Two public meetings are planned on Wednesday, April 19, concerning the future of the Indian Springs mall site.
One public meeting will be from 4 to 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Neighborhood Resource Center, 4953 State Ave., Kansas City, Kansas, and another public meeting will be at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools Central Office, 2010 N. 59th St., Kansas City, Kansas.
Both meetings are open to the public. The 4 p.m. meeting is one that is required for planning and zoning issues. The 6 p.m. meeting is a continuation of a Unified Government public meeting last week. Many people attended the meeting last week to make comments.
A vote on the Indian Springs proposal is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday, April 27, in the Commission Chambers, City Hall, 701 N. 7th St., Kansas City, Kansas.
According to a UG news release, at the 6 p.m. meeting, there will be a brief presentation by Lane4 Development on the proposed 26-acre light industrial flex-tech proposal. Also at the 6 p.m. meeting will be Commissioners Jane Philbrook, Melissa Bynum, Harold Johnson and UG staff.
The flex-tech proposal is a light industrial building on the south side of the 90-acre Indian Springs site. According to developers, there would be mixed retail development on the north side, although no specific plans have been announced for it yet.
According to the UG, topics to be discussed at the 6 p.m. meeting include what’s proposed for the 26 acres; what’s the next step in the planning process for future development of remaining acreage if the proposed plan is approved, and what are community members’ opinions on what they want at this Indian Springs site and how they want the commission to handle this process.
To see some past stories about Indian Springs, visit:
Hundreds of people attended a vigil Monday evening outside St. Francis Health in Topeka, a financially struggling hospital that is at the center of the Medicaid expansion debate in Kansas. (Photo by Jim McLean, Kansas News Service)
by Jim McLean, Kansas News Service
Several hundred people turned out Monday night to protest the possible closure of St. Francis Health in Topeka.
The financial struggles of the 378-bed hospital have taken center stage in the debate over whether to expand KanCare, the state’s privatized Medicaid program.
Republican Gov. Sam Brownback recently vetoed an expansion bill that would have generated an additional $10 million a year in federal funding for St. Francis, according to the Kansas Hospital Association.
The association estimates that the state’s rejection of expansion has cost Kansas health care providers more than $1.8 billion over the past three years.
Carolyn Zimmerman of Topeka was among those at the vigil, where people lit candles, marched to the hospital’s main entrance and sang “Amazing Grace.”
“I hope it will make a difference,” Zimmerman said. “I do think it will demonstrate to the governor that he should be expanding Medicaid.”
St. Francis was established in 1909 by the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth, an organization now known as SCL Health, based in Denver. Officials from SCL were in Topeka on Monday to meet with members of the St. Francis board, according to Topeka Mayor Larry Wolgast.
Brian Newsome, a spokesperson for SCL, said in an email that he could not confirm the meeting.
“We have no announcement at this time but will keep our dedicated associates and physicians, and the community they serve, informed when we have definitive news to share,” Newsome said.
Dr. Jacqueline Hyland, a St. Francis anesthesiologist, said the staff is in the dark about SCL’s plans.
“It’s been very quiet,” Hyland said. “But there are lots of rumors out there and fear that the hospital may close.”
Hyland was among many who said she hoped the show of community support would influence SCL’s decision about the hospital’s future.
“I hope that they see how important this hospital is to each individual who is out here showing their support,” she said.
Another employee, Anna Munns, organized the vigil. She has worked in the registration office for the past 17 years.
“I’m a very prayerful person, and I think God has a plan for the hospital,” Munns said. “I’m just hoping and praying that somebody steps in and does something.”
Opponents of Medicaid expansion insist it cannot fix the problems facing St. Francis and other struggling hospitals across the state, including those in Fort Scott and Wellington. But David Heinemann, a former Kansas legislator who attended the vigil, said he believes expansion could help stabilize many of the state’s troubled hospitals.
“I’m very hopeful that the Legislature will reconsider Medicaid expansion,” said Heinemann, a Republican who represented Garden City in the Kansas House from 1968 to 1995 but now lives in Topeka.
“We know in the legislative process that it’s never over until it’s over,” he said.
Earlier this month the House fell three votes short of overriding Brownback’s veto of the expansion bill.
Supporters will attempt to pass a new expansion bill when lawmakers return May 1 to wrap up the 2017 session. House Minority Leader Jim Ward, a Wichita Democrat, is optimistic that supporters will switch enough votes to pass the new bill with a veto-proof majority.
“I do think there’s a good chance of us flipping those votes,” Ward said.
Expansion would qualify all non-disabled Kansas adults earning up to 138 percent of the poverty level, annually about $16,642 for an individual and $33,465 for a family of four, for Medicaid coverage.
Expansion would make an estimated 300,000 additional Kansans eligible for coverage though only about 180,000 would initially enroll, according to estimates.
Jim McLean is managing director of the Kansas News Service, a collaboration of KCUR, Kansas Public Radio and KMUW covering health, education and politics in Kansas. You can reach him on Twitter @jmcleanks. Kansas News Service stories and photos may be republished at no cost with proper attribution and a link back to kcur.org.
The names of two persons who were killed in a traffic accident in the early morning hours Saturday have been released.
The victims of the traffic accident about 12:30 a.m. Saturday, April 15, near South 55th Street and Metropolitan were Samuel E. Vissepo-Quinones, 28, and Bryan Viera-Duran, 23. Viera-Duran was a resident of Kansas City, Kansas, and he would have been 24 years old on Sunday, April 16.
The two were in a Honda Element that was attempting to turn into the Skyline Apartment complex when it was struck by a Chevy Malibu traveling northbound on South 55th Street, according to police. The two were taken to a hospital, where they died from their injuries.
The driver of the Malibu and three juveniles in the vehicle were taken to area hospitals with minor injuries, police said.
The accident is under investigation by the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department’s Traffic Support Unit-Critical Collision Response Team.
