By TIM CARPENTER <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2020/07/21/kansas-enforces-nations-most-draconian-penalty-for-unemployment-fraud/">Kansas Reflector</a>

TOPEKA
 — Spirit AeroSystems production worker Michelle Tran was a victim of 
mass layoffs in March as aircraft manufacturing shuddered under a 
coronavirus-induced meltdown.

This
 single parent of three children ranging in ages from 10 to 22, 
including a son with autism, was cast into the social safety net along 
with more than 200,000 other Kansans deemed nonessential features of the
 workforce. She sought jobless benefits along with her peers, but her 
application was red-flagged by the Kansas Department of Labor. The 
agency concluded she accepted a week of excessive state assistance three
 years ago when she was last out of work.

Tran
 said she hadn’t received prior notice of that allegation but pulled 
money from savings to pay nearly $1,000 in principal and interest. Once 
the labor department had the money, she said, she was banned from the 
Kansas program for five years to comply with the nation’s toughest state
 law penalizing people accused of defrauding the unemployment system. It
 left her broke and sleeping on a friend’s couch.

“I
 lost my apartment. I lost my car. No job,” Tran said. “What they’ve 
done is wrong. How the hell, at a time like this, can you take what 
little we have?”

The
 state’s labor department says Tran is among 7,000 people carrying the 
burden of a five-year fraud ban, and at least 400 of those individuals 
have filed claims for unemployment assistance amid the pandemic.

Based
 on a 50-state analysis of unemployment law, the sanction in Kansas is 
out of step with most states in terms of the duration of penalties for 
providing false information or failing to disclose part-time income or 
returning to full-time work while still cashing unemployment checks. 
More than 40 states punish misconduct with prohibitions of one year or 
less, although the type of exceptions vary widely depending on repayment
 of the money or status as a repeat offender.

Kansas
 House Majority Leader Dan Hawkins, a Republican from Wichita, said he 
would be loathe to diminish the penalty for anyone perpetrating criminal
 fraud against the state. He said he would be interested in studying 
options for creating wiggle room in the statute to deal with nuanced 
cases in which a person had no intent to defraud the unemployment trust 
fund.

“There are cases like that,” Hawkins said.&nbsp;

Colorado
 imposes a four-week ban for every week a person accepted ill-gotten 
aid, placing that state in a category of 20 other states with penalties 
of less than one year. Across the United States, the sanction amounts to
 one week in South Dakota and Arizona and two weeks in Connecticut and 
Massachusetts. There’s a seven-week ban in Illinois that includes a 
two-week moratorium for each subsequent instance of misconduct. 
Arkansas’ system blocks cheaters for 13 weeks, plus three weeks for 
every week of bogus benefits claimed.

Oklahoma, Iowa and Montana disqualify false applicants for 52 weeks, which reflects the law in two-dozen states.

Hawaii
 applies a two-year moratorium on people who try to take advantage of 
jobless benefits. No state exacts a first offense penalty of three or 
four years. Kansas stands alone in terms of the price paid by folks 
categorized as welfare cheaters.

The
 2013 Kansas Legislature expanded the penalty for unemployment fraud 
from one year to five years. The measure, House Bill 2105, was signed by
 Republican Gov. Sam Brownback during a period in which the Kansas 
Chamber, other business lobbying organizations and major employers 
worked with legislative and executive branches of state government eager
 to tighten welfare assistance.

The
 bill sent to Brownback was opposed primarily by Democrats dramatically 
outnumbered by Republicans in the House and Senate. The statute cleared 
the House 89-31 and the Senate 27-12. The package saved the state $50 
million annually in payments to the unemployed by unilaterally removing 
the equivalent of 18% of people eligible for unemployment insurance 
benefits at that time.The maximum jobless benefit period was slashed 
from 26 weeks to 16 weeks — a law temporarily reverted to the 26-week 
model this spring by state lawmakers to take advantage of supplemental 
federal funding for the unemployed.

The
 2013 legislation also raised taxes on businesses by $90 million to 
strengthen the unemployment trust fund that was saved from insolvency 
during the recession by borrowing hundreds of millions of dollars from 
the federal government.

“We
 want to make sure that fund is healthy. Unfortunately, everybody has to
 pay,” Sen. Julia Lynn, a Republican from Olathe and chairwoman of the 
Senate Commerce Committee, <a href="https://www.cjonline.com/article/20130405/NEWS/304059784">said at the time</a>.

Ramifications
 of the bill’s major structural reforms were the focus of news coverage,
 which infrequently noted the new five-year penalty for falsely taking 
unemployment benefits.

The
 Brownback administration was lauded by the right and denounced by the 
left for riding this wave of welfare reform bills. Brownback, who now 
works in the administration of President Donald Trump as an 
international ambassador of religious freedom, was keen to advance his 
view that President Lyndon Johnson’s “Great Society” programs were a 
failure. He blamed welfare programs for exacerbating the breakdown of 
family structure and for perpetuating generational poverty.

The
 GOP governor relied on executive orders and legislative action from 
2011 to 2018 to shape public policy to his belief that Kansans could 
lift themselves out of poverty. In addition to the unemployment benefits
 overhaul, he was responsible for blocking Medicaid expansion, raising 
the state’s sales tax on food and cutting Temporary Assistance for Needy
 Families from the federal five-year maximum to 24 months.

Ahead
 of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Kansas Department of Labor, on behalf of 
Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly, introduced a House bill that would have 
modified the 2013 law. The idea of the agency’s bill was for the state 
to roll back the punishment of people found to have made false 
statements to obtain or increase unemployment benefits — if those 
individuals repaid the state for excess benefits plus penalty and 
interest.

Kelly said intentional criminal acts must be punished, but people shouldn’t pay such a heavy price for mistakes.

“There
 is fraud that goes on. In fact, we’re seeing an uptick in identity 
theft right now within our unemployment system, where people are 
applying for benefits under someone else’s name,” Kelly said. “For 
people who, you know, it’s just a sinister move on their part, not only 
should they be denied benefits for five years, they probably ought to be
 paying other consequences. When you talk about people for whom it was 
an honest mistake. … I think we really need to be dealing with that on a
 case-by-case basis and not do blanket punishment.”

The
 bill introduced by the Kelly administration in February was shelved by 
the GOP-led House commerce committee, and it was killed off in May.

During
 the final hours of the 2020 special session in June, which was called 
by the governor to deal with COVID-19 oversight issues, House Democrats 
took a different tact. Rep. Jarrod Ousley, D-Merriam, proposed an 
amendment that would have removed the lockout if improper benefits were 
repaid. His amendment also sought to waive all repayment penalties 
throughout the pandemic.

“In
 this time of crisis,” Ousley said, “households are getting broken and 
we’ve got an anticipated second wave coming. Folks are still getting 
locked out for five years.”

The
 GOP majority in the House rejected his proposal on a voice vote, action
 taken after the amendment was denounced by the House commerce committee
 chairman.

Rep.
 Sean Tarwater, the Stilwell Republican who chairs the House Commerce, 
Labor and Economic Development Committee, said Ousley’s amendment was a 
misguided attempt to reward Kansans who “mysteriously accepted money for
 several weeks after they got their jobs and just forgot to let the 
state know.”

“On
 the surface this amendment seems OK,” Tarwater said. “This is a bad 
precedent to reduce it or waive it just because of a disease. These 
people still committed a crime, and they know what the penalty was, and 
it’s now time to pay the price.”

Rep.
 Stephanie Yeager, D-Wichita, said Tarwater lacked a necessary 
understanding of how easy it was for a person to assume unemployment 
checks sent to them by the labor department had been accurately 
calculated.

For
 proof, she said, look no further than her husband, James, who works in 
the notoriously cyclical Wichita aviation manufacturing. He was laid off
 during 2014 and took unemployment benefits for several months before 
returning to work. He followed KDOL advice on handling the transition 
back to a job, Yeager said.&nbsp;

“He
 wasn’t aware there was an issue until he got a letter in the mail about
 attending a hearing,” she said. “They slapped a label on him: Fraud. Do
 you know what his sin was? He got paid an extra week. We paid it back 
and he was still banned for five years. It’s insulting for somebody like
 my husband.”

Sen.
 David Haley, a Democrat from Kansas City, Kansas, said Kansas statute 
failed to differentiate between cases of blatant criminal fraud and 
instances in which lack of communication by the state or beneficiaries 
led to an overpayment subsequently corrected. The state should abandon 
the five-year experiment and return to a penalty more in line with 
comparable states, he said.

“It
 should never have been implemented,” Haley said. “It takes us, Kansas, 
to the very bottom of the swamp to protect special interests against 
people who disproportionately need help.”

Kansas
 House Speaker Ron Ryckman, R-Olathe, said he wouldn’t welcome mercy to a
 hardened criminal but would be open to considering a less-severe 
sanction for mistakes attributed to out-of-work Kansans.

“We
 do not want somebody banned for unintended error,” Ryckman said. “If 
you falsify documents and get caught, I still think you should be 
subject to the ban.”

