Since it became notorious 20 years ago with suspicions about links to the Oklahoma City bombing, this village seems frozen in time. True, some signs of modernization have crept in. The old, dimly lit chapel has been replaced with a 7,200-square-foot worship area, residents are now equipped with cellphones and Wi-Fi — although the service can sometimes be a little spotty — and the students at Bethel Christian School go on outings and compete in national contests. One thing about Elohim City, however, will probably never change. Residents are adherents of Christian Identity, which teaches that white Anglo-Saxons, not Jews, are God’s chosen people and that America, not Israel, is the promised land. According to Identity, Jews are descendants of Satan, and nonwhites are pre-Adamic, a lower form of species than whites. Over the years, suspicions have swirled. The community has been called “Love City,” “Hate City,” a nudist colony and a cult. Stories circulated that they had built an underground bunker and had acquired arsenals, tanks and rocket missiles. One man claimed that Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh was buried there after his execution. None of that is true, say John and David Millar, sons of the community’s late founder and patriarch, Robert Millar. “We don’t deny there’s been people who have come through and left who were up to no good,” David Millar said. “But nobody that’s a resident here would espouse any kind of terrorism.” No one in this village, the brothers say, had anything to do with the Oklahoma City bombing. “We were accused of possibly…...

SPRINGFIELD, MO.  Although nearly five years have passed, telling the story hasn’t gotten any easier for Bob Paudert. But here was the former police chief of West Memphis, Ark., standing before dozens of law enforcement officers to describe the day that turned his life upside-down and to hopefully prevent such a tragedy from ever occurring again. These days, this is how Paudert spends his time — traveling the country to educate other law enforcement officers about violent extremists, whose numbers and outbursts are increasing. “I had a great career,” he told the group on this day. “But May the 20th, 2010, I lost that passion. This is my new passion.” And once he started speaking, his message — and the dash-cam video that showed the horrific events of that day — silenced the room. That morning in 2010, Paudert said, started out like a typical day at the West Memphis police headquarters. The four-officer interstate team, led by Paudert’s son Brandon, a sergeant, was conducting traffic stops, trying to stem the flow of drugs along Interstates 40 and 55. Bob Paudert was looking forward to spending a long weekend with his wife, who had just undergone triple bypass surgery. The two were heading to property they owned near Springfield. He picked her up at 11:30 a.m., and shortly after they got on the interstate a call came over his police radio. Officer down at Exit 275 on Interstate 40. Paudert was less than 2 miles away. “I figured, ‘It’s got to be the state police.’ I told my wife, ‘I’m…...

A cluster of counties in southeast Kansas are among the least healthy in the state, according to new rankings released Wednesday. Four of the five state’s unhealthiest counties — Woodson, Cherokee, Greenwood and Labette — are in southeast Kansas. Several other counties in the region rank among the bottom 10. But the director of an initiative launched in 2011 to address the underlying causes of the region’s health and economic problems said progress is being made. “We can have big goals, but this is a one-at-a-time problem,” said Heather Morgan, executive director of the initiative known as Project 17. “If it was easy to break this cycle of generational poverty, somebody would have already done it.” RELATED: Two Kansas Counties, Two Vastly Different Health Outcomes Project 17 derives its name from the number of southeast Kansas counties that started it. Factors known collectively known as the social determinants of health are conspiring to keep counties in the southeast corner of the state at the bottom of the rankings. Underlying factors When it comes to the overall health of populations, rates of poverty and obesity matter. So do high school graduation, teen birth and smoking rates. Access to healthy foods, clean water and places to exercise also factor into the rankings. Woodson County is a good example. The 2015 report released Wednesday by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute lists it as the least healthy of the 101 Kansas counties ranked. Higher rates of childhood poverty, teen birth and smoking are among the reasons for the county’s bottom-of-the pack ranking.…...

A battle is brewing in the organic food industry. The largest trade association for organic farmers, marketers and processors wants growers to help pay for promotional campaigns, using a decades-old funding model that paid for iconic ads like “Got Milk?” and “Beef: It’s What’s For Dinner.” But deciding how to spread the organic message is dividing the sector into factions. The Organic Trade Association (OTA) has taken up the banner for an organic “checkoff,” a fund designed to promote a particular industry by creating marketing campaigns or engaging in research. Legislation sanctioning the creation of a checkoff fund for the organic industry was included in the Farm Bill passed in 2014. The OTA is the loudest voice for the organic industry in Washington DC, with a focus on policy and lobbying. The organization counts some of the largest food companies in the country among its members. But that cozy relationship with big business rubs some farmers the wrong way. Other prominent organic groups like the Wisconsin-based Cornucopia Institute panned the organic checkoff idea almost immediately after the Farm Bill became law. The stakes are high for the organic industry to come up with a cohesive identity. In 2000, the organic seal, with all the certification and standards behind it, became available to food manufacturers and farmers. Since then, the organic sector’s market share of the food industry has ticked higher, currently at 4 percent of all food sales. In 2013, organic food sales jumped to $35 billion, a one-year rise of 11 percent. Organic condiments pull in roughly $830 million a year. More shoppers…...

