TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Latest on Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback vetoing an expansion of the state’s Medicaid program (all times local):
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback has vetoed a bill that would have extended the state’s health coverage for the poor under former President Barack Obama’s signature health care law.
The conservative Republican governor made the move Thursday. He explained that he thinks the expansion would fail to serve the truly needy and would burden the state with what he called “unrestrainable entitlement costs.”
The bill would have expanded Medicaid coverage to as many as 180,000 additional adults.
Legislators gave final approval to the measure Tuesday. It had strong bipartisan majorities in both chambers, but supporters were short of the two-thirds majorities necessary to override a veto. Nevertheless, they are expected to try.
Brownback has been a vocal critic of the 2010 Affordable Care Act, also known as “Obamacare,” and his action was expected.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Latest on the Kansas Legislature’s debate the state’s budget problems and increasing taxes to address them (all times local):
3:50 p.m.
The Kansas Senate has decided to short state contributions to public employee pensions under the state’s 2018 and 2019 budgets to give lawmakers more options in raising taxes to make the books balance.
But senators expect to revisit the pension issue later.
They gave first-round approval Wednesday to proposed budgets for the 2018 fiscal year starting in July and the 2019 fiscal beginning in July 2018.
The Senates’ voice vote on the single “mega” budget measure for two years advances the measure to a final vote Thursday. The House is working on its own bill.
Senators decreased state contributions to public employee pensions by a total of $330 million over two years. The move lowers the amount of new revenue needed from higher taxes to $545 million for the period.
11:10 a.m.
Republican legislators in Kansas are working on multiple proposals for raising personal income taxes that would move the state to a single rate for all filers.
The House Taxation Committee planned to vote Wednesday on a bill imposing a “flat” personal income tax of 5 percent for all filers. The state has two tax brackets, with a lower rate of 2.7 percent and a top rate for higher-income filers of 4.6 percent.
Supporters believe the proposal would raise $871 million in new revenue over two years, starting in July. The state is facing projected budget shortfalls totaling more than $1 billion through June 2019.
In the Senate, the Assessment and Taxation Committee is working on its own proposal for a single, 5 percent personal income tax rate.
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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas legislators are considering a new proposal to raise personal income taxes that would move to a single rate for all filers.
The House Taxation Committee reviewed a measure Tuesday for a so-called flat income tax favored by conservative Republicans. The panel plans to vote on it Wednesday.
Kansas faces projected budget shortfalls totaling more than $1 billion through June 2019. Lawmakers have considered rolling back past personal income tax cuts championed by GOP Gov. Sam Brownback.
The House committee’s bill would move Kansas from two income tax brackets to a single tax rate of 5 percent. Supporters say it would raise $871 million over two years.
The measure would offset higher income taxes for poor and middle-class families by doubling standard deductions and lowering the sales tax on groceries.
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Fans will get their chance to congratulate the Hutchinson Community College men’s basketball team’s NJCAA National Championship with a city-wide celebration on Wednesday, April 5, at the Sports Arena.
This past Saturday, the Blue Dragons won their third NJCAA men’s basketball National Championship with an 84-58 victory over Eastern Florida State in the title game in front of a packed house.
The Blue Dragons also won National Championships in 1988 and 1994.
The celebration will be from 6 to 7 p.m.
After the ceremony, fans will have their opportunity to get autographs from the players on Sam Butterfield Court.
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The jury trial for a 22-year-old man arrested back on June 21 of last year after a fire and explosion at the Plaza Towers building in downtown Hutchinson was continued Tuesday. The defense attorney for Chase Coble is apparently ill.
He’s charged with three counts of aggravated arson and two counts of criminal use of explosives. The first three counts are level three felonies with a maximum sentence on each count of over 20 years in prison.
The case here in Hutchinson starts with Coble experimenting with plastic and chemicals, which apparently got out of hand. Police say he had the chemicals to make black powder to use in explosives, but he claims he wasn’t doing that, saying he was trying to bond metals and plastic components. He says the chemicals spilled and flashed, causing a fire. This occurred in his 12th story apartment, causing damage to that apartment, but also setting off the sprinkler system, causing damage in other apartments. The state contends this wasn’t the first time. They say, on at least three occasions, he had been mixing the chemicals, causing fires in his apartment.
When exactly the trial will be held is unclear at this point, but we’ll keep you informed.
The state had sought to introduce evidence relating to internet conversations he had with an unidentified individual, claiming to be from Minnesota and also an incident back on Feb. 9 where, while working at a convenience store in Salina, Coble mentioned to a co-worker that he was building a bomb at his Salina home. At first, the co-worker thought he was joking, but later Coble told him he had been investigated by the FBI for domestic terrorism after blowing up his kitchen here in Hutchinson. He invited the co-worker to his home to see the device. That co-worker called Salina Police. That led to a search on the residence, but no explosives were found. They did find a small amount of marijuana. Judge Rose denied the state’s request.