Tim Carpenter has reported on Kansas for 35 years. He covered the Capitol for 16 years at the Topeka Capital-Journal and previously worked for the Lawrence Journal-World and United Press International.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/7/1595433381161.png" alt="Spirit AeroSystems employee Michelle Tran discovered after furloughed during the COVID-19 pandemic that she had inadvertently accepted years ago unemployment benefits she wasn't entitled to receive. She paid back the money with interest, but is banned from getting jobless assistance for five years under Kansas law. (Submitted by Michelle Tran to Kansas Reflector)" />
 <figcaption>Spirit AeroSystems employee Michelle Tran discovered after furloughed during the COVID-19 pandemic that she had inadvertently accepted years ago unemployment benefits she wasn't entitled to receive. She paid back the money with interest, but is banned from getting jobless assistance for five years under Kansas law. (Submitted by Michelle Tran to Kansas Reflector)</figcaption>
 </figure>By TIM CARPENTER <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2020/07/21/kansas-enforces-nations-most-draconian-penalty-for-unemployment-fraud/">Kansas Reflector</a>TOPEKA
 — Spirit AeroSystems production worker Michelle Tran was a victim of 
mass layoffs in March as aircraft manufacturing shuddered under a 
coronavirus-induced meltdown.This
 single parent of three children ranging in ages from 10 to 22, 
including a son with autism, was cast into the social safety net along 
with more than 200,000 other Kansans deemed nonessential features of the
 workforce. She sought jobless benefits along with her peers, but her 
application was red-flagged by the Kansas Department of Labor. The 
agency concluded she accepted a week of excessive state assistance three
 years ago when she was last out of work.Tran
 said she hadn’t received prior notice of that allegation but pulled 
money from savings to pay nearly $1,000 in principal and interest. Once 
the labor department had the money, she said, she was banned from the 
Kansas program for five years to comply with the nation’s toughest state
 law penalizing people accused of defrauding the unemployment system. It
 left her broke and sleeping on a friend’s couch.“I
 lost my apartment. I lost my car. No job,” Tran said. “What they’ve 
done is wrong. How the hell, at a time like this, can you take what 
little we have?”The
 state’s labor department says Tran is among 7,000 people carrying the 
burden of a five-year fraud ban, and at least 400 of those individuals 
have filed claims for unemployment assistance amid the pandemic.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/7/1595433438335.jpeg" alt="From left, House Speaker Ron Ryckman and House Majority Leader Dan Hawkins say they are willing to consider a less severe sanction for unintended errors. (Nick Krug for Kansas Reflector)" />
 <figcaption>From left, House Speaker Ron Ryckman and House Majority Leader Dan Hawkins say they are willing to consider a less severe sanction for unintended errors. (Nick Krug for Kansas Reflector)</figcaption>
 </figure>Nation’s toughestBased
 on a 50-state analysis of unemployment law, the sanction in Kansas is 
out of step with most states in terms of the duration of penalties for 
providing false information or failing to disclose part-time income or 
returning to full-time work while still cashing unemployment checks. 
More than 40 states punish misconduct with prohibitions of one year or 
less, although the type of exceptions vary widely depending on repayment
 of the money or status as a repeat offender.Kansas
 House Majority Leader Dan Hawkins, a Republican from Wichita, said he 
would be loathe to diminish the penalty for anyone perpetrating criminal
 fraud against the state. He said he would be interested in studying 
options for creating wiggle room in the statute to deal with nuanced 
cases in which a person had no intent to defraud the unemployment trust 
fund.“There are cases like that,” Hawkins said.&nbsp;Colorado
 imposes a four-week ban for every week a person accepted ill-gotten 
aid, placing that state in a category of 20 other states with penalties 
of less than one year. Across the United States, the sanction amounts to
 one week in South Dakota and Arizona and two weeks in Connecticut and 
Massachusetts. There’s a seven-week ban in Illinois that includes a 
two-week moratorium for each subsequent instance of misconduct. 
Arkansas’ system blocks cheaters for 13 weeks, plus three weeks for 
every week of bogus benefits claimed.Oklahoma, Iowa and Montana disqualify false applicants for 52 weeks, which reflects the law in two-dozen states.Hawaii
 applies a two-year moratorium on people who try to take advantage of 
jobless benefits. No state exacts a first offense penalty of three or 
four years. Kansas stands alone in terms of the price paid by folks 
categorized as welfare cheaters.5-year hammerThe
 2013 Kansas Legislature expanded the penalty for unemployment fraud 
from one year to five years. The measure, House Bill 2105, was signed by
 Republican Gov. Sam Brownback during a period in which the Kansas 
Chamber, other business lobbying organizations and major employers 
worked with legislative and executive branches of state government eager
 to tighten welfare assistance.The
 bill sent to Brownback was opposed primarily by Democrats dramatically 
outnumbered by Republicans in the House and Senate. The statute cleared 
the House 89-31 and the Senate 27-12. The package saved the state $50 
million annually in payments to the unemployed by unilaterally removing 
the equivalent of 18% of people eligible for unemployment insurance 
benefits at that time.The maximum jobless benefit period was slashed 
from 26 weeks to 16 weeks — a law temporarily reverted to the 26-week 
model this spring by state lawmakers to take advantage of supplemental 
federal funding for the unemployed.The
 2013 legislation also raised taxes on businesses by $90 million to 
strengthen the unemployment trust fund that was saved from insolvency 
during the recession by borrowing hundreds of millions of dollars from 
the federal government.“We
 want to make sure that fund is healthy. Unfortunately, everybody has to
 pay,” Sen. Julia Lynn, a Republican from Olathe and chairwoman of the 
Senate Commerce Committee, <a href="https://www.cjonline.com/article/20130405/NEWS/304059784">said at the time</a>.Ramifications
 of the bill’s major structural reforms were the focus of news coverage,
 which infrequently noted the new five-year penalty for falsely taking 
unemployment benefits.The
 Brownback administration was lauded by the right and denounced by the 
left for riding this wave of welfare reform bills. Brownback, who now 
works in the administration of President Donald Trump as an 
international ambassador of religious freedom, was keen to advance his 
view that President Lyndon Johnson’s “Great Society” programs were a 
failure. He blamed welfare programs for exacerbating the breakdown of 
family structure and for perpetuating generational poverty.The
 GOP governor relied on executive orders and legislative action from 
2011 to 2018 to shape public policy to his belief that Kansans could 
lift themselves out of poverty. In addition to the unemployment benefits
 overhaul, he was responsible for blocking Medicaid expansion, raising 
the state’s sales tax on food and cutting Temporary Assistance for Needy
 Families from the federal five-year maximum to 24 months.‘Bad precedent’Ahead
 of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Kansas Department of Labor, on behalf of 
Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly, introduced a House bill that would have 
modified the 2013 law. The idea of the agency’s bill was for the state 
to roll back the punishment of people found to have made false 
statements to obtain or increase unemployment benefits — if those 
individuals repaid the state for excess benefits plus penalty and 
interest.Kelly said intentional criminal acts must be punished, but people shouldn’t pay such a heavy price for mistakes.“There
 is fraud that goes on. In fact, we’re seeing an uptick in identity 
theft right now within our unemployment system, where people are 
applying for benefits under someone else’s name,” Kelly said. “For 
people who, you know, it’s just a sinister move on their part, not only 
should they be denied benefits for five years, they probably ought to be
 paying other consequences. When you talk about people for whom it was 
an honest mistake. … I think we really need to be dealing with that on a
 case-by-case basis and not do blanket punishment.”The
 bill introduced by the Kelly administration in February was shelved by 
the GOP-led House commerce committee, and it was killed off in May.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/7/1595433480053.jpeg" alt="The 2020 Kansas Legislature rebuffed an attempt in the House to revise a state law blocking anyone from receiving unemployment benefits for five years if accused of intentional or inadvertent fraud of the system. (Nick Krug for Kansas Reflector)" />
 <figcaption>The 2020 Kansas Legislature rebuffed an attempt in the House to revise a state law blocking anyone from receiving unemployment benefits for five years if accused of intentional or inadvertent fraud of the system. (Nick Krug for Kansas Reflector)</figcaption>
 </figure>During
 the final hours of the 2020 special session in June, which was called 
by the governor to deal with COVID-19 oversight issues, House Democrats 
took a different tact. Rep. Jarrod Ousley, D-Merriam, proposed an 
amendment that would have removed the lockout if improper benefits were 
repaid. His amendment also sought to waive all repayment penalties 
throughout the pandemic.“In
 this time of crisis,” Ousley said, “households are getting broken and 
we’ve got an anticipated second wave coming. Folks are still getting 
locked out for five years.”The
 GOP majority in the House rejected his proposal on a voice vote, action
 taken after the amendment was denounced by the House commerce committee
 chairman.Rep.
 Sean Tarwater, the Stilwell Republican who chairs the House Commerce, 
Labor and Economic Development Committee, said Ousley’s amendment was a 
misguided attempt to reward Kansans who “mysteriously accepted money for
 several weeks after they got their jobs and just forgot to let the 
state know.”“On
 the surface this amendment seems OK,” Tarwater said. “This is a bad 
precedent to reduce it or waive it just because of a disease. These 
people still committed a crime, and they know what the penalty was, and 
it’s now time to pay the price.”The fraud labelRep.
 Stephanie Yeager, D-Wichita, said Tarwater lacked a necessary 
understanding of how easy it was for a person to assume unemployment 
checks sent to them by the labor department had been accurately 
calculated.For
 proof, she said, look no further than her husband, James, who works in 
the notoriously cyclical Wichita aviation manufacturing. He was laid off
 during 2014 and took unemployment benefits for several months before 
returning to work. He followed KDOL advice on handling the transition 
back to a job, Yeager said.&nbsp;“He
 wasn’t aware there was an issue until he got a letter in the mail about
 attending a hearing,” she said. “They slapped a label on him: Fraud. Do
 you know what his sin was? He got paid an extra week. We paid it back 
and he was still banned for five years. It’s insulting for somebody like
 my husband.”Sen.
 David Haley, a Democrat from Kansas City, Kansas, said Kansas statute 
failed to differentiate between cases of blatant criminal fraud and 
instances in which lack of communication by the state or beneficiaries 
led to an overpayment subsequently corrected. The state should abandon 
the five-year experiment and return to a penalty more in line with 
comparable states, he said.“It
 should never have been implemented,” Haley said. “It takes us, Kansas, 
to the very bottom of the swamp to protect special interests against 
people who disproportionately need help.”Kansas
 House Speaker Ron Ryckman, R-Olathe, said he wouldn’t welcome mercy to a
 hardened criminal but would be open to considering a less-severe 
sanction for mistakes attributed to out-of-work Kansans.“We
 do not want somebody banned for unintended error,” Ryckman said. “If 
you falsify documents and get caught, I still think you should be 
subject to the ban.”Tim Carpenter has reported on Kansas for 35 years. He covered the Capitol for 16 years at the Topeka Capital-Journal and previously worked for the Lawrence Journal-World and United Press International.

Kan. enforces nation’s most draconian penalty for unemployment ‘fraud’

SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a shooting that injured a man near his home.

