KANSAS CITY (AP) – Lamar Hunt Jr., son of the founder of the Kansas City Chiefs, has purchased the Missouri Mavericks, a minor league hockey team based in a Kansas City suburb.
Hunt finalized the sale of the East Coast Hockey League on Thursday. He says he hopes to increase interest in the sport in the Kansas City region but it’s too soon to tell if the area would be a strong candidate for an NHL team.
The Kansas City Star reports Hunt’s ownership of the Mavericks is not part of Hunt Sports Group, which is run by his brother Clark, chairman of the Chiefs.
Lamar Hunt Jr., of Leawood, is president of Kansas City-based Loretto Sports Ventures, which invests in sports teams, properties and affiliated assets.
SHERIDAN- A Missouri woman was injured in an accident just after 11 a.m. on Thursday in Nodaway County.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a Toyota passenger vehicle driven by Ashley D. Rhynes, 25, Sheridan, was eastbound on M 246 four miles west of Sheridan. The driver lost control on the snow and ice covered road. The vehicle went off the south side of the road and struck a concrete bridge abutment. Following impact, the vehicle rotated clockwise and came to rest in the middle of the road.
A private vehicle transported Rhynes to St. Francis Hospital in Maryville.
She was not wearing a seat belt according to MSHP.
EMPORIA, Kan. (AP) — Fire caused damage to a building on the Emporia State University campus but no injuries were reported.
University spokeswoman Gwen Larson says flames were seen Thursday evening on the roof of the Health, Physical Education and Recreation building, which also houses the university’s athletics offices.
WIBW-TV reports Larson says a few people who were inside the building were able to get out safely. No injuries were reported.
Larson says the building’s heating and air conditioning system and roof were damaged. The complete extent of the damage has not been determined.
Investigators believe a malfunction in a dryer near a locker room caused the fire.
ST. JOSEPH- A teen driver was injured in an accident just before 2 p.m. on Thursday in Buchanan County.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2004 Ford Taurus driven by Reyna M. Michael, 18, Winston, was eastbound on U.S. 36 two miles east of St. Joseph. A tractor-trailer in the passing lane struck the left rear of the Ford. The Taurus skidded off the south side of the road, struck a guardrail, went down an embankment, partially overturned and struck several trees. The tractor-trailer left the scene.
Michael was transported to Mosaic Life Care.
She was not wearing a seat belt according to the MSHP.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Representative Sam Graves released the following statement after participating in a joint hearing by the House and Senate on the impact of the Administration’s proposed ‘Waters of the United States’ rule to further expand federal regulations onto private property under the Clean Water Act.
“The mission of the EPA is to protect human health and the environment. Yet, time and again we see them expanding this mission and overstepping their authority,” said Graves. “Ensuring that our land and water resources are properly cared for is a sensitive issue and one that is intentionally left to those who are best equipped to maintain them – the states and localities,” he continued.
“By expanding this rule and adding all the bureaucratic red-tape that comes with it, the EPA will only serve to bring confusion to the situation and stunt economic growth.”
Hackers accessed millions of records at Anthem, a health insurance company with policyholders in Missouri and Kansas. Credit File photo
By JIM MCLEAN
It’s likely that the records of some Kansas Medicaid recipients and Missouri Blue Cross and Blue Shield policyholders were compromised by a cyberattack on the Anthem health insurance company.
The breach was discovered last week but news of it wasn’t made public until Wednesday.
Cindy Wakefield, a spokesperson for Anthem, the nation’s second-largest health insurer, said the hackers accessed the records of a significant number of current and former policyholders and individuals covered by the company’s Medicare and Medicaid subsidiaries.
All told, the database contained approximately 80 million records, she said.
“We don’t believe that the entire population was impacted, but we think that it’s in the tens of millions,” Wakefield said. “We know that it is impacting all lines of our business in all of our states.”
Anthem is the parent company of Amerigroup, one of the three private managed care organizations selected by Kansas to privatize its Medicaid program, known as KanCare. Amerigroup covers approximately 132,000 of the more than 411,000 low-income, disabled and elderly Kansans enrolled in KanCare, according to a recent report compiled by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment for a legislative oversight committee.
