COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — University of Missouri System officials say a new health institute focused on personalized medicine should bring hope to Missourians suffering from deadly diseases.
University of Missouri chancellors, elected officials and members of the UM System Board of Curators joined President Mun Choi and MU Chancellor Alexander N. Cartwright to officially break ground on the NextGen Precision Health Institute at MU -photo University of Missouri
The official groundbreaking for the $220.8 million NextGen Precision Health Institute was held on Friday at the University of Missouri campus.
The center is expected to open in October 2012. It is the first research facility opened on the Columbia campus since the Bond Life Sciences Center opened in 2004.
System President Mun Choi said the center will predict, prevent and cure cancer, neurological and vascular diseases. Current researchers at the system’s other campuses and health facilities will collaborate with researchers at the new institute.
The center received $10 million from the state this year. The university has pledged $50 million.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer talked trade during an appearance before the House Ways and Means Committee last week. He told committee members that he’s hopeful the U.S. and Japan are close to a deal on agricultural tariff cuts. He says the key to reaching a bilateral trade agreement with Japan is resolving those differences over Ag tariffs.
According to various media reports, Lighthizer says, “I’m hopeful that we’ll come to an agreement in the next several weeks. It’s a high priority.” He also says, “The principal thing we’re trying to do is to get agriculture access equal to what the Japanese have given to the TPP countries.”
The trade industry website Meating Place Dot Com points out that one of President Trump’s first acts in the Oval Office was to withdraw the U.S. from negotiations over the multilateral Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement. The U.S. and Japan are scheduled to have more trade discussions this week during the Group of 20 summit meeting in Osaka, Japan. The negotiations have been ongoing since April.
Key lawmakers in Washington, D.C., cast significant doubt on the possibility of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement getting passed through Congress yet this summer. This comes in spite of the fact that political pressure is ramping up. Congress has a long summer recess rapidly approaching.
Politico says it’s looking like Democrats are sticking to their ideas that the agreement needs more changes. That may push a vote on the House floor at least into the fall. Waiting that long will only increase the risk of the much-needed bill getting swallowed up in the politics of the 2020 presidential campaign.
Representative Earl Blumenauer of Oregon is Chair of the House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee, who talked about the prospects of a vote on USMCA in the next few weeks. At an event last week in Washington, his response was a simple one, saying, “It’s not going to happen. I think it’s very unlikely that something is going to happen before Congress heads out of town on the August recess.”
SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating the death of a Kansas man and asking the public for help with information.
Just before 10a.m. June 17, police were dispatched to a residence in the 700 block of SW Wayne in Topeka in reference to the
discovery of the body of a man in the home, according to Lt. Andrew Beightel. The victim was later identified as 36-year-old
John K. Waller of Topeka.
Crime scene tape in the yard of the home photo by Grant Stephens courtesy WIBW TV
Police are asking the public to come forward with any information related to this case. Specifically, police are asking anyone in the area of SW 6th Ave. and SW MacVicar Ave. between June 3, 2019 and June 4, 2019 to remember if they saw or heard any suspicious activity. Police need anyone in the area with a home surveillance system or cameras to review them for even the smallest detail. It could help bring the victim’s family justice in this very difficult time and get the suspect(s) off
the streets.
The Shawnee County Crime Stoppers is offering up to a $2,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest in this case.
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SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are now investigating the suspicious death of a Kansas man and have identified the victim.
Just before 10a.m. Monday, police were dispatched to a residence in the 700 block of SW Wayne in Topeka in reference to the discovery of the body of a man in the house, according to Lt. Andrew Beightel.
Officers located the body identified as 36-year-old John K. Waller and he was pronounced dead by medical personnel.
There were several suspicious circumstances witnessed by the responding officers so, the residence was secured and crime scene officers and detectives investigated the scene.
Through evidence found at the crime scene and information from the coroner’s office, police are investigating this crime as a homicide
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Former Missouri football coach Gary Pinkel says he is being treated for cancer again.
Pinkel told ABC17 TV in Columbia Saturday that he had treatment last month after his cancer came out of remission for the first time in four years.
Pinkel retired after the 2015 season after announcing that he had non-Hodgkin lymphoma. He coached the Tigers from 2001 to 2016, compiling a 118-73 record.
