LOOKING FORWARD
QB Willis puts spring setback behind him. 1C
TO FALL
Political conventions’ ‘bounce’ going flat. 1B
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Eudora, Baldwin City face budget pressure
A HEALTHY OUTLOOK
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Cities struggle to balance needs with existing tax bases
LMH’s new CEO optimistic about hospital’s future
By Elvyn Jones ejones@ljworld.com
BY JOANNA HLAVACEK ••• jhlavacek@ljworld.com
I
f the headlines coming out of Topeka are any indication, Kansas health care providers don’t have much to smile about these days. In May, Gov. Sam Brownback ordered cuts totaling $56.4 million to the state’s Medicaid program, reducing provider payments by 4 percent. On a local level, the cuts will cost Lawrence Memorial Hospital approximately $500,000 to $800,000 over the next fiscal year, according to estimates by the hospital’s chief financial officer. By his own admission, Russell Johnson “probably shouldn’t be” optimistic about the changing landscape — both nationally and statewide — of the health care industry, but Johnson, who on Monday began his first week as president and CEO of Lawrence Memorial Hospital, is excited for the future. “I am by nature,” he said of his inherently hopeful mindset. “A couple of people have kind of thoughtfully patted me on the back and said, ‘Oh, Russ.’ But you know, I think that’s part of our responsibility in the health care arena — to keep seeing if we can be involved in advocacy for our patients and for our communities.” As a Colorado transplant, Johnson is new — or at least a bit rusty, considering he did spend his childhood in suburban Kansas City — to the
PUBLISHED SINCE 1891
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John Young/Journal-World Photo
I think that’s part of our responsibility in the health care arena — to keep seeing if we can be involved in advocacy for our patients and for our communities.” — Russell Johnson, president and CEO of Lawrence Memorial Hospital
nuances of Kansas politics. Perhaps, he speculates, that’s why he remains so “hopeful” about it all. Sitting in his office Thursday afternoon, Johnson recounted his first week on the job, which, in addition to basics such as navigating the hospital halls and getting his printer hooked up, entailed a lot of listening — to hospital staff, LMH board members, community leaders and countless others. On that day, Johnson still had about 80 people left on his tomeet list. The prospect (LMH
currently employs some 1,500 staffers) didn’t seem to daunt him much. He’d get there, eventually. Johnson, 57, is replacing longtime LMH CEO Gene Meyer, who retired earlier this year after 19 years on the job. Johnson knows he has big shoes to fill — when Johnson was in his 20s, Meyer hired him and worked alongside him at the former Spelman Memorial Hospital, serving for five years as a mentor to the younger man.
> LMH, 2A
City Commission to study Kasold reconstruction plans
Eudora City Manager Barack Matite expects a large crowd Monday at the Eudora City Commission meeting. The draw will be the public hearing on the city’s 2017 budget. Last month, the City Commission approved publication of a budget that will increase the city’s property tax levy to 41 mills. That’s a 7-mill increase from the current year. A mill is $1 in taxes for every $1,000 in a property’s assessed valuation. Commissioners can decrease expenditure levels written into the published budget on Monday, but they can’t increase them without republishing the budget. Matite said that although there might be a willingness among commissioners to defer some minor new spending recommendations, there was firm support for the biggest item in the hike — the 4 mills earmarked for a capital improvement fund. Eudora Mayor Tim Reazin said he hoped commissioners would approve the budget as published, noting that it was hammered out after listening to the needs of department heads. Those residents who made comments on the budget to him were understanding of the needs driving the tax increase, he said. The root cause of the 4-mill capital improvement fund proposal, Reazin said, lies in Eudora’s boom years in the 1990s and 2000s. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 1,228 of the city’s 2,466 housing units were built in those two decades. Unfortunately, the city’s infrastructure didn’t keep pace, the mayor said.
> BUDGET, 8A By Rochelle Valverde rvalverde@ljworld.com
The Lawrence City Commission will take a closer look Tuesday at reconstruction plans for a portion of Kasold Drive that could reduce the number of lanes when the street is rebuilt next year. City staff members are recommending that the section of Kasold Drive that runs from Sixth Street and Bob Billings Parkway be reduced to one lane of traffic in each direction,
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down from the current configuration of two lanes in each direction. But some commissioners aren’t sure that reduction would be the right move for the long-term. “We build these things with a life expectancy of 50 years, and you know whatever decision we make is going to have a very, very long impact on this community, and we need to be careful of that,” Mayor Mike Amyx said.
AN AERIAL VIEW SHOWS KASOLD DRIVE LOOKING NORTHWEST as it elbows near the intersection of Harvard Road. Nick Krug/ Journal-World File Photo
> KASOLD, 2A
Heavy rain A&E.......................... 1D-6D CLASSIFIED................1E-6E
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High: 77
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DEATHS...........................2A EVENTS...........................2D
Low: 68
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Forecast, 6C
HOROSCOPE................... 4D OPINION..........................7A
PUZZLES................. 4D, 5D SPORTS.....................1C-6C
HOT YOGA HEATS UP Sweltering summer temperatures can’t stop practitioners from posing. A&E, 1D