RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ahead of Sunday’s deadline, officials say consumers are stepping up to enroll for 2015 coverage under President Barack Obama’s health care law.

Sign-up centers haven’t seen the same long lines as last year, but volunteers from Austin, Texas, to Columbus, Ohio, report a surge of interest this week.

An update from the Obama administration on Wednesday showed enrollment started picking up last week.

All told, 7.7 million people had signed up for subsidized private insurance in the 37 states served by the federal HealthCare.gov site as of February 6. That’s not counting states that run their own insurance markets.

But not everything was rosy — administration numbers show monthly premiums rose an average of 8 percent in the federal market states. After subsidies, that’s a $23-a-month increase from last year.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A mural by a well-known Kiowa-Comanche artist is being hung in a Wichita museum that focuses on the Plains Indians.

The Wichita Eagle reports that a March 13 unveiling is planned at the Mid-America All-Indian Center for the last large mural painted by Blackbear Bosin. The acrylic mural on canvas, entitled “From Whence All Life,” was commissioned by Farm Credit Bank and displayed in 1972.

Bosin is most famous for creating the 44-foot tall steel Keeper of the Plains statue at the confluence of the Arkansas and Little Arkansas rivers.

Last fall, the owner of the Farm Credit Bank building — CoBank out of Colorado — offered to donate the art to the city.

City documents say an independent appraisal in November valued the mural at $185,000.

KANSAS CITY, KAN. – A Linn County man was sentenced Monday to 41 months in prison for a federal firearms violation, according to U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom.

Jeffrey Nicholas, 48, Pleasanton, Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of possessing firearms and ammunition after a felony conviction.

In his plea, Nicholas admitted the investigation began in November 2011 when the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives conducted a compliance inspection at Big Bear’s Gifts & Pawn Shop in Pleasanton. The owner of the store, co-defendant Barry Walker, was at that time Linn County Sheriff. Walker was allowing Nicholas, who had a prior felony conviction, to handle, sell and possess firearms, in violation of federal law. Walker was counseled on the violation and agreed to prevent Nicholas from having any further access to firearms.

Despite the warnings from ATF, Nicholas continued to be involved in handling, selling and possessing firearms at the store during 2012 and 2013.

Co-defendant Barry Walker was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison.

Grissom commended the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Assistant U.S. Attorney Sheri McCracken for their work on the case.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — An autopsy report shows the 39-year-old driver in an August traffic accident that killed him and his teenage passenger had a blood-alcohol level of more than twice the legal limit.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports James Ford Bowen of Paxico and his passenger, 16-year-old Matthew Robert Allen of Topeka, died of blunt force injuries.

Police say they were killed when the 2000 Toyota SUV Bowen was driving at 12:43 a.m. Aug. 4 hit an unoccupied 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee parked on a Topeka street.

Both were pronounced dead at the scene at 12:49 a.m. Bowen’s autopsy showed his blood-alcohol level was .177 when he died.

Bowen had been paroled three days earlier after serving time on four convictions for forgery and one for theft, all committed in 2006.

STEPHEN OHLEMACHER, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Pressured by Congress, the IRS has apologized for seizing banks accounts from otherwise law-abiding business owners simply because those owners structured bank transactions to avoid federal reporting requirements.

The alleged crime was that they routinely made bank deposits of less than $10,000. That allowed the business owners to avoid reporting requirements designed to catch drug dealers and money launderers.

IRS Commissioner John Koskinen told Congress Wednesday that the IRS is changing policies to prevent the seizures, as long as the money came from legal means.

By law, bank transactions above $10,000 must be reported to the IRS. It’s a felony to structure deposits to avoid the reporting requirement, even if the money is legally earned.

In some cases, the IRS seized and held bank accounts for years without bringing charges.

 

MARY CLARE JALONICK, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — When it comes to school fundraisers, bake sale tables loaded with sugary goodies are out. Fun runs, auctions and sales of healthier treats are in.

Government rules requiring schools to hold more nutritious fundraisers are signaling trouble for the long-beloved bake sale. In response, schools are selling everything from fruit to kid-friendly shoe laces to raise money for activities.

Agriculture Department rules require all foods sold in schools during the day, including at fundraisers, to meet certain nutrition standards. The 2014 rules allow states to seek exemptions for fundraisers, but the National Association of State Boards of Education says only about half have done so.

Many schools say they have been successful in ditching the unhealthier models, but others have pushed back, saying the money is needed for school-based activities.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Topeka police say a person is hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries after being shot by a police officer during a confrontation.

