News & Issues
Stories from around the Kansas City Metro area on a variety of topics.
Brownback budget includes Medicaid changes, tobacco tax increase
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration outlined a sweeping budget plan Friday that includes changes to Medicaid and increases in the state’s tobacco and alcohol taxes.
Budget Director Shawn Sullivan said closing a $650 million budget gap will require new tax revenue and slowed expenses in the state’s “three major cost drivers”: public schools, public employee pensions and Medicaid.
Brownback’s SOS address outlines vision for Kansas
Kansas Governor Sam Brownback delivered his state of the state address Thursday night in advance of the State of the Union address Tuesday night. News reviewers Mary Sanchez, Eric Wesson, Steve Vockrodt and Dave Helling dissect Brownback’s proposed changes for the state of Kansas. Also this week: Senator Claire McCaskill’s announcement she will not run for governor in Missouri in 2016; the fuss surrounding Kansas Congressman Kevin Yoder and his successful amendment to a congressional bill; remembering minister and civil rights activist Nelson “Fuzzy” Thompson; and the absence of women in statewide office in Kansas.
Kansas Teachers Respond to State of the State
When school let out in Johnson County on Thursday, fifth grade teacher Barbara Casey hopped in the car with a fellow teacher and two parents to drive to Topeka, Kansas for Gov. Brownback’s State of the State address. “The main reason I came up there was not for myself,” Casey said. “It was really for…
Twins Peak At Saint Luke’s East Hospital
When Jennifer Vaughn delivered identical twin girls at Saint Luke’s East Hospital last week, she and her husband were not that surprised – and it wasn’t just because of the sonograms or because she had dreamt of having twins even before the ultrasounds.
An uncertain future, for Kansas rural hospitals
Experts on rural Kansas hospitals made dire predictions about their fiscal futures in a legislative hearing Wednesday that laid the groundwork for a discussion of Medicaid expansion. Rep. Tom Sloan, chairman of the Vision 2020 Committee, said that he’s trying to start a discussion about crafting an expansion plan that addresses the needs of stakeholders and the concerns of those wary of its connections to the Affordable Care Act.
President Obama: Gigabit access could unleash innovation
When President Obama visited Cedar Falls, Iowa, yesterday to talk about the potential benefits of local communities building their own broadband networks, community and tech leaders from around the country were already gathered at the Gigabit City Summit here in Kansas City to discuss the exact same issues. In Cedar Falls, residents can get gigabit-speed…
Can Missouri afford not to expand Medicaid?
Even as prospects appear bleak for Medicaid expansion in Missouri, a new report says the state would save $81 million right off the bat and $100 million annually later on if it expands the program. The report by the Missouri Budget Project, a nonpartisan think tank in St. Louis, says the savings would come from money the state currently spends on Medicaid services provided to pregnant women, mental health patients and prisoners in need of medical care.
Update: Mystery Man under runway 1
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…
How do you build the ‘gigabit city’?
Nearly four years after Google Fiber announced service to the Kansas City area, some key questions remain largely unanswered — particularly questions about how the city will use gigabit-speed internet to grow and thrive. This week in Kansas City, the Gigabit City Summit, organized largely by KC Digital Drive, is assembling representatives from Kansas City…
Missouri health advocates say they’re happy with ACA enrollment numbers
At roughly the midpoint of the second Affordable Care Act open-enrollment period, health advocates say they’re happy with the number of people signing up in Missouri. Ryan Barker, vice president of health policy at the Missouri Foundation for Health, said that more than 102,000 people enrolled in health plans in the first month alone. In the entire first open enrollment period, 152,000 people signed up.