KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A former Missouri respiratory therapist who&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/therapist-charged-hospital-deaths-missouri-e1ee052d92853b581db18815f7367925">pleaded guilty</a>&nbsp;in the deaths of two hospital patients has been sentenced to 18 years in prison.

Jennifer Hall was initially charged with two counts of first-degree murder but pleaded guilty in April to reduced first-degree involuntary manslaughter counts in the deaths of 75-year-old Fern Franco and 37-year-old David Wesley Harper. She also pleaded guilty to one count of attempted second-degree assault. She was sentenced Friday,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kctv5.com/2023/08/19/missouri-respiratory-therapist-jennifer-hall-sentenced-deaths-2-patients/">KCTV-TV</a>&nbsp;reported.

Franco and Harper were among nine patients who died at Hedrick Medical Center in Chillicothe over several months in 2002 in what charging documents describe as “medically suspicious” events.

“A sentence 20 years in the making,” Livingston County Prosecuting Attorney Adam Warren said in a statement. He noted that Hall will eventually be eligible for parole. “But for now, we all sleep better knowing she is behind bars,” he said.

From December 2001, when Hall started working at the hospital, until she was placed on administrative leave the following May, there also were 18 cardiac arrests or “Code Blue” events, up from an average of one a year before then.

The case was revived after an analysis of Franco’s tissue samples found morphine and a powerful muscle relaxant used in anesthesia in her system. Neither drug was prescribed or ordered for her by her doctors, investigators said.

Some staff at the hospital believed Hall was responsible because of her proximity to the stricken patients, her access to deadly pharmaceuticals, and because she notified staff of every patient’s cardiac emergency, according to court documents.

Hall had previously denied any involvement in the deaths.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/5/1652449498878.png" alt="Jennifer Hall, 41, was arrested in Johnson County, Kansas, on Thursday evening under the name Jennifer Semaboye, of Overland Park, Kansas," />
 <figcaption>Jennifer Hall, 41, was arrested in Johnson County, Kansas, on Thursday evening under the name Jennifer Semaboye, of Overland Park, Kansas,</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A former Missouri respiratory therapist who&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/therapist-charged-hospital-deaths-missouri-e1ee052d92853b581db18815f7367925">pleaded guilty</a>&nbsp;in the deaths of two hospital patients has been sentenced to 18 years in prison.Jennifer Hall was initially charged with two counts of first-degree murder but pleaded guilty in April to reduced first-degree involuntary manslaughter counts in the deaths of 75-year-old Fern Franco and 37-year-old David Wesley Harper. She also pleaded guilty to one count of attempted second-degree assault. She was sentenced Friday,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kctv5.com/2023/08/19/missouri-respiratory-therapist-jennifer-hall-sentenced-deaths-2-patients/">KCTV-TV</a>&nbsp;reported.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/5/1652204964045.png" alt="Livingston Co. Sheriff" />
 <figcaption>Livingston Co. Sheriff</figcaption>
 </figure>Franco and Harper were among nine patients who died at Hedrick Medical Center in Chillicothe over several months in 2002 in what charging documents describe as “medically suspicious” events.“A sentence 20 years in the making,” Livingston County Prosecuting Attorney Adam Warren said in a statement. He noted that Hall will eventually be eligible for parole. “But for now, we all sleep better knowing she is behind bars,” he said.From December 2001, when Hall started working at the hospital, until she was placed on administrative leave the following May, there also were 18 cardiac arrests or “Code Blue” events, up from an average of one a year before then.The case was revived after an analysis of Franco’s tissue samples found morphine and a powerful muscle relaxant used in anesthesia in her system. Neither drug was prescribed or ordered for her by her doctors, investigators said.Some staff at the hospital believed Hall was responsible because of her proximity to the stricken patients, her access to deadly pharmaceuticals, and because she notified staff of every patient’s cardiac emergency, according to court documents.Hall had previously denied any involvement in the deaths.

Respiratory therapist arrested in Kan. sentenced in deaths of patients

WICHITA, KAN. – A federal grand jury in Wichita returned three related indictments charging a total of 12 people following a large scale law enforcement investigation into an alleged drug trafficking ring, according to a media release from the United State's Attorney.

In the first indictment, Rafael Turner, 33, of Phoenix, Arizona, and formerly of Wichita is charged with one count of distribution of fentanyl, two counts of attempted distribution of fentanyl, two counts of conspiracy to distribute fentanyl, and four counts of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl.

The grand jury also indicted Rafael Turner on 24 counts of use of a telephone to facilitate drug trafficking, one count of maintaining a drug premises, one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit fraud in relation to identification documents, and six counts of money laundering.

Andrea Bohanon, 33, of Wichita is charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute fentanyl, one count of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, one count of maintaining a drug premises, and six counts of money laundering,

Antwain Gails, 33, of Wichita is charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute fentanyl, nine counts of use of a telephone to facilitate drug trafficking, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit fraud in relation to identification documents.

Antonio Turner, 55, of Wichita is charged with one count of distribution of fentanyl, one count of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, one count of conspiracy to distribute fentanyl, and nine counts of use of a telephone to facilitate drug trafficking,

Wayne Turner, 30, of Wichita is charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute fentanyl.

As part of a second indictment, William Parks, 27, of Salina was indicted on one count of conspiracy to distribute and attempt to distribute fentanyl, one count of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, and three counts of use of a telephone to facilitate drug trafficking.

Santino Dupree, 29, of Wichita was indicted on one count of conspiracy to distribute and attempt to distribute fentanyl, and three counts of use of a telephone to facilitate drug trafficking.

Tehran Wilson, 30, of Wichita was indicted on one count of conspiracy to distribute and attempt to distribute fentanyl, one count of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, and one count of use of a telephone to facilitate drug trafficking.

Justice Johnson, 27, of Wichita was indicted on one count of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl.

In a third indictment, a federal grand jury charged Kayla Dean, 21, of Southfield, Michigan, Isaiah Gails, 34, of Wichita, and Marquez Gails, 42, of Wichita on one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit fraud in relation to identification documents. Dean was also indicted on six counts of money laundering, and Isaiah Gails was also indicted on one count of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Wichita Police Department, Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office, IRS-Criminal Investigation, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) are investigating the case.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/8/1692464531855.png" alt="Andrea Bohanon-photo from a January arrest in Sedgwick County" />
 <figcaption>Andrea Bohanon-photo from a January arrest in Sedgwick County</figcaption>
 </figure>WICHITA, KAN. – A federal grand jury in Wichita returned three related indictments charging a total of 12 people following a large scale law enforcement investigation into an alleged drug trafficking ring, according to a media release from the United State's Attorney.In the first indictment, Rafael Turner, 33, of Phoenix, Arizona, and formerly of Wichita is charged with one count of distribution of fentanyl, two counts of attempted distribution of fentanyl, two counts of conspiracy to distribute fentanyl, and four counts of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl.The grand jury also indicted Rafael Turner on 24 counts of use of a telephone to facilitate drug trafficking, one count of maintaining a drug premises, one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit fraud in relation to identification documents, and six counts of money laundering.Andrea Bohanon, 33, of Wichita is charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute fentanyl, one count of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, one count of maintaining a drug premises, and six counts of money laundering,Antwain Gails, 33, of Wichita is charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute fentanyl, nine counts of use of a telephone to facilitate drug trafficking, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit fraud in relation to identification documents.Antonio Turner, 55, of Wichita is charged with one count of distribution of fentanyl, one count of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, one count of conspiracy to distribute fentanyl, and nine counts of use of a telephone to facilitate drug trafficking,Wayne Turner, 30, of Wichita is charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute fentanyl.As part of a second indictment, William Parks, 27, of Salina was indicted on one count of conspiracy to distribute and attempt to distribute fentanyl, one count of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, and three counts of use of a telephone to facilitate drug trafficking.Santino Dupree, 29, of Wichita was indicted on one count of conspiracy to distribute and attempt to distribute fentanyl, and three counts of use of a telephone to facilitate drug trafficking.Tehran Wilson, 30, of Wichita was indicted on one count of conspiracy to distribute and attempt to distribute fentanyl, one count of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, and one count of use of a telephone to facilitate drug trafficking.Justice Johnson, 27, of Wichita was indicted on one count of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl.In a third indictment, a federal grand jury charged Kayla Dean, 21, of Southfield, Michigan, Isaiah Gails, 34, of Wichita, and Marquez Gails, 42, of Wichita on one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit fraud in relation to identification documents. Dean was also indicted on six counts of money laundering, and Isaiah Gails was also indicted on one count of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl.The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Wichita Police Department, Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office, IRS-Criminal Investigation, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) are investigating the case.