Wakefield said the company is “working around the clock” to determine the number of its Kansas beneficiaries who were affected by the cyberattack.
“The assumption is that some of our Kansas members have been impacted, but at this point we just do not know how many,” she said.
The same is true, Wakefield said, for Anthem’s policyholders in Missouri, where the company has about 25 percent of the private health insurance market. Most of the policyholders are concentrated in the St. Louis area.
When company and FBI investigators are able to determine which records were compromised, Anthem will notify affected individuals by letter. The letters will include information about how to enroll in credit monitoring services and will offer to cover the cost of credit repair services, Wakefield said.
“And that (the credit repair) will be retroactive to last week when we discovered the attack,” she said.
So far, Wakefield said, “There is no evidence that any fraudulent activity has occurred due to this attack.”
The records accessed by the hackers contained people’s names, addresses and Social Security numbers, but no credit card or sensitive medical information, Wakefield said.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas is not affiliated with Anthem, but some of its members may have had records in Anthem’s system, said Mary Beth Chambers, a spokesperson for Kansas’ largest health insurer.
“We are working with Anthem to learn more about the data that was compromised and whether any Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas members are affected by this breach,” Chambers said. “If we learn that any of our members had their information compromised, we will notify them in writing as soon as possible.”
In the meantime, Chambers urged consumers to check a special BCBS website that has answers to frequently asked questions about the breach.
Anthem also has created a website to keep consumers updated on its investigation.
Jim McLean is executive editor of KHI News Service in Topeka, a partner in the Heartland Health Monitor team.
TROY, Mo. (AP) – A Missouri boy’s mother, grandmother and aunt have been arrested and charged after authorities say they staged his kidnapping to teach him about stranger danger.
Lincoln County sheriff’s deputies say the three wanted to scare the 6-year-old boy because he was too nice to people. They enlisted the help of the aunt’s male co-worker, who authorities say lured the child into his pickup.
Deputies say the man told the boy he’d be nailed to a wall and also showed him a handgun after he started crying. He bound the boy’s hands and feet and blindfolded him.
Authorities say the boy was taken to his home, where his aunt said he could be sold into sex slavery. The family lectured him about staying away from strangers after untying him.
Police were alerted after the boy told school officials. He’s been placed into protective custody.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Gov. Sam Brownback says a high school’s purchase of a new grand piano illustrates that Kansas’ formula for funding its public schools is flawed.
The Republican governor on Thursday mentioned the new piano at Sumner Academy in Kansas City, Kansas, in announcing plans to cut $28 million in aid to public schools from the current budget.
The local school board purchased the piano last month for more than $47,000. The Kansas City district says it replaced an aging instrument to help students pursuing careers in music and preparing to audition for scholarships.
Brownback said in a statement that the money should have been used to hire another teacher and reduce class sizes.
The district noted it used capital outlay funds, which by law can’t be spent on salaries.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – A Missouri bill would give individuals more flexibility in burying dead family members.
Republican state Sen. Jay Wasson of Nixa introduced legislation Thursday that would allow a cemetery owner to unearth a body and rebury it elsewhere with permission of relatives.
The legislation also outlines who gets to choose the final disposal of a dead body if family members or others disagree.
If there are multiple people with equal priority over how to dispose of the body, the legislation would require a majority of those individuals to decide the issue.
JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – The Senate has approved Gov. Jay Nixon’s appointment of Nia Ray as director of the Missouri Department of Revenue.
Senators on Thursday confirmed Ray by a voice vote. She began working as director on Dec. 1.
Ray previously headed the Division of Employment Security within the state labor department. She also led the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center.
Nixon says Ray has brought extensive leadership experience and skills to the post.
Senators on Thursday also praised her as qualified and open to suggestions to improve department policies.
KANSAS CITY (AP) – Lamar Hunt Jr., son of the founder of the Kansas City Chiefs, has purchased the Missouri Mavericks, a minor league hockey team based in a Kansas City suburb.
