KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas woman who says a misdiagnosis led doctors to remove parts of her organs and then cover up the mistake is suing the University of Kansas Hospital over her treatment.

Wendy Ann Noon Berner, of Shawnee says in her lawsuit that she didn’t learn about the misdiagnosis until reading media reports about a whistleblower lawsuit filed by a pathologist who raised concerns about the case and wanted to inform Berner.

KCUR reports Berner’s lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Wyandotte County District Court, accuses the hospital in Kansas City, Kansas, of fraud, negligence and civil conspiracy.

Spokesman Dennis McCulloch said the hospital is limited in what it can say in response to the lawsuit but believes its physicians and staff acted appropriately.

 

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The former chief financial officer of a Kansas City company pleaded guilty in federal court Friday to embezzling more than $6.5 million from his employer, according to Tom Larson, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri.

Douglas Ferrell, 34, of Kansas City, waived his right to a grand jury and pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Brian C. Wimes to a federal information that charges him with wire fraud and money laundering.

Ferrell began working for Scarbrough International at its headquarters in Kansas City, Mo., in 2005 as an account representative and became the company’s chief financial officer in 2012. Scarbrough International is a privately owned, U.S. Customs Broker and international freight forwarder.

By pleading guilty, Ferrell admitted that he embezzled approximately $6,523,742 from the company for his own use and enjoyment. From Sept. 1, 2006, to June 10, 2014, Ferrell engaged in a scheme to embezzle company funds by making unauthorized personal charges to the company’s credit card and PayPal accounts, and then using company funds to pay those charges.

Ferrell also made a number of financial transactions of funds that he knew were the proceeds of fraud, including a $650,000 wire transfer (that contained at least $475,625 in fraud proceeds) to Cayman National Bank in the Cayman Islands to purchase a beach house. Ferrell wired a total of more than $2,250,000 to purchase that property. Ferrell also used embezzled funds to ship furnishings from the United States for the property and for additional construction and improvements to the property, including over $77,000 in payments to a Cayman Islands tile company. After the improvements, paid for with additional embezzled funds, the property was valued at over $2.6 million.

The final amount of restitution will be determined at Ferrell’s sentencing hearing, but is estimated to be $1,940,462 due to Ferrell’s partial repayment of restitution. The company has recouped a significant portion of its loss.

Under federal statutes, Ferrell is subject to a sentence of up to 30 years 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.

RENO COUNTY– Fire crews are working to determine the cause of a Saturday morning fire at a home in Hutchinson.

Just before 6a.m., the Hutchinson Fire Department responded to 715 East 5th for a report of a structure fire, according to a media release.

On arrival, crews located a man with multiple lacerations that he sustained after escaping the fire by breaking out a bedroom window and crawling out of the structure. Reno County EMS responded to provided additional aid to the victim. 

Additional fire crews then located and contained the fire to the room of origin. Significant heat and smoke damage were sustained to the rest of this single-story home.

Initial crews reported that there were no working smoke detectors in the residence. Battalion Chief Rex Albright states that “yet this is an all too frequent occurrence in a home with no smoke alarms” With today’s home furnishings being produced with plastics and synthetics, fires burn hotter and faster than previous years. In fact, reports show that you only have 3 minutes to escape a fire after your smoke alarm sounds.

Hutchinson Fire was assisted at the scene by Hutchinson Police Department, Reno County EMS, Kansas Gas and Westar Energy.

NEOSHO COUNTY- A Kansas man died in an ATV accident just after 8p.m. Saturday in Neosho County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a Polaris ATV driven by Trustin L. Maurer, 21, Galesburg, was traveling up hill on private property at 7635 Pratt Road five miles south of Erie.

The driver turned the wheel as passenger Jonah L. DeMeritt, 21, Erie was trying to exit the vehicle.

The ATV rolled onto its right side and hit DeMeritt.   He was transported to Via Christi in Pittsburg where he died.   Maurer was not injured, according to the KHP.

By CELIA LLOPIS-JEPSEN

Kansas’ private tuition tax credit program doubled in size in the 2016-2017 school year and appears likely to expand again after lawmakers voted to enhance it this session.

More than 200 children from low-income families received scholarships to attend private schools in northeast Kansas and Wichita during the fledgling program’s third year in existence. However, it only was the second year in which children actually received scholarships, because it took private schools time to set up the program.

The private school tax initiative passed into law under a conservative-controlled Legislature in 2014, raising hackles among some moderate and liberal lawmakers who saw it as diverting tax revenue to private and religious schools or as fiscally impractical given an ongoing lawsuit against the state’s K-12 funding.

Advocates of school choice — a movement that promotes alternatives to local public schools with the aim of prodding overall improvement of the K-12 sector by injecting competition — see potential to level the playing field for low-income families.