By Steve Carpenter-HCC Sports Information
Saturday, March 25, 2017
The Hutchinson Blue Dragons are National Champions.
The Hutchinson Community College won the program’s third men’s basketball national championship on Saturday night with an 84-58 victory over Eastern Florida State in the NJCAA Tournament Championship Game at the Sports Arena.
The Blue Dragons have now won national championships in 1988, 1994 and 2017. It’s Hutchinson’s sixth overall national championship in school history.
Hutchinson sophomore Shakur Juiston was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player. Juiston joins Maurice Brittian (1988) and Roy Hairston (1994) as Blue Dragon national tournament MVPs.
Juiston finished with tournament highs of 88 points and 56 rebounds. He also averaged 5.0 rebounds and 2.5 steals per game.
Head coach Steve Eck was named the Coach of the Tournament. This is Eck’s first Division I national championship after winning won in Division I with Redlands Community College. This was Eck’s first Divisoin I national title game victory in three tries – one at Redlands and two at Hutchinson.
To get to the 2017 national championship, the Blue Dragons had to defeat three Florida teams. Hutch defeated St. Petersburg (95-78) in the second round, Northwest Florida State (88-79) in the semifinals and Eastern Florida State in the championship game.
The Blue Dragons got off to a tremendous start, especially on the defensive end. Hutchinson held Eastern Florida State to four points over the first 12 minutes of the game in building a 21-4 lead with 8:38 to go in the first half.
Hutchinson held Eastern Florida State to 7 of 33 shooting in the first half (21.2 percent) as the Blue Dragons led 39-16 at intermission.
Devonte Bandoo led the Blue Dragons with 22 points on 10 of 17 shooting, including two 3-point goals. Rhymes had 11 points.
The Blue Dragons were 34 of 69 from the field (49.3 percent), hitting 5 of 16 from 3-point range and 11 of 16 from the foul line. The Blue Dragons were out-rebounded 49-45, but had only had only 10 turnovers to 29 assist.
Defensively, Hutchinson limited Eastern Florida State to 29.3 percent from the field (22 of 75). The Titans hit 6 of 22 from 3-point range and were 8 of 11 from the foul line. Eastern Florida State turned the ball over times.
Shaq Carter had 14 points, while Ahmed Ali and Michael Nuga had 12 points.
Juiston posted his fourth double-double of the tournament and led Hutchinson on Saturday with 18 points and 13 rebounds. Hutchinson’s career rebound leader ends with 742 rebounds.
GAME NOTES – The Blue Dragons are now 3-3 in national championship games. Hutch improves to 48-24 all-time in 20 tournament apperances. … Shakur Juiston moves up to No. 14 on the career scoring list with 1,042 points and up to fifth in career blocked shots with 117 rejections.
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — It has been a part of Hutchinson for more than 60 years, but on Friday morning, paper was up over the windows and a sign was in place at Hayes Sight and Sound that the store was closed.
Few details were available and attempts to contact the store were unsuccessful.
Hayes had been a mainstay in the downtown area ever since it was opened by the Hayes family in 1955. Since then they have been a leader in selling name brand TVs and entertainment along with furniture.
Downtown Hutchinson Director Jim Seitnator said they were informed of the closing last week and said it is another unfortunate example of people buying online rather than shopping locally.
A liquidation sale will be held at a later date, but no date was given.
NEWTON, Kan. — A Harvey County judge has chosen to seal the probable cause affidavit in the case
against two people arrested for the murder of three people on a rural Harvey County farm last year.
Judge Joe Dickinson ruled that releasing the affidavit could jeopardize the physical, mental or emotional safety or well-being of the victims and witnesses. Dickinson also said that releasing the information could interfere with prospective law enforcement action, criminal investigation or prosecution.
Defendants Jereme Nelson and Myrta Rangel are charged with three counts each of capital murder and first-degree murder in the October deaths of Angela Graevs, Travis Street and Richard Prouty in rural Harvey County.
Harvey County Attorney David Yoder is seeking the death penalty in the case.
A preliminary hearing for Rangel is scheduled for Thursday, April 6.
Kansas House leaders have proposed an additional $75 million a year for public schools. Educators question whether that’s enough to satisfy the state Supreme Court. CREDIT SAM ZEFF / KCUR
A proposed school funding bill in Kansas would add $75 million to the public education system but many educators say that’s far less than they expected and may not be enough to satisfy the state Supreme Court.
Stephanie Clayton, a moderate Republican from Overland Park, says lawmakers in both parties “believe it will take a significantly larger amount” to satisfy their constituents, educators and the court.
