News

The Kansas Insurance Department says a Blue Cross plan should set the standard for essential health benefits for all individual and small group health plans sold on the coming exchange in Kansas.

Each week, Fletcher Powell finds the independent and non-commercial films showing in Wichita and the surrounding areas and brings them to you in this handy guide.

This time, we get ready for the Tallgrass Film Festival and look at another upcoming festival, a few documentaries, and a silent classic.

Andrew Bales continues with part two of his four-part discussion of iconic stock sound effects.

Set in France beginning in 1918, Léon and Louise is the love story of two teenagers who meet as World War I is drawing to a close. Separated during a German artillery attack, each is severely wounded and believes the other to be dead.

10 years later, both are living and working in Paris. They catch a glimpse of each other on passing metro trains. Léon is married now with small children, but his wife encourages a search for Louise, knowing that their marriage can’t move forward while Léon’s heart remains in the past.

The Kansas Board of Regents has finalized a plan outlining how much money it will request from lawmakers for the coming fiscal year.

The spending plan includes $47 million in additional funding for the state’s universities.The board says it tried to keep its request as modest as possible.

The funding request includes a 1 percent pay raise for all university employees and additional money targeted at specific programs and goals.

Friday is your last chance to post comments online for federal health officials to consider in their decision on privatization of the Kansas Medicaid program.

Sedgwick County legislative candidates Thursday took questions about early childhood policy and priorities at a forum hosted by the Sedgwick County Early Childhood Coordinating Council.

Sixteen candidates attended the forum on the Heartspring campus in east Wichita. They answered questions on preschool standards, child abuse prevention, childcare costs, early intervention, funding and health care.

I will admit, very readily, that when I heard about the “gluten free” diet a few years ago, I thought it was a trend or just another weird excuse for an eating disorder. Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley, rye and their cousins. Gluten intolerance makes drinking regular beer or eating soy sauce impossible. For the gluten intolerant, eating regular bread or pizza or pasta is simply not in the plan. The horror.

The Kansas Board of Regents will vote Thursday on a budget request that includes about $45 million in additional funding for improvements and raises for employees.

The increases are targeted at a variety of areas. Nearly $3 million would go to improve the University of Kansas Medical Center and $5 million to strengthen the College of Architecture at Kansas State University.

The proposal also includes more than $7 million for employee pay raises. That would be a 1 percent raise for all employees of the state universities.

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback announced the formation of the Kansas Ecotourism Steering Committee Wednesday at Wichita’s Great Plains Nature Center.

Gov. Brownback says the 16-member steering committee will help guide ecotourism efforts as well as recommend objectives and marketing strategies to grow the industry in the state.

Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism Secretary Robin Jennison will spearhead the group.