April 4, 2019

Jurors to begin deliberations in Forest Park bribery and kickback trial after both sides make final

Jurors to begin deliberations in Forest Park bribery and kickback trial after both sides make final pitches


Jurors in the Forest Park Medical Center bribery trial in Dallas have learned a lot about the hospital business over the past two months.

What they will have to decide as deliberations get under way for their first full day on Thursday is whether the defunct Dallas hospital was merely engaged in commonplace marketing activities or manipulating the system by secretly paying bribes and kickbacks to surgeons to generate big business.

More specifically, they will have to answer a key question: Did Forest Park, as the defense suggests, pay millions of dollars to market the doctors in the hope they would bring their expensive, out-of-network surgeries to the hospital? Or did Forest Park intend for the money to guarantee the surgeries, as prosecutors allege? In other words, did the hospital bribe the doctors for patients?

"They [hospitals] all hope they'll get business when they market doctors," Tom Mesereau, an attorney for Dr. Michael Rimlawi, told jurors during closing arguments. "That's not a crime."

Read more: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/2019/04/03/jurors-begin-deliberations-forest-park-bribery-kickback-trial-after-sides-make-final-pitches

April 4, 2019

About 280 workers arrested in ICE raid at Allen technology business

ALLEN — Nearly 300 people suspected of working in the U.S. illegally were arrested Wednesday at an Allen business, in what federal authorities called the largest enforcement operation of its kind in a decade.

ICE said Homeland Security Investigations had received multiple tips that people who are in the country illegally or using fake ID documents were employed at CVE Technology Group, a company that refurbishes cellphones and other technology.

Authorities served a search warrant at the business and four of its staffing companies at a building on Enterprise Drive near East Bethany Drive and U.S. Highway 75.

The agency did not release a breakdown of the ages or nationalities of the approximately 280 people who were taken into custody.

Read more: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/immigration/2019/04/03/ice-operation-underway-allen-technology-refurbishing-company

April 4, 2019

Nebraska delays Medicaid expansion until October 2020

The expansion of Medicaid health care coverage to an estimated 94,000 Nebraskans that was approved by voters in 2018 will not begin until Oct. 1, 2020, the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services announced Monday.

The two-year delay is necessitated by the need to build and implement a new system to manage the Medicaid benefits that are targeted at a new category of recipients composed largely of Nebraskans who work at low-wage jobs, DHHS officials said Monday in unveiling the plan.

Sen. Adam Morfeld of Lincoln, who led the Medicaid expansion drive, swiftly rejected the long delay as "not acceptable and in violation of the law and completely against the clearly expressed will of the people."

Morfeld said "litigation may be the best option" now.

Read more: https://journalstar.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/nebraska-delays-medicaid-expansion-until-october-morfeld-threatens-lawsuit/article_a5e841aa-ee94-5d1b-9fa2-62f7bc48b9c1.html

April 4, 2019

Omaha tax accountant credited for proposal that could generate $20 million a year

A surprise tax idea. For at least the past two years, Omaha tax accountant Stacy Watson has been urging state lawmakers to start collecting income taxes from out-of-state firms that earn income in Nebraska via charging franchise fees (think McDonald's or Subway), doing consulting work or selling digital products, like music.

On Wednesday, Watson's idea — which might help state lawmakers reduce property taxes — got a formal public hearing at the State Capitol.

Amendment 974 is the idea's formal legislative name, but members of the Revenue Committee have taken to calling it "Stacy Watson's Bill."

The amendment could generate as much as $20 million a year in new state tax revenue, which State Sen. Lou Ann Linehan of Elkhorn said she plans to use as part of the committee's package to reduce property taxes. The senator said it might also help lower some income tax rates, which has been a longtime goal of the state's business community.

Read more: https://www.omaha.com/news/legislature/capitol-digest-omaha-tax-accountant-credited-for-proposal-that-could/article_fd814919-67fc-512f-b0c4-d07d599e15ca.html

April 3, 2019

Former candidate, talk radio host arrested on drug charges

A former candidate who recently launched his own talk radio show has been arrested and charged with multiple drug offenses.

Republican Jim Price of Wichita was arrested last month and charged in Sedgwick County. Prosecutors say that on May 17 he had 129.55 grams of dabs, a highly-concentrated hash oil, with intent to distribute, which is a felony in Kansas. He also faces misdemeanor charges of possession of steroids and marijuana, court records show.

He was initially arrested in May on suspicion of illegally possessing a gun and marijuana, but was not charged in court for that case until last week, court records show. The Wichita Eagle first reported that incident in September, when Price was running for a seat in the Kansas House. At that time, Price denied the arrest and charges had not been filed in the case.

