Archives for February 2012

AT Still University President Dr. Jack Magruder says bring your own shovel and take part in the groundbreaking for the new Missouri School of Dentistry and Oral Health on March 15, two weeks from today. It will be at the Connell Center in the east Parking lot at 11 a.m. Before that, dig into some refreshments at 10:30 a.m. Everybody’s welcome, but the parking’s limited.

They’re cleaning up south of us.

And planning to bury two killed in tornadoes that hit in the southeast and southwest parts of Missouri. Officials said everyone’s been accounted for in the hardest hit areas, and Red Cross shelters were opened Branson, Buffalo, Kimberling City and Lebanon. The deaths, officials said were in Dallas County near Buffalo and in Barry County, in Cassville. First responders said there was considerable damage in the tourist city of Branson. Governor Jay Nixon declared a state of emergency after touring storm stricken areas of Branson, Buffalo, Cassville, Lebanon and Oak Ridge.

Almost 400 people have filed for office on this first day for candidate filing but no one is sure if many will have to do it again once the court rules on the legality of legislative and congressional districts. Secretary of State spokesman Ryan Hobart says people were lined up when the doors opened at 8 a.m.and steadily flowed through the elections office well into the afternoon. At the end of the day, 394 candidates had signed up, 77 more than last year on the first day. He says 242 Republicans, 149 Democrats, two Libertarians, and one Constitution Party member filed today.

Do you know anything about any of the burglaries at some local churches?

If you do, you need to call Kirksville Police. They’re investigating burglaries that happened between February 25 and 27 at Mary Immaculate Church and School and Faith Lutheran Church and School. The first report came in from Faith Lutheran. It said the suspect or suspects got into the building through an unlocked door. Money from donations, elections and paperwork were all taken, but there was no damage. At Mary Immaculate, police said the suspect or suspects got in through a window that was unlocked, and took money. The incidents are prompting police to remind you to lock your doors and windows.

Two fires in downtown Kirksville are being investigated as being suspicious.

The fires broke out within 30 minutes of each other, within a block of each other. The first one broke our around 7:30 p.m., near the Wooden Nickel. It started in a dumpster. The second was just outside city hall around 8 p.m and started in a trash can. Kirksville Police say they’re checking surveillance video for clues into the suspicious fires.

Attorney General Chris Koster announced today that the Missouri Medicaid program will receive more than $289,000 to settle allegations that KV Pharmaceutical misrepresented that two drugs were approved for coverage under federal and state health care programs, including Medicaid.

Under the agreement, KV Pharmaceutical Company, which is the St. Louis-based parent company of now-defunct Ethex Corporation, will pay a total of $17 million to the federal governments and participating states to compensate Medicaid and various federal healthcare programs for Ethex’s conduct.

The settlement resolves allegations that Ethex misrepresented the regulatory status of Nitroglycerin Extended Release Capsules (Nitroglycerin ER) and Hyoscyamine Sulfate Extended Release Capsules (Hyoscyamine ER) and failed to advise the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) that these unapproved drugs did not qualify for coverage under federal health care programs. As a result, the government contends, Ethex knowingly caused false claims to be submitted and paid for Nitroglycerin ER and Hyoscyamine Sulfate ER. There has been no allegation of any risk or harm to any patients taking these drugs. Neither drug is currently on the market.

“Pharmaceutical companies must be held accountable for their actions,” Koster said. “This Attorney General’s Office will continue to place a priority on fighting Medicaid fraud returning these scarce health care dollars to the state,” Koster said.

Koster said citizens should report suspected Medicaid provider fraud or abuse and neglect to his Medicaid Fraud Hotline toll free at 800-286-3932, e-mail the complaint to attorney.general@ago.mo.gov or complete a complaint form at the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Website at ago.mo.gov/divisions/medicaid-fraud-control-unit-faqs.htm.

Missouri and federal governments differ about how much of Missouri has access to high speed internet service.

The Federal Communications Commission says Missouri has the 6th highest population without access to broadband-high speed internet. Nationally, says the FCC, 7.7- 8.4% of the population is unserved. Missouri is at 11-13.5%, with as much as 40% of the rural population unserved. That means service is not available or internet service is available only in slower formats.

But Public Service Commission Chairman Kevin Gunn maintains only 1-3% of Missouri lacks high speed acess. The difference, he says the FCC does not recognize some ways people access the high speed net.

The FCC says 23 Missouri counties are underserved. The PSC lists only nine. Gunn says the biggest barrier to broadband service is the costs of providing service to lightly-populated rural areas. And he says a National Telecommunications Information Administration survey indicates a good number of people are not interested in broadband or don’t even have computers.

Gunn says he’s one of those who believes rural broadband can do for rural areas with rural electrification did for those areas 75 years ago.

Two people from Kirksville are in jail, charged with making methamphetamine.

Court documents indicate that police had 30 year old Dara Smith and 43 year old Matthew VanHoose were charged after police got a warrant and searched their home in the Woodland Village Trailer Court on Saturday. Police say Smith faces felonies of manufacturing meth, possession of meth, possession of hydrocodone, and possession of paraphernalia with intent to make meth. VanHoose faces felonies of manufacturing meth, possession of meth, and possession of drug paraphernalia with intent to manufacture meth. Smith is in jail on a 75 thousand dollar bond, VanHoose on a 35 thousand dollar bond.

He’s accused of breaking four windshields late last week and now faces four felonies.

And Kirksville Police said, 41 year old Michael Combs is in jail on a 25 thousand dollar bond. They said he did more than a thousand dollars in damage when he threw something at the four vehicles parked at Cornerstone Cars in the 22 hundred block of East Illinois. Police said they all had cracked windshields, and surveillance video caught Combs jumping on the vehicles.

A crash in Monroe county Saturday sent two people to the hospital with severe injuries. Missouri State Highway Patrol troopers report 17-year old Tristan Davis and 17-year old Katy Hays were airlifted to Columbia following the crash, which happened early Saturday morning on Highway 24 three miles east of Paris. Troopers don’t indicate why, but Davis was reported to have been running from officers when he crashed a 1999 Dodge Durango into the rear end of a 2006 Chevy Malibu driven by Hays. She was airlifted from the scene; he was airlifted later, from the Moberly hospital.