the shooting. Shelton-Jenkins told investigators he wanted to kill Holmes but someone beat him to it.

He later told detectives he had set up the killing but was not the one who pulled the trigger.

A gun matched to bullets at the crime scene was found later hidden on property near the Shelton-Jenkins family home.

He is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 3.

 

KANSAS CITY (AP) – President Barack Obama feasted on barbecue with four people who wrote him letters in a trip to highlight the struggles of working families in America’s heartland.

Obama’s dinner was at Arthur Bryant’s, a Kansas City self-serve barbecue joint. The president ordered a half slab of ribs, beans, lard-cooked fries and a Bud Light, but was disappointed to hear the restaurant was sold out of cole slaw.

The White House said the Kansas City letter writers included a man who thanked Obama for student loan help he received, a single mother who described her challenges raising children and running a business, a teacher in a GED program and a woman who is active in her neighborhood association.

The dinner came roughly 48 hours before Congress is set to go on a five-week break. Obama plans to criticize Congress for inaction in a speech Wednesday at the historic Uptown Theater in Kansas City.

ERICA WERNER, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — A bill to deal with the immigration surge at the border appears headed for procedural defeat in the Senate.

DETROIT (AP) — The four-door Mini Cooper Countryman was the only one of 12 cars to earn a top rating of “good” in new frontal crash tests.

The Nissan Leaf, Nissan Juke, Fiat 500L and Mazda5 wagon fared the worst in tests performed by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

The frontal test, introduced in 2012, replicates what happens when 25 percent of a car’s front end strikes a rigid object at 40 miles per hour.

The Chevrolet Volt, Ford C-Max, Mitsubishi Lancer, Scion FR-S and Subaru BRZ all got the second-highest rating of “acceptable.” The Hyundai Veloster and Scion xB got “moderate” ratings.

The Volt was the only car in the group to earn the institute’s “Top Safety Pick Plus” rating, because it has an optional front crash-prevention system.

 

OSAGE CITY, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts is getting help in his Republican primary race from a political action committee representing tea party challenger Milton Wolf’s fellow radiologists.

PAC Director Ted Burnes (burns) said Tuesday that the group believes Roberts will be more effective in the Senate than Wolf.

The American College of Radiology Association PAC this week disclosed spending almost $43,000 on statewide mailings praising Roberts.

Burnes also said it’s troubling that Wolf has acknowledged that in the past he posted graphic X-ray images on a personal Facebook page. Wolf apologized publicly, and he said Tuesday that many voters are upset with Roberts’ attacks over the issue.

Wolf said the PAC is a Washington special interest group that works to protect incumbents.

The state’s primary election in Aug. 5.

By Bryan Thompson, KPR

TOPEKA — A new report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says Kansans on Medicare will save more than $10 million this year on prescription drugs thanks to one of the lesser-known provisions of the Affordable Care Act.

Medicare Part D, which offers insurance coverage for drugs, requires people to pay the full cost of their medications once their drug spending reaches a certain level. This is known as the “donut hole,” as the coverage eventually kicks in again once a person’s drug spending reaches catastrophic levels.
The health reform law gradually phases out the donut hole.

According to the federal report, 14,000 Medicare beneficiaries in Kansas will save an average of $721 each in 2014 because of the expanded drug coverage. That works out to more than $10 million saved in Kansas this year, and almost $107 million since the provision took effect in 2010.

According to HHS, nationwide more than 8.2 million seniors and people with disabilities with Medicare have saved $11.5 billion since 2010 because of the ACA.

This news comes on the heels of continued historic low levels of growth in Medicare spending. According to the recent Medicare Trustees report, the life of the Trust Fund has been extended to 2030, up from its projection of 2017 in 2009, and Part B premiums are expected to stay the same rather than increase for the second year in a row. Additionally, a new HHS report found that per capita Medicare spending growth averaged 2 percent in 2009–2012 and nearly 0 percent in 2013, one-third of the growth rate during the 2000-2008 period.

In 2014, people with a Medicare prescription drug plan who fall into the donut hole will save an estimated 53 percent on brand-name drugs and 28 percent on generic drugs, because of discounts and increased coverage.