LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Parts of Iowa, Missouri and other Midwest states are teetering close to drought status.

The National Drought Mitigation Center on Thursday classified a large swath of southern Iowa, areas along the northern Missouri border and the region east toward Illinois and Wisconsin as abnormally dry. This is one level below its moderate drought category.

The label comes just a week after the center categorized the area as normal.

The Omaha World-Herald reports much of the Plains, including Minnesota, the Dakotas and southern Nebraska, were already near drought or in drought, and most of the region remains unchanged from last week.

Much of the country has experienced a warmer and drier winter than normal.

The drought center is located at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Wichita man has been sentenced to nearly three years in state prison after a 10-month-old girl died after he left her in a hot car while he and his partner smoked marijuana.

Twenty-nine-year-old Seth Jackson was sentenced Friday to 32 months in prison for one count of involuntary manslaughter. Prosecutors say the child, Kadillak Poe-Jones, died in July after she was left in the car when the temperature was about 90 degrees.

Jackson was originally charged with felony first-degree murder after investigators found he was smoking marijuana with his partner at their home while the child was outside. The men have said they believed the girl was playing with other children inside the house. They realized she was outside when they heard an infant crying on television.

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — A suburban Kansas City school district says it is negotiating to bring a Thomas Hart Benton painting out of hiding and display it for the public.

The painting, called “Utah Highlands,” has not been seen for several years. It was purchased for the Shawnee Mission High School by the class of 1957 and for years was displayed in what is now Shawnee Mission North High School.

But district officials had the painting kept in a secure place after it was appraised as being worth several hundred thousands of dollars.

The Kansas City Star reported this week that some former students who helped buy the painting want it displayed. On Thursday, district officials said they are negotiating with another entity to display the painting for the public.

MIKE STOBBE, AP Medical Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Some new evidence this is a particularly bad flu season: Flu-related hospitalizations of the elderly are the highest since the government started tracking that statistic nine years ago.

Officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday that about 198 out of every 100,000 people 65 and older have been hospitalized with flu-related illness this flu season.

It’s the highest level seen since the government started tracking the statistic in the 2005-2006 flu season. The previous record was 183 per 100,000, during the flu season two years ago.

That flu season and this one were dominated by a virus known as H3N2. This year, the flu vaccine is not built for the H3N2 strain, that’s spreading most widely.

SPRINGFIELD (AP) – A Springfield man who withdrew his guilty plea to second-degree murder after state gun laws were changed has been convicted of a lesser crime in his girlfriend’s death.

Darrell Smith was convicted Thursday of second-degree involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action for shooting his girlfriend, Kimberly Walker, in the head in December 2012.

Smith had pleaded guilty to second-degree murder this summer but withdrew his plea after Missouri voters in August approved an amendment that allows nonviolent felons to possess guns.

The Springfield News-Leader reports the sentencing difference is significant. Smith could have faced 30 years on the murder charge. The maximum sentence for manslaughter is seven years, although Smith could get more prison time for the armed criminal action conviction.

STEVE PEOPLES, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) —Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney will not run for president in 2016.

Three weeks after unexpectedly saying he was considering a third campaign for the White House, the former Massachusetts governor told members of his staff during a Friday conference call that he is out of race.

Romney jumped back into the presidential discussion on Jan. 10, when he told a small group of former donors in New York that he was eyeing another White House run.

But in the days since, as Romney tried to rally support for another campaign, he discovered that several of his past supporters and major fundraisers had defected to former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

Said one this week in an interview with The Associated Press, “I have turned the page.”

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced in a media release Thursday that the former branch manager of a Fulton, Mo., company has abeen sentenced in federal court for a $576,000 mortgage fraud and embezzlement scheme at the title company where she was employed.

Terri Lynn Johnson, 50, of Columbia, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Brian C. Wimes to two years and six months in federal prison without parole. The court also ordered Johnson to pay $405,653 in restitution.

Johnson was hired for a clerical position with Guaranty Land Title Company in 2001, and was eventually promoted to become the branch manager of the Fulton, office after the company was acquired by Landchoice Company, LLC. She remained in that position until her termination on Dec. 4, 2008.

On July 11, 2013, Johnson pleaded guilty to bank fraud and money laundering. Johnson admitted that she engaged in a $300,000 mortgage fraud scheme while she was employed as the Fulton branch manager. Johnson refinanced the mortgage on her residence twice. As a result of the false and fraudulent information provided by Johnson, two banks approved mortgage loans for $175,000 in 2007 and for $125,000 in 2008. The combination of those two loans clearly exceeded the appraised value of Johnson’s residence, which was used to secure both loans.

Johnson also admitted that she embezzled $276,173 from Landchoice. Johnson diverted income checks from Landchoice into a bank account that had been opened for Guaranty Land Title Company and which her employer didn’t know existed. She also diverted escrow funds which had been obtained by Landchoice for loan closings into that account.

Johnson then wrote checks to herself which she deposited into her personal checking account. Johnson wrote checks totaling approximately $59,465 payable to herself or to cash. Johnson also wrote checks to Johnson Gardens (her personal business) totaling approximately $12,500. Johnson also wrote checks believed to be for her personal use totaling approximately $19,916. In addition, Johnson utilized a debit card issued for the account, which she used to access $184,292 from that account for her personal benefit. The total personal benefit realized by Johnson from this embezzlement scheme is estimated to be approximately $276,173.

This case was prosecuted by Supervisory Assistant U.S. Attorney Lawrence E. Miller. It was investigated by the FBI, IRS-Criminal Investigation, the Fulton, Mo., Police Department, the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the Missouri Department of Insurance.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Republicans are gathering for their biggest convention of the year.

