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Kansas City News Today Kansas City Front Page is a weekly news publication, with daily updates, spotlighting attractions, events, business and hospitality in Kansas City. |
KANSAS CITY NEWS TODAY - Tuesday, April 14, 2009  Share Your Ideas for the Thomas Hart Benton Home KANSAS CITY, MO, (kansascityfrontpage.com), April 14, 2009 - Do you have ideas or suggestions for the Thomas Hart Benton Home and Studio State Historic Site in Kansas City? The Missouri Department of Natural Resources invites you to share your views at an informational meeting on Sunday, April 19. The meeting will begin at 2 p.m. at the home, and the public is encouraged to attend. Site staff will be on hand to discuss recent changes at the historic site, plans for future development projects and upcoming exhibit collaborations. After the meeting, a short presentation on Thomas Hart Benton as a book illustrator will be given. Guided tours of the home and studio will be available before and after the meeting. The informational meeting is part of an ongoing effort by the Department to ensure that the public has input on the facilities and services in state parks and historic sites. Thomas Hart Benton Home and Studio State Historic Site is located at 3616 Belleview in Kansas City. Persons requiring special services or accommodations to attend the meeting can call the site at 816-931-5722 or the Department of Natural Resources toll free at 800-334-6946. Lands Bill Approves Study of Additional Historic Trail Routes KANSAS CITY, MO, (kansascityfrontpage.com), April 14, 2009 - Over the next several years, the National Park Service (NPS) will study thousands of miles of historic overland trails to determine whether they should be added to the Oregon, California, Mormon Pioneer, and Pony Express National Historic Trails. The Oregon, California, Mormon Pioneer, and Pony Express National Historic Trails are part of a network of 26 historic and scenic trails, which make up the National Trails System. The Oregon National Historic Trail begins at Independence, Mo., and ends at Oregon City, Ore. The Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail begins at Nauvoo, Ill., and ends at Salt Lake City, Utah. The Pony Express National Historic Trail begins at St. Joseph, Mo., and ends in San Francisco. The California National Historic Trail begins in five locations -- Independence, Amazonia and St. Joseph, Mo., and Omaha and Nebraska City, Neb., and ends at multiple locations in California and Oregon. The study, which lists 64 individual trail segments for study in more than a dozen states from the Mississippi River to the Pacific, is authorized under the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act (Public Law 111-11) signed by President Obama on March 30. In addition to those specific trail segments, NPS is directed to identify and evaluate other trail routes that may be historically linked to the four existing national trails. Work will begin when funding is in place, probably within the next year. Responsible for conducting the feasibility study is the National Trails Intermountain Region program office of NPS, with offices in Santa Fe and Salt Lake City. The trails office administers the four overland trails, as well as five other national historic trails and the historic Route 66 highway. "Evaluating these routes for possible inclusion in the National Trails System is an important step forward in recognizing the complexity and diversity of the great 19th-century emigrant experience in the American West," said Aaron Mahr, superintendent of National Trails Intermountain Region. "Forgotten stories of heroic struggle, emigrant determination, ethnic contact, and the like will all be rediscovered in the course of this work." "The Park Service will work closely with communities along the trails to evaluate these routes for possible inclusion in the trail system," said Mahr. "The National Trails System is a great example of communities partnering with the federal government to protect and make available place of great value to our collective, shared histories. That partnership will greatly help evaluate these new routes." Historic trails advocates and interest groups have eagerly awaited Congressional authorization of this study for some 10 years. Some observers, though, worry about possible impacts that designation might have on private property rights. Designation of national historic trails does not transfer land title to the federal government or otherwise affect landowners' rights, however. Landowners on a national historic trail are not required to allow public access to their property, to participate in or be associated with the trail, or to be liable for any persons injured while using the trail on their property, and their land use is not controlled by the federal government. Proposed Bill Supports Restricting Off-Label Treatment KANSAS CITY, MO, (kansascityfrontpage.com), April 14, 2009 - Attorney General Chris Koster joined with 16 other state Attorneys General in supporting a proposed federal rule to prevent insurance companies from requiring patients to use drugs "off-label." Off-label treatment occurs when a health plan mandates that patients first try drugs that are not approved by the FDA for the specified diagnosis, before the plan will cover the doctor-prescribed medications. Health care plans do not fall under the strict laws that regulate marketing of drugs for off-label uses. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has proposed a rule to stop insurance companies from requiring a patient to first try a drug off-label before it will provide Medicare Part D coverage. The letter from Attorney General Koster and other state Attorneys General to CMS stated that the practice of mandating off-label treatments was "dangerous and should not be permitted." "Increasingly, I hear from patients who have been denied their medications by third party payors more concerned with profits than patient safety," said Koster. "Patients deserve the care their doctors order, instead of having the insurance company mandate use of a non-FDA approved drug for treatment." Koster also expressed concern about commercial insurance practices in Missouri that required forced off-label therapy before granting access to doctor-prescribed medications. "One proposal pending in the Missouri legislature merits the attention of the General Assembly," Koster said. "House Bill 458, sponsored by Representative Bryan Stevenson and put forward by Republican and Democratic leaders, is a serious bi-partisan effort to address transparency in medical care." HB 458 regulates pharmacy benefit managers and requires notice to patients and doctors if any insurer switches prescriptions or treatment.   The Kansas City Front Page is owned and maintained by the Moore Design Group for the sole purpose of disseminating news and information about the Metropolitan Kansas City area. Text or graphics may not be copied, rewritten or distributed in any manner whatsoever without written permission. For more information, contact editor@slfp.com All rights reserved world wide © 2007 - 2009 Moore Design Group. |
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