(AP) – Lawrence County authorities say a man has been charged with first-degree murder in the apparent shooting death of his wife.

The sheriff’s office says 55-year-old Radonna Roland-Holman was found on a bed at her home Monday night in western Lawrence County with what appeared to be a gunshot wound. Deputies were unable to save her.

Investigators say her husband, 54-year-old David Holman, called authorities to the house. He was later charged and is being held without bond in the county jail. It was unclear if he had an attorney.

Kansas State University is receiving an initial five-year, $8.5 million award from the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, to establish the federal government’s new Feed the Future Innovation Lab for the Reduction of Post-Harvest Loss.

It is the third Feed the Future Innovation Lab established at Kansas State University in the last five months, bringing more than $27.2 million to the university.

“Kansas State University is proud to lead this effort to improve our global food system,” said John Floros, dean of the College of Agriculture and director of K-State Research and Extension. “As much as a third to half of the world’s harvest is lost every year for a variety of reasons. Through this innovation lab, we will work toward solutions that reduce postharvest losses and help preserve greater quantity and better quality food for the world’s growing population. By doing so, we will also help reduce the waste of the precious natural resources used to produce our food.”

The Innovation Lab for the Reduction of Post-Harvest Loss is part of the U.S. government’s global hunger and food security initiative, called Feed the Future. This newest lab will focus initially on helping the countries of Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Ghana and Guatemala reduce their postharvest losses and food waste for grain and oil seed crops, tuberous root crops, and peanut and legume crops.

The lab will expand its research focus to other Feed the Future countries over time.

“A tremendous amount of time and effort is being put into improving crop yields in the developing parts of the world, but then 20-30 percent of those crops are lost soon after harvest and before they reach the consumer,” said Dirk Maier, professor and head of the grain science and industry department and director of the university’s international grains program. “We will research what can be done in an effective manner to decrease these unacceptably large losses, especially among smallholder and subsistence farmers, and use appropriate technologies and knowledge to increase the supply of safe and nutritious food in these and other Feed the Future focus countries.”

As a way to prevent postharvest losses, researchers will investigate prevention of stored product insect pests and mycotoxins as well as improved measurement, drying and storage techniques. They also will use innovative communication, training and education approaches and look at incorporating micronutrients in grain foods to help improve nutrition.

Maier will co-lead the innovation lab, which will be housed in the university’s International Grains Program Institute.

Partners include the ADM Institute for the Prevention of Postharvest Loss at the University of Illinois; Oklahoma State University; University of Nebraska-Lincoln; South Carolina State University; University of Kentucky; Fort Valley State University; the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Manhattan-based Center for Grain and Animal Health Research; Archer Daniels Midland Co.; Romer Labs; Vestergaard Frandsen; and John Deere; as well as various universities and nongovernmental organizations in the initial four countries.

“I think we have a powerhouse alliance, and USAID affirmed that by selecting Kansas State University as the leader,” Maier said. “It’s a great honor and responsibility. I think it will spotlight the state and the expertise and capabilities of Kansas State University’s faculty and students as well as those of our collaborators.”

While the lab’s focus will be abroad, Maier said its results will benefit Kansas and the U.S.

“If you have countries with stronger economies, they will have higher demands for grains,” he said. “History has proven that with China and India. To feed 9 billion people by 2050, more grain will need to be produced, preserved and sold for food and not rely on food aid to meet needs.”

The university’s other two Feed the Future Innovation Labs — the Sorghum and Millet Innovation Lab and the Applied Wheat Genomics Innovation Lab — focus on developing climate-resilient sorghum, millet and wheat.

(AP) The Marion and Henry Bloch Family Foundation has donated $12 million to St. Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City.

The donation announced Wednesday is the single largest donation ever received by the hospital. It will be used for neuroscience research and programs.

The couple has donated millions to the hospital and other institutions in Kansas City in the past. Henry Bloch is a member of the hospital board and a trustee emeritus of the St. Luke’s Foundation board.

