OAKLEY- Law enforcement authorities in Oakely are reminding parents not to give children a disconnected cell phone as a toy.

In a social media post, Chief Communications officer reminded parents the phones are still able to dial 911. Once children figure out that this phone can actually call a number they keep dialing it over and over.

These calls ring in to the 911 center and have to be answered. Most of the time the dispatcher can’t get any information and if we can get a good location we try to send units to make sure everything is ok. This is a drain on resources.

If you do give your children cell phones, please make sure they know about 911 and when to use it. Not only will it reduce hang up 911 call volumes but it will teach children about 911 safety and what information they would need to give in an actual emergency.

HUTCHINSON – Law enforcement authorities are investigating a Sunday accident.
Just after 6:30 p.m. first responders were dispatched to the area of 8th Avenue and Main Street in Hutchinson on the report of a vehicle vs. pedestrian accident, according to a social media report from police.

Officers determined that a vehicle traveling west on 8th Avenue struck a 10-year-old girl who was in the roadway. The collision occurred about mid-block and it is currently unknown if the child was playing in the street or if she was crossing the street.

The driver of the vehicle spoke with an investigator of the Police Traffic Bureau. The child was transported to HRMC by Reno County EMS and was transferred to Wesley Medical Center by Eagle Med helicopter.

RAWLINS COUNTY- A Kansas man died in an accident just before 3p.m. Sunday in Rawlins County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2005 Chevy 1500 driven by Dylan Curtis Dulany,17, Phillipsburg was eastbound on Rawlins County RD X two miles west of Herndon.

The driver lost control and the pickup left the road to the north. It then skidded through the intersection at Rawlins County Road 32, entered the north ditch and rolled.

A passenger Trevor Charles Sattler, 20, Herndon, was transported to the hospital in Atwood where he died.

Dulany was transported to Swedish Medical Center in Denver. They were not wearing seat belts, according to the KHP.

WARD, Colo. (AP) — Wildlife officers are searching for a black bear that attacked a Colorado camp staffer and bit him on the head as he slept outdoors near campers.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife spokeswoman Jennifer Churchill says the 19-year-old woke up at around 4 a.m. Sunday to a “crunching sound” with his head inside the mouth of the bear, which was trying to pull him out of his sleeping bag.

She says the teen punched and hit it and other staffers at Glacier View Ranch 48 miles (77 kilometers) northwest of Denver yelled and swatted at the bear, which ran away. The staffer was treated briefly at a hospital.

Black bears aren’t usually aggressive but they recently attacked a woman in a popular hiking area in Idaho and killed two people in Alaska.

KANSAS CITY – An attorney was sentenced in federal court Friday for his role in a fraud conspiracy in which he and his former law partner stole more than $1.2 million from St. Luke’s Health System, a client of their former law firm, according to  Tom Larson, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri.

Mark J. Schultz, 57, of Lake Lotawana, MO., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Beth Phillips to one year and one day in federal prison without parole. The court also ordered Schultz to pay $400,500 in restitution to St. Luke’s.

On Feb. 10, 2017, Schultz pleaded guilty to participating in a wire fraud and mail fraud conspiracy. His former law partner, Alan B. Gallas, 65, of Kansas City also pleaded guilty in a separate but related case and was sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison without parole. The court also ordered Gallas to pay $1,224,264 in restitution to St. Luke’s.

Schultz and Gallas were attorneys and partners in the law firm of Gallas & Shultz in Kansas City, Mo., which specialized in collection work for corporations. Schultz and Gallas have each surrendered his license to practice law.

Gallas admitted that he engaged in a scheme from 2009 through July 2015 to defraud a client, St. Luke’s Health System, of monies collected by his law firm totaling $1,224,264. Schultz admitted that he participated in the conspiracy from January 2014 through July 2015.

Gallas was the attorney responsible for the St. Luke’s account at the law firm. After attempting to collect on patient accounts for a period of time, St. Luke’s would transfer its larger outstanding patient accounts to Gallas & Shultz for collection. As payments on patient accounts were received, the payments were logged into the case management system for the appropriate patient account. The monies were then deposited into the law firm’s trust account. On a periodic basis, often monthly, the firm would remit the patient payments collected to St. Luke’s.

Gallas admitted that he caused personnel at the law firm to withhold money from payments made to St. Luke’s by placing thousands of payments on “hold” status, then directing those funds be transferred from the trust account to the firm’s operating account. The pattern of not remitting some payments to St. Luke’s escalated significantly from 2012 to 2015. According to court documents, the firm withheld 601 payments totaling $211,391 in 2012. The firm withheld 699 payments totaling $266,696 in 2013. The firm withheld 625 payments totaling $227,892 in 2014. Through the month of July 2015, the firm withheld 625 payments totaling $216,845.

Schultz admitted that he agreed with Gallas and others to transfer funds from the trust account into the law firm’s operating account. According to court documents, Schultz was informed by his office manager in January 2014 that she was going to quit because she could no longer agree to move money out of the trust account. Schultz nevertheless continued to profit from the diversion of funds from the trust account until the discovery of the scheme in July 2015.

RENO COUNTY – One person died in an accident just after 4p.m. Saturday in Reno County.

