TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A rule nearing approval in the Kansas Legislature would require abortion providers to give women information on their doctors’ history in black, 12-point Times New Roman font.
Republican House and Senate negotiators agreed Thursday on the bill’s language. They also took procedural steps to bypass committee Democrats, who say the bill treats abortion providers differently than other doctors.
The bill would require that providers give women information about the physician performing the abortion at least 24 hours ahead of time. The information would include the doctor’s credentials, start date at the clinic, malpractice insurance, hospital privileges, state of residency and disciplinary record.
The bill’s supporters say women need the information to make an informed decision.
Abortion rights supporters say the bill is meant to discourage women from having abortions.
Kansas legislative leaders must satisfy members in disparate but almost equal groups who want to set a school-funding target before voting on tax increases. FILE PHOTO / KANSAS NEWS SERVICE
Kansas legislative leaders working on a plan to end the 2017 session have what amounts to a chicken-and-egg dilemma.
They must satisfy members who want to set a school-funding target before voting on the tax increases needed to fund it and those who first want to close a projected $900 million gap between revenue and spending over the next two budget years.
“There are a lot of folks wanting one before the other. But at this moment I’m expecting the tax issue to be the next to move,” says Rep. Steven Johnson, the Assaria Republican who chairs the House tax committee.
The timing issues are real.
They played a role in last week’s Senate defeat of an income tax bill that would have generated more than $1 billion a year in additional revenue. Only two of the Senate’s nine Democrats joined with 16 moderate Republicans in voting for the measure, leaving it three votes short of the number needed to pass and nine shy of what would have been needed to override a veto by Republican Gov. Sam Brownback.
The governor vetoed a similar bill in February. The House overrode the veto but an attempt in the Senate failed by three votes.
Senate Democrats who joined conservatives last week in opposing the new bill said they feared it wouldn’t generate enough additional revenue to balance the budget and increase state spending on schools by enough to satisfy a Kansas Supreme Court ruling.
The vote frustrated some moderate Republicans, who warned it could force them to negotiate with conservatives on a package that combined smaller tax increases with spending cuts.
That is now under discussion, Johnson says.
“We’re trying to get a sense for what can work, what can get us out of here,” he says.
It’s possible but not likely, Johnson says, that senators on the tax conference committee will accept a proposal floated earlier this week by House negotiators to reinstate the income tax laws that were in place before 2012 when Brownback convinced lawmakers to cut rates and exempt more than 330,000 farmers and business owners.
A total rollback of the tax cuts would raise an estimated $1.4 billion over two years.
If, as expected, the Senate rejects the proposal, House conferees would likely offer “something to the right” of the tax bill defeated last week, Johnson says, meaning something that makes more modest changes, lessening the likelihood of a veto.
Lawmakers still grinding on school finance
The day started with many thinking that efforts to reach agreement on a school funding plan finally might hit top speed, with bills moving in the House and Senate and on to the inevitable conference committee.
By afternoon the pace slowed considerably.
House members were briefed Wednesday on the bill the K-12 Education Budget Committee kicked out Monday, but there was no action on the floor. Many lawmakers think that leadership wants to pass a tax bill before tackling how much to put into school funding.
That House bill, which would add $279 million in school funding over two years and then increase it by the cost of inflation, was the starting point for the Senate Select Committee on School Finance, which met briefly Wednesday.
The Senate committee discussed some minor changes to the House bill and plans on at least two days of testimony. Chairman Jim Denning, an Overland Park Republican, says the panel may work Saturday.
To get this moving, Denning attempted to resurrect his proposal to tack a surcharge onto Kansas utility bills to generate the money needed to fund a school finance plan. His original proposal called for adding $3 to every residential utility bill in the state and $10 to each commercial bill.
The revised proposal, which Denning says is fairer to consumers, would add $2.25 to residential bills only, enough to generate $150 million a year.
“It’s a new fee on consumers, some of them are on fixed income, we tried to get it a low as we can,” Denning says.
Senate Democratic Leader Anthony Hensley says the surcharge idea is a non-starter with his members.
“I just don’t think we ought to be adding surcharges to utility bills that are already too high, particularly as it relates to people who live on fixed incomes,” Hensley says.
However, moderate Republican Sen. Barbara Bollier of Mission Hills says she’s not ready to say “no” just yet. If a surcharge is what it takes to adequately fund schools, she says, she’ll consider it.
Businesses trying to sidetrack sales tax bill
Business officials lined up Wednesday against a plan to impose sales taxes on certain services that Kansas lawmakers are considering to help balance the budget and reduce the sales tax on food.
Irene Hoheusle of Account Recovery Specialists Inc. based in Wichita says the company can’t pass that cost along to customers or it would lose business to out-of-state companies and other competitors.
“They’re all handling the same exact actions and services, but they don’t have that fee assed to them, so of course they can offer lower rates,” she says.
Hoheusle says Account Recovery Specialists, a collections agency, would have to absorb the sales tax cost and layoff some of its 100 employees in Kansas.
Representatives of KC Healthy Kids were the only people who spoke in favor of the bill before a Senate committee.
Members of that group say lowering the sales tax on food is a step in the right direction, even if the lower rate wouldn’t take effect until 2020.
The Kansas News Service is a collaboration of kcur.org, Kansas Public Radio and KMUW covering health, education and politics.
TOPEKA, Kan. – The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) has issued an Emergency Order of Suspension to Cherished Memories, a licensed day care home located at 1404 N. Monroe in Hutchinson.
According to the order, the licensee has an active case of MRSA and an history of chronic wounds on both legs. The licensee was recently hospitalized for nearly a month due to this condition.