The St. Luke’s system has 10 hospitals plus several clinic and health services in the Kansas City area.

(AP) – Missourians now can donate unclaimed property held by state government directly to charities that support military veterans, medical research, children’s education and other causes.

Treasurer Clint Zweifel announced the donation program Wednesday at the state capitol. He says people regularly have asked to donate their unclaimed property and that the new program gives Missourians a “quick, easy and simple” way to do so.

The state treasurer’s office currently holds $810 million in unclaimed property belonging to 4.7 million account holders. He says many claims are small but when combined could have a significant affect.

Twenty charitable organizations are participating in the donation program.

(AP) — A Missouri resident whose daughter was among three people found shot to death this month in a Topeka home says he’s destitute after losing all of his belongings in a fire while he was looking for her killer.

Paul Lee of Springfield, Mo., says he can’t afford to pay a funeral home and is asking for the public’s help in handling his daughter’s funeral arrangements.

The bodies of Tamesha Lee and two others were found in a home Dec. 1, two hours after a different woman was found grievously wounded behind a strip mall. That woman died two days later.

Lee is staying with family members in Topeka and going door-to-door looking for information about his daughter’s death.

(AP) – The U.S. Department of Health and Senior Services reports 4,124 Missouri residents have selected a health insurance plan through the federally run online marketplace.

The department released the figures Wednesday. HHS said the insurance exchange had more than 31,000 applications from Missouri through Nov. 30. The applications sought coverage for nearly 63,000 people.

Enrollment is up from early November when just 751 Missourians had selected a health insurance plan. The federal health care law set up online marketplaces to help people find affordable insurance but the rollout of the website has been troubled.

The federal agency says that as of Nov. 30, about 137,000 people have enrolled in the 36 states served by the federal website.

Conversations with Conservatives is a group of free market and liberty-minded members of Congress that meets monthly with traditional press and bloggers to discuss the most important issues of the day. Chaired by Representatives Tim Huelskamp (KS-01), Raúl Labrador (ID-01), and Jim Jordan (OH-04), each meeting features different conservative members of Congress who share their ideas and field questions from the media. While questions are not limited to particular topics, Members are expected to discuss Obamacare, the budget, immigration, Iran, and other issues!

Video streaming by Ustream

Participating Members at the December 2013 session of Conversations with Conservatives include: Rep. Tim Huelskamp (KS-01), Rep. Raúl Labrador (ID-01), Rep. Jim Jordan (OH-04), Rep. Andy Harris (MD-01), Rep. Vicky Hartzler (MO-04), Rep. Mark Meadows (NC-11), and Rep. Mick Mulvaney (SC-05). Additional participants may be announced.

 Viewers may also participate in the conversation on Twitter (tweet to @conversations using #CWC113)

Johnson County commissioners are considering assuming direct oversight of the county’s cash-strapped mental health center.

County staff is recommending the move, which could come as early as Thursday’s commission meeting, following an outside review that said the center’s current volunteer governing board has created “an unhealthy, unproductive atmosphere” within the organization and “demonstrated a lack of understanding of their roles and responsibilities.”

Through the proposed action, the commissioners would dismiss the current governing board and appoint themselves in their place. The commissioners also would appoint a community advisory body under that plan.

Such a move would revamp a governing structure in place since the county established the mental health center more than five decades ago.

The critique of the governing board’s performance came from a five-person technical assistance team from the Association of Community Mental Health Centers of Kansas.

Some county commissioners expressed displeasure with the harsh criticism of board members who donate their time as appointees of the commission. Commissioner John Toplikar also questioned whether the suggested action complied with the county charter.

There has also been talk on the commission about perhaps consolidating the mental health center with another agency or department, such as the Department of Health and Environment.

Headed by Ron Denney, the retired executive director of the Four County Mental Health Center in Independence, the team issued a 21-page report after spending two days at the center last month at the request of the county manager’s office.

