LAWRENCE COUNTY —One person died in an accident just after 5a.m. Friday in Lawrence County.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 1999 Dodge Ram driven by Michael T. Biggs, 51, Reed Springs, was eastbound on Interstate 44 six miles six miles east of Mount Vernon.
The pickup traveled off the right side of the road and struck a tree. A passenger Robert A. Addington-Wells, 37, was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to Lakin Funeral Home.
EMS transported Biggs to Cox South. He was not wearing a seat belt, according to the MSHP.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Gov. Laura Kelly says she hopes that extra state funding for the Kansas higher education system will lead to lower tuition for students and their families.
Kelly on Friday touted the additional $33 million included for higher education in a proposed $18.4 billion state budget for the fiscal year beginning in July.
She said during a Statehouse news conference that legislators included the extra money hoping that the Kansas Board of Regents could keep university tuition flat.
Kelly said she would like the regents to go further and reduce tuition. She said she’s worried that students are being priced out of higher education.
The regents have complained in the past that tight state funding has forced them to increase tuition to pay for vital programs on the campuses.
Kansas may soon turn to private contractors to take the overflow from its crowded prisons, raising questions about growing costs and the reliability of for-profit jails.
Kansas prisons are currently over capacity. Contracting with outside facilities could relieve the state’s underpaid and overworked prison staff. JOBS FOR FELONS HUB / CC BY 2.0
That plan ran into complications over the weekend when lawmakers insisted on a closer review from a state commission to OK some of the line-by-line spending. But taxpayers could soon be spending almost $36 million more to deal with a range of problems in the prison system.
Last month, Gov. Laura Kelly proposed changes to the state’s budget that included:
$16.4 million in contracts for 600 outsourced prison beds
$11.5 million in raises for the state’s prison staff
$4.5 million worth of Hepatitis C treatment for inmates
$3 million to move 120 inmates from the state’s women’s prison to an empty unit in its juvenile prison
$340,000 for stab-proof vests for staff
But following a heated week at the Statehouse, the Kansas Legislature only gave a fraction of that money immediately.
Lawmakers added just $5.5 million to the corrections budget for contracts next year, enough funding for only 200 prison beds. The Legislature also decided to give a pay raise only to employees of El Dorado Correctional Facility, at a cost of another $2.5 million. It also funded the stab-proof vests.
The State Finance Council, a board consisting of Gov. Laura Kelly and high-ranking members of the Legislature, will decide the rest of an additional $27.6 million in spending.
Now the Kansas Department of Corrections will have to make its case for that funding in front of the State Finance Council later this year.
Kelly, speaking to reporters on Monday, said she hopes to use her position on the finance council to clear the way for the added spending on prisons.
“That’s sort of a pain,” she said, “but certainly doable.”
But Corrections Secretary Roger Werholtz said the state’s prisons need the money now. The DOC has already taken contract bids to outsource 600 inmates to county jails or private prisons next year.
“The problem’s immediate,” he told reporters on Saturday. “I don’t know when that money is going to be released.”
Solutions For Overcrowding
State prisons currently have a capacity of 9,916 people. As of May 6, they hold 10,022 people, with a projected population of 10,655 by next year.
Werholtz said he had repeatedly told the Legislature about overcrowding problems, including increased inmate violence, danger to staff and inmates not getting the mental health treatment or training that they need.
“I want something to lower the pressure in the system so we can operate it more safely,” he said. “We’ve laid out in detail, with money figures attached, what it would cost to fix the problem.”
With that in mind, Kelly last week asked legislators to put an additional $16.4 million in the state’s budget for “contract beds” — agreements with outside prisons to house Kansas inmates for a fee. The proposal would essentially rent 600 prison beds and everything else it takes to keep inmates locked up for $75 each per day.
Now that the Legislature has awarded enough funding for only 200 beds, Werholtz said the DOC will still consider bids from outside contractors. But it is still deciding how those beds will be used. He said in a phone interview that the department has three major needs: to reduce crowding in the system overall, to increase the number of solitary confinement units and to move some inmates out of El Dorado Correctional Facility to relieve staff, some of whom work 16-hour days.
“We have to choose,” he said. “Two hundred beds is only sufficient to partially address any of those three.”
Some of those contract bids could go to county jails in Kansas. The state already contracts with two county jails, in Jackson and Cloud counties in the north-central part of the state, to house about 80 inmates at a cost of about $45 per inmate per day.
But most likely, contracts will be awarded to private prisons outside of the state with room to take in more inmates and the ability to ship them to the new locations.
Private prisons may have a poor reputation, but Werholtz said the state could successfully monitor any contracts with them.