Indictment: 12 accused of fentanyl trafficking in Kansas

JOHNSON COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating retail theft in Kansas and have recovered thousands in stolen merchandise.

Earlier this year, police in the city of Shawnee, Kansas received information that resulted in a months-long cooperative investigation with assistance from area law enforcement agencies and corporate retail loss prevention personnel, according to a media release.

This week, investigators served a search warrant at a home in the city of Shawnee and detectives recovered 479 items believed to have been stolen from multiple area retailers.&nbsp;

During the investigation, detectives recovered an estimated $138,000 worth of stolen merchandise comprised largely of power tools.&nbsp;&nbsp;

The case will be submitted to the Johnson County District Attorney for charges. Police did not release names of suspects or additional details as the investigation continues.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/8/1692359721827.png" alt="Photo Shawnee Police" />
 <figcaption>Photo Shawnee Police</figcaption>
 </figure>JOHNSON COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating retail theft in Kansas and have recovered thousands in stolen merchandise.Earlier this year, police in the city of Shawnee, Kansas received information that resulted in a months-long cooperative investigation with assistance from area law enforcement agencies and corporate retail loss prevention personnel, according to a media release.This week, investigators served a search warrant at a home in the city of Shawnee and detectives recovered 479 items believed to have been stolen from multiple area retailers.&nbsp;During the investigation, detectives recovered an estimated $138,000 worth of stolen merchandise comprised largely of power tools.&nbsp;&nbsp;The case will be submitted to the Johnson County District Attorney for charges. Police did not release names of suspects or additional details as the investigation continues.

$138,000 in stolen merchandise recovered at Kansas home

By JULIE APPLEBY <a href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2021-01-14/private-practice-doctors-patients-wonder-when-its-their-turn-for-the-covid-19-vaccine">Kaiser Health News</a>

A simple enough question, featured on a&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyUx06Bfzfc">new TV and online advertisement</a>, posed by a man who just wants something cold.

A woman behind the counter responds with a smile: “Prices? No, we don’t have those anymore. We have estimates.”

The satirical ad pretends to be a news report highlighting a “trend” in which more retail outlets take up “the hospital pricing method”: substituting estimates for actual prices for the cost of meals, merchandise on store shelves, and clothing. The scene ends with a partially deleted expletive from the ice cream-seeking man.

While the use of estimates in retail settings is imaginary and preposterous, the advertisement is part of an ongoing campaign by the advocacy group Patient Rights Advocate, which contends that some hospitals are still falling short of a law that went into effect in 2021 requiring them to publicly post their prices. Even then, said Cynthia Fisher, the group’s founder and chairperson, too many post estimates rather than exact dollar-and-cent figures.

“People need price certainty,” said Fisher. “Estimates are a way of gaming the people who pay for health care.”

Although government data shows that hospitals’ compliance with price transparency rules has improved, updating the requirements of that law is the focus of a&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/07/31/2023-14768/medicare-program-hospital-outpatient-prospective-payment-and-ambulatory-surgical-center-payment">new proposal by the Biden administration</a>, which aims to further standardize the required data, increase its usefulness for consumers, and boost enforcement. Even with all that, however, the goal of exact price tags in every situation is likely to remain elusive.

“We’re closer to that, but we’re not there,” said Gerard Anderson, a professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, who studies hospital pricing using the data that hospitals have already posted.

The proposed rule is designed to make it easier for consumers to learn in advance exactly what they might owe for nonemergency hospital care — though that was what the original price transparency rules were supposed to do.

Requiring hospitals to post their prices is part of a larger effort to make medical costs less opaque, which could help individual consumers predict their expenses and possibly slow health cost inflation, if it leads employers and insurers to contract with less expensive providers.

But the data files themselves are massive, often hard to find, and complex to decipher.

“Even for us, it’s really hard to use,” said Anderson.

Under current regulations, hospitals must publicly post prices for every service they offer, from drugs to stitches to time a patient spends in an operating room, as well as show all the bundled costs associated with 300 “shoppable” services, which are things people can plan for, such as a hip replacement or having a baby. Several different prices are required, including those they’ve negotiated with insurers and what they charge cash-paying customers.

Similar regulations, but with more prescriptive details and tougher penalties for noncompliance,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.npr.org/2022/07/02/1109557961/health-insurers-are-now-required-to-post-prices-they-pay-to-hospitals">went into effect for insurance companies</a>&nbsp;in 2022, requiring them to post prices not only for hospital care, but also for outpatient centers and physician services.

The new hospital requirements proposed by the Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services help “catch up to what they did with health plans,” said Hal Andrews,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.trillianthealth.com/company">CEO and president of Trilliant Health</a>, a market research and analysis company.

“It’s a step down the path to making the data more accessible” to data analysis firms that create online price comparison tools, said Jeff Leibach, a partner at the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://guidehouse.com/">consulting firm Guidehouse</a>. “And, ultimately, consumers who want to shop will then find this data more easily.” Many hospitals, insurers, and third-party data firms have made such cost comparison tools available.

Even the new requirements may not resolve the demand that is central to the dystopian ad’s ice cream-seeking man: getting exact prices, in dollars and cents. Such specificity may remain elusive for some consumers, if only because of the nature of medical care.

“Each patient is unique and uses a slightly different bundle of services,” said Anderson of Johns Hopkins. “You might be in the operating room for 30 minutes, or it might be 45. You might need this lab test and not that one.”

The proposed rule&nbsp;would, for one thing, further standardize the data required so that reporting is more comparable between facilities. It also mandates hospitals make their data sets easier to find on their websites, which could help data aggregators and consumers alike, and puts administrators in the hot seat to attest that their hospitals have posted all the required information accurately.

Individual hospitals that fail to post properly would face additional publicity by federal regulators: “Consider it a public naughty list,” said Marcus Dorstel, vice president of operations at data analysis firm Turquoise Health, which provides an online tool consumers can use to check prices across hospitals.

In addition, the proposal adds a data category awkwardly called “consumer-friendly expected allowed charges,” aimed at giving more information tied to the varied ways hospitals set prices. In plainer language, those allowed amounts are what hospitals expect to be reimbursed by insurance companies.

For example, Dorstel said, currently a service might not be listed as a particular dollar amount, but the hospital will show the price is based on “70% of charges.”

“Without the expected allowed amount, that doesn’t tell you anything,” Dorstel said.

Still, critics — such as Patient Rights Advocate, the group behind the new ad campaign — say that nodding to such allowed amounts will lead to even more estimates, rather than what they prefer: dollar-and-cent assessments.

“You and I would not buy a blouse at an average estimated amount,” said Fisher.

Health care isn’t like blouses or ice cream, responded executives from the American Hospital Association when asked about the advertisement and Fisher’s concerns about exact, upfront amounts. In many situations, for example, it may be hard to know ahead of time exactly what kind of care a patient will need.

“Very few health services are so straightforward where you can expect no variation in the course of care,” which could then result in a different cost than the original assessment,” said Molly Smith,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.ahip.org/people/molly-smith">AHA’s group vice president for public policy</a>. “Organizations are doing the best they can to provide the closest estimate. If something changes in the course of your care, that estimate might adjust.”

While hospitals’ compliance with posting price information has improved, it still falls short, said Fisher, whose group&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.patientrightsadvocate.org/july-semi-annual-compliance-report-2023">in a July report</a>&nbsp;said only 36% of 2,000 hospitals it reviewed complied with all aspects of the current law, marking as deficient those that had incomplete data fields or used formulas instead of dollar prices.

