By JOHN HANNA

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A legislative fight over expanding Medicaid in Kansas is delaying approval of the state’s next annual budget as expansion supporters try to keep Republican opponents from blocking it for another year.

Some top GOP lawmakers are conceding that an expansion plan could pass because expansion is a priority for Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly and has bipartisan support in the Republican-controlled Legislature. However, opponents hope for time this summer and fall to develop a smaller program than Kelly wants with restrictions she opposes, such as a work requirement for participants.

 

THANK YOU to all supporters of KanCare expansion who stood up and spoke out at the Capitol today! We can’t do this without you. #ksleg #ExpandKanCare pic.twitter.com/byGW6dM8dA

— Expand KanCare Now! (@ExpandKanCare) March 19, 2019

Expansion became a sticking point in budget negotiations between the House and Senate, causing lawmakers to put off votes until May on any part of the state’s spending blueprint for the fiscal year beginning in July. Potential expansion costs are hotly debated, but the disagreement in budget talks is over how much to tie Kelly’s hands as she pursues expansion this year.

“We have a Democrat governor,” Senate Majority Leader Jim Denning, a conservative Kansas City-area Republican. “There will be a time when we won’t be able to maneuver around it.”

Supporters argue that Medicaid expansion will benefit working-class families, help struggling rural hospitals and boost the economy with an influx of federal funds. Opponents predict expansion will prove far more expensive than advertised, even with the 2010 federal Affordable Care Act’s promise that the federal government would cover 90 percent of the cost.

Thirty-six states, including GOP-led ones, have expanded Medicaid or have seen voters approve ballot initiatives.

In Kansas, Republicans who oppose expansion still hold key positions in both chambers and prevented even a committee vote for weeks. However, supporters forced a debate in the House last month, and it passed a modified version of Kelly’s expansion plan over GOP leaders’ objections.

The Senate didn’t take up the measure before lawmakers began their annual spring break Saturday. However, Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, a Topeka Democrat, notified colleagues that he will try to pull it out of committee May 1, when legislators reconvene to wrap up business for the year.

In arguing for further delay, GOP leaders note that Republican-led Utah is pursuing a scaled-back version of an expansion approved by voters last year to control the potential costs.

Kelly’s administration projects that her plan to extend Medicaid health coverage to as many as 150,000 more Kansas residents would come with a net cost of the state of $34 million in the program’s first full year. Top Republicans are skeptical and believe the net cost easily could be twice as much.

They also want Kansas to consider work requirements, though a federal judge blocked them in Arkansas and Kentucky. Republicans also have suggested drug testing for people receiving the expanded Medicaid coverage. Kelly opposes both ideas, but it’s not clear what she would do if either was included in expansion legislation.

GOP leaders announced plans last week to have a committee study possible alternatives to Kelly’s plan this summer and fall.

“We’re going to do it on our own schedule,” Denning said.

To help build pressure for Medicaid expansion, Kelly is having a town hall meeting Tuesday in Wichita, and Lt. Gov. Lynn Rogers is touring western Kansas hospitals.

“We’ve studied this for multiple years,” Rogers said Monday. “When they (Republican leaders) say we need more discussion, it’s on them. It’s not on the Kansas people.”

Legislators initially planned to pass a bill containing most of the next state budget before the spring break, to make finishing their work in May easier.

However, the budget talks stalled last week. Medicaid expansion was among a few remaining issues in reconciling differences between the House and Senate versions of the spending blueprint.

Neither chamber included funds to cover expansion costs, but Denning persuaded senators to add an amendment to their version to prevent the state from spending any dollars on expansion paperwork.

A 2014 law already requires prior legislative approval for expansion, but Denning said he wants to ensure that putting funding in the budget isn’t interpreted as a go-ahead for a specific plan.

House negotiators balked, with even expansion foes seeing the provision as overkill. The dispute — and resulting budget impasse — gives expansion supporters extra unexpected political leverage.

“That amendment could have caused us problems for passing expansion,” said state Rep. Kathy Wolfe Moore, a budget negotiator and Kansas City Democrat who supports expansion. “As long as that was in there, anyone who voted for expansion would not vote for the budget.”

