GEARY COUNTY – A Kansas man entered a not guilty plea Friday to attempted First Degree Murder and Aggravated battery.
Luis Alejandro Caicedo-Mosquera Jr., 22, entered the not guilty pleas in Geary County District Court.
Authorities allege that a dispute occurred in August 2016 between Caicedo-Mosquera Jr. and 19-year-old Karlie Jones of Wichita.
As a result of the dispute, Jones received a single stab wound to the chest. The victim and defendant were allegedly communicating electronically about adult escort activities prior to the incident.
A motions/pre-trial hearing has been set for September 11th; a jury trial date has been set for October 11th.
Caicedo-Mosquera Jr. is also accused in a separate case involving an alleged rape that occurred in July 2016. A jury trial date has been set in that case for October 2nd in District Court.
Caicedo-Mosquera Jr. is currently being held at the Geary County Detention Center.
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Incoming University of Kansas Chancellor Douglas Girod will earn a higher salary than outgoing chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little.
The Lawrence Journal-World reports the 59-year-old Girod, who becomes chancellor July 1, will earn $550,000 plus $31,250 in deferred compensation at the end of the year. The Board of Regents signed the contract agreement with Girod on Wednesday.
Gray-Little, Kansas chancellor for eight years, earned $510,041 this year.
Giord, currently executive vice chancellor of the University of Kansas Medical Center and a practicing surgeon, will be paid increasing deferred compensation for each year he remains chancellor, up to a maximum $125,000 annually after four years. He also will be able to continue to practicing medicine.
The state will pay $375,000 of Girod’s salary, with the rest from paid by the KU Endowment.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Vending machine sales of lottery tickets in Kansas are being blocked by conservative Republican Gov. Sam Brownback.
He vetoed a bill this week that had strong bipartisan support and declared that an expansion of state-run gambling would hurt the poor the most.
Lottery officials had worked for months to get lawmakers to pass the bill authorizing vending machine sales. They argued that it could boost annual sales by as much as $30 million and generate between $8 million and $10 million in revenues to the state.
Legislators agreed to dedicate much of the state’s proceeds to community mental health services.
Missouri and most other states allow vending machine sales of lottery tickets. Kansas has resisted even after legalizing state-owned casinos.
Brownback has long been wary of expanding legalized gambling.
FORD COUNTY- Two people were injured in an accident just after 1p.m. Saturday in Ford County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 20003 Chevy pickup driven by Sabrina E. Tallberg, 15, Andover, was westbound on U.S. 50 attempting to pass another vehicle just west of U.S. 400.
The driver noticed oncoming traffic, overcorrected and lost control of the vehicle.
It traveled into the north ditch and rolled several times, coming to rest on its top.
Tallberg and a passenger Brian E. Tallberg, 46, Andover, were transported to Western Plains Medical Center. Both were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.
WICHITA – The remains of fallen soldier John Dean Armstrong, a Navy pilot who died in a training accident in 1941 arrived back in Kansas Thursday.
The remains were recently identified, and his nieces have been working to bring him home where he will be laid to rest with full-military honors at Fairlawn Burial Park in his hometown of Hutchinson on Saturday.
NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) — The Latest on Bill Cosby’s sexual assault trial (all times local):
Bill Cosby’s trial on sexual assault charges has ended without a verdict after jurors failed to break a deadlock.
Jurors deliberated more than 52 hours over six days before telling a judge they couldn’t reach a unanimous decision on whether “The Cosby Show” star drugged and molested Temple University employee Andrea Constand at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004.
The judge then declared a mistrial for the 79-year-old comedian.
Cosby was charged with three counts of aggravated indecent assault.
His lawyer says Cosby and Constand were lovers sharing a consensual sexual encounter.
Dozens of women have come forward to say he had drugged and assaulted them. This was the only case to result in criminal charges against Cosby.
The audience was small at the first of a series of meetings scheduled to gather public input on KanCare, the state’s privatized Medicaid program. Meetings began Wednesday in Topeka and continue across the state this month. JIM MCLEAN / KANSAS NEWS SERVICE
Given all the controversy about KanCare – Kansas’ privatized Medicaid program – it would be reasonable to expect big crowds at public hearings about renewing the program.
But that wasn’t the case Wednesday when relative handfuls of health care providers and consumers turned out in Topeka for the first in a series of forums scheduled across the state.
The sparse turnout disappointed state officials and legislators who attended.
Rep. Brenda Dietrich, a Topeka Republican who attended an afternoon session for providers and another in the evening for consumers, said officials at the state agencies organizing the forums need to do more to publicize remaining meetings, which are scheduled through the end of the month.
“I didn’t see it in the newspaper, and I’m a Topeka resident,” Dietrich said. “The only reason I found out about it was one of the lobbyists for individuals with disabilities sent me information about it.”
State officials are conducting the meetings to gather input to help them finalize the blueprint for what they’re calling KanCare 2.0 — the next phase of the program.
“The purpose (of the forums) is to hear back from the beneficiaries who are receiving services and the providers who are providing services in KanCare to make sure that we can make it the best possible program for the people we serve,” said Susan Mosier, secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, the state’s lead Medicaid agency.