He says his type of cancer will never be healed and he intends to keep fighting it.
Pinkel, who is 67, has been a fundraising liaison with the Missouri athletics foundation. He also started the “GP MADE Foundation” to raise money for cancer research and programs to help underprivileged and special needs children.
VAN BUREN, Mo. (AP) — A 22-year-old southern Missouri man drowned after tree fell on him while he was on the Current River.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol says Levi Mayberry died Friday when the tree hit a boat he was on about 10 miles (16.09 kilometers) north of Van Buren. He is listed on the report as the driver of the boat.
Two other people from Van Buren were taken to a hospital for treatment of moderate injuries.
Carter County Coroner Eric McSpadden pronounced Mayberry dead Friday evening. The coroner said the accident occurred when storms with strong winds were blowing through the area.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri prison officials have authorized treatment of only 15 of the 4,590 Missouri prison inmates who have been diagnosed with chronic hepatitis C, according to a motion filed by the American Civil Liberties Union this past week.
The ACLU is seeking an emergency court order to force the Missouri Department of Corrections and its medical provider, Corizon LLC, to begin testing and treating inmates with the viral infection, KCUR reported.
The motion filed Monday is the latest move in a class action lawsuit filed by the ACLU contending that state prison officials and Corizon are systematically denying medical treatment for prisoners with hepatitis C.
“We’re asking the court to, first of all, order the state to begin appropriate testing to know who does and does not have hepatitis C and to begin a more robust treatment of persons with hepatitis C,” said Tony Rothert, legal director of the ACLU of Missouri.
Corizon and Corrections Department officials declined to comment on the motion, citing the ongoing litigation.
About 10% to 15% of Missouri’s roughly 52,000 prisoners are thought to be infected with hepatitis C, according to the Corrections Department.
The class-action lawsuit could affect potentially thousands of inmates. It was certified as a class-action lawsuit in July 2017 but it had stalled while Missouri appealed the class-action ruling. An appeals court confirmed the class-action status in December.
Symptoms of hepatitis C range from mild illness to cirrhosis, which can cause death. It is the most common blood-borne viral infection in the United States, affecting about 2.4 million people in the country.
About 97% of inmates nationwide with hepatitis C are not getting treatment, according to a survey conducted at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.
The Food and Drug Administration has approved several antiviral drugs with a success rate of more than 95% to treat the disease. With the advent of generic drugs, the cost of an individual eight- to 12-week course of treatment has dropped from up to $90,000 or more to about $20,000.
Last year, Kansas agreed to pay for the cost of treating Medicaid patients with hepatitis C. But hundreds of infected Kansas inmates are not covered by the settlement and are awaiting treatment.
KANSAS CITY (AP) — Some U.S. Department of Agriculture researchers are reluctant to move across the country to the Kansas City area when two research agencies move there.
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and Senator Pat Roberts visited during a farm tour outside Manhattan in 2018-photo by Stephen Koranda/ Kansas News Service
The USDA announced plans earlier this month to move the Economic Research Service and National Institute of Food and Agriculture closer to farmers and agribusinesses they serve, and many employees have objected to the move from the Washington D.C. area.
USDA researcher Andrew Crane-Droesch tells the Kansas City Star the move is out of the question.
“It’s a mixture of outrage and resignation,” Crane-Droesch said of morale at his office. “Nobody wants to move — nothing against Kansas City.”
He said he doesn’t want to live far from his aging parents on the East Coast, and his wife has better career options in the Washington area. And the couple is in the middle of adopting.
When officials announced the move to employees of both agencies, employees turned their backs on the Agriculture Secretary.
Critics say the research agencies have lost veteran employees and been unable to fill vacancies since the USDA announced last year it was considering moving their headquarters. Opponents also argued that moving them will make it harder for federal policymakers to get objective research that might raise questions about President Donald Trump’s policies.
USDA officials say the move will save about $20 million a year on rent and other costs, which will provide more money for research.
Losing some employees is expected in this kind of move, said Dan Levine, who advises companies on relocations at Oxford Economics. He said that is why it is more common for companies to open a new office instead of closing one location and moving everyone to a new location.