But the American Hospital Association says Fisher’s group “<a target="_blank" href="https://www.aha.org/press-releases/2023-07-25-aha-statement-patient-rights-advocate-price-transparency-report">misconstrues” hospital compliance</a>, in part because hospitals are allowed to leave spaces blank, if, for example, they don’t have a cash-only price. And formulas are allowed if that is how the prices are set.

The hospital group points instead to a&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.aha.org/news/headline/2023-02-16-cms-70-hospitals-compliance-price-transparency-rules">CMS report from earlier this year</a>&nbsp;that showed compliance was increasing year over year. It said 70% of hospitals were compliant with the current requirements of the law.

It took some doing to get that far. Since 2021, the federal government has sent more than 900 warning letters to hospitals about their posted data, with most resolving those concerns, according to the proposed rule. Four hospitals have been fined for failing to comply with the transparency law.

<a target="_blank" href="https://kffhealthnews.org/about-us">KFF Health News</a>&nbsp;is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.kff.org/about-us">KFF</a>.

By JULIE APPLEBY <a href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2021-01-14/private-practice-doctors-patients-wonder-when-its-their-turn-for-the-covid-19-vaccine">Kaiser Health News</a>“How much is the ice cream?”A simple enough question, featured on a&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyUx06Bfzfc">new TV and online advertisement</a>, posed by a man who just wants something cold.A woman behind the counter responds with a smile: “Prices? No, we don’t have those anymore. We have estimates.”The satirical ad pretends to be a news report highlighting a “trend” in which more retail outlets take up “the hospital pricing method”: substituting estimates for actual prices for the cost of meals, merchandise on store shelves, and clothing. The scene ends with a partially deleted expletive from the ice cream-seeking man.While the use of estimates in retail settings is imaginary and preposterous, the advertisement is part of an ongoing campaign by the advocacy group Patient Rights Advocate, which contends that some hospitals are still falling short of a law that went into effect in 2021 requiring them to publicly post their prices. Even then, said Cynthia Fisher, the group’s founder and chairperson, too many post estimates rather than exact dollar-and-cent figures.“People need price certainty,” said Fisher. “Estimates are a way of gaming the people who pay for health care.”Although government data shows that hospitals’ compliance with price transparency rules has improved, updating the requirements of that law is the focus of a&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/07/31/2023-14768/medicare-program-hospital-outpatient-prospective-payment-and-ambulatory-surgical-center-payment">new proposal by the Biden administration</a>, which aims to further standardize the required data, increase its usefulness for consumers, and boost enforcement. Even with all that, however, the goal of exact price tags in every situation is likely to remain elusive.“We’re closer to that, but we’re not there,” said Gerard Anderson, a professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, who studies hospital pricing using the data that hospitals have already posted.The proposed rule is designed to make it easier for consumers to learn in advance exactly what they might owe for nonemergency hospital care — though that was what the original price transparency rules were supposed to do.Requiring hospitals to post their prices is part of a larger effort to make medical costs less opaque, which could help individual consumers predict their expenses and possibly slow health cost inflation, if it leads employers and insurers to contract with less expensive providers.But the data files themselves are massive, often hard to find, and complex to decipher.“Even for us, it’s really hard to use,” said Anderson.Under current regulations, hospitals must publicly post prices for every service they offer, from drugs to stitches to time a patient spends in an operating room, as well as show all the bundled costs associated with 300 “shoppable” services, which are things people can plan for, such as a hip replacement or having a baby. Several different prices are required, including those they’ve negotiated with insurers and what they charge cash-paying customers.Similar regulations, but with more prescriptive details and tougher penalties for noncompliance,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.npr.org/2022/07/02/1109557961/health-insurers-are-now-required-to-post-prices-they-pay-to-hospitals">went into effect for insurance companies</a>&nbsp;in 2022, requiring them to post prices not only for hospital care, but also for outpatient centers and physician services.The new hospital requirements proposed by the Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services help “catch up to what they did with health plans,” said Hal Andrews,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.trillianthealth.com/company">CEO and president of Trilliant Health</a>, a market research and analysis company.“It’s a step down the path to making the data more accessible” to data analysis firms that create online price comparison tools, said Jeff Leibach, a partner at the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://guidehouse.com/">consulting firm Guidehouse</a>. “And, ultimately, consumers who want to shop will then find this data more easily.” Many hospitals, insurers, and third-party data firms have made such cost comparison tools available.Even the new requirements may not resolve the demand that is central to the dystopian ad’s ice cream-seeking man: getting exact prices, in dollars and cents. Such specificity may remain elusive for some consumers, if only because of the nature of medical care.“Each patient is unique and uses a slightly different bundle of services,” said Anderson of Johns Hopkins. “You might be in the operating room for 30 minutes, or it might be 45. You might need this lab test and not that one.”The proposed rule&nbsp;would, for one thing, further standardize the data required so that reporting is more comparable between facilities. It also mandates hospitals make their data sets easier to find on their websites, which could help data aggregators and consumers alike, and puts administrators in the hot seat to attest that their hospitals have posted all the required information accurately.Individual hospitals that fail to post properly would face additional publicity by federal regulators: “Consider it a public naughty list,” said Marcus Dorstel, vice president of operations at data analysis firm Turquoise Health, which provides an online tool consumers can use to check prices across hospitals.In addition, the proposal adds a data category awkwardly called “consumer-friendly expected allowed charges,” aimed at giving more information tied to the varied ways hospitals set prices. In plainer language, those allowed amounts are what hospitals expect to be reimbursed by insurance companies.Some experts say that will be helpful.For example, Dorstel said, currently a service might not be listed as a particular dollar amount, but the hospital will show the price is based on “70% of charges.”“Without the expected allowed amount, that doesn’t tell you anything,” Dorstel said.Still, critics — such as Patient Rights Advocate, the group behind the new ad campaign — say that nodding to such allowed amounts will lead to even more estimates, rather than what they prefer: dollar-and-cent assessments.“You and I would not buy a blouse at an average estimated amount,” said Fisher.Health care isn’t like blouses or ice cream, responded executives from the American Hospital Association when asked about the advertisement and Fisher’s concerns about exact, upfront amounts. In many situations, for example, it may be hard to know ahead of time exactly what kind of care a patient will need.“Very few health services are so straightforward where you can expect no variation in the course of care,” which could then result in a different cost than the original assessment,” said Molly Smith,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.ahip.org/people/molly-smith">AHA’s group vice president for public policy</a>. “Organizations are doing the best they can to provide the closest estimate. If something changes in the course of your care, that estimate might adjust.”While hospitals’ compliance with posting price information has improved, it still falls short, said Fisher, whose group&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.patientrightsadvocate.org/july-semi-annual-compliance-report-2023">in a July report</a>&nbsp;said only 36% of 2,000 hospitals it reviewed complied with all aspects of the current law, marking as deficient those that had incomplete data fields or used formulas instead of dollar prices.But the American Hospital Association says Fisher’s group “<a target="_blank" href="https://www.aha.org/press-releases/2023-07-25-aha-statement-patient-rights-advocate-price-transparency-report">misconstrues” hospital compliance</a>, in part because hospitals are allowed to leave spaces blank, if, for example, they don’t have a cash-only price. And formulas are allowed if that is how the prices are set.The hospital group points instead to a&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.aha.org/news/headline/2023-02-16-cms-70-hospitals-compliance-price-transparency-rules">CMS report from earlier this year</a>&nbsp;that showed compliance was increasing year over year. It said 70% of hospitals were compliant with the current requirements of the law.It took some doing to get that far. Since 2021, the federal government has sent more than 900 warning letters to hospitals about their posted data, with most resolving those concerns, according to the proposed rule. Four hospitals have been fined for failing to comply with the transparency law.<a target="_blank" href="https://kffhealthnews.org/about-us">KFF Health News</a>&nbsp;is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.kff.org/about-us">KFF</a>.

Proposed rule would make hospital prices even more transparent

Bitcoin, RockItCoin and other crypto ATM companies are plentiful in low-income Kansas City neighborhoods. Experts say the machines are targeting residents with extraordinary fees

BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/danmika/">DAN MIKA</a>

Finance professor Jocelyn Evans first encountered a cryptocurrency ATM on the way to talk about financial education with students last fall.

