WASHINGTON (AP) — Union membership in the U.S. is down slightly, making up just over 11 percent of the workforce last year.
That’s a drop of 0.2 percentage points from the year before.
The Labor Department says public-sector workers have the highest union membership rate at nearly 36 percent. That’s more than five times higher than membership of private-sector workers at less than 7 percent.
Workers in education, training and library jobs and in protective service jobs have the highest unionization rate, at 35 percent.
Earnings were higher for union members last year, at $970 a week versus $763 a week for non-union members.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says the report suggests that with 58 months of consecutive job growth, “workers made great strides and confronted
BETHANY – A Missouri man was injured in an accident just after 11:30 a.m. on Friday in Harrison County.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2004 Subaru Forester driven by Earl L. Foger, 70, Gillman City, was eastbound on U.S. 136 five miles east of Bethany.
The vehicle crossed the centerline, traveled off the north side of the road, struck an embankment and overturned.
Foger was transported to Harrison County Community Hospital
The MSHP reported he was properly restrained at the time of the accident.
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A Tennessee businessman was sentenced to 10 years in prison with no parole for leading a multi-state cargo theft ring.
Sixty-year-old Earl Stanley Nunn, of Memphis, also was ordered Friday to pay $3.5 million in restitution during sentencing in federal court in Springfield.
Nunn, owner of Nu World Trucking, pleaded guilty in July to theft of an interstate shipment. Prosecutors say drivers would take tractor trucks to truck stops and service stations near interstate highways. When they found unattended semi-trailers, they would hitch them to their trucks and drive off. The contents were generally sold in Chicago and Detroit.
Thefts were committed in Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.
Nunn’s nephew and son also pleaded guilty in related cases.
Three-year-old Autumn Bay’s red hair floated up and down in the air as her mother, Christine Bay, bounced her in her arms before a hearing on medical marijuana Wednesday at the Kansas Statehouse. Christine Bay, of Lenexa, was one of several parents who told legislators emotional stories about desperate, futile treatments for the seizures that wrack their children many times a day.
Democrats have proposed bills in the Kansas House and Senate that would legalize marijuana for a broad range of maladies and symptoms such as the children’s seizures. But similar bills have gained no traction in the Republican-dominated Legislature in recent years.
So another member of the Democratic minority is seeking a narrower path that he hopes will provide relief for children suffering seizures without scaring off legislators wary of widespread marijuana use. After watching Wednesday’s hearing in the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee, Rep. John Wilson said he will draft a bill centered on legalizing only a form of cannabis oil that has shown some success treating seizures and does not produce the psychoactive “high” coveted by recreational pot users.
“Just by seeing the reactions to this hearing and then having some private conversations with people on the House side, I think it’s prudent to at least draft a rough outline of the bill that is narrowly focused on kind of the oil form of delivery,” said Wilson, Lawrence Democrat.
Wilson said he believes such a bill would have a better chance of advancing through the legislative process than others that include provisions for marijuana dispensaries or grow-at-home options. A similar cannabis oil proposal passed in Republican-controlled Wisconsin last year and was signed by conservative Gov. Scott Walker.
But there’s no guarantee Wilson’s bill would have the support of his Democratic colleagues or even the people who testified for legal medical marijuana Wednesday. The Wisconsin law received a decidedly lukewarm reception from the pro-legalization Marijuana Policy Project, which called it “an improvement to current law,” but one that still “leaves the vast majority of medical marijuana patients without legal protections” and “may be unworkable even for the limited population it’s meant to help” because it doesn’t provide a reliable legal source of the cannabis oil.
Lisa Sublett, founder of the pro-medical marijuana legalization group Bleeding Kansas, said the advocates she brought to the Statehouse on Wednesday would find an oil-only bill similarly insufficient. “Even our seizure parents wouldn’t support that,” Sublett said. Sublett said most medical marijuana patients don’t want to smoke it, but some who need its effects quickly must ingest the plant leaves or inhale them through a vaporizer. Sen.
David Haley, a Democrat from Kansas City who introduced one of the broader medical marijuana bills, said that’s a good reason to settle for nothing less than access to medicinal marijuana in all its forms. “I would not want to see any restrictive measure of ingestion for medical purposes for marijuana,” he said. When asked if an oil-only bill would be better than getting no bill at all, Haley said he hadn’t weighed that possibility.