“Clearly when you move people from D.C. to Kansas City, the first thing you have to worry about is retention,” Levine said. “I would expect a high amount of turnover on a move like that. And that might be something that they can for whatever reason tolerate.”
Kansas City area economic development officials are excited about the prospect of nearly 550 new jobs in the area that will pay between $80,000 and $100,000 a year.
Kansas City Area Development Council CEO Tim Cowden said his group is committed to helping federal employees and their families make the move to Kansas City.
“We understand and empathize with the families and the employees,” Cowden said. “It’s a huge move, it’s a huge transition.”
HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) — This spring’s heavy rain and flooding will cause significant economic losses at many of the state’s 28 parks, both from damage and from closures and refunds to disappointed campers, state parks officials said.
Cross TImbers State Park in Woodson County -photo KDWP&T
Brad Loveless, secretary of the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism, said the losses will be clearer in a month or two when the cost of repairs and renovations are better known. The agency relies chiefly on entrance permits, campsite and cabin rental fees, and marina concessions to fund state parks.
Already, the agency’s park fee fund is down about $100,000 for April and May compared with a year ago because of a loss in entrance fees and campsite fees. Income from cabin rentals is down by $30,000 for those two months compared with a year ago.
Those figures don’t include all the refunds the department has been processing, “which is significant in June,” according to agency spokesman Ron Kaufman. Other losses occurred in marina concessions and from moving the Country Stampede’s move from Tuttle Creek State Park to Topeka’s Heartland Motorsports Park.
So far, the agency hasn’t asked the state for special help, with regular staff and seasonal workers managing the cleanup.
“We will need state assistance for repairing damages and for cash flow if revenues drop significantly,” Kaufman said.
Loveless said the damage is being documented and he is hopeful the state will receive help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Kaufman noted that lakes in western Kansas, which were down because of drought, rose because of the rains but didn’t flood and are in “great shape.”
Parks also benefit from Kansas Lottery dollars and can obtain federal grants for projects. But the parks don’t receive money from the state general fund and revenue from the sale of hunting, fishing and fur harvesting licenses and permits cannot be spent for state park operations or maintenance and repairs.
Last year, the Park Fee Fund and Cabin Fund generated more than $10.5 million during the fiscal year, with nearly 6.9 million people visiting Kansas parks.
The high water caused several state parks to cancel campsite reservations for Memorial Day weekend, which is one of the top three periods for most parks. The Fourth of July is another peak time and some parks will have certain campsites unavailable then, too.
Cleanup and restoration will take months.
The many projects at the parks include hauling away debris, re-installing water heaters and electrical components, repairing or rebuilding boat ramps and docks, repairing some cabin flooring and cutting and removing fallen trees. Some roads in the parks also will need repair.
“Hundreds of acres of grass” will have to be replanted, and “mountains of debris removed,” Kaufman said.
Kaufman said the agency has a small, in-house engineering staff and engineering consultants to help design and oversee major repairs, and contractors will be used as necessary.
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A man on trial over an October 2017 shooting in downtown Lawrence that killed three people and wounded two others has testified he wasn’t “thinking at all” when he fired his gun.
Law enforcement on the scene of the fatal 2017 shooting in Lawrence-photo courtesy WIBW TV
Testimony ended Friday in the Douglas County District Court trial of 22-year-old Anthony Roberts Jr. of Topeka. The charges against him include two counts of first-degree felony murder.
Roberts contends he acted in self-defense after being confronted by a hostile group as bars prepared to close in a popular downtown area. Prosecutors contend Roberts and friends came to Lawrence to “settle a score.”
The shooting killed 22-year-old Leah Brown of Shawnee; 20-year-old Colwin Lynn Henderson of Topeka; and 24-year-old Tre’Mel Dupree Dean-Rayton of Topeka.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer talked trade during an appearance before the House Ways and Means Committee last week. He told committee members that he’s hopeful the U.S. and Japan are close to a deal on agricultural tariff cuts. He says the key to reaching a bilateral trade agreement with Japan is resolving those differences over Ag tariffs.
Key lawmakers in Washington, D.C., cast significant doubt on the possibility of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement getting passed through Congress yet this summer. This comes in spite of the fact that political pressure is ramping up. Congress has a long summer recess rapidly approaching.