Evans stopped at a gas station on her way to Sumner Academy in Kansas City, Kansas. She came across the machine with the word “BITCOIN” on the screen. Store staffers weren’t familiar with the machine, which didn’t provide much explanation about how cryptocurrencies work.

“It’s a low-income area with primarily Hispanic, African-American, people who are immigrants,”&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://bloch.umkc.edu/profiles/faculty-directory/jocelyn-evans.html">said Evans</a>, the Henry W. Bloch endowed chair of finance and an associate dean at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. “I just wondered how much people know about cryptocurrency and, with a standalone machine, how much people knew when they made transactions with these machines.”

The ATM that caught Evans’ attention is one of more than 100 cryptocurrency kiosks installed in gas stations, liquor stores, smoke shops and elsewhere across the Kansas City area in the last few years.

The companies running the machines argue they’re providing communities an alternative to traditional financial institutions that have historically given worse deals to poorer neighborhoods and communities of color.

But critics call the machines a targeted attempt to exploit financially vulnerable people with steep fees for a volatile product that’s difficult to cash out from.

“This is no different than people who target the Black community for payday loans or subprime loans,” Evans said. “They’re targeting people with the least financial knowledge and understanding of how you invest in cryptocurrencies.”

Cryptocurrency machines tend to be placed in and around neighborhoods with larger numbers of Black and Latino residents, and in areas with lower median household incomes, according to a Beacon analysis comparing ATM locations provided by&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="http://coinatmradar.com/">CoinATMRadar</a>&nbsp;against recent estimates from the U.S. Census.

<a target="_blank" href="https://www.fdic.gov/analysis/household-survey/2021report.pdf">Research</a>&nbsp;from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. shows those populations are more likely to lack bank accounts — or to use nontraditional financial services like payday loans or title loan services that often carry steep fees.

Crypto ATMs promise access to the world of cryptocurrency to financially disadvantaged groups. However, they often charge fees far above industry standards and sometimes offer little explanation of the risks inherent in crypto. All of these ATMs will accept cash to buy crypto, but most aren’t equipped to sell crypto and dispense cash.

Also, cryptocurrency accounts are not insured by the federal government, while the vast majority of bank accounts with less than $250,000 are. The machines also come with pricey surcharges. They often charge more than 10% per transaction and, in one case found by The Beacon, up to 40%.

Cryptocurrencies are meant to be a digital form of money. No specific entity like a bank or government controls how much of the currency is available or manages and tracks currency transfers between people.

Instead, cryptocurrency ledger updates are pushed to a decentralized network of computers that acts as an ever-updating history of every transaction within that currency.

Such an arrangement can appeal to people who don’t trust the financial system, since cryptocurrency wallets in theory don’t require users to identify themselves. Some machines visited by The Beacon required a government ID to put in cash or transact, while others only required a phone number and name without any additional verification.

At least one crypto ATM provider has acknowledged placing machines near unbanked communities. In an&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUnt2AgClDk">interview</a>&nbsp;with a crypto trade publication earlier this year, Bitcoin Depot CEO Brandon Mintz said his company views the unbanked as a primary customer segment. A&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/files/2021-report-economic-well-being-us-households-202205.pdf">2021 survey</a>&nbsp;from the Federal Reserve showed people who used cryptocurrencies for paying others were twice as likely to be unbanked than those who don’t use crypto.

Bitcoin Depot did not respond to multiple requests from The Beacon for comment.

Bitcoin Depot’s projections show how lucrative the crypto ATM business can be. The company, which recently went public,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://ir.bitcoindepot.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/46/bitcoin-depot-reports-preliminary-second-quarter-revenue">estimates</a>&nbsp;revenues of between $700 million and $730 million this year, with nearly all of that coming from transaction fees.

The first crypto ATM in Kansas City launched in November 2016 at a currency exchange on Broadway Boulevard in midtown. Bitcoin and Ethereum, the two largest cryptocurrencies, had a combined market capitalization of $12 billion at the time. A bitcoin cost around $700, while one ethereum costs $10.

At their peak, around the fall of 2021, Bitcoin and Ethereum combined were valued at the equivalent of nearly $1.8 trillion. Crypto ATMs followed the rise of the coins they sold. The number of ATMs operating in the U.S. rocketed from nearly 4,200 from the start of 2020 to more than 30,000 at the end of 2022.

Only 16 ATMs opened in the Kansas City region during 2018 and 2019. But as cryptocurrencies began to rise in the summer of 2020 amid broader financial speculation, ATM companies added 31 more in the region by the end of the year. Another 50 ATMs were installed in 2021 as pandemic anxieties began to wane.

But economic conditions soured in 2022, as decades-high inflation and fears of global recession created a drag on speculative assets that were flying high during the pandemic.

If the crypto market was an airliner, the end of low interest rates set by the Federal Reserve was like stalling out at 40,000 feet. Just more than a year off its highs, the combined value of Bitcoin and Ethereum sat at about $453 billion in late November 2022 — a decline of nearly 75%.

Yet 40 more ATMs started operating in Kansas City in 2022, while the crypto crash sapped hundreds of billions of dollars out of the ecosystem.

Globally, the crypto research firm Chainalysis estimates that the entirety of the crypto ATM ecosystem accepted deposits worth nearly $3.8 billion in 2021; that amount fell sharply in 2022 alongside the larger slump in crypto prices.

The cost to buy crypto at stand-alone machines is often hidden or poorly advertised. The average buy rate among ATMs providing information to CoinATMRadar is&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://coinatmradar.com/city/78/bitcoin-atm-kansas-city/">16%</a>, and often a flat fee ranging from $1 to $5 is added to the transaction.

A customer who purchased $20 of bitcoin would pay $3.20 in percentage fees, bringing the total fee to between $4.20 and $8.20 when buying crypto. The dollar equivalent of what remains after those fees is rarely the same day to day due to volatile price swings in crypto compared to government-backed currencies.

Cashing out is also expensive. Selling fees could take another&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://coinatmradar.com/charts/sell-fees/united-states/">7% to 15%</a>&nbsp;out of the withdrawal.

And those transaction fees can run much higher, and be hidden in plain sight.

A Beacon reporter visited a store in northeast Kansas City on July 19 to buy $20 worth of bitcoin, which was trading around&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/BTC-USD/history?period1=1658188800&amp;period2=1689724800&amp;interval=1d&amp;filter=history&amp;frequency=1d&amp;includeAdjustedClose=true">$30,000 per coin</a>&nbsp;throughout the day. While there was no flat fee, the machine issued the equivalent of $20 of bitcoin at the equivalent of bitcoin priced at approximately $45,000 — a difference of more than 40% over the market price. The price discrepancy was not disclosed.

Transaction fees are far lower on fully online exchanges. The popular crypto exchange&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://help.coinbase.com/en/exchange/trading-and-funding/exchange-fees">Coinbase</a>&nbsp;doesn’t charge fees for deposits and withdrawals of funds in a bank account to and from crypto. SoFi, another online financial brokerage, charges 1.25% per transaction.

The spread of crypto ATMs in the region coincides with a recent increase in unbanked Kansas Citians. An estimated 6.4% of Kansas City area residents were unbanked in 2021, according to FDIC estimates, an increase from 5.8% two years earlier.

FDIC surveys show the most commonly cited reason Americans forgo bank accounts is because they cannot maintain the minimum balance required to avoid monthly fees, which are more likely to be charged to&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/13/black-and-hispanics-paying-twice-amount-banking-fees-than-whites-survey.html">Black and Latino customers</a>.

Discriminatory practices like “redlining,” or denying bank loans and services to residents in communities with significant numbers of racial or ethnic minorities, were banned at the federal level in 1974.

The long-lasting effects of redlining and more modern disadvantages continue to pose a hurdle for low-income people and communities of color to build wealth.

Geoff Jolley, executive director of the community nonprofit Local Initiatives Support Corp. of Greater Kansas City, said access to traditional financial services still lags in communities of color.