MRSA is a superbug resistant to antibiotics and a danger to children if transmitted, according to the KDHE. Read the full KDHE order here.
FINNEY COUNTY- Law enforcement authorities are asking the public for help to locate a Kansas woman wanted on a parole violation.
Officials issued an absconder warrant for Cheyenne Ortiz, 28, Garden City, possession of meth and drug paraphilia, according to the Garden City police department.
Ortiz is described as 5 foot 2 inches tall, weighs approximately 125 pounds with brown hair and eyes. She most recently lived in the 300 Block of Fair Street in Garden City.
She has two previous drug convictions, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.
Anyone with information is asked to contact police or call 911.
NEW YORK (AP) — Roger Ailes (aylz), who transformed TV news by creating Fox News Channel, only to be ousted at the height of his reign for alleged sexual harassment, died Thursday, Fox News reported. He was 77.
A former GOP operative to candidates including Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, Ailes later turned his media savvy to running TV networks. In early 1996 he accepted a challenge from media titan Rupert Murdoch to build a news network from scratch to compete with CNN.
That October, Ailes flipped the switch on Fox News Channel. It became the audience leader in cable news. It also emerged as a powerful force on the political scene, while the feisty, hard-charging Ailes swatted off criticism that the network he branded as “Fair and Balanced” had a conservative tilt.
He was abruptly dismissed from Fox News in July 2016 in the wake of a lawsuit filed by former anchor Gretchen Carlson accusing Ailes of sexual improprieties.
Truck similar to the one reported stolen-photo Thomas Co. Sheriff
THOMAS COUNTY –Law enforcement authorities in northwest Kansas are investigating a vehicle theft and asking the public for help to locate suspects.
Just after 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, a vehicle was stolen from the 3300 block of County Road approximately 3 miles west and one mile south of Menlo in Thomas County, according to the sheriff’s department.
The vehicle was a Green 1998 Ford F150 single cab with silver trim on the bottom. The pickup also had a large silver fuel tank in the bed. The pickup was bearing a Kansas tag of 245CKK.
Another vehicle left with the Green Ford F150. This was a White Ford pickup, possibly also an F150, that is believed to be around the same model year. It was an extended cab, 2 1/2 door, with front right fender damage and possibly plastic on the rear window. The vehicle tag is unknown at this time.
The Green Ford F150 was last seen going east toward Menlo with a white male driver.
The White Ford pickup was last seen going west toward Highway 83 with two white male occupants.
The driver of the Green Ford F150 was believed to be approximately 6 foot 3 inches tall and wearing a dark ballcap, dark shirt, and dark jeans.
May 9, semi accident on I-70 -photo Sherman Co. Sheriff
SHERMAN COUNTY – Health officials in northwest Kansas are alerting residents to a possible health hazard.
On May 9, a semi load of food products was blown over on Interstate 70.
The food products on board were to be destroyed at the direction of the trucking firm’s insurance company, according to a media release.
The Sherman County, Board of Health had learned that some of the potentially compromised food products have made their way into area Sherman County Communities.
They urged residents if they have been the recipient of any of these food products, not to consume any of the products and immediately transport it to the landfill or the Sherman County Sheriff’s Office for destruction.
If you have consumed any of these products, and if you experience any food borne
illness symptoms, please contact a medical provider.
For additional information, the public is advised contact Sherman County Emergency
Manager Ryan Murray at 785-332-8856
HUTCHINSON— A Kansas man failed to get his bond lowered Wednesday when he made a court appearance via video from the Reno County Correctional Facility.
On Tuesday, police were called to the 900 block of East 2nd Street in Hutchinson on the report of a stolen vehicle.
Samuel Lemen, 32, is accused of being in possession of the Silverado stolen from Newton. According to police, he painted the fenders on the truck.
Lemen is also accused of using that truck in a theft in South Hutchinson involving a trailer and a criminal damage report. Officers have video of that trailer being stolen with a truck that matches the one found in Hutchinson.
Lemen’s bond is set at $8,250 and he’ll be back in court on May 24. He’s also jailed for failing to appear in another case.
Lemen has prior convictions for aggravated assault and DUI from 2008 and 2009, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.
SHAWNEE COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect in a what may have been an attempted bank robbery on Tuesday.
Just after 9a.m. Tuesday, a suspect identified as David Retana-Garcia, 23, entered a bank in the 700 Block of SW Topeka Boulevard with a sword in a scabbard, according to a media release from police spokesperson Lt. Colleen Stuart.
Security staff asked for and Retana-Garcia gave them the sword. He also mentioned wanting money, according to Stuart.
Police transported Retana-Garcia to the Law Enforcement Center for an interview.
He was booked into the Shawnee County Department of Corrections for attempted robbery.
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SHAWNEE COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect in a what may have been an attempted bank robbery on Tuesday.
Just after 9a.m., a suspect with a sword in a scabbard entered a bank in the 700 Block of SW Topeka Boulevard, according to police spokesperson Coleen Stuart.
Security staff asked for and the subject gave them the sword. The subject also mentioned wanting money.
Police transported the subject to the Law Enforcement Center for an interview.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The babysitter of a Wichita child whose body was found in a field last year has pleaded guilty to interfering with a police investigation.
The Wichita Eagle reports that 26-year-old Tyerria Miles pleaded guilty Monday to interfering with the investigation of the May 2016 death of 2-year-old Jhornee Bland.
Miles had been caring for Jhornee in the days before her death and had initially told the police she had left the child with a friend. She later admitted that she moved Jhornee’s body to a field after her death.
The coroner wasn’t able to determine the cause of death.
Court records show that Miles is scheduled for sentencing on June 28.
