NEW YORK (AP) — Struggling electronics retailer RadioShack has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and says it will sell up to 2,400 stores.
The Fort Worth, Texas company has suffered from years of losses.
RadioShack Corp. introduced the first mass-market personal computer and used to be the go-to stop for consumers’ home electronics needs. But it struggled as shoppers increasingly shifted to making purchases online and growth in its wireless business slowed.
The New York Stock Exchange suspended trading of its shares on Monday and sought to delist it.
RadioShack had warned of a possible bankruptcy in September, but received rescue financing that kept it afloat. Still, its CEO recently cautioned the chain might not be able to find a long-term plan to stay in business.
QUINTER – Two Kansas men were injured in an accident just before 10 a.m. on Thursday in Sheridan County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 1997 Ford F250 driven by Jason Scott Force, 36, Grinnell, was eastbound on 160th South Road four miles north of Quinter.
The truck dropped a tire off the road. The drier overcorrected and the truck slid off the roadway sideways and rolled.
Force and a passenger Matthew Shephard, 31, Oakley, were transported to Gove County Medical Center.
The KHP reported Shephard was not wearing a seat belt.
Place of Death: Via Christi St. Francis Regional Medical Center, Wichita, Kansas
Date of Birth: March 8, 1941 at Stockton, Kansas
Parents Name: Theodore and Elsie Johnson and Glen and Evelyn (Johnson) Tegarden
OBITUARY INFORMATION
She worked at Fuller Brush in the plastics department and later was a kitchen manager at the Barton County Sheriff’s Department. She enjoyed crocheting, doing puzzles and listening to Elvis Presley music.
SURVIVORS
Survivors include one daughter, Leesa Maupin of Great Bend, Kan.; two brothers, Gary Johnson and his wife Sarah of North Highlands Ranch, Calif.; and Howard Johnson and his wife Cathy of Great Bend; two sisters, Glenda (Love) Zimmerman and her husband Rick and Carol Elliott and her husband John both of Great Bend; five grandchildren, Cassandra Maupin, Ryan Maupin and his wife Ty, Joey Barlow, Dalton Barlow, and Lucas Gerhardt; six great-grandchildren, Cassandra Epp, Dustin Epp, Lanea Maupin, Joseph Maupin, Ryan Maupin, Jr., and Desire Maupin, seven nephews and eight nieces. She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband Duane Pulec, and one sister, Lila Irene Strunk.
SERVICE INFORMATION
Memorial service will be at 3:30 p.m., Friday, February 6, 2015 at First Church of the Nazarene, Great Bend, with the Reverend Josh Foster officiating. There will be no visitation as cremation has taken place. In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial contributions to First Church of the Nazarene, in care of Bryant Funeral Home.
Condolences may be sent and notice viewed at www.bryantfh.net
Arrangements by Bryant Funeral Home 1425 Patton Road Great Bend, Kansas 67530
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback says he’s going to cut nearly $45 million in funding for public schools and higher education in March.
But the governor also suggested that lawmakers could head off the reductions by withholding $54 million from public schools instead.
The Republican governor announced his plans for the current budget cycle Thursday just ahead of a Senate vote on a bill aimed at erasing a projected $344 million deficit.
Kansas law gives the governor the authority to make some budget cuts on his own to keep the budget in balance.
The $54 million represents additional funding required under a law enacted last year to boost aid to poor districts. The promised aid is costing more than anticipated.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Kansas woman rushing toward Lincoln after her water broke delivered twins on the side of the highway.
The Lincoln Journal Star reports 36-year old Laura Clark, of Barnes, Kansas, told her 39-year-old husband Kevin Clark to pull over Thursday morning and call 911, because one of the babies had already been born.
After placing the call, Kevin Clark says he wrapped the baby in a blanket and tied off the umbilical cord, and then the second one was born.
Lancaster County Sheriff’s Capt. Ben Houchin says rescue crews arrived shortly after the second birth and took the babies to Bryan Medical Center East Campus in Lincoln, where he says the newborn boy and girl are doing well.
The couple says they haven’t yet decided on names.
BELPRE – A Kansas man was injured in an accident just before 6:30 a.m. on Thursday in Edwards County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2003 Freightliner semi driven by Ismael Gomez-Alcala, 43, Dodge City, was eastbound on U.S. 50 one mile east of Belpre.