Just after 11:30p.m. Monday, police responded to report of a shooting at a home in the 1600 Block of North Erie in Wichita, according to officer Charley Davidson.

At the scene, police located a 32-year-old man with a gunshot wound to his arm.&nbsp; EMS transported him to a local hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries. He remained hospitalized late Tuesday, according to Davidson.

Investigators learned the victim was inside the residence along with a 60-year-old woman when an unknown suspect in a silver or grey sedan fired shots at the home injuring the man. The woman was not injured. The vehicle was last seen traveling southbound on Erie.

Police do not believe this is a random incident and are asking the public for help with information in the case.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/7/1595361520035.png" alt="Police investigating the shooting early Tuesday -photo courtesy KWCH" />
 <figcaption>Police investigating the shooting early Tuesday -photo courtesy KWCH</figcaption>
 </figure>SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a shooting that injured a man near his home.Just after 11:30p.m. Monday, police responded to report of a shooting at a home in the 1600 Block of North Erie in Wichita, according to officer Charley Davidson.At the scene, police located a 32-year-old man with a gunshot wound to his arm.&nbsp; EMS transported him to a local hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries. He remained hospitalized late Tuesday, according to Davidson.Investigators learned the victim was inside the residence along with a 60-year-old woman when an unknown suspect in a silver or grey sedan fired shots at the home injuring the man. The woman was not injured. The vehicle was last seen traveling southbound on Erie.Police do not believe this is a random incident and are asking the public for help with information in the case.

Police: Kan. man wounded in drive-by shooting outside home

By CELIA LLOPIS-JEPSEN <a href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2020-07-21/what-it-took-for-this-coronavirus-patients-80-000-air-ambulance-charge-to-go-away">Kansas News Service</a>

OSWEGO, Kansas — A vicious bout of coronavirus hospitalized Anil Gharmalkar in April.

The
 41-year-old got severely ill, quickly. His besieged lungs fought for 
enough oxygen to survive. His local hospital in rural southeast Kansas 
put him on a ventilator and rushed him by helicopter to the University 
of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, where he eventually pulled 
through. (You can hear him talk about his battle with the illness <a href="https://www.kcur.org/season-3/2020-07-20/s3-episode-3-anil-gharmalkar-jalon-evans-gharmalkar-and-tamarah-chancellor" target="_blank">here</a>.)

The
 helicopter company charged $80,000, and at first, Gharmalkar’s 
insurance wouldn’t pay. The difficulties he ran into resolving the 
matter hold lessons for anyone with COVID-19 medical bills.

A 
patchwork of laws and company policies mean you may well be shielded 
from any bills — but you might have to dig to figure out whether that 
applies to you and then push to assert your rights.

This 
story is part of our series, Bills of Health. Do you have a medical bill
 from Kansas that you want to share with a reporter? Email 
celia@kcur.org.

Gharmalkar and his wife, Jalon Evans-Gharmalkar, fretted for 
weeks about whether and how much they’d have to pay Air Methods for that
 chopper flight on their own if Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas didn’t 
pay up. He sought referrals for a lawyer and contacted a reporter.

“We didn't know — for lack of a better term — how ‘generous’ (Air Methods) were going to be if they thought we had assets.”

The
 family runs a small business with several semi-trucks, like the one 
that Gharmalkar was driving to deliver refrigerated meat across the 
Midwest and South when he came down with COVID-19.

The fear that 
they might need to shell out tens of thousands of dollars came when he 
was still struggling with after effects of the illness that lingered for
 months and landed him in the hospital three more times.

But that 
extra source of stress would have dissolved had either Air Methods or 
Blue Cross explained that the Gharmalkars couldn’t possibly be on the 
hook for the money.

That’s not the message they got as they made 
repeated calls trying to fix the situation. When they asked Air Methods 
what to expect, they didn’t get a clear answer. When they pleaded with 
Blue Cross, the insurer rejected their claim a second time.

“No one could say what’s going to happen and what you’re actually going to owe,” he said.

Ultimately, the Gharmalkars did not have to pay a dime toward the $80,000 charge.

A Blue Cross spokeswoman said the insurance company should have picked up the bill from the start.

“Once
 we looked into it further, did some more investigation, we did 
determine it was an emergency,” she said. “We also determined that it 
was COVID related.”

Here is how the Gharmalkar’s claim got 
resolved — after queries from the Kansas News Service — and some 
takeaway tips for anyone dealing with COVID-19 bills. And if you don’t 
find what you need here, also try our <a href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2020-05-26/expert-tip-sheet-for-pushing-back-against-your-medical-bills" target="_blank">Expert Tip Sheet For Pushing Back Against Your Medical Bills</a>.

A quick refresher on surprise bills

Air Methods is not 
in the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas network. That’s where things 
often get tricky for patients — for COVID-19 or anything else.

When
 you get health care from outside your insurance network, prices can be 
several times higher than normal. The doctor or hospital or ambulance 
company bills your insurer. The insurance company may find the price 
unreasonable and just pay part of it. Then you get billed for the rest.

That is commonly called a “<a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/usc-brookings-schaeffer-on-health-policy/2019/08/01/what-is-surprise-billing/" target="_blank">surprise bill</a>,”
 and it’s separate from any charges for copay, coinsurance or 
deductibles. It’s usually legal, except in some parts of the country 
(not Kansas) that have started curbing the practice with state laws.

The
 Gharmalkars were grateful for the helicopter that whisked Anil to a 
major hospital in just under an hour. It may have saved his life. And 
they wanted Air Methods to get paid a fair price. But they also feared 
they’d soon face a hefty surprise bill if Blue Cross paid little or 
nothing.

Federal law may protect you against bills for COVID-19 treatment

Because of the pandemic, Congress gave the health care industry <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/coronavirus/cares-act-provider-relief-fund/index.html" target="_blank">emergency relief funds</a>. But it came with <a href="https://ccf.georgetown.edu/2020/05/01/the-provider-relief-fund-how-well-does-it-protect-patients-from-surprise-medical-bills-for-covid-19-related-services/" target="_blank">strings attached</a>. Companies that took the money — including Air Methods — can’t stick COVID-19 patients with surprise bills.

So
 ask your biller if they got a slice of the stimulus pie. If so, then 
you shouldn’t get a surprise bill. If you do, demand that they cancel 
it.

The federal government also has an <a href="https://data.cdc.gov/Administrative/HHS-Provider-Relief-Fund/kh8y-3es6/data" target="_blank">online list</a>
 of the recipients where you can check for specific doctors, hospitals, 
and more. But the complexity of business ownership and subsidiaries in 
health care means you might miss what you’re looking for.

Some companies have also made public promises not to bill COVID-19 patients.

Air
 Methods says it committed not to bill coronavirus patients even before 
it got federal relief money. Under no circumstances, its executive vice 
president for reimbursement said in an emailed statement, would Air 
Methods have billed the Gharmalkars for anything that Blue Cross didn’t 
pay.

The Gharmalkars would have loved to know that. But say they 
only got ambiguous assurances that the company hoped to get paid by Blue
 Cross, and not them.

And it’s hard to tell from the Air Methods 
website that a hard rule against surprise billing exists. Air Methods 
pointed the Kansas News Service to a sentence toward the bottom of <a href="https://www.airmethods.com/newsroom/blog/air-methods-blog/2020/04/09/during-covid-19-crisis-air-medical-services-are-crucial-component-to-timely-patient-care" target="_blank">a blog post</a> that says: “We will work closely with our patients to ensure their emergency air medical service is covered.”

The company’s webpage on COVID-19 billing doesn’t clarify that the company is legally barred from surprise billing patients.

How to tell if your health insurance should cover your COVID-19 treatment.

Likewise, your insurer may also have made commitments that protect you against COVID-19 bills.

Blue
 Cross announced in early April that it would cover COVID-19 treatment 
without any cost-sharing for patients with qualifying health plans. That
 didn’t stop the insurer from twice rejecting Air Method’s claim for 
transporting Gharmalkar.

Ask your insurer if it has a policy on 
COVID-19 services, and where you can read it. You may need to read up 
and then remind them what their own rules say. Pay attention to details 
including which types of health plans qualify for what, and for how 
long.

For example, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas plans qualify 
for full coverage of COVID-19 treatment without cost-sharing if they are
 what’s called “fully insured.” If you have a “self-funded” plan — often
 a large employer plan — the terms will vary by employer. Don’t know <a href="https://www.peoplekeep.com/blog/fully-insured-vs-self-insured-self-funded-health-plans" target="_blank">which category</a> you fall into? Call Blue Cross to check.

The following <a href="https://blog.bcbsks.com/2020/04/20/member-faqs/" target="_blank">is covered</a> for fully insured Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas plans:

You
 should also ask your insurer what “no cost-sharing” means in this 
context. A spokeswoman for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas said it 
means no copays, deductibles or surprise bills.

So how did Gharmalkar’s $80k charge get resolved?

Insurance
 statements started piling up soon after Gharmalkar’s hospitalization, 
alerting him to hundreds of thousands of dollars in charges for the 
life-saving care that got him through COVID-19.

To his relief, 
Blue Cross swiftly approved most of the claims. A few, he says, took a 
bit of work to clear up coding errors. The situation over his helicopter
 ride was the most difficult.

After Blue Cross rejected the bill 
the first time, Air Methods tried contacting the insurer on his behalf 
again to show the helicopter ride had been a medical emergency. But Blue
 Cross sent him another statement showing it wouldn’t pay anything 
toward the $80,000 bill.

Gharmalkar signed a federal medical privacy, or <a href="https://www.dhcs.ca.gov/formsandpubs/laws/hipaa/Pages/1.00WhatisHIPAA.aspx" target="_blank">HIPAA</a>,
 release form allowing the Kansas News Service to make inquiries on his 
behalf. He says his insurer swiftly circled back to him and said it was 
working on the claim.

Air Methods says it kept pushing, too, 
seeking to negotiate directly with Blue Cross. Ultimately the two 
parties agreed on a price: $23,339.