The Kansas City Mayoral primary is less than two weeks away, and the three candidates met for the first time to answer questions from a crowd of about 125 people Tuesday night. Mayor Sly James and candidates Clay Chastain and Vincent Lee took turns during the 90-minute forum — sponsored by the League of Women Voters — stating their positions on everything from what to do with the American Royal to the question of a new Kansas City International Airport and downtown stadium to questions about how to curb violence in Kansas City and whether or not to keep the 1 percent earnings tax. The event was held at the All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church at 4510 Walnut St. It’s likely the only time the three will be seen together during this lopsided race that most pundits have already called for James. Clay Chastain, well-known in Kansas City for his unsuccessful light-rail proposals, came out in his opening statement swinging at Mayor James. “Mayor James can’t lead," he said. "He doesn’t listen to the voters, the people; he’s run a boss-style administration. He’s had a demeanor that when he’s challenged, he kind of has a huffy-puffy attitude, and his vision has not inspired the people.” That was as confrontational as the forum got during the 90 minutes of answering written questions from the crowd. All three differed greatly on how to handle major issues, like the 1 percent earnings tax. “The earnings tax constitutes 40 percent of our general fund. The earnings tax is approximately the equivalent of the budget for the police department,” James said. “Without the earnings tax, this city has a serious problem," he continued. "There is no…...

“KDHE (Kansas Department of Health and Environment) has already done our own look-back at the people who have gotten listeria in Kansas within the last year, and we know only those five cases relate to this outbreak,” said Sara Belfry, a KDHE spokeswoman. The illnesses and deaths were first reported by KDHE on Friday, when the agency said it was working with federal and Texas health authorities to investigate five listeriosis cases in Kansas linked to ice cream products made by Blue Bell Creameries. The five came down with the infection sometime between January 2014 and January 2015 after they were hospitalized for unrelated problems in the same hospital. KDHE did not identify the hospital but it was later revealed to be Via Cristi Hospital St. Francis. On its website, Via Christi said it was not aware that the products were contaminated with listeria and immediately removed all Blue Bell Creameries products once it was discovered. Roz Hutchinson, a hospital spokeswoman, declined to comment beyond the hospital’s written statement. According to the CDC, four of the five patients had consumed milkshakes made with a Blue Bell ice cream product called “Scoops” before they contracted listeriois. Although the fifth patient’s strain of listeria did not match those in the ice cream samples, the CDC said that epidemiologic evidence suggested that the patient's illness was related to them. The Food and Drug Administration says listeria bacteria were also found in samples of Blue Bell Chocolate Chip Country Cookies, Great Divide Bars, Sour Pop Green Apple Bars, Cotton Candy Bars,Vanilla Stick Slices, Almond…...

After years of negotiations, a dozen countries – from New Zealand up to Canada –are on the verge of a trade agreement that could be worth billions of dollars to the U.S. agriculture industry. Many American farmers and ranchers are eager to see the expected benefits of the Trans Pacific Partnership, or TPP. A free trade agreement across the Pacific Ocean could open up markets and raise prices for him as well as other rice producers, said Chuck Earnest, a rice farmer in southeast Missouri.   “About 40 percent of the American rice crop is exported year after year, and so we have to have access to far more markets in order to be able to move our crop,” he said. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates the deal could be a $3 billion increase in agriculture exports to the region. Tariff-free trades would be opened up across many industries, including automobiles and pharmaceuticals. For U.S. soybean producers, the deal could mean no longer paying tariffs as high as 20 percent in countries like Japan. For ranchers, the TPP could mean the elimination of tariffs that are now as high as 50 percent. “That’s a lot of money,” Earnest said.  “For Missouri producers to get our share of that would be a significant thing.  It would either draw the rice price up, or it would increase rice acres in Missouri.  Either of those are good things.” TPP negotiations continue in Hawaii in March, and some of the trickiest issues surround rice and other agriculture products. That’s mostly because of Japan,…...

For more than 20 years, Kansas secondary students have taken a survey to track alcohol and drug abuse. But a new law requiring parents to give written permission to allow their children to take the survey is affecting the survey data, and those who use it say it could be more challenging to obtain funds for prevention efforts. The Kansas Communities That Care (KCTC) survey, which was taken by nearly 100,000 sixth-, eighth-, 10th and 12th-grade students last year, is expected to have an estimated 60,000 fewer responses this year, according to officials at the Southeast Kansas Education Service Center at Greenbush. Lisa Chaney, director of research and evaluation at the Southeast Kansas Education Service Center, said that’s a preliminary estimate because students are still taking the survey. The final count will be shown in a participation percentage at the end of May. “While many things are still unknown, we do know that there will not be comparable state-level data,” Chaney said about the survey, which has been conducted since 1995.   “Without that information, it’s going to be more difficult, certainly at a local level, to monitor or to assist with planning and providing evidence-based strategies for prevention.”...