The lack of traditional lenders in those areas leaves alternative financial services providers to fill the gap, often with exorbitant fees and interest rates.

“I’m not surprised to see things like cryptocurrency ATMs, payday loans, title companies, that tend to be more exploitative, located in Hispanic or Black communities,” Jolley said.

Crypto ATMs also may not allow customers to convert their crypto into cash. Nearly one in five crypto ATMs in the Kansas City area do not offer cash withdrawals, according to CoinATMRadar data. These factors combined make it fairly easy to put cash into the world of cryptocurrencies, but far more difficult to withdraw if a user relies heavily on ATMs.

Several crypto ATM companies with locations in Kansas City did not respond to requests for comment for this story.

One company that did respond was RockItCoin. In an emailed statement, CEO Michael Dalesandro said five of the company’s 18 ATMs in Kansas City take and dispense cash. He said machines that do both are more expensive to maintain, so they’re deployed less often.

Dalesandro said RockItCoin’s kiosks are placed in high-traffic areas. He said they do not target specific communities because ATMs aren’t limited to only serving residents that live nearby. Customers search for ATMs and travel to conduct their transactions, he said.

He said RockItCoin’s ATMs do not target specific communities and argued that crypto ATMs are the opposite of exploitative because they offer people without bank accounts or internet access to cryptocurrencies.

“We are leveling the playing field, not creating barriers to entry or methods of exploitation,” he said.

Dalesandro said RockItCoin’s fees reflect the “premium service” it provides along with the risks involved in buying cryptocurrencies and the costs of maintaining the machines and employing customer support and regulatory compliance staff.

Dalesandro said it would be “unfair” to compare RockItCoin’s higher fees with centralized exchanges like CoinBase and SoFi. Those companies are much larger and have other revenue streams that may allow lower transaction fees to entice new customers, he argued.

“One cannot criticize the mom-and-pop convenience store for charging $4 for a gallon of milk when Wal-Mart charges only $1.69 — they have different costs of production,” Dalesandro said.

A Beacon reporter visited several stores in Kansas City and asked employees how often they saw people using the machines. Some said they have never seen the machines used. Others said they see a small number each week.

Many of the machines were not functioning, and store employees described difficulty reaching ATM providers for service. One worker in a store a few blocks east of Troost Avenue said his machine had been broken for three to four months before a repairman came. When a Beacon reporter tested that machine, the keypad was unresponsive.

Jared Girma, co-owner of Ethio Mart in Shawnee, signed a contract three years ago with the crypto ATM provider Coin Cloud to place a machine in his store. One of the company’s selling points was the possibility of more foot traffic and more sales, he said.

But Girma said crypto customers would walk into his store, use the machine and immediately leave.

“Not many people used it (and) then shopped,” he said.

Coin Cloud&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nvb.409411/gov.uscourts.nvb.409411.1.0.pdf">filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy</a>&nbsp;protection in February. Girma said the machine hasn’t been working since. Girma also said he’s only been paid $150 so far this year despite agreeing to a $200 per month rental fee.

Someone came to remove the machine from his store several weeks ago, but Girma refused to let Coin Cloud recover the ATM until his rent agreement is paid in full.

In an emailed response, Brett Axelrod, Coin Cloud’s attorney, said several of Coin Cloud’s ATM lease contracts were not purchased in the bankruptcy process and are effectively terminated. He said the bankruptcy court has allowed Coin Cloud to recover its machines if the party providing the lease space hadn’t filed a dispute.

Regulations and the future of crypto ATMs

A&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/2355?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22jack+reed%22%5D%7D&amp;s=4&amp;r=1">recently introduced U.S. Senate bill</a>&nbsp;would among other things require cryptocurrency ATMs to collect the same level of identity information as banks would for anti-money laundering purposes. Crypto supporters such as the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://digitalchamber.org/chamber-opposes-s2355/">Chamber of Digital Commerce</a>, a crypto industry trade group, are calling that bill an excessive effort to regulate the industry.

The chamber declined to comment on the record about crypto ATM business practices when reached by The Beacon. The DeFi Education Fund, another trade group for crypto-related companies, would not comment on the bill or crypto ATMs in Kansas City.

Evans, the UMKC finance professor, argues crypto ATMs should be banned in lieu of cheaper, more highly regulated online exchanges for people who want to use cryptocurrencies. She also said state governments need to widen access to financial education programs.

Meanwhile, cryptocurrency ATMs remain plugged into stores across Kansas City, charging steep fees and presenting themselves as an alternative to a financial system that doesn’t maintain the same presence in lower-income neighborhoods that it does elsewhere.

LISC Executive Director Jolley lives in northeast Kansas City, an area that’s relatively low-income and home to a relatively high number of immigrants. It has three crypto ATMs and just two bank branches between Independence Avenue and the Missouri River, according to a Beacon analysis of crypto ATM and FDIC location data.

“Financial institutions have not done their part to ensure that there is equitable access to financial opportunity,” Jolley said. “It has created a bit of a vacuum for payday loans (and) cryptocurrency, for other measures with the promise of wealth building being the attraction, but not necessarily the reality.”

This story was supported by the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://watchdogwritersgroup.com/">Watchdog Writers Group</a>, a non-profit journalism institute that produces in-depth reporting. It is based at the University of Missouri School of Journalism.