His win might help 
other people in Kansas. Air Methods says it approached Blue Cross Blue 
Shield of Kansas repeatedly in recent years to no avail, trying to 
strike a broader deal that would bring the helicopter company into the 
insurer’s network.

Blue Cross disputes that characterization. 
Regardless, both sides — one of the nation’s biggest medical helicopter 
providers and Kansas’ largest commercial health insurer — now say 
negotiations on a network deal are in the works.

Air Methods, 
which flew around 350 medical flights in Kansas last year, says talks 
only began in earnest in the middle of Gharmalkar’s case.

Bonus tip: There’s a state insurance department. And it can help you.

If
 you think you’re being asked to pay for coronavirus-related treatment 
in error, and you’ve tried to resolve the matter with your insurer, call
 your state insurance department.

“This is exactly the type of 
thing that they’re there for,” said Maanasa Kona, a professor at the 
Center on Health Insurance Reforms at Georgetown University. “If an 
insurance company is giving you the runaround, you should be able to 
reach out to the department of insurance and ask them to step in to see 
what’s going on.”

In Kansas, you can call the department’s consumer hotline (800-432-2484), send <a href="mailto:kid.webcomplaints@ks.gov" target="_blank">an email</a> or fill out this <a href="https://sbs.naic.org/solar-web/pages/public/onlineComplaintForm/onlineComplaintForm.jsf?state=KS&amp;dswid=-8725" target="_blank">online complaint form</a>.

Last
 week, the department issued a consumer alert reminding people that 
insurers must cover COVID-19 testing without patient cost-sharing if the
 test was for diagnostic purposes. That’s related to <a href="https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/issue-brief/five-things-to-know-about-the-cost-of-covid-19-testing-and-treatment/" target="_blank">another recent federal law</a>.

But
 understanding the wrinkles of that law can be tricky, so Kansas 
Insurance Commissioner Vicki Schmidt suggests calling her agency if 
you’re worried you were wrongly charged, and haven’t had luck asking 
your insurer about it.

“We really want people to give us a call 
and let us help them weed through this,” she said. “It’s more 
complicated than what meets the eye.”

Celia Llopis-Jepsen reports on consumer health and education for the Kansas News Service. You can follow her on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/Celia_LJ" target="_blank">@celia_LJ</a> or email her at celia@kcur.org.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/7/1595366052827.png" alt="Anil Gharmalkar came down with COVID-19 in rural southeast Kansas. When he kept getting worse, his local hospital intubated him and sent him by helicopter to Kansas City in hopes of saving his life. Celia Llopis-Jepsen / Kansas News Service" />
 <figcaption>Anil Gharmalkar came down with COVID-19 in rural southeast Kansas. When he kept getting worse, his local hospital intubated him and sent him by helicopter to Kansas City in hopes of saving his life. Celia Llopis-Jepsen / Kansas News Service</figcaption>
 </figure>By CELIA LLOPIS-JEPSEN <a href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2020-07-21/what-it-took-for-this-coronavirus-patients-80-000-air-ambulance-charge-to-go-away">Kansas News Service</a>OSWEGO, Kansas — A vicious bout of coronavirus hospitalized Anil Gharmalkar in April.The
 41-year-old got severely ill, quickly. His besieged lungs fought for 
enough oxygen to survive. His local hospital in rural southeast Kansas 
put him on a ventilator and rushed him by helicopter to the University 
of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, where he eventually pulled 
through. (You can hear him talk about his battle with the illness <a href="https://www.kcur.org/season-3/2020-07-20/s3-episode-3-anil-gharmalkar-jalon-evans-gharmalkar-and-tamarah-chancellor" target="_blank">here</a>.)The
 helicopter company charged $80,000, and at first, Gharmalkar’s 
insurance wouldn’t pay. The difficulties he ran into resolving the 
matter hold lessons for anyone with COVID-19 medical bills.A 
patchwork of laws and company policies mean you may well be shielded 
from any bills — but you might have to dig to figure out whether that 
applies to you and then push to assert your rights.<h2>This 
story is part of our series, Bills of Health. Do you have a medical bill
 from Kansas that you want to share with a reporter? Email 
celia@kcur.org.</h2>Gharmalkar and his wife, Jalon Evans-Gharmalkar, fretted for 
weeks about whether and how much they’d have to pay Air Methods for that
 chopper flight on their own if Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas didn’t 
pay up. He sought referrals for a lawyer and contacted a reporter.“We didn't know — for lack of a better term — how ‘generous’ (Air Methods) were going to be if they thought we had assets.”The
 family runs a small business with several semi-trucks, like the one 
that Gharmalkar was driving to deliver refrigerated meat across the 
Midwest and South when he came down with COVID-19.The fear that 
they might need to shell out tens of thousands of dollars came when he 
was still struggling with after effects of the illness that lingered for
 months and landed him in the hospital three more times.But that 
extra source of stress would have dissolved had either Air Methods or 
Blue Cross explained that the Gharmalkars couldn’t possibly be on the 
hook for the money.That’s not the message they got as they made 
repeated calls trying to fix the situation. When they asked Air Methods 
what to expect, they didn’t get a clear answer. When they pleaded with 
Blue Cross, the insurer rejected their claim a second time.“No one could say what’s going to happen and what you’re actually going to owe,” he said.Ultimately, the Gharmalkars did not have to pay a dime toward the $80,000 charge.A Blue Cross spokeswoman said the insurance company should have picked up the bill from the start.“Once
 we looked into it further, did some more investigation, we did 
determine it was an emergency,” she said. “We also determined that it 
was COVID related.”Here is how the Gharmalkar’s claim got 
resolved — after queries from the Kansas News Service — and some 
takeaway tips for anyone dealing with COVID-19 bills. And if you don’t 
find what you need here, also try our <a href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2020-05-26/expert-tip-sheet-for-pushing-back-against-your-medical-bills" target="_blank">Expert Tip Sheet For Pushing Back Against Your Medical Bills</a>.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/7/1595366123182.png" alt="The Gharmalkar family sit in their Oswego home, three months after Anil's fight with COVID-19." />
 <figcaption>The Gharmalkar family sit in their Oswego home, three months after Anil's fight with COVID-19.</figcaption>
 </figure>A quick refresher on surprise billsAir Methods is not 
in the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas network. That’s where things 
often get tricky for patients — for COVID-19 or anything else.When
 you get health care from outside your insurance network, prices can be 
several times higher than normal. The doctor or hospital or ambulance 
company bills your insurer. The insurance company may find the price 
unreasonable and just pay part of it. Then you get billed for the rest.That is commonly called a “<a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/usc-brookings-schaeffer-on-health-policy/2019/08/01/what-is-surprise-billing/" target="_blank">surprise bill</a>,”
 and it’s separate from any charges for copay, coinsurance or 
deductibles. It’s usually legal, except in some parts of the country 
(not Kansas) that have started curbing the practice with state laws.The
 Gharmalkars were grateful for the helicopter that whisked Anil to a 
major hospital in just under an hour. It may have saved his life. And 
they wanted Air Methods to get paid a fair price. But they also feared 
they’d soon face a hefty surprise bill if Blue Cross paid little or 
nothing.Federal law may protect you against bills for COVID-19 treatmentBecause of the pandemic, Congress gave the health care industry <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/coronavirus/cares-act-provider-relief-fund/index.html" target="_blank">emergency relief funds</a>. But it came with <a href="https://ccf.georgetown.edu/2020/05/01/the-provider-relief-fund-how-well-does-it-protect-patients-from-surprise-medical-bills-for-covid-19-related-services/" target="_blank">strings attached</a>. Companies that took the money — including Air Methods — can’t stick COVID-19 patients with surprise bills.So
 ask your biller if they got a slice of the stimulus pie. If so, then 
you shouldn’t get a surprise bill. If you do, demand that they cancel 
it.The federal government also has an <a href="https://data.cdc.gov/Administrative/HHS-Provider-Relief-Fund/kh8y-3es6/data" target="_blank">online list</a>
 of the recipients where you can check for specific doctors, hospitals, 
and more. But the complexity of business ownership and subsidiaries in 
health care means you might miss what you’re looking for.Some companies have also made public promises not to bill COVID-19 patients.Air
 Methods says it committed not to bill coronavirus patients even before 
it got federal relief money. Under no circumstances, its executive vice 
president for reimbursement said in an emailed statement, would Air 
Methods have billed the Gharmalkars for anything that Blue Cross didn’t 
pay.The Gharmalkars would have loved to know that. But say they 
only got ambiguous assurances that the company hoped to get paid by Blue
 Cross, and not them.And it’s hard to tell from the Air Methods 
website that a hard rule against surprise billing exists. Air Methods 
pointed the Kansas News Service to a sentence toward the bottom of <a href="https://www.airmethods.com/newsroom/blog/air-methods-blog/2020/04/09/during-covid-19-crisis-air-medical-services-are-crucial-component-to-timely-patient-care" target="_blank">a blog post</a> that says: “We will work closely with our patients to ensure their emergency air medical service is covered.”The company’s webpage on COVID-19 billing doesn’t clarify that the company is legally barred from surprise billing patients.How to tell if your health insurance should cover your COVID-19 treatment.Likewise, your insurer may also have made commitments that protect you against COVID-19 bills.Blue
 Cross announced in early April that it would cover COVID-19 treatment 
without any cost-sharing for patients with qualifying health plans. That
 didn’t stop the insurer from twice rejecting Air Method’s claim for 
transporting Gharmalkar.Ask your insurer if it has a policy on 
COVID-19 services, and where you can read it. You may need to read up 
and then remind them what their own rules say. Pay attention to details 
including which types of health plans qualify for what, and for how 
long.For example, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas plans qualify 
for full coverage of COVID-19 treatment without cost-sharing if they are
 what’s called “fully insured.” If you have a “self-funded” plan — often
 a large employer plan — the terms will vary by employer. Don’t know <a href="https://www.peoplekeep.com/blog/fully-insured-vs-self-insured-self-funded-health-plans" target="_blank">which category</a> you fall into? Call Blue Cross to check.The following <a href="https://blog.bcbsks.com/2020/04/20/member-faqs/" target="_blank">is covered</a> for fully insured Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas plans:<ul>
 <li>COVID-19
 treatment until the end of this year, whether at a doctor’s office, 
urgent care facility, emergency room or as a telehealth patient or 
hospital inpatient.</li><li>Also until the end of this year: Medically 
necessary diagnostic tests related to COVID-19 and the related 
telehealth or physical visit to the doctor's office, urgent care or 
emergency room. If you got, say, a flu test, and it led to the doctor 
ordering a COVID-19 test, too, then the flu test would also be covered.</li><li>COVID-19 antibody testing “for the duration of the declared public health pandemic.”</li>
 </ul>You
 should also ask your insurer what “no cost-sharing” means in this 
context. A spokeswoman for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas said it 
means no copays, deductibles or surprise bills.So how did Gharmalkar’s $80k charge get resolved?Insurance
 statements started piling up soon after Gharmalkar’s hospitalization, 
alerting him to hundreds of thousands of dollars in charges for the 
life-saving care that got him through COVID-19.To his relief, 
Blue Cross swiftly approved most of the claims. A few, he says, took a 
bit of work to clear up coding errors. The situation over his helicopter
 ride was the most difficult.After Blue Cross rejected the bill 
the first time, Air Methods tried contacting the insurer on his behalf 
again to show the helicopter ride had been a medical emergency. But Blue
 Cross sent him another statement showing it wouldn’t pay anything 
toward the $80,000 bill.Gharmalkar signed a federal medical privacy, or <a href="https://www.dhcs.ca.gov/formsandpubs/laws/hipaa/Pages/1.00WhatisHIPAA.aspx" target="_blank">HIPAA</a>,
 release form allowing the Kansas News Service to make inquiries on his 
behalf. He says his insurer swiftly circled back to him and said it was 
working on the claim.Air Methods says it kept pushing, too, 
seeking to negotiate directly with Blue Cross. Ultimately the two 
parties agreed on a price: $23,339.His win might help 
other people in Kansas. Air Methods says it approached Blue Cross Blue 
Shield of Kansas repeatedly in recent years to no avail, trying to 
strike a broader deal that would bring the helicopter company into the 
insurer’s network.Blue Cross disputes that characterization. 
Regardless, both sides — one of the nation’s biggest medical helicopter 
providers and Kansas’ largest commercial health insurer — now say 
negotiations on a network deal are in the works.Air Methods, 
which flew around 350 medical flights in Kansas last year, says talks 
only began in earnest in the middle of Gharmalkar’s case.Bonus tip: There’s a state insurance department. And it can help you.If
 you think you’re being asked to pay for coronavirus-related treatment 
in error, and you’ve tried to resolve the matter with your insurer, call
 your state insurance department.“This is exactly the type of 
thing that they’re there for,” said Maanasa Kona, a professor at the 
Center on Health Insurance Reforms at Georgetown University. “If an 
insurance company is giving you the runaround, you should be able to 
reach out to the department of insurance and ask them to step in to see 
what’s going on.”In Kansas, you can call the department’s consumer hotline (800-432-2484), send <a href="mailto:kid.webcomplaints@ks.gov" target="_blank">an email</a> or fill out this <a href="https://sbs.naic.org/solar-web/pages/public/onlineComplaintForm/onlineComplaintForm.jsf?state=KS&amp;dswid=-8725" target="_blank">online complaint form</a>.Last
 week, the department issued a consumer alert reminding people that 
insurers must cover COVID-19 testing without patient cost-sharing if the
 test was for diagnostic purposes. That’s related to <a href="https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/issue-brief/five-things-to-know-about-the-cost-of-covid-19-testing-and-treatment/" target="_blank">another recent federal law</a>.But
 understanding the wrinkles of that law can be tricky, so Kansas 
Insurance Commissioner Vicki Schmidt suggests calling her agency if 
you’re worried you were wrongly charged, and haven’t had luck asking 
your insurer about it.“We really want people to give us a call 
and let us help them weed through this,” she said. “It’s more 
complicated than what meets the eye.”Celia Llopis-Jepsen reports on consumer health and education for the Kansas News Service. You can follow her on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/Celia_LJ" target="_blank">@celia_LJ</a> or email her at celia@kcur.org.

