Take 5 For Your Health

elm tree leaves

Doctors Warn Of (Another) Early, Intense Spring Allergy Season In Kansas City The early spring weather Kansas City is expected to enjoy this weekend can be a mixed blessing for allergy sufferers. Doctors at Children Mercy Hospital in Kansas City report surges in pollen and mold have accompanied the blips of early warm weather the…

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Take 5 For Your Health

Kansas Sen. Mary Pilcher-Cook

Analysis: Why The Kansas Senate Has A New Health Committee Leader Sen. Mary Pilcher-Cook offered an amendment to expand Medicaid earlier this month because she believed it would fail. A few days later, Senate President Susan Wagle removed Pilcher-Cook as chairwoman of the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee because Pilcher-Cook pushed the amendment even…

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Take 5 For Your Health

Osawatomie State Hospital (File photo)

Budgets Reflect Kansas Legislators’ Attention To State Hospitals The Kansas House and Senate both passed budgets last week that shift money from several sources to shore up an underwater state general fund. But even in lean budget times, the lawmakers found a few million dollars in the general fund to provide additional money for the…

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Take 5 For Your Health

The Open Kansas initiative kicked off last week in the Statehouse rotunda. Nonprofit organizations that advocate for children, minorities and low-income Kansans launched the effort to counter what they see as a trend toward less open government. (Photo: Susie Fagan | Heartland Health Monitor)

Nonprofit Groups Launch Open Kansas Government Initiative Several nonprofit organizations that advocate for children, minorities and low-income Kansans are concerned about what they see as a trend toward less open government in Kansas. So, they’ve joined forces to launch what they’re calling the Open Kansas initiative and to ask legislators to sign a “transparency pledge”…

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Take 5 For Your Health

exam room

Kansas Appeals Court Rules That State Constitution Provides Right To Abortion In a sweeping decision, the Kansas Court of Appeals ruled Friday that the Kansas Constitution’s Bill of Rights provides a right to abortion and blocked a Kansas law banning the second-trimester abortion method known as “dilation and evacuation.” The ruling represents a major victory…

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