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A Missouri man has pleaded guilty in federal court to his role in a conspiracy that distributed 45 kilograms of methamphetamine in southwest Missouri.

Kenneth R. Friend, 48, of Springfield, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool on Friday, April 5, to participating in the conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in Greene, Polk, Christian, Jasper, Laclede, and Webster Counties from June 1, 2013, through Nov. 29, 2014. Friend also pleaded guilty to money laundering by engaging in monetary transactions to promote unlawful activity.

Beginning in 2012, the Drug Enforcement Administration, assisted by other agencies, investigated one of the largest methamphetamine distribution rings in southwest Missouri. The investigation resulted in the indictment of 29 defendants.

The conspiracy was responsible for the distribution of more than 45 kilograms of methamphetamine.

During the conspiracy, Friend obtained large amounts of methamphetamine from various sources. For example, Friend paid one source $20,000 in early November 2014 for two pounds of methamphetamine. Friend also intended to purchase a large amount of methamphetamine from one of his sources on Nov. 27, 2014. As part of the investigation, law enforcement officers arrested Friend, his then-girlfriend and one of his suppliers. During the execution of a federal search warrant at the supplier’s residence in Springfield, agents found approximately $20,000 and approximately five and a half pounds of methamphetamine. Friend admitted that he intended to purchase at least two of the five and a half pounds seized from this source of supply. Agents also seized $34,310 from Friend, which he had intended to use to purchase the two pounds of methamphetamine. Agents also seized Friend’s 1992 Harley Davidson motorcycle, which he used to distribute methamphetamine and which he purchased with proceeds from the sale of methamphetamine. Under the terms of the plea agreement, Friend must forfeit the cash and the motorcycle to the government.

Friend is among 29 defendants who have pleaded guilty in this case; 27 of those defendants have been sentenced.

Under federal statutes, Friend is subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison without parole, up to a sentence of life in federal prison without parole. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

RAY COUNTY — One person died in an accident just before 9p.m. Monday in Ray County.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee driven by Monica M. Watson, 22, Excelsior Springs, was southbound on Silvey Road just south of NE 174^th.

The Jeep crossed the center line, traveled off the left side of the road, returned to the road and overturned.

Watson was pronounced dead at the scene.

Three passengers in the jeep from Excelsior Springs were injured. Charlie R. Eddington, 16, was transported to Children’s Mercy. William Graham, 12, was transported to Liberty Hospital. Ezekiel Parker, 4, was transported to North Kansas City Hospital.   Watson and Edington were not wearing seat belts, according to the MSHP.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A panel of lawmakers on Monday considered enacting a ban on discrimination against unvaccinated children, an effort that comes as other states look to increase immunization amid disease outbreaks.

Parents testified to lawmakers that their unimmunized children were turned away from daycares and doctors. Republican Rep. Lynn Morris, a pharmacist from southwest Missouri, said parents are being pressured to vaccinate their children.

“Parents are getting bullied,” Morris said. “They’re getting bullied by county health departments. They’re getting bullied by schools. They’re getting bullied by their doctors. They’re being intimidated, and I just don’t think that’s right.”

The Republican’s bill would ban discrimination against unimmunized children in doctors’ offices, daycares, public schools and colleges if families have legal exemptions. Missouri grants exemptions for religious and medical reasons.

The hearing came just days after a judge temporarily blocked a suburban New York county’s emergency order banning children from public places unless they’ve been vaccinated against measles.

Lawmakers from other states also are looking to ramp up vaccinations in response to outbreaks of diseases such as measles and whooping cough .

Washington lawmakers in March passed a measure to strip exemptions for measles vaccinations after an outbreak sickened dozens. There’s a push to end non-medical exemptions for vaccines in Maine, where there were 95 cases of whooping cough through February.

While overall vaccination rates remain high in the U.S. according to the Centers for Disease Control, the number of kids under two who haven’t received any vaccines is growing. The CDC attributes much of this to lack of health insurance — uninsured kids are much more likely to be unvaccinated than children who have health insurance.

Janessa Baake, from the city of Peculiar in southwestern Missouri, cited concern over potential medical risks and told lawmakers Monday that her 3-year-old daughter is unvaccinated. She said after being denied by a Missouri doctor, she now takes her daughter to a Kansas pediatrician.