Virus patient fights to make $80K air ambulance charge go away

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump came prepared.

As he took the podium&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/bfb8402551605ff40d8a16efbd827b92">Tuesday</a>&nbsp;to give a briefing room update on the coronavirus for the first time in months, the president was asked an obvious question: If wearing a mask is “patriotic,” as he tweeted this week, why didn’t he wear one more frequently?

“Well, I do actually do it when I need. I mean, I carry the mask,” Trump responded. He reached into his suit jacket pocket and produced his for the cameras: navy blue, with a presidential seal.

“I have no problem with the masks. I view it this way: Anything that potentially can help, and that certainly can potentially help, is a good thing. I have no problem. I carry it, I wear it ... and I’ll continue,” he added.

The comments were a dramatic about-face for a president who, for months, resisted wearing a face covering in public and complained privately he thought it would make him look weak and would focus attention on the public health crisis rather than the economic recovery.

Even as top public health officials, who initially had advised the public not to wear masks, became convinced that face coverings could effectively halt the spread of the virus and begged the public to embrace them, Trump resisted. He mocked Democratic rival Joe Biden for wearing one, asked reporters to remove them and entertained the idea that people might be wearing them to spite him.

“I just don’t want to wear one myself,” he said in April. “I don’t know, somehow sitting in the Oval Office behind that beautiful Resolute Desk — the great Resolute Desk — I think wearing a face mask as I greet presidents, prime ministers, dictators, kings, queens, I don’t know. Somehow, I don’t see it for myself. I just don’t. Maybe I’ll change my mind.”

By Tuesday, as coronavirus cases continue to rise across much of the nation, Trump finally came around, saying, “I’m getting used to the mask.”

“I will use it gladly, no problem with it,” he said, urging those watching to follow his lead.

“When you can, use the mask. If you’re close to each other, if you’re in a group, I would put it on,” he said.

But that pronouncement was too little, too late for some public health officials, who have blamed the mixed messaging and Trump’s personal actions for politicizing mask-wearing and fueling a partisan social divide.

“I think it would have been enormous impact if he had done it from Day One,” said Lawrence Gostin, a public health expert at Georgetown University. He worried that Trump’s words would have only marginal impact in moving Americans who aren’t consistently wearing masks in public to do so.

If, from the beginning, “you had consistent messages at the federal, state and local level, if everyone had been on the same page all along on the importance of masks, we’d be in a different situation,” Gostin said.

And Trump still declined to wear a mask at the briefing — noting that he and the reporters who cover him are frequently tested. And he was seen without one Monday evening at the Trump hotel in Washington, where he attended a fundraiser and ate dinner.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, an occasional informal Trump adviser, had urged the president to wear a mask to the briefing, saying during an appearance on “Fox and Friends” Tuesday, “That’s what’s going to convince people that he’s serious about this.”

Trump tweeted a photo of himself in a face mask Monday, calling it an act of patriotism. He wore one for the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/7651589ac439646e5cf873d021f1f4b6">first time in public</a>&nbsp;earlier this month during a visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/7/1595414351557.png" alt="President Trump pulled his face mask from his suit pocket in response to a reporter's question during Tuesday's Coronavirus Task Force briefing-image courtesy White House" />
 <figcaption>President Trump pulled his face mask from his suit pocket in response to a reporter's question during Tuesday's Coronavirus Task Force briefing-image courtesy White House</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump came prepared.As he took the podium&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/bfb8402551605ff40d8a16efbd827b92">Tuesday</a>&nbsp;to give a briefing room update on the coronavirus for the first time in months, the president was asked an obvious question: If wearing a mask is “patriotic,” as he tweeted this week, why didn’t he wear one more frequently?“Well, I do actually do it when I need. I mean, I carry the mask,” Trump responded. He reached into his suit jacket pocket and produced his for the cameras: navy blue, with a presidential seal.“I have no problem with the masks. I view it this way: Anything that potentially can help, and that certainly can potentially help, is a good thing. I have no problem. I carry it, I wear it ... and I’ll continue,” he added.The comments were a dramatic about-face for a president who, for months, resisted wearing a face covering in public and complained privately he thought it would make him look weak and would focus attention on the public health crisis rather than the economic recovery.Even as top public health officials, who initially had advised the public not to wear masks, became convinced that face coverings could effectively halt the spread of the virus and begged the public to embrace them, Trump resisted. He mocked Democratic rival Joe Biden for wearing one, asked reporters to remove them and entertained the idea that people might be wearing them to spite him.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/7/1595366343118.png" alt="White House image" />
 <figcaption>White House image</figcaption>
 </figure>“I just don’t want to wear one myself,” he said in April. “I don’t know, somehow sitting in the Oval Office behind that beautiful Resolute Desk — the great Resolute Desk — I think wearing a face mask as I greet presidents, prime ministers, dictators, kings, queens, I don’t know. Somehow, I don’t see it for myself. I just don’t. Maybe I’ll change my mind.”By Tuesday, as coronavirus cases continue to rise across much of the nation, Trump finally came around, saying, “I’m getting used to the mask.”“I will use it gladly, no problem with it,” he said, urging those watching to follow his lead.“When you can, use the mask. If you’re close to each other, if you’re in a group, I would put it on,” he said.But that pronouncement was too little, too late for some public health officials, who have blamed the mixed messaging and Trump’s personal actions for politicizing mask-wearing and fueling a partisan social divide.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/7/1595366561351.png" alt="White House image" />
 <figcaption>White House image</figcaption>
 </figure>“I think it would have been enormous impact if he had done it from Day One,” said Lawrence Gostin, a public health expert at Georgetown University. He worried that Trump’s words would have only marginal impact in moving Americans who aren’t consistently wearing masks in public to do so.If, from the beginning, “you had consistent messages at the federal, state and local level, if everyone had been on the same page all along on the importance of masks, we’d be in a different situation,” Gostin said.And Trump still declined to wear a mask at the briefing — noting that he and the reporters who cover him are frequently tested. And he was seen without one Monday evening at the Trump hotel in Washington, where he attended a fundraiser and ate dinner.Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, an occasional informal Trump adviser, had urged the president to wear a mask to the briefing, saying during an appearance on “Fox and Friends” Tuesday, “That’s what’s going to convince people that he’s serious about this.”<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">We are United in our effort to defeat the Invisible China Virus, and many people say that it is Patriotic to wear a face mask when you can’t socially distance. There is nobody more Patriotic than me, your favorite President! <a href="https://t.co/iQOd1whktN">pic.twitter.com/iQOd1whktN</a>&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1285299379746811915?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 20, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Trump tweeted a photo of himself in a face mask Monday, calling it an act of patriotism. He wore one for the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/7651589ac439646e5cf873d021f1f4b6">first time in public</a>&nbsp;earlier this month during a visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

Trump embraces masks in an about-face

KANSAS CITY (AP) — A Kansas man has been charged with second-degree murder after a confrontation at a gas station that started when the suspect looked at the victim in a strange way, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Isaac Knighten, 40, Kansas City, Kansas, was also charged with endangering the welfare of a child, unlawful possession of a firearm and two counts of armed criminal action in the death of Jayvon McCray, 28, on Sunday at a gas station in Kansas City, Missouri, the Jackson County Prosecutor's office announced Tuesday.