The truck crossed the centerline and entered the north ditch. The driver over corrected and the truck rolled into the north ditch.
Gomez-Alcala was transported to Edwards County Hospital. The KHP reported he was properly restrained at the time of the accident.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Invista, a unit of Koch Industries, plans to open a new manufacturing plant in McPherson to expand production of its Raptor nylon pipe for oil pipelines.
The Wichita Eagle reports the company will convert an existing building in McPherson for its operations, with production expected to begin in early spring.
About a dozen employees will be hired initially in McPherson but the company expects its workforce to grow.
Invista spokesman executive vice president Kurt Buremeister says establishing a production facility in Kansas will reduce delivery times to customers and help the company to respond to increasing demand for its product.
No incentives were sought for the project.
McPherson already has 17 or 18 plastics manufacturing-related businesses.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas and Wichita-based Via Christi Health have finalized an agreement aimed at changing the way care is provided to about 20,000 Kansans covered by BCBS policies. Credit Via Christi Health
By JIM MCLEAN
Kansas’ largest health insurer and the state’s largest health care provider are forming an accountable care organization to lower health care costs.
After nearly a year of negotiations, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas and Wichita-based Via Christi Health have finalized an agreement aimed at changing the way care is provided to approximately 20,000 Kansans covered by BCBS policies.
Under the agreement, Via Christi would share in any savings that result from an emphasis on preventive care and from more effective management of patients with chronic conditions. But it could also lose money if the anticipated savings don’t materialize.
The arrangement creates financial incentives to move away from doing tests and procedures that inflate health care costs without improving the quality of care, says Mary Beth Chambers, a spokesperson for BCBS of Kansas.
“It really creates kind of a new type of partnership between the insurer and the health care provider,” Chambers says.
The belief — buttressed by research — that an increased focus on preventive care and management of chronic conditions can lower overall health care costs has led networks of doctors and hospitals across the country to form hundreds of accountable care organizations, or ACOs.
Providers in ACOs receive what amounts to a flat fee to provide all the care their patients need. Because health outcomes also are monitored, providers have strong incentives to focus on delivering cost-effective care without cutting corners that could jeopardize the health of their patients.
The agreement with BCBS is the latest indication of Via Christi’s strategic direction.
Three years ago, it created the Healthier You Alliance in Accountable Care, which utilizes a network of more than 600 providers to coordinate care for 21,700 Medicare beneficiaries in Wichita, Manhattan and Wamego and approximately 16,0000 Via Christi employees and their dependents.
Three years ago, Via Christi created its Healthier You Alliance in Accountable Care. Under the alliance, a network of more than 600 providers coordinate care for 21,700 Medicare beneficiaries in Wichita, Manhattan and Wamego and approximately 16,000 Via Christi employees and their dependents.
Dave Gambino, chief strategy officer for Via Christi, says the Healthier You Alliance set the stage for the agreement with BCBS of Kansas.
“What makes our ACO unique in our service area is that it’s a physician-led payer-provider model,” Gambino says. “Working together allows us to create wins for everyone involved.”
Jim McLean is executive editor of KHI News Service in Topeka, a partner in the Heartland Health Monitor team.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The wife of a state representative from Wichita died after being struck and dragged by a vehicle in a supermarket parking lot.
Rachel Whitten, spokeswoman for House Speaker Ray Merrick, confirmed the victim of Thursday’s accident was 60-year-old Annette Hedke, wife of Republican Dennis Hedke, a three-term state representative from Wichita.
Police say she fell near her car in a Dillons parking lot as an SUV next to her pulled out and hit her. Hedke was dragged 15 feet and pinned beneath the SUV, whose driver did not see her because she had fallen.
Lt. James Espinoza says the driver and witnesses stopped and helped her. He says it was too soon to determine what caused Hedke to fall.
Whitten says Dennis Hedke has returned to Wichita.
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WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A 61-year-old woman is dead after being struck by a vehicle in the parking lot of a Wichita supermarket.
The Wichita Eagle reports the woman was struck just after 8:15 a.m. Thursday and taken to a local hospital with numerous injuries.
Police say the woman fell near her car and an SUV next to her pulled out and hit her. A police spokesman says the woman was dragged 15 feet and pinned beneath the SUV, whose driver did not see the her because she had fallen.
NEW YORK (AP) — Struggling electronics retailer RadioShack has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and says it will sell up to 2,400 stores.
