Kansas City, MO – A statewide ban on smoking in public places goes into effect today, with a few, limited exceptions. Kansas Public Radio's Bryan Thompson has more.
Salinas, KS – A Wichita-area doctor and his wife have been convicted of illegally distributing prescription pain killers to patients who overdosed on them. More from Kansas Public Radio's Bryan Thompson.
Salina, KS – Atrazine is one of the most widely used weed-killers in the country. But farm fields aren't the only place the chemical is commonly found. It's also the most widely-detected pesticide in drinking water, especially in the Midwest. With some environmental groups calling for a ban on Atrazine, the Environmental Protection Agency is currently re-evaluating its safety. Kansas Public Radio's Bryan Thomspon reports.
Topkea, Kan. – The number of Kansans without health insurance is expected to drop by 190,000 when the new health care law is fully implemented, starting in 2014. A study released this week shows who will pick up the tab for that expanded coverage. Kansas Public Radio's Bryan Thompson explains.
Topeka, Kan. – Lawmakers have wrapped up the two major unresolved issues this session: the budget, and how to fund it. Both chambers had passed budgets that largely protected funding for education and social services. But in order to balance that budget, lawmakers needed about 300 million dollars in new revenue. Monday, they identified that money. Lawmakers passed a one-cent sales tax increase to fill the deficit.
The Environmental Protection Agency has cleared the way to relocate residents of the lead-contaminated town of Treece, in the southeastern corner of Kansas.
Kansas lawmakers have sent the governor a bill strengthening the penalties for those who sell drugs to kids, or expose them to the hazards of meth labs.
Topeka, Kan. – Kansas third district Representative Dennis Moore says he plans to vote in favor of the health care reconciliation bill when it comes to the floor of the House.
Moore serves on the House Budget Committee, which is charged with reviewing legislation under the rules of reconciliation. That committee has reported the so called Reconciliation Act of 2010 to the House Rules Committee with instructions. That's the last stop before a vote by the full House.
Topeka, Kan. / Jefferson City, Mo. – A measure pushing back against the federal government passed in the Kansas House Monday by a vote of 109 to 11. The resolution calls on the federal government to stop passing laws that put mandates on the states.
Proponents have argued the federal government is encroaching on states' rights. The non-binding measure has no legal authority, but Republican Representative Joe Patton told fellow lawmakers it still carries weight.
Lawrence, Kan. – A new report by a rural think tank says rural Americans will be devastated if Congress fails to overhaul the nation's health care system
Kansas City, Mo. – The first-ever study ranking the health of counties in every state shows the southeast corner of Kansas remains the state's least-healthy region.
Topeka, Kan. – For more than a decade, clean air advocates in Kansas have been promoting a ban on smoking in public places, including bars and restaurants. Several bills that would enact a statewide smoking ban have been introduced in the legislature this session. The Kansas House is hearing a new one this Wednesday afternoon. But as Kansas Public Radio's Bryan Thompson reports, the House and Senate versions are quite different.
Topeka, Kan. – If it's true that infant mortality is a good indicator of a population's health, Kansas isn't doing so well. A blue ribbon panel has been trying to figure out what's to blame and what to do about it, as Kansas Public Radio's Bryan Thompson reports.
Topeka, Kan. – Kansas Governor Mark Parkinson won't shut down a state hospital for the developmentally disabled in Topeka - for now.
But Parkinson said the state will begin moving patients from the Kansas Neurological Institute in Topeka and the Parsons State Hospital and Training Center into community programs.
The governor says the lower populations could lead to the closing of either hospital in three or four years.