This&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://kcbeacon.org/stories/2023/08/15/high-fee-crypto-atms-center-around-low-income-parts-of-kansas-city/">article</a>&nbsp;first appeared on&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://kcbeacon.org/">The Beacon</a>&nbsp;and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/8/1692308597824.png" alt=" Cryptocurrency ATMs are plentiful in lower-income neighborhoods around Kansas City (Barbara Shelly/The Beacon)." />
 <figcaption> Cryptocurrency ATMs are plentiful in lower-income neighborhoods around Kansas City (Barbara Shelly/The Beacon).</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>Bitcoin, RockItCoin and other crypto ATM companies are plentiful in low-income Kansas City neighborhoods. Experts say the machines are targeting residents with extraordinary fees</h2>BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/danmika/">DAN MIKA</a>Finance professor Jocelyn Evans first encountered a cryptocurrency ATM on the way to talk about financial education with students last fall.Evans stopped at a gas station on her way to Sumner Academy in Kansas City, Kansas. She came across the machine with the word “BITCOIN” on the screen. Store staffers weren’t familiar with the machine, which didn’t provide much explanation about how cryptocurrencies work.“It’s a low-income area with primarily Hispanic, African-American, people who are immigrants,”&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://bloch.umkc.edu/profiles/faculty-directory/jocelyn-evans.html">said Evans</a>, the Henry W. Bloch endowed chair of finance and an associate dean at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. “I just wondered how much people know about cryptocurrency and, with a standalone machine, how much people knew when they made transactions with these machines.”The ATM that caught Evans’ attention is one of more than 100 cryptocurrency kiosks installed in gas stations, liquor stores, smoke shops and elsewhere across the Kansas City area in the last few years.The companies running the machines argue they’re providing communities an alternative to traditional financial institutions that have historically given worse deals to poorer neighborhoods and communities of color.But critics call the machines a targeted attempt to exploit financially vulnerable people with steep fees for a volatile product that’s difficult to cash out from.“This is no different than people who target the Black community for payday loans or subprime loans,” Evans said. “They’re targeting people with the least financial knowledge and understanding of how you invest in cryptocurrencies.”Cryptocurrency machines tend to be placed in and around neighborhoods with larger numbers of Black and Latino residents, and in areas with lower median household incomes, according to a Beacon analysis comparing ATM locations provided by&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="http://coinatmradar.com/">CoinATMRadar</a>&nbsp;against recent estimates from the U.S. Census.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.fdic.gov/analysis/household-survey/2021report.pdf">Research</a>&nbsp;from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. shows those populations are more likely to lack bank accounts — or to use nontraditional financial services like payday loans or title loan services that often carry steep fees.Crypto ATMs promise access to the world of cryptocurrency to financially disadvantaged groups. However, they often charge fees far above industry standards and sometimes offer little explanation of the risks inherent in crypto. All of these ATMs will accept cash to buy crypto, but most aren’t equipped to sell crypto and dispense cash.Also, cryptocurrency accounts are not insured by the federal government, while the vast majority of bank accounts with less than $250,000 are. The machines also come with pricey surcharges. They often charge more than 10% per transaction and, in one case found by The Beacon, up to 40%.<h2>The promise, rise and crash of crypto</h2>Cryptocurrencies are meant to be a digital form of money. No specific entity like a bank or government controls how much of the currency is available or manages and tracks currency transfers between people.Instead, cryptocurrency ledger updates are pushed to a decentralized network of computers that acts as an ever-updating history of every transaction within that currency.Such an arrangement can appeal to people who don’t trust the financial system, since cryptocurrency wallets in theory don’t require users to identify themselves. Some machines visited by The Beacon required a government ID to put in cash or transact, while others only required a phone number and name without any additional verification.At least one crypto ATM provider has acknowledged placing machines near unbanked communities. In an&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUnt2AgClDk">interview</a>&nbsp;with a crypto trade publication earlier this year, Bitcoin Depot CEO Brandon Mintz said his company views the unbanked as a primary customer segment. A&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/files/2021-report-economic-well-being-us-households-202205.pdf">2021 survey</a>&nbsp;from the Federal Reserve showed people who used cryptocurrencies for paying others were twice as likely to be unbanked than those who don’t use crypto.Bitcoin Depot did not respond to multiple requests from The Beacon for comment.Bitcoin Depot’s projections show how lucrative the crypto ATM business can be. The company, which recently went public,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://ir.bitcoindepot.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/46/bitcoin-depot-reports-preliminary-second-quarter-revenue">estimates</a>&nbsp;revenues of between $700 million and $730 million this year, with nearly all of that coming from transaction fees.The first crypto ATM in Kansas City launched in November 2016 at a currency exchange on Broadway Boulevard in midtown. Bitcoin and Ethereum, the two largest cryptocurrencies, had a combined market capitalization of $12 billion at the time. A bitcoin cost around $700, while one ethereum costs $10.At their peak, around the fall of 2021, Bitcoin and Ethereum combined were valued at the equivalent of nearly $1.8 trillion. Crypto ATMs followed the rise of the coins they sold. The number of ATMs operating in the U.S. rocketed from nearly 4,200 from the start of 2020 to more than 30,000 at the end of 2022.Only 16 ATMs opened in the Kansas City region during 2018 and 2019. But as cryptocurrencies began to rise in the summer of 2020 amid broader financial speculation, ATM companies added 31 more in the region by the end of the year. Another 50 ATMs were installed in 2021 as pandemic anxieties began to wane.But economic conditions soured in 2022, as decades-high inflation and fears of global recession created a drag on speculative assets that were flying high during the pandemic.If the crypto market was an airliner, the end of low interest rates set by the Federal Reserve was like stalling out at 40,000 feet. Just more than a year off its highs, the combined value of Bitcoin and Ethereum sat at about $453 billion in late November 2022 — a decline of nearly 75%.Yet 40 more ATMs started operating in Kansas City in 2022, while the crypto crash sapped hundreds of billions of dollars out of the ecosystem.Globally, the crypto research firm Chainalysis estimates that the entirety of the crypto ATM ecosystem accepted deposits worth nearly $3.8 billion in 2021; that amount fell sharply in 2022 alongside the larger slump in crypto prices.<h2>Steep fees, little disclosure</h2>The cost to buy crypto at stand-alone machines is often hidden or poorly advertised. The average buy rate among ATMs providing information to CoinATMRadar is&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://coinatmradar.com/city/78/bitcoin-atm-kansas-city/">16%</a>, and often a flat fee ranging from $1 to $5 is added to the transaction.A customer who purchased $20 of bitcoin would pay $3.20 in percentage fees, bringing the total fee to between $4.20 and $8.20 when buying crypto. The dollar equivalent of what remains after those fees is rarely the same day to day due to volatile price swings in crypto compared to government-backed currencies.Cashing out is also expensive. Selling fees could take another&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://coinatmradar.com/charts/sell-fees/united-states/">7% to 15%</a>&nbsp;out of the withdrawal.And those transaction fees can run much higher, and be hidden in plain sight.A Beacon reporter visited a store in northeast Kansas City on July 19 to buy $20 worth of bitcoin, which was trading around&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/BTC-USD/history?period1=1658188800&amp;period2=1689724800&amp;interval=1d&amp;filter=history&amp;frequency=1d&amp;includeAdjustedClose=true">$30,000 per coin</a>&nbsp;throughout the day. While there was no flat fee, the machine issued the equivalent of $20 of bitcoin at the equivalent of bitcoin priced at approximately $45,000 — a difference of more than 40% over the market price. The price discrepancy was not disclosed.Transaction fees are far lower on fully online exchanges. The popular crypto exchange&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://help.coinbase.com/en/exchange/trading-and-funding/exchange-fees">Coinbase</a>&nbsp;doesn’t charge fees for deposits and withdrawals of funds in a bank account to and from crypto. SoFi, another online financial brokerage, charges 1.25% per transaction.The spread of crypto ATMs in the region coincides with a recent increase in unbanked Kansas Citians. An estimated 6.4% of Kansas City area residents were unbanked in 2021, according to FDIC estimates, an increase from 5.8% two years earlier.FDIC surveys show the most commonly cited reason Americans forgo bank accounts is because they cannot maintain the minimum balance required to avoid monthly fees, which are more likely to be charged to&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/13/black-and-hispanics-paying-twice-amount-banking-fees-than-whites-survey.html">Black and Latino customers</a>.Discriminatory practices like “redlining,” or denying bank loans and services to residents in communities with significant numbers of racial or ethnic minorities, were banned at the federal level in 1974.The long-lasting effects of redlining and more modern disadvantages continue to pose a hurdle for low-income people and communities of color to build wealth.Geoff Jolley, executive director of the community nonprofit Local Initiatives Support Corp. of Greater Kansas City, said access to traditional financial services still lags in communities of color.The lack of traditional lenders in those areas leaves alternative financial services providers to fill the gap, often with exorbitant fees and interest rates.“I’m not surprised to see things like cryptocurrency ATMs, payday loans, title companies, that tend to be more exploitative, located in Hispanic or Black communities,” Jolley said.Crypto ATMs also may not allow customers to convert their crypto into cash. Nearly one in five crypto ATMs in the Kansas City area do not offer cash withdrawals, according to CoinATMRadar data. These factors combined make it fairly easy to put cash into the world of cryptocurrencies, but far more difficult to withdraw if a user relies heavily on ATMs.<h2>Equitable crypto access?</h2>Several crypto ATM companies with locations in Kansas City did not respond to requests for comment for this story.One company that did respond was RockItCoin. In an emailed statement, CEO Michael Dalesandro said five of the company’s 18 ATMs in Kansas City take and dispense cash. He said machines that do both are more expensive to maintain, so they’re deployed less often.Dalesandro said RockItCoin’s kiosks are placed in high-traffic areas. He said they do not target specific communities because ATMs aren’t limited to only serving residents that live nearby. Customers search for ATMs and travel to conduct their transactions, he said.He said RockItCoin’s ATMs do not target specific communities and argued that crypto ATMs are the opposite of exploitative because they offer people without bank accounts or internet access to cryptocurrencies.“We are leveling the playing field, not creating barriers to entry or methods of exploitation,” he said.Dalesandro said RockItCoin’s fees reflect the “premium service” it provides along with the risks involved in buying cryptocurrencies and the costs of maintaining the machines and employing customer support and regulatory compliance staff.Dalesandro said it would be “unfair” to compare RockItCoin’s higher fees with centralized exchanges like CoinBase and SoFi. Those companies are much larger and have other revenue streams that may allow lower transaction fees to entice new customers, he argued.“One cannot criticize the mom-and-pop convenience store for charging $4 for a gallon of milk when Wal-Mart charges only $1.69 — they have different costs of production,” Dalesandro said.<h2>Malfunctioning crypto ATMs</h2>A Beacon reporter visited several stores in Kansas City and asked employees how often they saw people using the machines. Some said they have never seen the machines used. Others said they see a small number each week.Many of the machines were not functioning, and store employees described difficulty reaching ATM providers for service. One worker in a store a few blocks east of Troost Avenue said his machine had been broken for three to four months before a repairman came. When a Beacon reporter tested that machine, the keypad was unresponsive.Jared Girma, co-owner of Ethio Mart in Shawnee, signed a contract three years ago with the crypto ATM provider Coin Cloud to place a machine in his store. One of the company’s selling points was the possibility of more foot traffic and more sales, he said.But Girma said crypto customers would walk into his store, use the machine and immediately leave.“Not many people used it (and) then shopped,” he said.Coin Cloud&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nvb.409411/gov.uscourts.nvb.409411.1.0.pdf">filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy</a>&nbsp;protection in February. Girma said the machine hasn’t been working since. Girma also said he’s only been paid $150 so far this year despite agreeing to a $200 per month rental fee.Someone came to remove the machine from his store several weeks ago, but Girma refused to let Coin Cloud recover the ATM until his rent agreement is paid in full.In an emailed response, Brett Axelrod, Coin Cloud’s attorney, said several of Coin Cloud’s ATM lease contracts were not purchased in the bankruptcy process and are effectively terminated. He said the bankruptcy court has allowed Coin Cloud to recover its machines if the party providing the lease space hadn’t filed a dispute.<h2>Regulations and the future of crypto ATMs</h2>A&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/2355?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22jack+reed%22%5D%7D&amp;s=4&amp;r=1">recently introduced U.S. Senate bill</a>&nbsp;would among other things require cryptocurrency ATMs to collect the same level of identity information as banks would for anti-money laundering purposes. Crypto supporters such as the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://digitalchamber.org/chamber-opposes-s2355/">Chamber of Digital Commerce</a>, a crypto industry trade group, are calling that bill an excessive effort to regulate the industry.The chamber declined to comment on the record about crypto ATM business practices when reached by The Beacon. The DeFi Education Fund, another trade group for crypto-related companies, would not comment on the bill or crypto ATMs in Kansas City.Evans, the UMKC finance professor, argues crypto ATMs should be banned in lieu of cheaper, more highly regulated online exchanges for people who want to use cryptocurrencies. She also said state governments need to widen access to financial education programs.Meanwhile, cryptocurrency ATMs remain plugged into stores across Kansas City, charging steep fees and presenting themselves as an alternative to a financial system that doesn’t maintain the same presence in lower-income neighborhoods that it does elsewhere.LISC Executive Director Jolley lives in northeast Kansas City, an area that’s relatively low-income and home to a relatively high number of immigrants. It has three crypto ATMs and just two bank branches between Independence Avenue and the Missouri River, according to a Beacon analysis of crypto ATM and FDIC location data.“Financial institutions have not done their part to ensure that there is equitable access to financial opportunity,” Jolley said. “It has created a bit of a vacuum for payday loans (and) cryptocurrency, for other measures with the promise of wealth building being the attraction, but not necessarily the reality.”This story was supported by the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://watchdogwritersgroup.com/">Watchdog Writers Group</a>, a non-profit journalism institute that produces in-depth reporting. It is based at the University of Missouri School of Journalism.This&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://kcbeacon.org/stories/2023/08/15/high-fee-crypto-atms-center-around-low-income-parts-of-kansas-city/">article</a>&nbsp;first appeared on&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://kcbeacon.org/">The Beacon</a>&nbsp;and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Kansas City has over 100 high-fee crypto ATMs, mostly in low-income neighborhoods

