Bryan Thompson

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback wants lawmakers to extend a temporary sales tax hike as a way to fund the state's universities.

The governor says cuts to higher education would be a momentum-killer at a time when he thinks a lot of positive things are happening in Kansas. Lawmakers are hesitant to extend the sales tax hike, which was approved in 2010 on the condition that it would expire July 1 of this year.

Following a tour of the University of Kansas School of Medicine in Salina, Brownback called the facility a great place to invest.

After a series of problems, the operators of the only nuclear power plant in Kansas say they're making progress toward satisfying the concerns of federal regulators.

A competitive bidding program aimed at helping Medicare avoid overpaying for products like scooters, diabetic testing supplies, and oxygen tanks is being expanded to 91 communities nationwide, including Wichita. 

The program began a little more than two years ago as a demonstration project in nine communities, including Kansas City. 

Tyson Foods has agreed to a settlement with the federal government over accidental releases of anhydrous ammonia at its facilities in Kansas and three other states.

A federal grand jury has indicted three Kansas men on charges that they operated a global sales and supply network for synthetic marijuana. 

Bradley Miller of Wichita, his brother, Clark Sloan of Tonganoxie, and Sloan’s son Jonathan Sloan of Lawrence face charges of mail fraud, conspiracy, distribution of a misbranded drug, smuggling, and conspiracy to launder money from the operation.  They’re accused of manufacturing and distributing a marijuana substitute called K2 through businesses named Bouncing Bear Botanicals and Persephone’s Journey. 

Providence Medical Center, in Kansas City, and St. John Hospital, in Leavenworth, are now among the two dozen hospitals owned by Prime Healthcare—a for-profit company based in California. 

The pending sale of two Kansas City area hospitals to a California-based corporation comes as a relief to those currently in charge of the hospitals.  However, some people are worried about what could happen. 

The sale of Providence Medical Center and Leavenworth’s St. John Hospital to Prime Healthcare Services needs the blessing of Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt to go forward.  Close to 100 people showed up for a public hearing conducted by the Schmidt last night. 

According to the latest Kansas County Health Rankings, Johnson and Riley counties have the healthiest residents in Kansas again this year.  Wyandotte County and a cluster of counties in southeast Kansas remain among the least healthy.

A series of informational meetings about KanCare has been rescheduled, after being cancelled due to snow storms last month. 

Meetings for providers will take place March 18th, in Hays; March 19th, in Dodge City, and March 20th, in Wichita.  Each of those sessions will run from one to three in the afternoon.

Meetings for consumers will be held in Hays March 18th, and in Wichita March 20th.  Those events will take place from six to eight in the evening. 

Kansas Senator Pat Roberts has introduced a bill to reform the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps.  Roberts says the bill would save $36-billion over ten years by eliminating waste, and closing loopholes in the program.

A Wichita clinic formerly operated by slain abortion provider Dr. George Tiller is expected to reopen soon.

Tiller’s former building was recently purchased by an organization called the Trust Women Foundation.  It’s headed by Julie Burkhart, who used to run Tiller’s political action committee.

Abortion services have been unavailable in Wichita since Tiller was gunned down in 2009. 

Burkhart says each year, thousands of women in the Wichita area have to travel to Kansas City or to Oklahoma to get an abortion. 

Legislation filed in the Missouri Senate would require all genetically modified meats and fish raised and sold in the state to be labeled as such. The bill is sponsored by Democrat Jamilah Nasheed of St. Louis.  She says people have a right to know what they’re putting in their bodies.

“We’ve had an industrial boom, we’ve had a technical boom, and now we have a biotech boom, and there hasn’t been a major studies to show one way or the other if genetically modified foods are good or bad,” says Nasheed.

Medicaid is the second-largest program that Kansas operates, next only to education. And costs of the health program for the poor and disabled have been growing at a faster pace than most other programs. A desire to control those costs and improve care is why officials in Governor Sam Brownback’s administration have embarked on a massive plan to overhaul the system.

An eastern Kansas man who built his own telescope and operates it from a shed in his back yard has discovered a previously unknown and potentially hazardous asteroid.

Gary Hug lives near Scranton. He was trying to help plot the orbit of a known Near Earth Object when he noticed something Sunday night that appeared to be moving too slow to be a satellite, but too fast to be a main belt asteroid.

Kansas officials are warning people not to eat too much fish caught in the state.