Prosecutors filed charges against Price on March 25. That day, he bonded out of jail. The state is not pursuing gun-related charges, according to court filings.

Read more: https://www.kansas.com/news/local/crime/article228648119.html

April 3, 2019

Kansas lawmakers agree to bundle election bills

Kansas lawmakers reached a deal to bundle a handful of election-related bills Tuesday morning, including one that would require county clerks to attempt to contact voters whose advance ballots lack a valid signature.

Members of Senate and House election committees quickly negotiated a package that also involves school board elections, township oaths and the ability for an election officer to grant access to all polling sites to all county residents on election day.

All of the bills originated in the Senate. The House last week combined the ballot signatures with the polling access and passed the proposals on a 124-0 vote.

The Senate never considered the polling access, but lawmakers appeared confident the deal would be well-received.

Read more: https://www.cjonline.com/news/20190402/kansas-lawmakers-agree-to-bundle-election-bills

April 3, 2019

Kansas Senate contemplates override attempt of vetoed income, sales tax bill

The Kansas Senate balked at an opportunity Tuesday to vote on override of Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of a tax bill beneficial to multinational corporations, people interested in itemizing on state tax returns and critics of the state’s sales tax on food.

Majorities in the House and Senate sent the tax legislation to the Democratic governor despite indications it would be rejected. On March 25, Kelly used her veto authority for the first time to spike Senate Bill 22.

Senate President Susan Wagle, R-Wichita, said the Senate and House were interested in challenging Kelly’s veto. The bill would shrink state tax revenue by $210 million in the upcoming fiscal year and lower state revenue by $505 million over a three-year period.

“We still have time. Things are just now coming together,” she said.

Read more: https://www.cjonline.com/news/20190402/kansas-senate-contemplates-override-attempt-of-vetoed-income-sales-tax-bill

April 3, 2019

'No more stall tactics': Gov. Laura Kelly urges Senate vote on Medicaid expansion

Gov. Laura Kelly called out the Senate’s GOP leadership Tuesday for standing in the way of Medicaid expansion, urging action on behalf of uninsured Kansans and struggling rural hospitals.

Senate President Susan Wagle answered her call with a fierce rebuke of the Obamacare system and a personal story of her daughter’s medical care.

Kelly, a Democrat who made expansion a priority for her administration, admonished Republican adversaries for refusing to allow a vote on expansion. A bipartisan coalition deployed procedural high jinks to pass legislation in the House two weeks ago, putting the ball in Wagle’s court.

Kansans want Medicaid expansion, Kelly said, and they want it now.

Read more: https://www.cjonline.com/news/20190402/no-more-stall-tactics-gov-laura-kelly-urges-senate-vote-on-medicaid-expansion

April 3, 2019

Local Spat And Party Politics Threaten Kansas Governor's Pick To Head Commerce

Grievances generated by policy and personality clashes in a southeast Kansas community have spilled onto the statewide stage in the battle over Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s nominee to head the state Department of Commerce.

David Toland often found himself at odds with Virginia Crossland-Macha when he was the CEO of Thrive Allen County, a community health-improvement and economic development organization based in Iola.

Crossland-Macha is the daughter of the late Ivan Crossland, founder of Crossland Construction, one of the nation’s largest general contractors. She is also the newly elected vice-chair of the Kansas Republican Party and she’s been working behind the scenes to scuttle Toland’s nomination.

The intensity of the battle has rattled many in the town of approximately 6,000, said John McCrae, a former mayor and current president of Iola Industries, a business development group.

Read more: https://www.kcur.org/post/local-spat-and-party-politics-threaten-kansas-governors-pick-head-commerce#stream/0

April 3, 2019

Time's Nearly Up For Kansas Lawmakers To Resolve School Spending

The clock is ticking for Kansas lawmakers to figure out a school funding solution. Briefs making the case for a plan are due to the state Supreme Court April 15.

With only one week of the regular legislative session to go, there’s still significant division over how to satisfy the court that funding is adequate and end the nearly decade-old Gannon lawsuit.

The Senate is backing Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s plan to add $360 million for schools over four years. Republican leaders in the House think the solution is in targeting more money at struggling students, but they don’t want to promise funding hikes far into the future.

The House has not in fact debated a school funding bill. Instead, the chamber approved — by only the narrowest of margins — legislation making a host of changes to school finance policy. House and Senate negotiators will discuss that policy bill next week.

Read more: https://www.kcur.org/post/times-nearly-kansas-lawmakers-resolve-school-spending#stream/0