RILEY COUNTY&nbsp; –&nbsp;Law enforcement authorities are investigating a&nbsp;shooting adjacent to the Aggieville Business District that sent a woman to the hospital.

Just before 2a.m. Sunday, police heard and responded to multiple gunshots in the 1100 block of Laramie Street, according to a media release from the Riley County Police Department.

Officers arrived on scene immediately and found a 35-year-old woman suffering from an apparent gunshot wound to the back. EMS transported her to Via Christi for treatment of her injuries which are not believed to be life-threatening.

No arrests have been made at this time.&nbsp;

Anyone with information can contact us at (785) 537-2112 or Crime Stoppers at (785) 539-7777. Using Crime Stoppers allows you to remain anonymous and could qualify you for a cash reward of up to $1,000.

RILEY COUNTY&nbsp; –&nbsp;Law enforcement authorities are investigating a&nbsp;shooting adjacent to the Aggieville Business District that sent a woman to the hospital.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/8/1692547211729.png" alt="Google map" />
 <figcaption>Google map</figcaption>
 </figure>Just before 2a.m. Sunday, police heard and responded to multiple gunshots in the 1100 block of Laramie Street, according to a media release from the Riley County Police Department.Officers arrived on scene immediately and found a 35-year-old woman suffering from an apparent gunshot wound to the back. EMS transported her to Via Christi for treatment of her injuries which are not believed to be life-threatening.No arrests have been made at this time.&nbsp;Anyone with information can contact us at (785) 537-2112 or Crime Stoppers at (785) 539-7777. Using Crime Stoppers allows you to remain anonymous and could qualify you for a cash reward of up to $1,000.

Police: Woman injured in shooting in Manhattan

By JOHN HANNA and HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH&nbsp;

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A central Kansas police chief was not only on legally shaky ground when he ordered the raid of a weekly newspaper, experts said, but it may have been a criminal violation of civil rights, a former federal prosecutor added, saying: “I'd probably have the FBI starting to look.”

Some legal experts believe the Aug. 11 raid on the Marion County Record's offices and the home of its publisher violated a federal privacy law that protects journalists from having their newsrooms searched. Some believe it violated a Kansas law that makes it more difficult to force reporters and editors to disclose their sources or unpublished material.

Part of the debate centers around Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody’s reasons for the raid. A warrant suggested that police were looking for evidence that the Record’s staff broke state laws against identity theft and computer crimes while verifying information about a local restaurant owner. But the police also seized the computer tower and personal cellphone belonging to a reporter who had investigated Cody’s background.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/marion-kansas-newspaper-raid-aca057365ea3925328a69acd615c9893">The raid</a>&nbsp;brought international attention to the newspaper and the small town of 1,900 — foisted to the center of a debate over&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/marion-county-record-kansas-newspaper-raid-f1e49c4e542ddb3cf19c9ca02a0a21fb">press freedoms</a>. Recent events have exposed roiling divisions over local politics and the newspaper’s aggressive coverage. But it also focused an intense spotlight on Cody in only his third month on the job.

The investigation into whether the newspaper broke state laws continues, now led by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. State Attorney General Kris Kobach has said he doesn't see the KBI's role as investigating the police's conduct, and that prompted some to question whether the federal government would get involved. Spokespersons for the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice declined to comment.

Stephen McAllister, a U.S. attorney for Kansas during former President Donald Trump's administration, said the raid opened Cody, the city and others to lawsuits for alleged civil right violations. And, he added, “We also have some exposure to federal criminal prosecution.”

“I would be surprised if they are not looking at this, if they haven’t already been asked by various interests to look at it, and I would think they would take it seriously,” McAllister, a University of Kansas law professor who also served as the state's solicitor general, said of federal officials.

Cody did not respond to an email seeking comment Friday, as he has not responded to other emails. But he did defend the raid in a Facebook post afterward, saying the federal law shielding journalists from newsroom searches makes an exception specifically for “when there is reason to believe the journalist is taking part in the underlying wrongdoing.”

Police seized computers, personal cellphones and a router from the newspaper. All items were released Wednesday to a computer forensics auditing firm hired by the newspaper's attorney, after the local prosecutor concluded there wasn't enough evidence to justify their seizure. The firm is examining whether files were accessed or copied.

The five-member Marion City Council was scheduled to have its first meeting since the raid Monday afternoon.