The high court ruled the current block grant funding scheme unconstitutional and because it didn’t adequately fund public schools. While the justices didn’t prescribe a dollar figure to fix the problem, they leaned heavily on a district court ruling that suggested the state needs to spend an additional $800 million. An estimate from the Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE) suggested it would take $500 million.
“Most school people would not believe that $75 million alone, particularly after, essentially six or seven years of falling behind on inflation… is going to measurably move student achievement in Kansas,” says Mark Tallman, lobbyist for the Kansas Association of School Boards (KASB).
The bill is the brainchild of Rep. Larry Campbell from Olathe and chairman of the K-12 Budget Committee. Even he acknowledges that $75 million may not be enough.
“I’ve said over and over, this is a starting point,” he says.
Campbell says his bill targets money at the 25 percent of Kansas students working below grade level, that the Supreme Court emphasized as a reason for its ruling.
“I do believe that’s clearly what the court wants,” Campbell says. “On the dollars, I don’t know.”
However, many educators say the bill doesn’t provide enough new money to fund the kind of intensive effort needed improve the performance of those at-risk students.
The measure also mandates that local districts use part of their local property tax dollars for at-risk and bi-lingual students. Under block grants and the funding formula they replaced, local school boards decided how to spend those dollars.
“If we’re really going to support students who are at-risk, we’re not going to do it by simply moving money from one pocket to another,” says David Smith, Chief of Staff in the Kansas City Kansas School District.
Mark Desetti, the top lobbyist for the Kansas National Education Association, says the bill is a good starting point.
“I think the bill is a workable bill,” Desetti says “It’s not just something you can just stand up and oppose outright because everything in this bill is terrible because that’s not true,” says Local school districts are most concerned about the parts of the formula that dictate how much additional state aid they will receive and how much they can rely on local property taxes to fund their budgets. Here’s how some local districts would fare under the new state aid proposal according to KSDE:
Blue Valley plus $3,227,061
Olathe plus $6,365,442
Shawnee Mission plus $3,498,223
KCK plus $4,941,169
Turner minus $264,344
De Soto plus $1,347,811
Under the bill the one local tax districts collect (called the Local Option Budget or LOB) would be split into three levies, each for a different purpose. Currently some districts collect up to 30 percent of their state aid, some districts have option to collect up to 33 percent. It’s complicated but here’s how the same districts fare under the proposed bill. Again, the figures are from KSDE:
Blue Valley plus $645,053
Olathe plus $431,442
Shawnee Mission minus $167,101
Turner minus $16,480
De Soto plus $190,180
Hearings are expected to run through the rest of this week and might need to go until Monday.
Time is of the essence, a new funding formula that passes constitutional muster must be in place by June 30 or the high court says it will shut down public schools.
While hearings are now scheduled in the House, the Kansas Senate has yet to work on a funding bill of its own. Many believe senate leadership is waiting for the house to pass its bill first.
SOUTH HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The South Hutchinson City Council on Monday decided to continue providing the fire service locally rather than contracting with the HFD.
The council members were very much in favor of keeping the service and approaching enhancing the service through more improvements, including more part-time employees and exploring an internship program. The decision came after several meetings where the council took time to weigh its options for dealing with fire fighting service.
Staff was also directed to begin looking at a new facility, which would be needed for the additional staffing. The estimated cost of the new facility is $830,000 to $1 million, depending on where the facility would be sited.
The issue of taxes was also discussed thoroughly. The council opted to move forward with the understanding that there would need to be a mill levy increase to pay for the facility, any additional staffing and better fund equipment replacement.
The council emphasized that it would be invested in the future though it would attempt to keep costs down by pursuing grant funding and/or low-interest loan programs the city has access to.
HUTCHINSON, Kan. – A 58-year-old Hutchinson man with two other cases pending was jailed Sunday evening after he apparently led officers on a chase in the city and county that ended in the 500 block of West 15th.
Speeds during the chase were as high as 40-to-60 mph in the city and 100-to-110 in the county according to statements made in court.
Once Daniel Wilson Sr. was stopped, law enforcement discovered of methamphetamine, marijuana, and mushrooms, drug paraphernalia and brass knuckles.
Wilson faces potential charges of possession of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia with intent to distribute, felony flee and elude,, felony interference with police, possession of marijuana and mushrooms, personal use of drug paraphernalia, criminal use of weapons, driving while suspended, reckless driving, expired tag and no proof of insurance.
Bond in the case was set at $24,200. but during a first court appearance, Magistrate Judge Cheryl Allen noted that he was just before her on other cases. He has two cases pending one where he is charged with possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute, possession of a depressant, possession of marijuana and felony interference. In a third case, he is charged with theft of property for taking a 10 foot enclosed trailer back on Dec. 30. Because of those cases and also because of putting others in danger with the chase, Magistrate Judge Cheryl Allen raised the bond to $45,000.
He’ll be back in court next Monday to see if the state has filed formal charges.