Another man said his two children developed autism after being vaccinated as toddlers.

“All of the stories and the anecdotes that we heard are very important, but I don’t think that they can be used to refute science,” Ferguson Democrat Rep. Cora Faith Walker said during a break in the hearing.

Multiple studies have debunked claims that measles, mumps and rubella vaccinations increase the risk for autism, and the National Institutes of Health says reports of serious reactions are rare: about one every 100,000 vaccinations. In the U.S., more than 90 percent of the population nationally is properly vaccinated.

“What we know and what we have in study after study of scientific fact is that vaccines are safe, and they’re effective,” said Jefferson City pediatrician Katie Blount, a member of the Missouri chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. “Ultimately what it boils down to is it’s one of the best ways that I know how to take care of a kiddo.”

A similar bill didn’t make it to the floor last year.

The House Health and Mental Health Policy Committee also is considering legislation to require physicians to provide information on the benefits and risks of vaccines, information from CDC and other information before giving vaccines.

CLAY COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities were busy Sunday after a traffic stop near Interstate 35 in Clay County.

Just after 5:40a.m., a police officer in Kearny conducted a traffic stop near Interstate 35, which resulted in a large drug seizure and arrest of three subjects ages 26, 28, and 34 from Iowa and Illinois.

Authorities have not released names of the suspects.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A Missouri sex offender has been sentenced in federal court for receiving and distributing child pornography, according to the United State’s Attorney.

Bill Lawrence, Jr., 57, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Roseann Ketchmark on April 5, to 15 years in federal prison without parole. The court also sentenced Lawrence to 15 years of supervised release following incarceration.

Lawrence, who pleaded guilty on Aug. 28, 2018, has prior convictions for possessing child pornography and promoting child pornography.

According to court documents, the investigation began with two CyberTips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Lawrence had attached images of child pornography to at least two emails that were sent from his Google account. The images depicted prepubescent children being sexually abused or in sexual poses.

Law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Lawrence’s residence and seized his cell phone, which contained multiple images of child pornography. Lawrence admitted to officers that he used the Chat Hour application to both receive and distribute child pornography over the internet.

KANSAS CITY (AP) — A south Kansas City school district says police are investigating a report that at least one student became ill after eating marijuana-laced brownies.

The Hickman Mills district said in a statement Monday the incident happened in late March at Hickman Mills Freshman Center.

Assistant principal John Miller said a student complained March 28 that she felt strange after eating a brownie given to her by another student.

Another student said she felt fine after taking a bite of the same brownie. And Miller said the girl accused of having the brownies denied they were laced with anything.

The school nurse were checked the students, who were then sent home. Miller reported the incident to the Missouri Division of Family Services.

CAPE GIRARDEAU COUNTY, Mo. – With the assistance of the Cape Girardeau Police Department, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) and the Norton County Sheriff’s Office made an arrest connected to the murder of Lori Shields.

At approximately 4:20 p.m. on Monday, he was released from the Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau, Mo., Damien L. Shields, 42, of Norton, was arrested for the first-degree murder of his wife, 38-year-old Lori Shields.

Shields was then booked into the Cape Girardeau County Jail.

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NORTON COUNTY– The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) and the Norton County Sheriff’s Office are currently investigating a homicide that occurred in rural Norton, Kan. on Sunday.

According to a media release from the KBI, preliminary information indicates that the Norton County Sheriff’s Office received information Sunday afternoon that a female victim was deceased at 16353 U.S. Highway 36, in Norton. At approximately 3:40 p.m., sheriff’s deputies responded to the residence where they discovered 38-year-old Lori Shields, of Norton, deceased inside.

A suspect connected to the case was identified, and KBI agents and sheriff’s deputies worked to try to locate him. On Monday, at approximately 2:40 a.m., the Cape Girardeau, Mo., Police Department responded to a report of person calling out for help from a hotel room. Once police arrived, they learned the man in the hotel room was being sought by Kansas authorities connected to this homicide case.

The man was taken to a hospital in Cape Girardeau to be treated for injuries that were likely self-inflicted. He remains hospitalized at this time.