The federal government banned raw milk sales across state lines nearly three decades ago because it poses a threat to public health. The Centers for Disease Control, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Medical Association all strongly advise people not to drink it. Individual states still control raw milk sales within their borders. And despite the health warnings, some Midwestern states have recently proposed legalizing raw milk sales in order to impose strict regulations on the risky - and growing - market. Raw milk has become popular in recent years as part of the local food movement, with an estimated three percent of the population drinking at least one glass a week. Many of its fans are fiercely passionate about the benefits. They say they buy raw milk because it doesn't contain the growth hormone rGBH, they like the taste, and they enjoy having a direct connection to the food they eat. Holly Stovall, a raw milk consumer and advocate from Macomb, Illinois, serves it to her family as their source for omega-3 fatty acids, and vitamins. “I like having a relationship with the people who are producing the food I put in my body," Stovall said. But raw milk is particularly fertile for germs. By definition, raw milk is not pasteurized — the process of heating milk to 161°F for 15 seconds to kill harmful bacteria like salmonella, E. coli and campylobacter. Milk contaminated with these bacteria does not look, smell or taste different from milk that’s safe to drink, but it can lead to severe illness. Dr. Robert Tauxe,…...

If you’re in the market for fluorescent light bulbs, you might talk to Chris Smiley. In the past few weeks, she’s been trying to sell off what’s left of Sac-Osage Hospital. “Casework, lighting, plumping, sinks, toilets. Anything you want,” Smiley says. That’s not in her job description. She’s actually the CEO of Sac-Osage, a hospital in Osceola, Mo., that closed in September. “I have become an auctioneer,” Smiley says. “And I’ve learned more about asbestos and construction demolition than I ever wanted to know.” The small, 45-year-old hospital shut down, Smiley explains, because of diminishing payments from Medicare as well as a heavy load of uninsured patients. It’s a scenario more and more hospitals are facing – one that’s been especially hard on rural hospitals in states that have not expanded Medicaid. Such hospitals are often the biggest employers in rural counties. But unless Medicaid eligibility is expanded to include more low-income people, as the Affordable Care Act envisions, officials at those hospitals say they may be forced to cut jobs – or even, like Sac-Osage, to close down. The payment reductions that hospitals face came about in large part because of an agreement they made when the Affordable Care Act was crafted. “It was a quid-pro-quo deal that the hospitals made,” says Timothy McBride, a health economist at Washington University in St. Louis. Hospitals expected to see millions of newly insured customers thanks to federal subsidies enabling people to buy health insurance and the expansion of state Medicaid programs. In exchange, they agreed to accept reduced Medicare payments and…...

U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy was in town Thursday as part of a “listening tour,” meeting with community leaders, physicians and others to discuss public health concerns. Among the topics they addressed were childhood obesity, violence, prescription drug abuse and access to health care. Murthy, a Harvard-trained physician, was confirmed as the nation’s top public health official in December after the position had been vacant for more than a year. He met with reporters this morning. Here are excerpts from his remarks: Immunization I think it’s very important that people get immunized. There are diseases we can prevent like measles, but there are also illnesses like the flu for which we have vaccines available and it’s important for us to get vaccinated for the flu as well. So my message as I go to communities across the country is to emphasize the importance of vaccination. I understand there are concerns that some individuals have about whether there may be harmful effects from vaccines. There’s been some concern whether the measles, mumps and rubella vaccines causes autism. I want to say that definitively there have been studies which have proven there is no link between the measles vaccine and autism. But not everyone has gotten this message, so that’s partly why I’m here out on the road, to talk about the importance of things like immunization. ... there was a study that was published in the New England Journal (of Medicine) some time ago which calculated the number of lives that were saved over the last century because of immunization, and…...