A Farm Patriot Sprayer driven by Heath Bergkamp of Arlington was traveling northbound on Bone Springs Road and failed to yield at the posted Stop Sign just south of Kansas 61.

The vehicle entered the intersection and struck the passenger side of a 2013 Chevy Equinox driven by 76-year-old Robert E. Lee, Hutchinson, according to the Reno County Sheriff’s Department.

Both the driver and passenger Janice Lee, 76, Hutchinson, were trapped in the Equinox until Fire and EMS were able to extricate them.

Janice Lee was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to the Sedgwick County Forensic Science Center.

Robert Lee was transported with serious injuries by Reno County EMS to Hutchinson Regional Medical Center. Bergkamp was not injured.

The driver and passenger in the Equinox were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the sheriff’s department.

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RENO COUNTY – One person died in an accident just after 4p.m. Saturday in Reno County.
A Farm Patriot Sprayer traveling northbound on Bone Springs Road failed to yield at the posted Stop Sign just south of Kansas 61.

The vehicle entered the intersection and struck the passenger side of a 2013 Chevy Equinox, according to the Reno County Sheriff’s Department.

Both The driver and passenger in the Equinox were trapped in the vehicle until Fire and EMS were able to extricate them.

The passenger was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to the Sedgwick County Forensic Science Center.

The driver was transported with serious injuries by Reno County EMS to Hutchinson Regional Medical Center. Both were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the sheriff’s department.

The driver of the farm sprayer was not injured. The sheriff’s department did not release names of those involved.

KHI

TOPEKA–Kansas Health Institute has developed an issue brief describing the main elements of the U.S. Senate’s proposed legislation to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, a bill entitled the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA). The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that compared to current law, the BCRA will result in 22 million more uninsured Americans and will also reduce the federal deficit by $321 billion by 2026. These impacts are primarily the result of ending enhanced federal funding for Medicaid expansion, reducing premium tax credits, eliminating cost-sharing subsidies, and enforcing slower growth in future Medicaid spending.

The brief highlights how the BCRA differs from current law and from the House-passed American Health Care Act (AHCA) and discusses elements of the BCRA that would affect Kansans, including:

• Repealing both the individual and employer mandates for insurance coverage;
• Requiring a six-month waiting period for individuals who experience a gap in coverage;
• Making premium subsidies unavailable to individuals who have access to any employer-sponsored insurance and less generous for some who remain eligible, and ending cost-sharing subsidies after two years;
• Allowing states to use Section 1332 waivers to waive essential health benefits requirements and other provisions that could affect individuals with pre-existing conditions;
• Phasing out enhanced federal funding for Medicaid expansion, but proposing to address the “coverage gap” by allowing more low-income people to use tax credits to pay for premiums; and
• Fundamentally changing how Medicaid is financed by creating hard caps on federal funding.

KHI also has prepared a memo in response to questions about how Medicaid per capita caps proposed in the AHCA and BCRA might affect Kansas.

The analysis shows that if the AHCA version of the caps had been in place in 2015 and 2016, Kansas would have needed to return $79 million in federal funds. The BCRA uses a different Medicaid growth rate than the AHCA to calculate spending targets starting in 2025, and the analysis shows that if that rate had been in place in 2015 and 2016, Kansas would have needed to return $211 million in federal funds.

The Kansas Health Institute delivers credible information and research enabling policy leaders to make informed health policy decisions that enhance their effectiveness as champions for a healthier Kansas. The Kansas Health Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan health policy and research organization based in Topeka, established in 1995 with a multiyear grant from the Kansas Health Foundation.

JEFFERSON COUNTY – One person died and three other were injured in an accident just before 4p.m. Saturday in Jefferson County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2014 Harley Davidson driven by Timmy E. Elling, 59, Kansas City, was westbound on Kansas 92 two miles east of Ozawkie.

The motorcycle rear-ended a 2015 Harley Davidson driven by Donald P. Shalz, 61, Kansas City, and slid into the ditch on the westbound side of the highway.

Elling, Shalz, a passenger on the 2014 Harley Debra L. Elling, 57, Kansas City, and a passenger on the 2015 Harley Cindy K. Shalz, 62, Kansas City, were transported to Stormont Vail.

Debra Elling died from her injuries. All four were wearing helmets.

Former Kansas Senator Bob Dole issued a statement Saturday congratulating President Donald Trump on a successful trip to Poland and the G20 Summit in Germany.

As you might expect, Trump used his Twitter account to thank Dole.

Thank you @SenatorDole, very kind! pic.twitter.com/cXrYiK46Qq

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 9, 2017

RENO COUNTY – A sentencing date is finally scheduled for a Kansas teen convicted of setting the fire at his home that killed his mother and sister.

Samuel Vonachen, 18, will be sentenced on Friday, July 28, at 3 p.m., according to District Attorney Keith Schroeder.

There has been a delay in the sentencing because Reno County Judge Trish Rose wanted the teen to undergo another mental evaluation. The state tried to appeal the decision, partly because evaluations had been done prior to trial showing that he was competent.

A Reno County jury convicted the teen for the killings of his mother and sister who died after he set fire to the family home in September 2013. His father was able to escape.

Vonachen was also convicted of attempted first-degree murder for trying to kill his father and aggravated arson for the actual setting of the fire.