The department said in a news release that the shooting Wednesday morning occurred as officers were investigating a report of a suspicious vehicle in southeast Topeka.

An officer determined the vehicle was stolen and when he returned to the vehicle, police say the driver tried to grab the officer’s weapon. The two struggled before the officer broke away and fired at the suspect. A second person in the car was not injured.

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation will lead the investigation.

The names of those involved have not been released.

By DAN MARGOLIES

HCA Midwest Health has agreed to pay the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City $15 million to settle part of a long-running dispute with the foundation over HCA’s charitable obligations.

The agreement is the latest development in a lawsuit filed in 2009 by the foundation, which was created from the proceeds of the sale of Health Midwest to HCA in 2003.

The lawsuit concerns whether HCA met its contractual obligations following its purchase of Health Midwest to provide at least $653 million in charity and uncompensated care over 10 years.

Last April, HCA agreed to pay $77 million to the foundation, on top of nearly $162 million that a judge ordered it to pay in 2013. The central issue in those earlier phases of the case was whether HCA’s construction of new hospitals counted toward commitments it made to spend $450 million in capital expenditures over five years.

HCA has preserved its right to challenge the judge’s ruling.

The latest settlement does not affect an ongoing dispute between HCA and the foundation over whether HCA met its capital expenditure obligations.

“The foundation is pleased to have reached this settlement and will use the proceeds to continue our mission of improving health for the uninsured and underserved in the Kansas City community,” Kenneth Southwick, chairman of the foundation’s board, said in a news release about the settlement.

M.L. Lagarde, president and CEO of HCA Midwest Health, said in the release that while the company believed it had “fully satisfied and exceeded its charity and uncompensated care obligations,” the settlement “provides additional funds for the benefit of the healthcare needs of Kansas City’s uninsured and underserved population.”

HCA is the largest for-profit hospital chain in the country. The company paid $1.3 billion in 2003 to acquire Menorah Medical Center, Research Medical Center, Overland Park Regional Medical Center and other non-profit health care facilities owned by Health Midwest.

Proceeds of the sale were used to set up the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City on the Missouri side of the state line and the REACH Healthcare Foundation on the Kansas side.

This story was updated to include additional information about the underlying lawsuit and HCA Midwest Health’s holdings.

Editor’s note: The Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City helps fund Heartland Health Monitor’s health coverage.

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

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) on Tuesday night spoke on the U.S. Senate Floor to address President Obama’s deeply concerning comments describing the January hostage taking and murder of four Jews in a Kosher supermarket in Paris, France, as “randomly shoot[ing] a bunch of folks in a deli.”

When asked to clarify the President’s comments, the White House stated that the Jewish victims of this attack were “killed not because of who they were, but because of where they randomly happened to be.” Spokespersons for the White House and U.S. Department of State later attempted to clarify their previous clarifications via Twitter.

Reuters has reported that the perpetrator of the attack had called into a French television station to declare his allegiance to Islamic State (ISIL) and stated his intention to target Jews.

Highlights from Sen. Moran’s remarks may be found below, along with links to the video download:

(1:03) “The White House today suggested that because there were non-Jews in the kosher supermarket named ‘Super Kosher,’ the attack did not target Jews specifically. The State Department restated this explanation today, refusing to say that an attack on a Kosher supermarket that killed four Jews could be anti-Jewish.

(1:29) “The absurdity of this logic is apparent – let me give you a hypothetical…(2:02) if somebody who happens to work in the American Embassy who is not an American is killed in an attack, would we reach the conclusion that an attack on our Embassy is not an attack on America?

(2:14) “The Obama Administration’s logic here challenges common sense and is truly difficult to understand what they are trying to convey. It is also contrary to open source media reports about this attack… (2:41) Given this information, the Obama Administration’s now repeated comments that chalked this up to randomness, that’s just amazing to me… It’s dangerous for our government leaders to reach such a conclusion and for us to be operating [under that assertion] as we make a determination on how to proceed next in the ‘war on terror’…

(3:53) “…the Administration is soon to present to Congress for approval an authorization for the use of military force against Islamic State fighters. Authorizing war is a decision that should be made with the fullest information and most complete understanding possible. The Obama Administration should be doing everything it can to clearly describe the threat America faces and the strategy to be employed under a potential AUMF. The stakes are way too high to operate under anything but a clear understanding of the significant challenges that our country faces. It makes no sense to describe something different than