“I would have to study what the distinctions are between oil and ingestion and smoking, and to see if it’s significant enough to prevent us from having a bill at all,” he said. There were medical marijuana advocates with other illnesses at Wednesday’s hearing. But those in the packed hearing room seemed most affected by the stories of parents like Bay, who have children suffering daily life-threatening seizures that have defied traditional medical treatments.
“The neurology team at Children’s Mercy in Kansas City has told us that she is out of medical options,” Bay told senators Wednesday as Autumn groaned and squirmed in her arms. “Her pediatrician wants her to have the opportunity to try cannabis oil.” Wilson took an interest in the oil when he heard the story of constituents Ryan and Kathy Reed, who moved to Colorado to access legal cannabis oil for their son Otis’ seizures. Otis’ grandmother,
Donna Reed, testified at Wednesday’s hearing. “Our whole family agrees that Kansas should legalize medical marijuana,” she said. “Four years ago, if you would have asked me that I would not have agreed. But two things have happened in my life. The first thing is, I adore this little boy. And because of that I have become more educated on what it can do for children and for people.” Donna Reed said her son and daughter-in-law have seen improvements in Otis’ development since he’s been taking the oil and are heartened by the transformation they’ve seen in other children in Colorado who have been taking the substance longer. Wilson said he was hoping to wait for the full results of a medical marijuana health impact assessment being conducted by the Kansas Health Institute, the parent organization of the editorially independent KHI News Service.
Tatiana Lin, a senior analyst at the Kansas Health Institute, said the full results of the health impact assessment, which focused on four states that legalized medical marijuana, won’t be available until next month. But she said one preliminary finding is that there is likely to be little to no impact on the overall consumption of marijuana in the general population if Kansas legalizes medical marijuana.
However, Lin said depending on how that medical marijuana is regulated, there may be some increase in use among at-risk populations. She said another preliminary finding suggests that there would be little to no impact on crime. Areas near dispensaries might see a slight uptick, she said, but it’s important to note that dispensaries are often in places more prone to crime. Wilson said the preliminary information provides a level of confidence that a tightly regulated medical marijuana industry can operate safely in the state.
“It’s a balance of being supportive of patients who are in need of something and then balancing public safety,” Wilson said. “These preliminary results from the health impact assessment say that that’s probably not as big of a concern as we think it is.”
Andy Marso is a reporter for Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Top Kansas Democratic lawmakers are criticizing Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s budget proposals.
Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley of Topeka and House Minority Leader Tom Burroughs of Kansas City said in a news conference Friday that the governor’s proposals would hurt ordinary Kansans. Hensley argued that Brownback’s proposal to repeal the current school funding formula was unconstitutional.
Brownback’s budget recommendations also call for sharp increases in cigarette and alcohol taxes and transfers. Hensley said these moves would disproportionately affect the poor.
Kansas is facing a total budget deficit of more than $710 million in the current fiscal year and the one beginning July 1. The Democratic leaders blame Brownback’s tax-cutting policies. But Democrats haven’t drafted alternative budget legislation.
Brownback said in a statement that he’s willing to work with the Democrats.
Deere is laying off about 910 workers indefinitely from factories mostly in Iowa and will sideline another 500 employees in Illinois until late summer, as the agricultural equipment maker adjusts to demand for its products.
The Moline, Illinois, company also says it is adding 220 jobs at construction and forestry factories in Iowa. It plans to fill nearly all those positions with workers were laid off at agricultural equipment factories last year.
The latest indefinite layoffs will be at sites that build agricultural equipment.
Employees laid off until summer work at the company’s seeding and cylinder factory in Moline. That location is going on an extended inventory adjustment shutdown.
Deere & Co. is the world’s biggest farm equipment supplier. It employs about 29,000 in the United States and Canada.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced in a media release Thursday that a Kansas City, Mo., man has been sentenced in federal court for his role in a $7.5 million conspiracy to distribute cocaine and crack cocaine, which resulted in a murder and an attempted murder for which state charges are pending.
Garron T. Briggs, also known as “Guice,” 29, of Kansas City, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Brian C. Wimes on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2015, to 25 years in federal prison without parole.
On June 5, 2014, Briggs pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine and 280 grams or more of crack cocaine between Jan. 1, 2006, and Nov. 13, 2013. Briggs also pleaded guilty to one count of distributing 28 grams or more of crack cocaine on July 27, 2011.