In accordance with a Nov. 7 directive from the county commissioners, the county manager’s office has assumed day-to-day management of the center along with Chad VonAhnen, who is providing some temporary administrative assistance through his role as executive director of the county agency that serves the developmentally disabled.

The mental health center’s board placed its full-time executive director, Maureen Womack, on paid administrative leave in October amid revelations that the center would need a taxpayer bailout of about $1 million to keep operating into early 2014.

She has since resigned, a county spokeswoman said Monday.

The commissioners authorized the bailout last month.

Established by the county in 1962, the Johnson County Mental Health Center serves about 11,000 patients annually with a budget of about $30 million. County taxpayers provide about half the center’s annual funding.

The technical assistance report listed 10 areas for improvement and included two dozen recommendations for county officials to consider. The report noted that the center has dedicated staff ready to make the changes necessary to stabilize the agency.

Much of the report focused on getting the mental health center back on firm financial footing, including having proper staffing levels and refining the agency’s programs and services.

In general, the reviewers said, the county must run the agency more like a business, meaning it must bring in more revenue and hold staff accountable for productivity.

“It almost comes across that the center is ashamed to accept money from individual citizens,” the report said.

It was their understanding, the reviewers said, that the agency had left open about 120 positions during the past several years through attrition. The report called this “extremely shortsighted” in that some of the positions could have generate money for the agency, mainly by billing Medicaid.

Denney, the head of the technical committee, said the criticism of the governing board came largely from interviews with the staff.

With very few exceptions, he said, staff blamed the board for what they considered to be a bad hire in Womack and then for waiting too long to take any action against her. Womack has declined to comment on the situation.

Denney said it appeared that Womack’s main problem was not communicating well enough to staff why she was making certain decisions, such as beginning to implement productivity standards for staff. The productivity standards “are within normal limits” for a Kansas mental health center, the report concluded.

Under Womack, who came on as executive director about two years ago, Denney said it seemed the Johnson County Mental Health Center was taking steps needed to maximize reimbursements.

Most other mental health centers around the state learned that lesson years ago, he said.

“They are about five to 10 years late,” Denney said, noting that center might not have acted earlier because of the sizable sum it receives each year from the county.

Denney said the technical assistance team did not interview members of the governing board for its report. He said that was probably a mistake, but that the team was acting very quickly at the request of county management.

In taking issue with the criticism of the mental health board, Vice Chair Allen Rawitch said it was “rather strange” that the technical assistance team did not get input from the board.

Perhaps they were rushed, he said, but “I’m not sure that is an excuse to not be thorough and get the information you need.”

He said the volunteers on the board strived to act in the best interest of the agency and its patients. Rawitch said board members had discussed whether the productivity standards were clear enough for the staff.

But he said it was appropriate that the board left staffing decisions to Womack and other center professionals.

He said it was not up to him to agree or disagree about the recommendation to dissolve the current board.

At last week’s commission meeting, Commissioner Toplikar asked if the commission could take that step without at least holding a public hearing in accordance with the county charter. He said he would talk with county legal staff for more guidance.

Commissioner Ed Peterson said most of the issues raised in the technical assistance report seemed to be managerial problems outside the purview of a governing board.

“I’m not sure how many problems we would actually solve by stepping in ourselves,” he said.–Mike Sherry, KHI News

(AP) – A federal report says a helicopter hit a power line before crashing in a densely wooded area in southwest Missouri, killing the pilot and a 21-year-old student.

The report by the National Transportation and Safety Board said the main rotor blade of a helicopter hit a power line near Lucas Oil Speedway before the crash in Hickory County May 24.

The crash killed the 32-year-old pilot, William Higginbothan, of Arizona, and Missouri State University political science senior Catalina Richard, of Bolivar. Richard was an intern for Lucas Oil.

The report says investigators believe the helicopter collided with the power line about a half hour after taking off. Investigators also said a fire started after impact and consumed the helicopter’s fuselage and tail.