Month: November 2017

Healthy Campus project on Thursday night’s UG agenda

The Unified Government Commission will consider a resolution to purchase the property for the Healthy Campus project at its 7 p.m. meeting Thursday, Nov. 30, at the Commission Chambers, lobby level, City Hall, 701 N. 7th St., Kansas City, Kansas.

The Healthy Campus topic also will be discussed at a 5 p.m. UG Commission meeting Nov. 30 at the fifth floor conference room of City Hall.

According to the UG agenda, the proposed resolution would allow the UG administrator to exercise options to purchase property necessary to build the Healthy Campus project and to enter into contracts for pre-construction architecture and engineering costs of up to $2 million. The project is estimated at $40 million.

Mayor Mark Holland has been working on a Healthy Campus project for several years. It is proposed to include a YMCA building and a grocery store in the downtown Kansas City, Kansas, area. It was most recently proposed for an area near the existing JFK Community Center, now called the Beatrice Lee Community Center, and Big 11 Lake at 10th and State Avenue, and 10th and Minnesota Avenue.

According to a news release from the mayor’s office, about $6 million has been raised by donations in Greater Kansas City toward building a new community center, to be operated by the Greater Kansas City YMCA. The news release stated that a grocery store operator is close to signing a letter of intent to negotiate.

According to the mayor’s news release, the UG is applying for New Markets Tax Credits to help fund the project, and that is why the resolution is being proposed at this time. A decision to award tax credits could be made in December or January, and the level of local investment will be considered in that decision.

“I’m very encouraged by the progress we’ve made,” Mayor Holland said in the news release. “The Healthy Campus will not only address the need for a quality grocery store downtown and state-of-the art community center, but will also help revitalize a part of downtown that currently offers few services to our residents.”

Police seek information about vehicle

Police are asking the public to help identify this vehicle.

Kansas City, Kansas, police, working on a homicide investigation, are asking for the public’s assistance in identifying the owner or occupants of a white Infiniti with a black trunk lid.

Police also released more information about the way that the victim of a carjacking at 7th and Pacific died earlier today.

After interviewing witnesses, a police spokesman said the victim’s vehicle, a red pickup truck, was unoccupied and running in the street. In an attempt to deter the theft, the victim was dragged, resulting in his death, according to police. Originally police thought the victim had been inside the truck at the time of the carjacking.

The red pickup truck was found unoccupied this afternoon in Kansas City, Mo.

Anyone with information about the white Infiniti is asked to call the TIPS hotline at 816-474-TIPS.

Inspectors return to Osawatomie state hospital for federal recertification check

by Madeline Fox, Kansas News Service

Inspectors arrived Tuesday at Osawatomie State Hospital to determine whether the state-run psychiatric facility can regain its federal certification and, with it, its Medicare funding.

Osawatomie State Hospital lost its certification in December 2015 after a patient attacked a staff member, prompting an investigation that revealed staffing shortages and other issues that put patients and staff at risk.

Without certification, the psychiatric hospital isn’t eligible for federal Medicare payments for patients. The state is only seeking to recertify a 60-bed unit that has been renovated to address patient safety concerns that federal inspectors raised in 2015.

Inspectors from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services also assessed the hospital in May but declined to recertify it then, citing new concerns about sanitation, food preparation and infection control.

If the inspection this week determines that administrators have fixed those problems and doesn’t find any new ones, Osawatomie State Hospital could regain its federal certification.

The inspection will take three or four days, according to Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services Secretary Tim Keck.

Osawatomie State Hospital is one of the state’s two hospitals for mental health patients deemed a danger to themselves or others. The other is at Larned.

Madeline Fox is a reporter for the Kansas News Service, a collaboration of KCUR, Kansas Public Radio, KMUW and High Plains Public Radio covering health, education and politics. You can reach her on Twitter @maddycfox. Kansas News Service stories and photos may be republished at no cost with proper attribution and a link back to kcur.org.

See more at http://kcur.org/post/inspectors-return-osawatomie-state-hospital-federal-recertification-check.