In addition to the drug-trafficking charges, the court found in rendering the sentence that Briggs also participated in the drug-related murder of Edward Ewing, II, in August 2011. Briggs believed that Ewing had stolen $40,000 and nine ounces of cocaine from him in a burglary. Testimony during the sentencing hearing was that there is no evidence to indicate that Ewing, who was employed full-time and did not have a felony criminal record, was responsible for the burglary.
Briggs and two other men waited outside Ewing’s residence until Ewing’s girlfriend arrived, then confronted her at gunpoint and forced their way into the residence. They pistol-whipped Ewing, who told them he didn’t know anything about the burglary, then repeatedly shot and killed him. Briggs shot Ewing’s girlfriend in the throat and she pretended to be dead, but actually survived the shooting.
Briggs is charged in Jackson County Circuit Court with first degree murder, first degree assault and two counts of armed criminal action. The state case is pending.
Briggs is among 16 defendants charged in the federal indictment, all of whom have pleaded guilty.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Stefan C. Hughes. It was investigated by the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, IRS-Criminal Investigation, the Jackson County Drug Task Force, the Lee’s Summit, Mo., Police Department and the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department.
WASHINGTON – In 1941, as the U.S. military struggled with pervasive war-profiteering, then-Missouri U.S. Senator Harry Truman launched the “Truman Committee”— judged as one of the most effective oversight efforts ever executed by the U.S. government, saving American taxpayers billions of dollars. The Truman Committee exists today as the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, the Senate’s most powerful body for investigations and oversight—and this week, Missouri’s senior U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill was named the top Democrat on the panel.
As the highest-ranking Democrat on the permanent subcommittee, McCaskill—who holds the Senate seat once occupied by Truman—will help shape the agenda and lead the investigations of a panel with broad and oft-used subpoena power.
During her first term in the Senate, McCaskill waged a successful six-year battle to rein in wasteful wartime contracting practices in Iraq and Afghanistan, and ultimately passed into law the most expansive reforms to wartime contracting practices since World War II. The legislation grew out of her campaign promise to continue Truman’s legacy of guarding taxpayer dollars from waste, fraud, and abuse of power.
“Missourians—and all Americans—want to know their government and the private sector are operating efficiently and effectively, and playing by the rules,” said McCaskill, a former prosecutor and Missouri State Auditor. “I’ve spent a career confronting waste, fraud, and abuse, and I’ve never shied away from a fight, either in the courtroom or the hearing room. This panel’s investigative power, which began with Harry Truman himself, has given us one of the most powerful and effective platforms to ensure accountability in the government and the private sector. I’m honored to carry on Harry Truman’s legacy, and to work alongside my friend Senator Portman to achieve these shared goals and strengthen Americans’ confidence in their federal government.”
Republican Senator Rob Portman of Ohio will chair the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. McCaskill and Portman have previously worked closely together on a number of issues, including their bipartisan Federal Permitting Improvement Act, a bill aimed at cutting through federal red tape and expediting job-creating infrastructure projects. The Senators also collaborated on bipartisan proposals to improve oversight of the security clearance background check process.
During the previous Congress, McCaskill served as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Financial & Contracting Oversight, a post from which she investigated waste, fraud, and abuse of taxpayer dollars at every federal agency.
McCaskill’s Fight for Accountability in Washington
As Chairman of the Subcommittee on Financial & Contracting Oversight, McCaskill has investigated waste, fraud, and abuse of taxpayer dollars at every federal agency, holding dozens of hearings to investigate waste and misconduct in federal spending.
Highlights of her accomplishments include:
Passing into law historic Wartime Contracting reforms following a sustained, six-year effort.
Increasing controls on security clearance background checks, embassy security, bio-terrorism research, and counternarcotics.
Using a letter from a Missouri doctor to launch an investigation targeting aggressive sales and marketing tactics in the medical equipment industry.
Leading investigations into failures on the part of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction and the Homeland Security Department’s Deputy Inspector General.
Expanding protections for whistleblowers at federal agencies, including at the Department of Veterans Affairs, with a bipartisan bill to mandate the firing of any VA employee who retaliates against a whistleblower.
Successfully passing into law a comprehensive plan fixing the Pentagon’s troubled program to recover American personnel who are prisoners of war and missing in action.
