WASHINGTON (AP) —Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald is apologizing for misstating that he served in the military’s special forces.

McDonald made the erroneous claim while speaking to a homeless veteran during a segment that aired last month on “CBS Evening News.”

McDonald now says “that was inaccurate.”

The secretary apologized in a statement Monday “to anyone that was offended” by his mistaken claim that he was a special forces member. He says he remains committed “to the ongoing effort to reform VA.”

The VA website says McDonald is an Army veteran who completed Ranger training and was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal when he left the military. President Barack Obama chose the former Procter & Gamble CEO to take over the scandal-plagued VA last year, and McDonald took office last July.

By Andy Marso 

For the first time, a Kansas House committee has approved a bill allowing some form of medical marijuana. House Bill 2282 was limited in scope to begin with, and Rep. John Wilson, the bill’s sponsor, proposed amendments to further limit it Monday in the hopes of assuaging concerns about opening the state to legal pot abuse.

The effort worked, and Wilson’s bill passed the House Health and Human Services Committee verbally with only a few “nay” votes. Wilson, a Democrat from Lawrence, said the somewhat anti-climactic vote was appropriate. “We don’t celebrate the passage of other medical or patient-focused bills in here, and I think this is just another one of those bills,” he said. “It just happens to deal with a plant that has a history behind it.”

Since introducing the bill last month, Wilson sought to separate it from much broader medical marijuana bills introduced by fellow Democrats in the House and Senate. He stressed that his bill allows only the use of cannabis too low in THC to provide a “high” and only for the treatment of seizure disorders. “I’m not a foot soldier in any march toward full-scale legalization, recreational marijuana or anything like that,” Wilson said. “

Our bill is structured in such a way that if people want to add any new conditions or any new variety or marijuana or new levels of THC, they’re going to have to come to the Legislature first.” He said the bill as written could appeal to a unique coalition of libertarian-leaning Republicans or those looking to assert states’ rights, as well as progressive Democrats who think marijuana is a safe alternative to traditional drugs.

There is anecdotal evidence that low-grade cannabis oil can reduce the harmful symptoms for children with disorders that cause them to suffer dozens or even hundreds of seizures a day. The most well-known anecdote involves Charlotte Figi, whose treatment success caused supporters to name the treatment “Charlotte’s Web.”

But formal research on the treatment’s risks and rewards has been limited due to the federal government’s classification of marijuana as a Schedule One controlled substance.

Still, in recent years almost half the states have adopted some sort of legal access to cannabis oil. Wilson’s bill, as amended, stipulates that unless the Legislature says otherwise, the oil in question must be made with marijuana that contains no more than 3 percent THC, a level low enough to have basically no intoxicating effect. It also limits its usage strictly to those with a documented seizure disorder.

Wilson’s amendment scuttled a process to petition KDHE for other THC content and for treatment of other disorders, and eliminated an advisory committee that would have been created to evaluate those petitions. The bill as previously written drew opposition from law enforcement and addiction treatment groups who said the petition process created a gaping loophole.

Rep. Dick Jones, a Republican from Topeka, said he still believed the amended bill would put Kansas on a slippery slope toward the situation in Colorado, one of the few states to legalize marijuana for recreational as well as medicinal use.

“I think we’re looking at a Pandora’s box here,” he said. Jones said his personal research had turned up no “definitive statement” from a respected medical institution that medical marijuana is completely safe. Jones was one of the few “no” votes in committee Monday.

Wilson said that does not mean the bill has an easy road. He said he would work to convince the House leadership to allow a floor vote on it, with a soft deadline for passage looming Friday. Even if it does come up for a House vote, there’s no guarantee it would pass there. Rep. Don Hill, a Republican from Emporia, said Monday he was voting for the bill in committee but was undecided on how he would vote if it came to the floor.

Hill said he would prefer to follow the U.S. Food and Drug Administration medication approval process, but he’s sympathetic to parents who don’t think they can wait because of their children’s persistent seizures. “I’m not yet convinced that we have the evidence that we need to have to be certain of the safety as well as the therapeutic benefit — the risk-to-benefit profile,” said Hill, a retired pharmacist. “But I’m also not satisfied that over the last several years we — the federal government, the pharmaceutical industry and our FDA system — have moved as quickly as I would have hoped.”

Andy Marso is a reporter for Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.

BELLEVILLE, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say a small child was killed and another one hospitalized when fire swept through a north-central Kansas home.

The children’s names were not immediately released, though officials say both were younger than 5 years old.

The medical status of the child who survived the Monday morning fire in 2,000-resident Belleville was not immediately clear.

Officials say the fire broke out in the home’s basement, though the cause of the blaze was not immediately known.

The Kansas State Fire Marshal’s office is investigating.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) — Siemens Energy officials say they plan to end furloughs that had been implemented because of a dockworkers labor dispute on the West Coast.

The company said the plant in Hutchinson is expected to be back in full operation by Monday.

The Hutchinson News reports Siemens furloughed about 60 employees last Wednesday because parts needed to build wind turbine nacelles were held up by the dockworkers strike in California. A tentative agreement in that labor dispute was announced on Friday.

Nacelles hold the wind turbine’s generating components, such as the generator, gearbox, drive train and brake assembly.

The Siemens plant employs about 360 full-time workers and contract workers.

RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — An extensive new survey says the share of Americans without health insurance dropped to its lowest level in seven years in 2014 as President Barack Obama’s overhaul took full effect.

Released Tuesday, the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index finds a drop of 3.5 percentage points in the share of Americans without health insurance, in a full-year comparison between 2013 and 2014.

Research director Dan Witters says about 12.3 million fewer adults were uninsured in the fourth quarter of 2014, compared to the third quarter of 2013.

The trend appears likely to continue, since 55 percent of the remaining uninsured say they plan to get coverage rather than face escalating tax penalties.

But first, the Supreme Court must decide if millions of people can continue to receive subsidized coverage.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Senate is expected to debate this week a bill to allow residents who are 21 or older to carry concealed guns without a state permit.

Senate Majority Leader Terry Bruce’s office says the debate should be Wednesday or Thursday. Bruce is a Nickerson Republican, and he’s the measure’s leading sponsor.

The Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee approved the bill last week. It ends a requirement for people wanting to carry concealed to get a state permit.

A permit costs $132.50, and a person must undergo eight hours of training to get one.

Gun-rights groups note Kansas has long allowed the open carrying of weapons without a state permit. The bill’s critics say training should be mandated for people carrying concealed weapons.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Conservative Republicans are pushing to overhaul Kansas’ school curriculum with a bill blocking the Common Core standards.

The House Education Committee held a hearing Monday on the bill, which would bar any school district from adopting curriculums developed by entities outside of the state. Common Core has been adopted by 44 states, but critics have objected to it as inflexible and say it usurps local school decision-making.

Republican Rep. Ron Highland of Wamego, who chairs the committee, says he has seen a rising tide of constituents opposed to the standards.

But Democratic Rep. Ed Trimmer of Winfield said that bill could have unintended consequences like blocking advanced placement courses and instruction preparing students for college entrance exams.

Republican lawmakers tried unsuccessfully to block the standards during the previous legislative session.