Republican Gov. Sam Brownback launched KanCare in January 2013, contracting with three private, for-profit insurance companies to manage the care provided to Kansans in Medicaid.
Currently the program serves about 440,000 Kansans, mostly children in low-income families, people with disabilities and low-income elderly Kansans who need nursing home care.
Since the switch to managed care, there have been ongoing complaints from doctors, hospitals and other providers about increased red tape and payment delays. Consumers, particularly those with developmental and physical disabilities, also have raised concerns about reductions in service.
Weary of complaints from constituents, the Legislature passed a bill this session requiring the state and the three insurance companies to step up their efforts to make the program more efficient. The bill also established a process aimed at more quickly resolving treatment and payment disputes.
The problems cited by providers and consumers, exacerbated by a cut in provider reimbursement rates, prompted the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to deny a state request to extend KanCare by one year to provide more time to finalize plans for the next iteration of the program.
That decision, made in January by outgoing officials in the Obama administration, was reversed in May by Trump administration officials, but only after the state implemented a corrective action plan.
Despite those problems, Mosier said KanCare has slowed the growth in Medicaid costs by more than $1 billion and, according to a recent independent review, improved the health of Kansans served by the program.
“We are continuing to progress and improve in multiple areas,” Mosier said.
Rep. Dennis “Boog” Highberger, a Lawrence Democrat, attended one of the Topeka forums because he remains concerned about KanCare. He said the private companies operating the program have a financial incentive to deny care.
“They get a fixed payment, so the less they can spend providing services the more can go to shareholders,” Highberger said.
Despite his concerns, Highberger said he hopes that the public feedback provided at upcoming forums helps state officials improve the program going forward.
Jim McLean is managing director of the Kansas News Service, a collaboration of kcur.org, Kansas Public Radio and KMUW covering health, education and politics. You can reach him on Twitter @jmcleanks.
SALINA, Kan. (AP) — The company that owns a Salina manufacturing plant where a chemical incident prompted an evacuation says no chemicals leaked or spilled.
Homes and businesses within a half-mile of the McShares Inc. plant were evacuated for about two hours Friday afternoon. No injuries were reported.
McShares said in a statement the evacuations of its Research Products plant and surrounding areas were strictly precautionary. It continues to investigate the incident.
Salina Fire Marshal Roger Williams said a tank that was about one-quarter full of benzoyl peroxide heated up, creating a plume that vented out of the smoke stack at Research Products, a division of McShares.
The plant makes food additives and mixes of vitamins and minerals that are added to wheat, rice and corn flours and cereals.
SALINA, Kan. (AP) — The company that owns a Salina manufacturing plant where a chemical incident prompted an evacuation says no chemicals leaked or spilled.
Homes and businesses within a half-mile of the McShares Inc. plant were evacuated for about two hours Friday afternoon. No injuries were reported.
McShares said in a statement the evacuations of its Research Products plant and surrounding areas were strictly precautionary. It continues to investigate the incident.
Salina Fire Marshal Roger Williams said a tank that was about one-quarter full of benzoyl peroxide heated up, creating a plume that vented out of the smoke stack at Research Products, a division of McShares.
The plant makes food additives and mixes of vitamins and minerals that are added to wheat, rice and corn flours and cereals.
SALINE COUNTY-Emergency Management officials have allowed residents are to return to their homes and businesses following a bad chemical reaction at McShares Inc., located at 1835 E. North Street in Salina.
Just after 3p.m., a bad chemical reaction occurred when the facility was mixing Hydrogen Peroxide, Benzoyl Chloride, and Azelaic Acid, according to Hannah Stambaugh, Saline County Emergency Management Director.
The reaction caused a gas cloud that forced the evacuation of the plant as well as residents and businesses within a half mile radius of the facility.
First responders were still on scene just after 6p.m., concluding their operations, according to Stambaugh.
Residents were still being asked to stay clear the facility.
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SALINE COUNTY -First responders are currently working an incident that involved a bad chemical reaction at McShares, 1835 E. North Street in Salina, according to a social media report from the city.
Officials are asking locations within a one half mile radius to evacuate the area until the incident can be contained.
Road closures currently include Old Highway 40 and N. Marymount Road and E. North St. at Ohio
McShares works to provide millers and bakers the key ingredients they need to make the most nutritional grains possible, according to the company web site.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — An 82-year-old Texas woman who got into a scuffle with a Wichita airport security agent will not face charges.
Wichita City Attorney Jennifer Magana said the case against Lila Bryan was dismissed Friday at the request of the security agent.
Bryan, of Mesquite, Texas, was cited by police May 31 for misdemeanor battery after she hit a Transportation Security Administration agent at Wichita’s Dwight Eisenhower Airport. The TSA said Bryan became upset after the agent tried to confiscate a bottle of foaming hand gel that was too large to carry on the plane.
She was arrested, photographed and fingerprinted before being freed.
Bryan told The Associated Press after her arrest that she was exhausted and had forgotten to take her medication before the confrontation.