Knighten was with his girlfriend and five young children when the two men exchanged words after Knighten looked at McCray in a strange way, according to McCray's girlfriend.

The argument continued inside the store and several people tried to intervene. Both men were armed, according to court records.

One of the men who tried to intervene was holding Knighten's 3-year-old son during the argument. The other children fled on foot to a relative's home.

Knighten said he shot McCray when it seemed like McCray was reaching for his gun, according to court records. He said he had never seen McCray before the confrontation.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/7/1595412891902.png" alt="Knighten photo Jackson County" />
 <figcaption>Knighten photo Jackson County</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY (AP) — A Kansas man has been charged with second-degree murder after a confrontation at a gas station that started when the suspect looked at the victim in a strange way, prosecutors said Tuesday.Isaac Knighten, 40, Kansas City, Kansas, was also charged with endangering the welfare of a child, unlawful possession of a firearm and two counts of armed criminal action in the death of Jayvon McCray, 28, on Sunday at a gas station in Kansas City, Missouri, the Jackson County Prosecutor's office announced Tuesday.Knighten was with his girlfriend and five young children when the two men exchanged words after Knighten looked at McCray in a strange way, according to McCray's girlfriend.The argument continued inside the store and several people tried to intervene. Both men were armed, according to court records.One of the men who tried to intervene was holding Knighten's 3-year-old son during the argument. The other children fled on foot to a relative's home.Knighten said he shot McCray when it seemed like McCray was reaching for his gun, according to court records. He said he had never seen McCray before the confrontation.

Kansas man charged in fatal shooting near children

RENO COUNTY —One person died in an accident just before 9:30p.m. Tuesday in Reno County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2002 Jeep Liberty driven by Gary N. Lane, 52, Hutchinson, was southbound&nbsp;on Van Buren.

&nbsp;The Jeep traveled off&nbsp; the east side of the road through a grassy field and crossed 2nd Avenue

The Jeep struck a building at 635 W 2nd Avenue and caught on fire.

Lane was pronounced dead at the scene and was transported to the Sedgwick Forensic Center. He was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/7/1595390344978.jpeg" alt="First responders on the scene of the fatal crash and fire Tuesday" />
 <figcaption>First responders on the scene of the fatal crash and fire Tuesday</figcaption>
 </figure>RENO COUNTY —One person died in an accident just before 9:30p.m. Tuesday in Reno County.The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2002 Jeep Liberty driven by Gary N. Lane, 52, Hutchinson, was southbound&nbsp;on Van Buren.&nbsp;The Jeep traveled off&nbsp; the east side of the road through a grassy field and crossed 2nd AvenueThe Jeep struck a building at 635 W 2nd Avenue and caught on fire.Lane was pronounced dead at the scene and was transported to the Sedgwick Forensic Center. He was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.

Kansas man dies after Jeep crash and fire

SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating two shootings and have a suspect in custody.

The first shooting occurred in the early hours of June 23 at the Afton Motel in the 800 Block of South Broadway in Wichita, according to&nbsp; Police Captain Jason Stephens.

At the scene, officers located three victims including a 26-year-old man, a 25-year-old woman and a 60-year-old man who sustained non-life-threatening gunshot wounds, according to Stephens.&nbsp; They were transported to a local hospital for treatment. Each reported to police they heard gunshots and when they came out of their motel rooms they were shot by an unknown suspect.

At 2:30a.m. on June 27, police responded to a report of a shooting at Lincoln and Broadway in Wichita. At the scene, officers learned that a 32-year-old man was wounded by gunfire while he and a woman were in the parking lot at the El Farol Rojo Club, 1030 South Broad in Wichita, according to Stephens.

Through the investigation, police were able to develop 31-year-old Isaac Pile as a suspect. Officers presented their case to the District Attorney's office, obtained a warrant and arrested him on Monday afternoon at a business at Kellogg and Greenwich.&nbsp;

Pile is being held on four counts of aggravated battery, <a href="https://ssc.sedgwickcounty.org/sheriffinmates/SheriffInmateDetail.aspx?nameId=20023871">according to online jail records.&nbsp;</a>&nbsp; Police also want to talk to a man who was riding a bicycle near the shooting who is a possible witness in the case.&nbsp; Investigators have not learned of any previous connection between the suspect and Pile.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/7/1595350658900.png" alt="Pile photo Sedgwick County" />
 <figcaption>Pile photo Sedgwick County</figcaption>
 </figure>SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating two shootings and have a suspect in custody.The first shooting occurred in the early hours of June 23 at the Afton Motel in the 800 Block of South Broadway in Wichita, according to&nbsp; Police Captain Jason Stephens.At the scene, officers located three victims including a 26-year-old man, a 25-year-old woman and a 60-year-old man who sustained non-life-threatening gunshot wounds, according to Stephens.&nbsp; They were transported to a local hospital for treatment. Each reported to police they heard gunshots and when they came out of their motel rooms they were shot by an unknown suspect.At 2:30a.m. on June 27, police responded to a report of a shooting at Lincoln and Broadway in Wichita. At the scene, officers learned that a 32-year-old man was wounded by gunfire while he and a woman were in the parking lot at the El Farol Rojo Club, 1030 South Broad in Wichita, according to Stephens.Through the investigation, police were able to develop 31-year-old Isaac Pile as a suspect. Officers presented their case to the District Attorney's office, obtained a warrant and arrested him on Monday afternoon at a business at Kellogg and Greenwich.&nbsp;Pile is being held on four counts of aggravated battery, <a href="https://ssc.sedgwickcounty.org/sheriffinmates/SheriffInmateDetail.aspx?nameId=20023871">according to online jail records.&nbsp;</a>&nbsp; Police also want to talk to a man who was riding a bicycle near the shooting who is a possible witness in the case.&nbsp; Investigators have not learned of any previous connection between the suspect and Pile.

Police track down Kansas suspect wanted for shooting 4 in June

KANSAS CITY (AP) — The top federal prosecutor in Kansas City said any federal agents involved in an operation to reduce violent crime in the area will be clearly identifiable when making arrests, unlike what has been seen in Portland, Oregon.

Timothy Garrison, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, said in a written statement Monday that a new federal effort called&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/3b4f3352e5cc564187765acfc5fb12e6">Operation LeGend</a>&nbsp;in Kansas City is in response to record violent crime numbers, not local protests, the Kansas City Star&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article244352212.html">reported</a>.

“These agents won’t be patrolling the streets,” he said. “They won’t replace or usurp the authority of local officers.”

His statement comes amid nationwide protests against excessive police force following the death of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/DeathofGeorgeFloyd">George Floyd</a>&nbsp;in Minneapolis. In Portland, the actions of federal officers outside the U.S. courthouse —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/597b63c1ddf52ef57a5eccfaa67b8a94">hailed by President Donald Trump</a>, but done without local consent — have resulted in clashes between protesters and camouflaged, unidentified agents.

Operation LeGend — named after 4-year-old LeGend Taliferro, who was fatally shot while sleeping in a Kansas City apartment late last month — was announced on July 8 at the White House. Attorney General William Barr said he would send within the following weeks federal law enforcement officers into Kansas City to quell a “surge of violent crime."

“When they are making arrests or executing warrants, these federal agents will be clearly identified by their agency’s visible badges or insignia,” Garrison said. “The only people federal agents will be removing from the street are those they arrest in the course of their investigations of violent crimes.”

Garrison has said that the additional 225 federal agents from the FBI, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Marshals Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives will join 400 agents already working and living in the Kansas City area.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/7/1595354920053.png" alt="Operation Legend named for LeGend Taliferro, a four-year-old boy who was shot and killed on June 29th in Kansas City- photo U.S. Justice Dept." />
 <figcaption>Operation Legend named for LeGend Taliferro, a four-year-old boy who was shot and killed on June 29th in Kansas City- photo U.S. Justice Dept.</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY (AP) — The top federal prosecutor in Kansas City said any federal agents involved in an operation to reduce violent crime in the area will be clearly identifiable when making arrests, unlike what has been seen in Portland, Oregon.Timothy Garrison, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, said in a written statement Monday that a new federal effort called&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/3b4f3352e5cc564187765acfc5fb12e6">Operation LeGend</a>&nbsp;in Kansas City is in response to record violent crime numbers, not local protests, the Kansas City Star&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article244352212.html">reported</a>.“These agents won’t be patrolling the streets,” he said. “They won’t replace or usurp the authority of local officers.”His statement comes amid nationwide protests against excessive police force following the death of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/DeathofGeorgeFloyd">George Floyd</a>&nbsp;in Minneapolis. In Portland, the actions of federal officers outside the U.S. courthouse —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/597b63c1ddf52ef57a5eccfaa67b8a94">hailed by President Donald Trump</a>, but done without local consent — have resulted in clashes between protesters and camouflaged, unidentified agents.Operation LeGend — named after 4-year-old LeGend Taliferro, who was fatally shot while sleeping in a Kansas City apartment late last month — was announced on July 8 at the White House. Attorney General William Barr said he would send within the following weeks federal law enforcement officers into Kansas City to quell a “surge of violent crime."“When they are making arrests or executing warrants, these federal agents will be clearly identified by their agency’s visible badges or insignia,” Garrison said. “The only people federal agents will be removing from the street are those they arrest in the course of their investigations of violent crimes.”Garrison has said that the additional 225 federal agents from the FBI, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Marshals Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives will join 400 agents already working and living in the Kansas City area.