“There’s nothing inherently good or inherently bad about either a public or a private prison,” Werholtz said. “It all hinges on who’s operating it, what resources they have available to them, and how closely you monitor the terms of the contract.”
Werholtz said the DOC would track security, operations and mental and behavioral health programs, possibly sending a full-time staff member to work on site if one contract facility takes on hundreds of inmates.
However, he said he would prefer to contract with county jails in Kansas, where inmates can be closer to their families and the medical services provided by the DOC provides in state prisons. But the state’s county jails won’t have enough beds.
“We’ll look at those first,” Werholtz said. “But I’m not optimistic that that will satisfy all our needs.”
Among those needs are 300 beds for people assigned to solitary confinement.
As of May 6, nearly 900 people were in solitary confinement in Kansas. It’s used as a form of discipline or to isolate inmates who exhibit suicidal tendencies, have a contagious illness, intimidate witnesses or attack others. The state has to swap them in and out because there aren’t enough beds.
“In order to put somebody in who’s engaged that kind of behavior, we’ve got to take somebody out who just did the same thing, maybe two or weeks prior to that,” Werholtz said. “That makes it much more difficult to discourage that sort of behavior.”
Staff in private prisons, however, are often inexperienced and paid less than employees of public prisons, said Marc Mauer, executive director of the nonprofit Sentencing Project, based in Washington, DC.
“Private prison operators have promised many things to public officials. They say that they can keep people housed in prison at less cost to the state. They told their shareholders that they’re going to make a profit,” Mauer said. “If you want to cut costs in order to meet both of those goals, the main cost is personnel.”
Mauer says moving inmates out of state can affect inmates’ quality of life in other ways.
“If you’re far away from your home state, that means your family visits are going to be limited,” he said. “If you have a legal case pending, it’s going to be very difficult to meet with your attorney.”
Sentencing Reform
Ultimately, Werholtz said, lawmakers will have to contend with the root cause of the problem: the ever-growing prison population. He credits the growth to the state’s sentencing guidelines, which determine the length of prison or probation time.
Those recommended sentences can only be reduced through legislative action. And the DOC’s aging computer system would need time to adjust to those changes, Werholtz said.
“You’re looking at, at an absolute minimum, a two-year process,” he said. “More likely a three or three-and-a-half-year process.”
In the meantime, he predicts the state’s prisons will remain full, with contract beds catching the overflow, and costs increasing every year.
“We’re going to be overcrowded,” he said, “for the foreseeable future.”
Nomin Ujiyediin is a reporter for the Kansas News Service. You can send her an email at nomin at kcur dot org, or reach her on Twitter @NominUJ.
HOUSTON, Mo. (AP) — Another suspect has been convicted in the slaying of a transgender teen whose eyes were gouged out and her body set on fire in southwest Missouri.
Briana Calderas -photo Texas Co.
26-year-old Briana Calderas pleaded guilty Thursday to abandonment of a corpse, concealing a felon and evidence tampering. The plea came just days before she was scheduled to be tried on a first-degree murder charge in the 2017 death of 17-year-old Ally Steinfeld. Relatives say Calderas and Steinfeld had dated.
Local officials haven’t said what led to the killing in the town of Cabool but insisted it wasn’t motivated by Steinfeld’s gender identity.
Prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty against another suspect, Andrew Vrba. Two others have been sentenced to prison for their roles in the crime.
Farm credit conditions continue to deteriorate across the Midwest, according to the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank. The bank’s Agricultural Credit Survey published Thursday reveals the trend of steady deterioration in agricultural credit conditions continued in the first quarter of 2019. Reductions in farm income were sharpest in Nebraska and Missouri.
While some areas were heavily affected by spring flooding and blizzards, it may be months before the full impact to farm income is determined, given immediate damage and implications for the 2019 operating cycle are still being evaluated. The report says that as farm income remained low, demand for farm loans remained high and the ability of farm borrowers to repay loans weakened at a slightly faster pace than in previous quarters.
In addition, carry-over debt increased again for many borrowers and bankers continued to restructure debt and deny a modest amount of new loan requests due to cash flow shortages. The Kansas City Fed district includes portions of Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Wyoming.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Latest on flooding in the Midwest (all times local):
11 a.m.
A stretch of the Kansas Turnpike has reopened near the Oklahoma border after a flooding creek inundated the roadway.
We are so proud to share I-35/KTA has been repaired and is fully open, less than 48 hours from when it closed. The first 24 hours belonged to Mother Nature; the second 24 hours belonged to us. Watch how the work unfolded: https://t.co/8GVaanwbzg
The Kansas Turnpike Authorities said in a tweet Thursday night that, “The first 24 hours belonged to Mother Nature; the second 24 hours belonged to us.” The tweet included a video of the flooding and crews working to repair the toll road, which had been closed south of the exit in Wellington.