The program could grow again in its fourth year. Wichita Catholic schools have signaled plans to participate, and in June the Legislature loosened statutory restrictions in hopes of spurring greater fundraising.

The program works by allowing donors to fund scholarships in return for a deduction from certain types of tax bills, worth 70 percent of the value of their donation.

During the 2016-2017 school year, 205 students received about $690,000 in combined scholarship funds to attend private schools instead of their local public schools. Of these, 189 attended accredited Catholic schools in northeast Kansas — primarily in Kansas City and Topeka, but also in Leavenworth, Shawnee and Ottawa. Sixteen attended an unaccredited Christian school called Urban Prep Academy in Wichita.

A year earlier, 99 students received scholarships to attend northeast Kansas Catholic schools and 10 attended Urban Prep.

So far, families are primarily using the program to leave Kansas City Kansas Public Schools and Topeka Public Schools.

The information comes from annual fundraising and scholarship disclosure forms submitted to the state each summer by fundraising organizations affiliated with the private schools.

Celia Llopis-Jepsen is a reporter for the Kansas News Service, a collaboration of KCUR, Kansas Public Radio and KMUW covering health, education and politics. You can reach her on Twitter @Celia_LJ.

SUMNER COUNTY – A series of earthquakes shook Kansas late Friday and continued Saturday.

The latest quake just after 8p.m. measured a magnitude 2.9 and was centered approximately 12 miles south of Conway Springs, according to the U.S. Geological survey.  It followed a 3.4 magnitude quake at 3:13 p.m. Saturday centered approximately 3 miles west of Mayfield.

On Friday at 10:14p.m. a quake that measured a magnitude 3.0 was centered seven miles north of Caldwell, according USGS.

It was followed by a 3.3 magnitude quake at 10:32p.m. A 2.9 magnitude quake hit just west of Belle Plaine just after midnight Saturday morning followed by a 2.8 magnitude quake just after 12:39a.m.

There are no reports of damage or injury, according to the Sumner County Sheriff’s Department.

 

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SUMNER COUNTY – A series of earthquakes shook Kansas late Friday and early Saturday morning in Sumner County.

The first quake at 10:14p.m. measured a magnitude 3.0 and was centered seven miles north of Caldwell, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

It was followed by a 3.3 magnitude quake at 10:32p.m. A 2.9 magnitude quake hit just west of Belle Plaine just after midnight Saturday morning followed by a 2.8 magnitude quake just after 12:39a.m.

There are no reports of damage or injury.

JOHN HANNA, AP Political Writer

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas prisons face high staff turnover and potential inmate unrest at a time when state officials expect the population behind bars to continue growing steadily well into the future.

The problems could become worse.

The total state inmate population exceeded 9,900 last week, and the state’s official projections have it reaching 11,000 by 2027.

Corrections Secretary Joe Norwood told legislators recently that he’s worried that high turnover is creating an inexperienced workforce. He blames low pay that starts at $13.95 an hour for keeping open one in every five jobs for uniformed officers.

Legislators and the union representing the officers increasingly see a link between inmate unrest and staffing shortages and long hours for remaining employees. The prison in El Dorado has seen multiple disturbances in recent months.

ARKANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — The Arkansas City Police Department is investigating the death of a pedestrian who was hit by a vehicle.

Police have not released the name of the77-year-old woman who died in the accident Friday evening.

Police say she was walking in the road when she was struck by a car driven by a 21-year-old woman.

Neither alcohol nor drugs are thought to have played a role in the accident.

KANSAS CITY (AP) — A suburban Kansas City mail carrier pleaded guilty in federal court to stealing gift cards and checks from postal customers in Independence.

Federal prosecutors say 34-year-old Audrey Odell, of Blue Springs, pleaded guilty Thursday to theft of mail by a postal employee.

Odell admitted she stole about 150 gift cards and 150 checks from routes in Independence, causing an estimated loss of $2,500 from about 75 customers.

After receiving complaints about possible mail theft, postal inspectors placed test pieces with gift cards addressed to fictitious addresses along Odell’s route. The mail should have been returned as undeliverable. In February 2017, Odell was arrested after several pieces of mail, including the test mailings, were found in Odell’s vehicle.

No sentencing date has been scheduled.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The U.S. is in a rare bulls-eye for the total solar eclipse coming up in two weeks.

It will be the first full solar eclipse in nearly a century to stretch coast to coast. It will also be the first in the Lower 48 states in 38 years.

 

The sun, moon and Earth will line up perfectly that Monday, turning day into night for a few minutes from Oregon to South Carolina. A partial eclipse will extend up through Canada and down to the top of South America.

The total eclipse on Aug. 21 will last just 1 1/2 hours as the lunar shadow sweeps across the country.