NEMAHA COUNTY, Kan. – From their small farms set in the rolling hills of northeast Kansas, two ranchers are raising a few cattle, and a lot of Cain. David Pfrang and Jim Dobbins turned themselves into activists, launched a shadow corporation, got hauled into federal court and had to hire a lawyer. All over $1. That buck, though, divides the beef industry. And it may influence what you decide to have for dinner. The federal “beef checkoff” mandates a $1 payment every time a head of cattle is sold. That adds up to about $80 million a year nationwide, money that is supposed to be used to convince us to buy more beef. Nobody in the beef industry argues much about that idea. Checkoff officials say a recent study calculated that every dollar collected by the checkoff delivers $11.20 in return. Among its successes is a series of iconic commercials called “Beef, it’s what’s for dinner.” But there is a lot more to the beef checkoff than meets the eye. That $1 assessment, critics like Pfrang and Dobbins say, flows with limited oversight to state and national interests. Sellers must pay even if they don’t believe they have any say over who gets the money, or why. And they must pay even if they believe the fund advances the interests of multi-millionaire ranchers against their own. “I call it the liberty tax,” Pfrang said. “We just lost some freedom and we’re not being represented.” As many as a fourth of the nation’s 730,000 ranchers — mostly small independent farmers -- have…...

The other shoe is about to drop. New test results on skeletal remains found under a runway at Wheeler Downtown Airport are due soon. The Jackson County Medical Examiner agreed to arrange for radiocarbon testing of the remains after the Hale Center for Journalism offered to cover the $685 cost. Those results should shed important new light on the mystery of the man under Runway 1. Watch the video above for a snapshot of what we know right now. Stay tuned for the results of the testing, which we'll write about soon....

Ireland will be the first European Union country allowed to send beef to U.S. dinner tables, more than 15 years after a deadly outbreak of mad cow disease in Europe led U.S. regulators to ban European beef imports. The ban on EU beef imports was lifted in March and Ireland’s beef production systems passed a U.S. inspection, according to the Irish Agriculture Department. The United Kingdom was the epicenter of the mad cow outbreak in the 1990s. As the fatal cattle disease spread to North America, the U.S. banned European beef in 1998. As a result, Jim Robb, an agricultural economist with the Livestock Marketing Information Center, says trade relationships collapsed. “The U.S. lost export markets,” Robb said. “International trade in the beef complex was in great turmoil and it lowered cattle prices in many countries dramatically.” Robb says since the mad cow scare, more countries, like Ireland, are proving they’ve been able to keep the disease in check, building confidence among trade partners. That confidence could translate into even more European countries given a greenlight to export beef to the U.S. The growth of beef imports comes just as the rules for disclosing foreign-raised beef are expected to be watered-down. Country of Origin Labeling, or COOL, rules currently force retailers and meatpackers to detail where the livestock from which the meat came was born, raised and slaughtered. But the World Trade Organization has said the rules amount to a trade barrier and recent Congressional action requires the USDA to change them. It may be that U.S. consumers won’t know they’re buying beef that was…...

When Sony pulled ‘The Interview’ from theaters in December it turned the spotlight onto cyber attacks, and their power to disrupt. In an exclusive interview with Edward Snowden, for an upcoming new film about cyber warfare, journalist James Bamford talked with the former National Security Agency contractor who made headlines after leaking thousands of classified documents to media outlets. Those documents shed some light on surveillance programs conducted around the world. In a rather lengthy interview, Snowden warns that the public isn’t aware of the frequency of cyber-attacks, and talks about how destruction can jump from the virtual world, to the real world. Snowden: When you use any kind of internet based capability, any kind of electronic capability, to cause damage to a private entity or a foreign nation or a foreign actor, these are potential acts of war. And it’s critical we bear in mind as we discuss how we want to use these programs, these capabilities, where we want to draw the line, and who should approve these programs, these decisions, and at what level, for engaging in operations that could lead us as a nation into a war. His comments were framed around the reaction of Iran to a US-led Stuxnet campaign, which targeted the Iranian nuclear program. You can read the full transcript of the interview conducted last year on NOVA's web site, and you can watch excerpts in the video, above....

Starting this month primary care physicians in much of the country, including Kansas and Missouri, will be paid less for seeing Medicaid patients. The expiration of a federal incentive program in the Affordable Care Act is responsible for the reduction. Nationally, the average fee reduction is expected to be nearly 43 percent, according to a recent report from the Health Policy Center of the Urban Institute. In Kansas, the cut in payments likely will be much less, closer to 25 percent. The change is expected to affect about 2,500 primary care physicians in the state. In Missouri, the fee reduction is expected to be greater than the national average – nearly 45 percent. “The reductions vary from state to state,” says Stephen Zuckerman, a co-director and senior fellow at the Urban Institute. The reductions rescind a two-year incentive package that accompanied enactment of the Affordable Care Act. The package’s pay provisions expired Dec. 31. “Kansas’ Medicaid fees, two years ago, weren’t as low as they were in other states,” Zuckerman says. “So the payment incentives that were built in the Affordable Care Act weren’t as much for Kansas as they were for other states. “Now that those incentives are going away,” he says, “the decrease won’t be as much either.” Roughly 400,000 Kansans and 843,000 Missourians are enrolled in Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). A temporary change The increases were meant to encourage primary care physicians to take on more Medicaid patients — mainly children, frail elders and people with disabilities — in anticipation of more people being…...