U.S. Attorney: Federal agents will be identifiable in KC crime sweep

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Retiring Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts declared his support Tuesday for Rep. Roger Marshall as his replacement.

Roberts’ endorsement came in a string of tweets in which he praised Marshall without mentioning polarizing conservative Kris Kobach. Roberts, the chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, touted Marshall’s service on its House counterpart and said Marshall’s experience as a doctor will be helpful during the coronavirus pandemic.

Marshall, an obstetrician, represents the same sprawling western and central Kansas district that Roberts did before being elected to the Senate in 1996. Marshall won the seat in 2016.

Roberts’ backing is another sign of the Republican establishment’s increasing solidarity behind Marshall ahead of the state’s Aug. 4 primary election. He also has endorsements from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Kansans for Life, the state’s most influential anti-abortion group.

Many Republicans worry that Roberts’ normally safe seat would be in play if Kobach were the nominee. Republicans haven’t lost a Senate race in Kansas since 1932.

Kobach, a former Kansas secretary of state, is nationally known for pushing tough immigration policies. He alienated independent and moderate GOP voters in losing the governor’s race in 2018 to Democrat Laura Kelly.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Retiring Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts declared his support Tuesday for Rep. Roger Marshall as his replacement.Roberts’ endorsement came in a string of tweets in which he praised Marshall without mentioning polarizing conservative Kris Kobach. Roberts, the chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, touted Marshall’s service on its House counterpart and said Marshall’s experience as a doctor will be helpful during the coronavirus pandemic.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">I couldn&#39;t be more honored to accept this endorsement as I seek to fill this seat, &amp; I accept the responsibility that comes with it. <a href="https://twitter.com/PatRoberts?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PatRoberts</a> has been an advisor, sounding board, &amp; friend. He’s a patriot, a fellow veteran, &amp; a giant of Kansas, especially Kansas ag. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/kssen?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#kssen</a> <a href="https://t.co/cuAJsJPVw1">https://t.co/cuAJsJPVw1</a>&mdash; Dr. Roger Marshall (@RogerMarshallMD) <a href="https://twitter.com/RogerMarshallMD/status/1285673011102851072?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 21, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Marshall, an obstetrician, represents the same sprawling western and central Kansas district that Roberts did before being elected to the Senate in 1996. Marshall won the seat in 2016.Roberts’ backing is another sign of the Republican establishment’s increasing solidarity behind Marshall ahead of the state’s Aug. 4 primary election. He also has endorsements from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Kansans for Life, the state’s most influential anti-abortion group.Many Republicans worry that Roberts’ normally safe seat would be in play if Kobach were the nominee. Republicans haven’t lost a Senate race in Kansas since 1932.Kobach, a former Kansas secretary of state, is nationally known for pushing tough immigration policies. He alienated independent and moderate GOP voters in losing the governor’s race in 2018 to Democrat Laura Kelly.

Retiring Kansas Sen. Roberts endorses Rep. Marshall for seat

GEARY COUNTY —One person was injured in an accident just after 6a.m. Tuesday in Geary County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2010 Peterbilt truck driven by Tyler Aron&nbsp;Elsasser, 22, Bennington, was&nbsp;was eastbound on Interstate 70 at Junction City. The truck hydroplaned and the driver lost control. The truck traveled through the median and came to rest in the north ditch.

EMS transported Elsasser to the hospital in Junction City. He was properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.

Authorities have opened one lane in each direction on&nbsp; I-70 following a semi rollover accident near Junction City.&nbsp;

GEARY COUNTY —Authorities responded to a semi-truck rollover accident on I-70 on the south side of Junction City shortly after 6 a.m. Tuesday.

East and westbound lanes are closed in both directions.&nbsp;

The semi was carrying some hazardous materials, according to&nbsp;Geary County Emergency Management Director Garry Berges.

" We did have a plume from one of the containers. We've got Manhattan Fire Hazmat enroute out here to help clear up the scene but this area is completely shut down so people will need to find alternate routes."

The driver of the semi was transported to Geary Community Hospital.

GEARY COUNTY —First responders are on the scene of a semi crash on Interstate 70 at Junction City, according to the Kanas Highway Patrol.

Both east and westbound lanes are closed as additional Troopers respond. Expect travel delays.

Check the Post for additional details as they become available.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/7/1595340001465.png" alt="First responders on the scene of the accident in Geary County -photo KHP" />
 <figcaption>First responders on the scene of the accident in Geary County -photo KHP</figcaption>
 </figure>GEARY COUNTY —One person was injured in an accident just after 6a.m. Tuesday in Geary County.The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2010 Peterbilt truck driven by Tyler Aron&nbsp;Elsasser, 22, Bennington, was&nbsp;was eastbound on Interstate 70 at Junction City. The truck hydroplaned and the driver lost control. The truck traveled through the median and came to rest in the north ditch.EMS transported Elsasser to the hospital in Junction City. He was properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.-----Authorities have opened one lane in each direction on&nbsp; I-70 following a semi rollover accident near Junction City.&nbsp;---------GEARY COUNTY —Authorities responded to a semi-truck rollover accident on I-70 on the south side of Junction City shortly after 6 a.m. Tuesday.East and westbound lanes are closed in both directions.&nbsp;The semi was carrying some hazardous materials, according to&nbsp;Geary County Emergency Management Director Garry Berges." We did have a plume from one of the containers. We've got Manhattan Fire Hazmat enroute out here to help clear up the scene but this area is completely shut down so people will need to find alternate routes."The driver of the semi was transported to Geary Community Hospital.---------GEARY COUNTY —First responders are on the scene of a semi crash on Interstate 70 at Junction City, according to the Kanas Highway Patrol.Both east and westbound lanes are closed as additional Troopers respond. Expect travel delays.Check the Post for additional details as they become available.

Update: Kan. man hospitalized after semi hydroplanes on I-70 

MANHATTAN—Law enforcement authorities are investigating a Kansas felon on attempted robbery charges after an arrest in Manhattan.

Just after 4a.m. Tuesday, the Riley County Police Department Dispatch Center received a 911 call reporting an attempted aggravated robbery and aggravated assault in the 800 block of N 4th St at McDonalds in Manhattan, according to a media release.

Officers listed a 30-year-old male, a 25-year-old male, a 26-year-old male and McDonalds as the victims when it was reported a known suspect brandished a firearm and asked for money.

Just before 10:30 a.m., police arrested Tayvon N. Agnew-Nash, 20, of St. George in requested charges of attempted aggravated robbery, three counts of aggravated assault, felon in possession of a firearm and theft. 

Agnew-Nash remains jailed on a total bond of $200,000.00, according to police.&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/7/1595348105326.png" alt="Agnew-Nash has two previous convictions for burglary and a conviction for criminal possession of a weapon, according to the Kansas Dept. of Corrections." />
 <figcaption>Agnew-Nash has two previous convictions for burglary and a conviction for criminal possession of a weapon, according to the Kansas Dept. of Corrections.</figcaption>
 </figure>MANHATTAN—Law enforcement authorities are investigating a Kansas felon on attempted robbery charges after an arrest in Manhattan.Just after 4a.m. Tuesday, the Riley County Police Department Dispatch Center received a 911 call reporting an attempted aggravated robbery and aggravated assault in the 800 block of N 4th St at McDonalds in Manhattan, according to a media release.Officers listed a 30-year-old male, a 25-year-old male, a 26-year-old male and McDonalds as the victims when it was reported a known suspect brandished a firearm and asked for money.Just before 10:30 a.m., police arrested Tayvon N. Agnew-Nash, 20, of St. George in requested charges of attempted aggravated robbery, three counts of aggravated assault, felon in possession of a firearm and theft. Agnew-Nash remains jailed on a total bond of $200,000.00, according to police.&nbsp;

Kansas felon accused of attempted robbery in Manhattan

By JIM MCLEAN <a href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2020-07-20/democrats-want-to-face-kobach-in-senate-race-but-a-gop-group-is-spending-millions-to-stop-him">Kansas News Service</a>

TOPEKA — Kris Kobach, a lightning rod throughout his 
political career, finds himself at the center of a Republican primary 
battle for the U.S. Senate. That includes independent groups spending 
millions on ads for and against him.

One of those efforts comes 
from Democrats, who think a primary win for Kobach gives their party the
 best chance to take over the seat for the first time since the Great 
Depression. They’re boosting the former Kansas secretary of state as the
 race’s one true conservative while attacking his chief competitor, U.S.
 Rep. Roger Marshall, as a “phony” and a “fake.”

The gambit has Marshall, a retired doctor and two-term congressman from western Kansas, crying foul.

“Democrats
 think Kansas Republicans are stupid,” Marshall said in a guest 
editorial in Sunday’s Topeka Capital-Journal. “It’s a bunch of smug 
Washington elites thinking they can sneak one past you.” 

It 
worked in 2012 when Democrats intervened in Missouri’s Republican U.S. 
Senate primary to help Todd Aiken. Running from the party’s right wing, 
Aiken won the nomination. But controversial statements about abortion 
cost him in the general election, which he lost to incumbent Democrat 
Claire McCaskill.

“All the signs are there, it’s almost the same 
ad they ran for Todd Aiken in 2012,” said Eric Pahls, Marshall’s 
campaign manager.

