Health

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment has stopped providing free HIV/AIDS testing for most Kansas counties.

A Wichita clinic formerly operated by slain abortion provider Dr. George Tiller is expected to reopen soon.

Dr. George Tiller’s former building was recently purchased by an organization called Trust Women Foundation. It’s headed by Julie Burkhart, who used to run Tiller’s political action committee.

Abortion services have been unavailable in Wichita since Tiller was gunned down in 2009. Burkhart says each year, women in the Wichita area have to travel to Kansas City or to Oklahoma to get an abortion.

The number of mentally ill prisoners in Kansas has increased by 126 percent since 2006. Nearly two out of every five adult inmates in Kansas are classified as mentally ill.

Republican Senator Steve Fitzgerald blames the spike on the state's failure to develop an effective, community-based system of treatment. His district includes Lansing Correctional Facility.

Fitzgerald says Kansas Department of Corrections Secretary Ray Roberts is by default the provider of last resort for a growing group of people with mental illness.

Kansas has lots of work to do to improve its "grades" on tobacco control, according to a new report card from the American Lung Association.

Kansas gets an “A” for its Clean Indoor Air Act. However, the state gets a “D” for the relatively low rate of taxes on tobacco, and an “F” for efforts to prevent tobacco use, and to help those already using it to quit.

“It’s not a whole lot different than last year, but it’s woefully accurate,”says Linda DeCoursey, head of the non-profit Tobacco-Free Kansas Coalition.