The GOP leadership will kick off the two-day event Friday with speeches by Gov. Sam Brownback and Kansas Congressman Kevin Yoder.

Kansas officials will be joined in their receptions by speeches from visiting Republicans legislators. Congressman Trey Gowdy of South Carolina will speak at the Saturday lunch, while Congressman Steve Russell of Oklahoma will speak at the evening banquet. Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa will also speak, coming off of delivering the Republican rebuttal to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address last week.

Kansas Republicans hold their annual convention on or near the anniversary of Kansas’ 1861 entry into the Union as a state.

by Andy Marso

On a day when Congressman Kevin Yoder testified before a Kansas House committee, it was a 15-year-old Olathe South High School freshman who stole the show. Rachel Mast, who has Down syndrome, ebulliently encouraged the Children and Seniors Committee to approve a bill to allow tax-exempt savings accounts for Kansas children with disabilities that would not jeopardize their Medicaid benefits.

Mast told committee members the Achieving a Better Life Experience, or ABLE, Act would help her achieve her dreams of going to college, getting married and living in a pink house. “The ABLE Act will help me save money and have a job,” Mast said. At one point Mast said she was considering continuing her education at the University of Kansas and looked over to where Yoder was leaning against the wall.

The congressman, a former KU student body president, gave her a thumbs-up. Legislators were delighted. “You may be one of the most persuasive conferees I’ve ever heard,” said Rep. Melissa Rooker, a Republican from Fairway. Rep. Ponka-We Victors, a Wichita Democrat, told Mast she would not have had the courage to testify at a legislative hearing when she was Mast’s age. “I want to live in a pink house someday too,” Victors added. The legislation Mast was promoting, House Bill 2100, has widespread support.

Proponents include Yoder, fellow U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins, Kansas State Treasurer Ron Estes and several disability rights advocacy groups. Rep. Connie O’Brien, a Republican from Tonganoxie who chairs the Children and Seniors Committee, said the committee will vote on the bill Tuesday.

Yoder said he got to know Mast and her parents, Jonathan and Jawanda, through their years of lobbying Congress to allow states to set up the disability savings accounts, which mirror the existing 529 plans for college savings. Yoder said he pushed House leadership to bring the federal bill up for a vote several times and apologized for how slowly the wheels turned in Washington, D.C.

But with the federal bill’s passage in December, he said Kansas should now act quickly to become the first state to take advantage of it. “Know that this is a bill that will help families in your district,” Yoder said. “It will help families across Kansas.”

Yoder thanked Rep. Erin Davis, an Olathe Republican, for introducing the Kansas bill. The bill would allow Kansans with disabilities under the age of 26 to have a tax-free savings account in which they could contribute $14,000 annually and withdraw the money tax-free if it’s used for disability-related expenses like transportation or home accommodations.

Any funds in the account up to $100,000 would not count against the disabled Kansan’s Medicaid and Social Security benefits — a key point given that Kansans with disabilities are currently limited to $2,000 in assets if they wish to retain those benefits. Estes said his office would request about $50,000 to get the program off the ground, with a target start date of July 2016. After that, Estes envisions administrative costs being borne by a private contractor from the financial realm, which would be chosen through the regular state bidding process.

Estes said the hit to the state’s tax revenue should be minimal, because without the accounts, families have little incentive to increase their taxable income if it means jeopardizing disability benefits. Estes’ agency estimated the state might lose about $18,500 a year in tax revenue.

The Kansas Department of Revenue estimated the fiscal hit would be more like $40,000 per year. Both figures are dwarfed by the state’s $6 billion general fund and the cost of income tax cuts approved in 2012. But the state is facing a budget crunch due in part to those tax cuts, and Rep. Susie Swanson, a Republican from Clay Center, said she wondered whether the fiscal note could squeeze through a Legislature looking to cut, rather than add, spending. “I share your concerns a little bit,” Estes said. Swanson said she hoped cost would not deter the bill’s passage.

“There’s nothing in this bill to not like,” Swanson said. Federal law allows for states to use money left in the accounts to recoup Medicaid expenses after a beneficiary’s death, though Rocky Nichols, executive director of the Disability Rights Center of Kansas, said “that doesn’t mean that they have to.”

Nichols’ group supports the legislation, which he said is overall “a great bill.” Jawanda Mast said the bill would alleviate a gut-wrenching Catch-22 that parents of disabled children face. When she learned that her first child would be born with Down syndrome, she said hospital staff counseled her not to save money because it might prevent her daughter from accessing Medicaid services.

But she was also told that her daughter would face lifelong expenses related to her disability that would not be covered by Medicaid. “Why are we penalized for having a disability?” Mast said. “We need to be saving.” Mast, speaking on behalf of the National Down Syndrome Society, thanked Yoder and the rest of the Kansas congressional delegation, with the exception of Congressman Tim Huelskamp, who was one of 17 “no” votes when the federal bill reached the U.S. House of Representatives.

 

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

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — More than 100 people have gathered in Springfield to show their support for a police officer who was seriously injured in a shooting earlier this week.
Residents and representatives with businesses packed into a room at the Springfield Police Officers Association headquarters on Thursday night to help organize fundraisers for officer Aaron Pearson.
Police say Pearson suffered a “career-ending” brain injury after being shot Monday. His sister-in-law tells the Springfield News-Leader family members are thankful for the support the community has shown Pearson.
Joshua Lee Hagood is accused in shooting Pearson in the head while Pearson and two other officers were checking suspicious activity.
Hagood pleaded not guilty Thursday. A judge has denied bond for Hagood and ordered a public defender be appointed for him. Online court records early Friday didn’t list one yet for Hagood.