The area flooded Wednesday when up to 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain fell across parts of the state in just 24 hours. Flooding also forced evacuations and school closures. Wellington is about 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of Wichita.
The African swine fever outbreak in China and other countries around the world is wreaking havoc on the international pork industry. African swine fever is not in the United States, but the possibility of it means American pig farmers must take steps to protect the U.S. pork industry, according to the National Pork Board.
In 2018, U.S. pork exports totaled 5.37 billion pounds valued at $6.3 billion. If a foreign animal disease, such as African swine fever entered the United States, it would likely eliminate the entire valuation of exports for an unknown amount of time. Producers should be familiar with the signs of African swine fever, including high fever, decreased appetite, red and blotchy skin, diarrhea and vomiting, along with coughing and difficulty breathing.
Producers should immediately report animals with any of these signs to their herd veterinarian or state or federal animal health officials. It’s important to act fast, as the National Pork Board says timeliness is essential to preventing the spread of African swine fever.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri lawmakers on Friday gave final approval to a $30 billion state spending plan with a slight increase for higher education and more money for K-12 public schools following a fight over college tuition for students living in the U.S. illegally.
The budget package includes an additional $61 million in core K-12 public school funding, and colleges and universities are set to get at least $1 million more compared to this year.
Lawmakers ditched Gov. Mike Parson’s original plan to borrow $350 million to fix 250 bridges across the state. Instead, they agreed to spend $50 million in un-earmarked general revenue on bridge repairs next fiscal year, plus another $50 million for a local cost-share program.
If the state gets a federal infrastructure grant to help pay to fix an Interstate 70 bridge in the mid-Missouri city of Rocheport, that would kick in another roughly $300 million in bonding under another pending proposal.
The budget now heads to Parson.
Lawmakers finished the budget before their Friday deadline despite a heated dispute over whether to allow colleges and universities to charge in-state tuition to students living in the U.S. illegally.
Missouri lawmakers put restrictions on the use of state dollars for tuition discounts for students “with an unlawful immigration status” in 2015. Because of that, schools face losing state funding if they offer those students anything less than the tuition rate charged to international students.
Members of a 10-person panel of bipartisan negotiators this week agreed to end that policy . But the move spurred outrage among House Republicans, who voted it down on the House floor.
“We only have so much money to allocate to state subsidies for higher education,” Springfield Republican Rep. Curtis Trent said. “Why should that not go to the people who live here, who pay taxes here, who have followed the rules and obeyed the laws of the land?”
Missouri is one of six states that blocks in-state tuition for students living in the country illegally, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures . Actions by lawmakers in 16 states allow in-state tuition, and five more states provide for that through state university systems.
The proposed budget still includes a ban on colleges providing scholarships to students living in the country illegally.
SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect on drug charges after a traffic stop.
Shaw photo Shawnee County
Just before 11a.m., Shawnee County Sheriff’s Office deputies conducted a traffic stop for a traffic violation on a 2016 Nissan Rogue driven by Ricky D. Shaw, 24, Alton, IL, at eastbound Interstate 70 near the Wanamaker exit, according to Sheriff Brian Hill.
Through the investigation of the stop, deputies seized 448 one gram packages of THC Concentrate “Shatter,” 201 grams of raw Marijuana, 658 grams of THC Butane Honey Oil “Butter,” 99 THC Vape Pen Cartridges The estimated street value of these items is $50,000.
Deputies arrested Shaw and booked him into the Shawnee County Dept. of Corrections with charges of Felony Possession of Marijuana with Intent to Distribute and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia.
DALLAS COUNTY —One person was injured in an accident just after 2:30p.m. Thursday in Dallas County.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2000 Lexus RX 300 driven by Chandra L. Nicholas, 60, Buffalo, was northbound on Highway 73 six miles north of Buffalo. The vehicle crossed the centerline and struck a John Deere road grader driven by Ronald D. Claspill, 60, Long Lane head-on.
Nicholas was transported to CMH hospital in Bolivar where she died. A private vehicle transported Claspill to Cox South for treatment of minor injuries. Nicholas was not wearing a seat belt, according to the MSHP.
Farm credit conditions continue to deteriorate across the Midwest, according to the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank. The bank’s Agricultural Credit Survey published Thursday reveals the trend of steady deterioration in agricultural credit conditions continued in the first quarter of 2019. Reductions in farm income were sharpest in Nebraska and Missouri.
The African swine fever outbreak in China and other countries around the world is wreaking havoc on the international pork industry. African swine fever is not in the United States, but the possibility of it means American pig farmers must take steps to protect the U.S. pork industry, according to the National Pork Board.
