The Kansas Department of Transportation will close two lanes of southbound I-35 between Johnson Drive and Antioch Road on Saturday, Aug. 19, to replace a message board, a spokesman said. The closure will begin at 6 a.m.
The inside lane of northbound I-35 and the Antioch Road southbound on-ramp will be closed during this time as well.
During this period, at approximately 7 a.m. a full closure of southbound I-35 will occur that will last only 10 minutes to remove the cross-road structure. Another full closure will occur at approximately 10 a.m. and last 10 minutes to replace the cross-road structure.
Motorists should use the Johnson Drive ramp to access southbound I-35 during this time, according to the spokesman.
Updated daily traffic information for this project and for the entire Kansas City metro area can be viewed at: www.ksdot.org/kcmetro/laneclose.asp.
Motorists are asked to use extra caution in the work zone area.
One way or another, Tim Keck wants to replace the state’s aging Osawatomie State Hospital with a new mental health treatment facility.
Though he is meeting with some resistance, the secretary of the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services is pushing lawmakers to consider privatizing the state-run psychiatric hospital, which in recent years has been beset by operational problems.
On Tuesday Keck will outline a privatization plan submitted by a Tennessee-based company to stakeholders and legislators during a 1 p.m. meeting at hospital’s administration building.
It will be the first of several “community presentations” Keck is planning with stakeholders in communities in the hospital’s catchment area, which encompasses more than 40 counties.
Keck told members of the Legislative Budget Committee earlier this month that he wants to have “a plan to build a new facility” ready for lawmakers to consider when the 2018 session convenes in January.
“I think this is going to be a big year to have a lot of questions answered surrounding Osawatomie and rebuilding it,” he said.
Privatization remains controversial, however. Correct Care Solutions, the only company that bid on the Osawatomie State Hospital project, has a history of safety problems at the state psychiatric facilities it runs in Florida.
Lawmakers opposed to privatizing Osawatomie State Hospital added a provision to the agency’s budget that requires it to also solicit proposals for a new state-funded facility.
Certification still an issue
Operational issues that compromised the safety of patients and staff prompted federal officials to decertify Osawatomie State Hospital in December 2015, an order that has since cost the state approximately $1 million a month in federal Medicare funding.
Despite costly renovations and efforts to address staffing and operational deficiencies, federal officials refused to recertify the hospital after their most recent inspection in May, citing new concerns about sanitation, food preparation and infection control.
The agency has corrected those problems and the hospital is ready for another inspection, Keck told members of the budget committee.
“We’re expecting them back any day,” he said. “We feel like we’re ready to go.”
Several members of the committee expressed frustration that recertification is taking so long.
“I had hoped we’d be further along in this process,” said Sen. Carolyn McGinn, a Sedgwick Republican who chairs the Senate Ways and Means Committee.
Jim McLean is managing director of the Kansas News Service, a collaboration of KCUR, Kansas Public Radio and KMUW covering health, education and politics. 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 tokcur.org.
After temperatures in the 80s today, the weather forecast shows storms and showers may move through the region tonight and Wednesday.
According to the National Weather Service, a cold front will bring rain to the region on Wednesday morning, lasting through Thursday morning.
While severe weather is unlikely, a few strong storms are possible, with large hail the main threat, the weather service said.
Some areas could receive up to 2 inches of rainfall with locally higher amounts, according to the weather service. Isolated flooding is possible Wednesday night as a result.
Today, it will be partly cloudy with a high in the upper 80s, and light and variable winds becoming southeast around 10 mph in the afternoon, the weather service said.
Tonight, expect a 40 percent chance of showers and storms after midnight, with lows in the lower 70s, according to the weather service. Southeast winds of 10 mph in the evening will become light and variable.
Wednesday, there is a 60 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, with highs in the mid-80s, the weather service said. Light and variable winds will become south around 10 mph in the afternoon.
Wednesday night, there is a 70 percent chance of precipitation, with showers and thunderstorms likely in the evening, according to the weather service. Lows will be in the upper 60s with south winds around 10 mph in the evening becoming light and variable.
Thursday, the high will be in the mid-80s, with partly cloudy skies, the weather service said. Light and variable winds will become northwest around 10 mph in the afternoon.
Thursday night, it will be mostly clear with a low in the mid-60s, according to the weather service.
Friday, the high will be in the mid-80s with partly cloudy skies, the weather service said.
Friday night, it will be partly cloudy with a 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, and a low in the upper 60s, according to the weather service.
Saturday, the high will be in the mid-80s with partly cloudy skies, the weather service said.
Saturday night, the low will be in the upper 60s, according to the weather service.
Sunday, expect highs in the upper 80s and lows in the upper 60s, with mostly clear skies, the weather service said.
Monday, it will be partly cloudy with highs in the upper 80s, the weather service said.
On Monday, the day of the solar eclipse, the weather service said different long-range computer models are showing different locations for storms on Sunday night and clouds on Monday. There is still uncertainty about the cloud coverage at 1 p.m. Aug 21, according to the weather service.
The National Weather Service has different models that show long-range forecasts for the day of the solar eclipse, Aug. 21. The models show clouds in different places. It is still too early to know for certain the location of clouds in the sky around 1 p.m. Aug. 21, according to the weather service. (National Weather Service graphic)National Weather Service graphic