The Sunflower State PAC, a recently formed group
 with ties to a Democratic media firm in Virginia, is orchestrating the 
anti-Marshall campaign. Its treasurer is the same Lawrence attorney who 
once served as treasurer of former Kansas Democratic Gov. Kathleen 
Sebelius’ PAC, the Bluestem Fund.

Meanwhile, another new group with ties to U.S. Senate Majority Leader
 Mitch McConnell is spearheading an ad offensive against Kobach. The 
Plains PAC is spending $3 million to convince Republican primary voters 
that Kobach’s loss to Democrat Laura Kelly in<a href="https://www.sos.ks.gov/elections/18elec/2018_General_Election_Official_Votes_Cast.pdf" target="_blank"> the 2018 governor’s race</a> and “ties to toxic white nationalists” would make him a risky nominee.

The charge connecting Kobach to white nationalists stems from a<a href="https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article236355618.html" target="_blank"> 2019 story by the Kansas City Star,</a>
 which reported that his gubernatorial campaign had paid $500 to Joe 
Suber, an Olathe man who had regularly posted on a white nationalist 
website.

A spokesman for Kobach said the campaign “immediately 
severed ties” with the independent contractor when the posts were 
discovered.

Both of the recently formed groups are super PACS that
 can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money. Federal election rules 
require them to disclose their donors, but that information often isn’t 
made public until after the elections in which the money is spent.

Kobach led the race early, but <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/497865-poll-marshall-takes-lead-over-kobach-in-kansas-senate-primary" target="_blank">recent polls have Marshall ahead</a>.

The
 proxy battles being waged by the competing PACS suggest that Kobach is 
still within striking distance of Marshall, said David Kensinger, a 
longtime Republican strategist who ran campaigns for former Kansas 
governor and U.S. senator Sam Brownback.

“With a fractured primary
 field, it’s mathematically possible for him (Kobach) to eke out the 
narrowest of pluralities as he did in 2018,” Kensinger said.

Kobach’s<a href="https://www.sos.ks.gov/elections/18elec/PrimaryElectionOfficialResults.pdf" target="_blank"> win over Gov. Jeff Colyer in 2018</a> was the narrowest in Republican gubernatorial primary history.

<a href="https://www.sos.ks.gov/elections/elections_upcoming_candidate.aspx" target="_blank">Eleven candidates</a> are running for the GOP senate nomination. But only four appear to have the money or visibility to be competitive.

Dave Lindstrom and Bob Hamilton are potential wild cards.

<a href="https://www.lindstromforsenate.com/" target="_blank">Lindstrom</a> is a former player for the Kansas City Chiefs who served on the Johnson County Commission from 2003 to 2013.

Hamilton
 is the founder of a prosperous Kansas City area plumbing company who’s 
spending millions to bankroll his self-described “outsider” campaign.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/7/1595281679598.png" alt="Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Kris Kobach speaking at a debate earlier this year with rival Bob Hamilton looking on. Jim McLean / Kansas News Service" />
 <figcaption>Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Kris Kobach speaking at a debate earlier this year with rival Bob Hamilton looking on. Jim McLean / Kansas News Service</figcaption>
 </figure>By JIM MCLEAN <a href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2020-07-20/democrats-want-to-face-kobach-in-senate-race-but-a-gop-group-is-spending-millions-to-stop-him">Kansas News Service</a>TOPEKA — Kris Kobach, a lightning rod throughout his 
political career, finds himself at the center of a Republican primary 
battle for the U.S. Senate. That includes independent groups spending 
millions on ads for and against him.One of those efforts comes 
from Democrats, who think a primary win for Kobach gives their party the
 best chance to take over the seat for the first time since the Great 
Depression. They’re boosting the former Kansas secretary of state as the
 race’s one true conservative while attacking his chief competitor, U.S.
 Rep. Roger Marshall, as a “phony” and a “fake.”The gambit has Marshall, a retired doctor and two-term congressman from western Kansas, crying foul.“Democrats
 think Kansas Republicans are stupid,” Marshall said in a guest 
editorial in Sunday’s Topeka Capital-Journal. “It’s a bunch of smug 
Washington elites thinking they can sneak one past you.” It 
worked in 2012 when Democrats intervened in Missouri’s Republican U.S. 
Senate primary to help Todd Aiken. Running from the party’s right wing, 
Aiken won the nomination. But controversial statements about abortion 
cost him in the general election, which he lost to incumbent Democrat 
Claire McCaskill.“All the signs are there, it’s almost the same 
ad they ran for Todd Aiken in 2012,” said Eric Pahls, Marshall’s 
campaign manager.The Sunflower State PAC, a recently formed group
 with ties to a Democratic media firm in Virginia, is orchestrating the 
anti-Marshall campaign. Its treasurer is the same Lawrence attorney who 
once served as treasurer of former Kansas Democratic Gov. Kathleen 
Sebelius’ PAC, the Bluestem Fund.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/7/1595281853153.png" alt="Anti-Marshall ad / screen shot" />
 <figcaption>Anti-Marshall ad / screen shot</figcaption>
 </figure>Meanwhile, another new group with ties to U.S. Senate Majority Leader
 Mitch McConnell is spearheading an ad offensive against Kobach. The 
Plains PAC is spending $3 million to convince Republican primary voters 
that Kobach’s loss to Democrat Laura Kelly in<a href="https://www.sos.ks.gov/elections/18elec/2018_General_Election_Official_Votes_Cast.pdf" target="_blank"> the 2018 governor’s race</a> and “ties to toxic white nationalists” would make him a risky nominee.The charge connecting Kobach to white nationalists stems from a<a href="https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article236355618.html" target="_blank"> 2019 story by the Kansas City Star,</a>
 which reported that his gubernatorial campaign had paid $500 to Joe 
Suber, an Olathe man who had regularly posted on a white nationalist 
website.A spokesman for Kobach said the campaign “immediately 
severed ties” with the independent contractor when the posts were 
discovered.Both of the recently formed groups are super PACS that
 can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money. Federal election rules 
require them to disclose their donors, but that information often isn’t 
made public until after the elections in which the money is spent.<h2>Still up for grabs</h2>Kobach led the race early, but <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/497865-poll-marshall-takes-lead-over-kobach-in-kansas-senate-primary" target="_blank">recent polls have Marshall ahead</a>.The
 proxy battles being waged by the competing PACS suggest that Kobach is 
still within striking distance of Marshall, said David Kensinger, a 
longtime Republican strategist who ran campaigns for former Kansas 
governor and U.S. senator Sam Brownback.“With a fractured primary
 field, it’s mathematically possible for him (Kobach) to eke out the 
narrowest of pluralities as he did in 2018,” Kensinger said.Kobach’s<a href="https://www.sos.ks.gov/elections/18elec/PrimaryElectionOfficialResults.pdf" target="_blank"> win over Gov. Jeff Colyer in 2018</a> was the narrowest in Republican gubernatorial primary history.<a href="https://www.sos.ks.gov/elections/elections_upcoming_candidate.aspx" target="_blank">Eleven candidates</a> are running for the GOP senate nomination. But only four appear to have the money or visibility to be competitive.Dave Lindstrom and Bob Hamilton are potential wild cards.<a href="https://www.lindstromforsenate.com/" target="_blank">Lindstrom</a> is a former player for the Kansas City Chiefs who served on the Johnson County Commission from 2003 to 2013.Hamilton
 is the founder of a prosperous Kansas City area plumbing company who’s 
spending millions to bankroll his self-described “outsider” campaign.In
 a television ad that’s airing frequently in the closing weeks of the 
campaign, Hamilton aligns himself with President Trump and says career 
politicians like Kobach and Marshall can’t help shake-up the 
establishment because “they are the establishment.”Part of a bigger battleMore candidates are competing for the Republican nomination this year because incumbent U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts<a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/01/04/682217789/kansas-republican-sen-pat-roberts-wont-seek-re-election-in-2020" target="_blank"> is retiring after nearly 40 years in Congress.</a>Roberts’ retirement, Trump’s sinking poll numbers and other factors are threatening the Republican majority in the U.S. Senate.Democrats are hoping to take control by flipping GOP held seats in swing states like Colorado, Maine and Arizona.If
 in addition to those races Republicans “start blowing states like 
Kansas, Alabama or South Carolina,” Kensinger said, “the math becomes 
almost impossible.”Establishment Republicans have been lining up 
behind Marshall for months. Several groups with outsized influence in 
GOP circles are also backing him. They include the Kansas Farm Bureau, 
Kansans for Life and the U.S Chamber of Commerce.The New York Times has reported that President Trump, who endorsed Kobach in 2018 bid for governor,<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/02/us/politics/trump-2020-campaign-problems.html" target="_blank"> is also now working behind the scenes to help Marshall.</a>Kensigner
 is among those who believe Marshall would give Republicans their best 
chance of holding the seat. He said Kobach’s loss in the governor’s race
 and his failed bid to upset Democratic then-U.S. Rep. Dennis Moore in 
2004 provide “real-world evidence” that Kobach “could be the first 
Republican to lose a Senate race in Kansas in over 80 years.”Kobach rejects that analysis, pointing to the two statewide races he won for secretary of state.“There’s
 no doubt that I’ll be able to win in the general election,” he said. 
“But that’s the only argument they’ve got, so they keep saying it over 
and over again.”The winner of the GOP primary will face presumptive Democratic nominee Barbara Bollier in the November general election.Bollier
 is a state senator from Johnson County who left the Republican Party in
 2018. Without a primary fight, she’s been busy raising money,<a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/506245-bollier-raises-37-million-in-second-quarter-in-kansas-senate-race" target="_blank"> raking in $3.7 million in contributions</a>
 in the most recent reporting period. That’s the largest amount ever 
raised in a single quarter by a Kansas candidate for any office.Jim
 McLean is the senior correspondent for the Kansas News Service is a 
collaboration of KCUR, Kansas Public Radio, KMUW and High Plains Public 
Radio focused on health, the social determinants of health and their 
connection to public policy. You can reach him on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/jmcleanks" target="_blank">@jmcleanks</a> or email jim@kcur.org.