Governor: Kansas Pension Proposal Unlikely to Pass
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Democratic Governor Laura Kelly is acknowledging that her proposal to reduce Kansas' annual contributions to its public pension system probably won't pass the Republican-controlled Legislature this year. But Kelly said yesterday (FRI) that the state "absolutely" must revise its schedule of payments to the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System. She added, "I think the Legislature knows that." Republicans have said her plan is unwise. The House rejected it last month. By law, the state must ramp up contributions to close a long-term KPERS funding gap by 2035. Kelly proposed giving the state an extra 15 years to create budget breathing room. Kelly's comments Friday came after she signed a bill for an immediate, $115 million payment to KPERS. It repays with interest a contribution skipped in 2016 because of budget problems.
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Kansas House Approves Income Relief Proposals
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Republican-controlled Kansas House has approved GOP income tax relief proposals and a small cut in the state's sales tax on groceries. The vote Friday was 76-43 on a bill aimed at preventing individuals and businesses from paying more state income taxes because of changes in federal tax laws at the end of 2017. The measure also would drop the sales tax on groceries to 5.5 percent from 6.5 percent and includes provisions to increase tax collections from internet sales. The Senate approved the bill last month but without the sales tax provisions. Senators expect to decide next week whether to accept the House's changes or force negotiations. GOP leaders contend the bill prevents a tax increase but Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly said lawmakers should stabilize the budget first.
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Wichita Doctor Gets Life Sentence for Patient Fatal Overdose
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas doctor has been sentenced to life in prison for unlawfully prescribing medication blamed for an overdose death. Steven R. Henson was immediately taken into custody following Friday's hearing. There was an audible gasp in the packed courtroom when U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten pronounced the life sentence. The 57-year-old Wichita doctor was convicted last year for the 2015 death of Nick McGovern. Marten told Henson that he put his patient in the position that he had to take those pills to get through the day. Henson was also convicted of conspiracy to distribute prescription drugs outside the course of medical practice, unlawfully distributing various prescription drugs, presenting false patient records to investigators, obstruction of justice and money laundering.
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Man Sentenced in Death of Topeka Man during Burglary
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A 32-year-old man was given the maximum sentence possible for beating a Topeka man to death during a burglary. Howard Dale Burchfiel was sentenced Friday to 16 years for involuntary manslaughter and aggravated battery. Topeka police say they found 66-year-old Allen Wichman injured after he was beaten in June 2017. He died the next month. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports Shawnee County deputy district attorney Brett Watson noted that Burchfiel was convicted of attempted murder and given a lesser sentence in a 2009 case. Watson said Wichman likely would be alive today if Burchfiel was given the standard or maximum sentence in that case. Burchfiel said during the hearing that he accepts responsibility for Wichman's death and apologized to his family.
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Kansas Supreme Court Rejects Mom's Appeal in Son's Death
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Supreme Court has denied a 37-year-old Kansas woman's appeal of her conviction for killing her son. Lindsey Blansett was convicted of first-degree murder and aggravated assault in the December 2014 death of her son, Caleb, in Wellington. Prosecutors said she beat him with a rock and stabbed him to death. She was given a Hard 25 sentence. Prosecutors argued during Blansett's trial that she killed her son to spare him from suffering. Her defense argued she was mentally ill at the time and believed people were coming to her house to hurt Caleb. Blansett's appeal argued jury instructions not to consider her mental illness were erroneous. The state Supreme Court said the instructions didn't prevent the jury from considering how Blansett's mental illness affected her ability to premeditate the crime.
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Struggling Hospital in Rural Missouri Loses Medicare
SWEET SPRINGS, Mo. (AP) — A rural Missouri hospital has been cut off from the federal Medicare program after the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services found serious deficiencies threatening patient health and safety. KCUR-FM reports that the federal health agency pulled I-70 Community Hospital in Sweet Springs from its Medicare program Thursday. The 15-bed facility, about 65 miles east of Kansas City, had voluntarily suspended its license in February after state regulators found the hospital was "out of regulatory compliance." It's the latest hospital formerly run by North Kansas City-based EmpowerHMS to face regulatory and financial trouble. Oklahoma-based Cohesive Healthcare Management & Consulting was appointed by a court to take over the hospital's operations and plans to appeal the federal agency's decision. The hospital's interim CEO, Roland Gee, says the facility is working to address deficiencies so that it can reopen.
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Fire Marshal: Fatal Fire Investigations 'Falling through Cracks'
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas fire marshal says investigations of fatal fires are too often "falling through the cracks," and he wants lawmakers to do something about it. Fire Marshal Doug Jorgensen on Thursday proposed a reform plan. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that Jorgensen identified six fatalities from fires or explosions in the past year that were not thoroughly investigated. In one instance, the death was later revealed to be a homicide. Jorgensen urged a committee to amend state law to require an investigation whenever a person dies in a fire or explosion, as well as when a body is found at a fire scene. Fire chiefs also would be required to report the name and address of the dead to the fire marshal's office.
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$2.8 Million Gift Funds KU Med Student Scholarships
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — The University of Kansas School of Medicine says a gift of more than $2.8 million will fund scholarships for medical students. The school announced the gift from the estate of Alton and Helen Knechtel, of Chula Vista, California, on Thursday. The two were Kansas natives who graduated from Kansas universities. Alton Knechtel was born in Larned and Helen was born in Alma. He died in 1984 and she died in 2018. Dr. Mark Meyer, senior associate dean for student affairs at the School of Medicine, says the gift will help medical students whose average debt at graduation is more than over $180,000. Helen Knechtel earned a music degree from Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri, and studied music at the University of Kansas. Alton Knechtel earned an architectural engineering degree at Kansas State University.