Teaming up with Republican Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma to introduce the Let Me Google That For You Act, a bipartisan bill to eliminate an outdated federal agency.
Leading an investigation and chairing two Senate hearings revealing one of the biggest fraud investigations in U.S. Army history—including up to $100 million in waste—and identifying pervasive fraud and waste in the Army National Guard’s Recruiting Assistance Program.
Kansas Department of Health and Environment Bureau of Community Health Systems Dental HPSAs as of February 2014- CLICK to ENLARGE
By Jim McLean, KHI News
The massive free clinic staged once a year by the charitable arm of the Kansas Dental Association drew praise Thursday from members of the House Health and Human Services Committee. Several commented after listening to KDA Executive Director Kevin Robertson give an overview of the Kansas Mission of Mercy project, which has provided free, often emergency care to more than 24,000 people since the first clinic in 2003.
Rep. Les Osterman, a Wichita Republican, urged committee members not familiar with Kansas Mission of Mercy to visit this year’s clinic, scheduled for Feb. 12-13 in Salina. “It will simply amaze you and help you understand the job they are doing for the state,” said Osterman, who visited in 2013 when the clinic was offered near Wichita. Turning to Robertson, Osterman said, “Thank you for all you’re doing for the state of Kansas.”
Over the years, Robertson said, the state’s dentists have provided approximately $13 million in free dental care at Kansas Mission of Mercy clinics, most of it to low-income adults.
Rep. Jim Ward, a Wichita Democrat, also was complimentary, calling Kansas Mission of Mercy “a wonderful program.” But he said the fact that thousands of Kansans must stand in line once a year to get basic dental care is evidence of a systemic problem that can’t be solved by charitable programs.
Photo by Jim McLean Kevin Robertson, executive director of Kansas Dental Association, addresses the House Health and Human Services Committee about the Kansas Mission of Mercy project. The annual free dental clinic is sponsored by the association’s charitable arm, the Kansas Dental Charitable Foundation.
“It’s using a Band-Aid to deal with a gash,” Ward said. The state needs to take a comprehensive approach to increasing access to dental services in underserved areas, Ward said. Currently, residents in 95 of the state’s 105 counties lack adequate access to dental services.
“We have to look at the structural problem with dental care in Kansas and not get distracted by the Band-Aid and ignore the blood that’s coming out on all sides of the Band-Aid,” Ward said. Robertson said KDA is partnering on initiatives aimed at easing the shortage.
He said it was working with Oral Health Kansas, a nonprofit organization funded by several health foundations in the state, to increase the number of dentists who accept Medicaid patients. In addition, he said, two new dentists participating in a loan forgiveness program funded by the Delta Dental Foundation are now practicing in underserved areas. “And we have four more coming down the pike,” he said.
Finally, Robertson said there are ongoing discussions about increasing the number of slots reserved for Kansans at the dental school at the University of Missouri–Kansas City or establishing a similar arrangement with Creighton University in Nebraska. Kansas does not have a dental school.
But Robertson said KDA will continue to oppose a proposal that others believe should be a part of the solution: the licensing of specially trained hygienists as mid-level dental practitioners. Though the available research doesn’t support his concern, Robertson insists that licensing mid-level practitioners — also known as dental therapists — to perform an expanded list of procedures such as pulling and filling teeth would endanger patients.
However, Robertson said there is evidence that dental therapists are no more likely than dentists to practice in underserved areas. “In Minnesota when you look at the placement of the mid-levels, they’re all clustered around Minneapolis and St. Paul,” he said. “They aren’t getting out to the rural communities.”
The KDA succeeded in preventing a hearing on the dental therapist bill last year. And Ward, a supporter of the proposal, said it’s unclear whether Rep. Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican and the new chairman of the HHS committee, will allow one this year. “I asked him point blank and he said, ‘I haven’t said no,’” Ward said.
Jim McLean is executive editor of KHI News Service in Topeka, a partner in the Heartland Health Monitor team.
MARSHFIELD- A Missouri man died in an accident just before 1 a.m. on Thursday in Webster County.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 1996 Ford F150 driven by Stephen R. Williams, 51, Marshfield, was traveling on Route KK west of Turnbo Road two miles south of Marshfield. The vehicle skidded off the left edge of the road.
The driver overcorrected skidding off the right side of the road and the truck hit a tree.
Williams was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to Fraker Funeral Home.
TOM RAUM, Associated Press