<a href="https://www.marionks.net/sites/g/files/vyhlif7226/f/agendas/august_21_2023_agenda.pdf">The agenda</a>&nbsp;says, in red: “COUNCIL WILL NOT COMMENT ON THE ONGOING CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION AT THIS MEETING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The Record is known for its aggressive coverage of local politics and its community about 150 miles (161 kilometers) southwest of Kansas City, Missouri. It received an outpouring of support from other news organizations and media groups after the raid, and Editor and Publisher Eric Meyer said Friday that it had picked up 4,000 additional subscribers, enough to double the size of its press run, though many of the new subscriptions are digital.

But the raids did have some backers in town. Jared Smith blames the newspaper's coverage for the demise of his wife's day spa business and believes the newspaper is too negative.

“I would love to see the paper go down,” he said.

And Kari Newell, whose allegations that the newspaper violated her privacy have been cited as reasons for the raid, said of the paper, "They do twist and contort — misquote individuals in our community — all the time.”

Meyer rejects criticism of his newspaper's reporting and said critics are upset because it's attempting to hold local officials accountable. And he blames the stress from the raid for the Aug. 12 death of his 98-year-old mother, Joan Meyer, the paper’s co-owner.

Meyer said that after the mayor offered Cody the police chief's job in late April, the newspaper received anonymous tips on “a variety of tales” about why Cody gave up a Kansas City position paying $115,848 a year to take a job paying $60,000, according to a sister paper. Meyer said the newspaper could not verify the tips to its satisfaction.

Days before Cody was sworn in as chief on May 30, Meyer said that he asked Cody directly about the tips he received and Cody told him: "If you print that, I will sue you.”

“We get confidential things from people all the time and we check them out,” said Doug Anstaett, a retired Kansas Press Association executive director. "And sometimes we know they’re silly, but most of the time we get a tip, we check it out. And that’s exactly what they’re doing.”

Anstaett said he believes the state's shield law for journalists, enacted in 2010 by the Republican-controlled Legislature, should have protected the paper. It allows law enforcement agencies to seek subpoenas to obtain confidential information from news organizations, but it requires them to show that they have a compelling interest and can't obtain it in another way.

Former Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt, a Republican who helped write the shield law as a state senator, said the law doesn't contemplate law enforcement using a search warrant to get information without going to court to get a subpoena. Still, he said, “The spirit of the law is that it should be broadly applied.”

Jeffrey Jackson, interim dean of the law school at Washburn University in Topeka, said he recently wrapped up a summer constitutional law course that dealt with press freedoms and the federal privacy law and told his students — before the Marion raid — that a police search of a newspaper “really just never happens.”

Jackson said whether the raid violated the state’s shield law would depend on Cody’s motives, whether he was trying to identify sources. But even if Cody was searching for evidence of a crime by newspaper staff, Jackson believes he likely violated the federal privacy law because it, like the state law, contemplates a law enforcement agency getting a subpoena.

“Either they violated the shield law or they probably violated the federal law,” Jackson said. “Either way, it's a mess.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/8/1692219843330.png" alt="<a href="https://apnews.com/article/marion-kansas-newspaper-raid-aca057365ea3925328a69acd615c9893">The raid</a>&nbsp;brought international attention to the newspaper and the small town of 1,900 — foisted to the center of a debate over&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/marion-county-record-kansas-newspaper-raid-f1e49c4e542ddb3cf19c9ca02a0a21fb">press freedoms</a>. photo courtesy KWCH" />
 <figcaption><a href="https://apnews.com/article/marion-kansas-newspaper-raid-aca057365ea3925328a69acd615c9893">The raid</a>&nbsp;brought international attention to the newspaper and the small town of 1,900 — foisted to the center of a debate over&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/marion-county-record-kansas-newspaper-raid-f1e49c4e542ddb3cf19c9ca02a0a21fb">press freedoms</a>. photo courtesy KWCH</figcaption>
 </figure> By JOHN HANNA and HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH&nbsp;TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A central Kansas police chief was not only on legally shaky ground when he ordered the raid of a weekly newspaper, experts said, but it may have been a criminal violation of civil rights, a former federal prosecutor added, saying: “I'd probably have the FBI starting to look.”Some legal experts believe the Aug. 11 raid on the Marion County Record's offices and the home of its publisher violated a federal privacy law that protects journalists from having their newsrooms searched. Some believe it violated a Kansas law that makes it more difficult to force reporters and editors to disclose their sources or unpublished material.Part of the debate centers around Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody’s reasons for the raid. A warrant suggested that police were looking for evidence that the Record’s staff broke state laws against identity theft and computer crimes while verifying information about a local restaurant owner. But the police also seized the computer tower and personal cellphone belonging to a reporter who had investigated Cody’s background.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/marion-kansas-newspaper-raid-aca057365ea3925328a69acd615c9893">The raid</a>&nbsp;brought international attention to the newspaper and the small town of 1,900 — foisted to the center of a debate over&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/marion-county-record-kansas-newspaper-raid-f1e49c4e542ddb3cf19c9ca02a0a21fb">press freedoms</a>. Recent events have exposed roiling divisions over local politics and the newspaper’s aggressive coverage. But it also focused an intense spotlight on Cody in only his third month on the job.The investigation into whether the newspaper broke state laws continues, now led by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. State Attorney General Kris Kobach has said he doesn't see the KBI's role as investigating the police's conduct, and that prompted some to question whether the federal government would get involved. Spokespersons for the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice declined to comment.Stephen McAllister, a U.S. attorney for Kansas during former President Donald Trump's administration, said the raid opened Cody, the city and others to lawsuits for alleged civil right violations. And, he added, “We also have some exposure to federal criminal prosecution.”“I would be surprised if they are not looking at this, if they haven’t already been asked by various interests to look at it, and I would think they would take it seriously,” McAllister, a University of Kansas law professor who also served as the state's solicitor general, said of federal officials.Cody did not respond to an email seeking comment Friday, as he has not responded to other emails. But he did defend the raid in a Facebook post afterward, saying the federal law shielding journalists from newsroom searches makes an exception specifically for “when there is reason to believe the journalist is taking part in the underlying wrongdoing.”Police seized computers, personal cellphones and a router from the newspaper. All items were released Wednesday to a computer forensics auditing firm hired by the newspaper's attorney, after the local prosecutor concluded there wasn't enough evidence to justify their seizure. The firm is examining whether files were accessed or copied.The five-member Marion City Council was scheduled to have its first meeting since the raid Monday afternoon.<a href="https://www.marionks.net/sites/g/files/vyhlif7226/f/agendas/august_21_2023_agenda.pdf">The agenda</a>&nbsp;says, in red: “COUNCIL WILL NOT COMMENT ON THE ONGOING CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION AT THIS MEETING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"The Record is known for its aggressive coverage of local politics and its community about 150 miles (161 kilometers) southwest of Kansas City, Missouri. It received an outpouring of support from other news organizations and media groups after the raid, and Editor and Publisher Eric Meyer said Friday that it had picked up 4,000 additional subscribers, enough to double the size of its press run, though many of the new subscriptions are digital.But the raids did have some backers in town. Jared Smith blames the newspaper's coverage for the demise of his wife's day spa business and believes the newspaper is too negative.“I would love to see the paper go down,” he said.And Kari Newell, whose allegations that the newspaper violated her privacy have been cited as reasons for the raid, said of the paper, "They do twist and contort — misquote individuals in our community — all the time.”Meyer rejects criticism of his newspaper's reporting and said critics are upset because it's attempting to hold local officials accountable. And he blames the stress from the raid for the Aug. 12 death of his 98-year-old mother, Joan Meyer, the paper’s co-owner.Meyer said that after the mayor offered Cody the police chief's job in late April, the newspaper received anonymous tips on “a variety of tales” about why Cody gave up a Kansas City position paying $115,848 a year to take a job paying $60,000, according to a sister paper. Meyer said the newspaper could not verify the tips to its satisfaction.Days before Cody was sworn in as chief on May 30, Meyer said that he asked Cody directly about the tips he received and Cody told him: "If you print that, I will sue you.”“We get confidential things from people all the time and we check them out,” said Doug Anstaett, a retired Kansas Press Association executive director. "And sometimes we know they’re silly, but most of the time we get a tip, we check it out. And that’s exactly what they’re doing.”Anstaett said he believes the state's shield law for journalists, enacted in 2010 by the Republican-controlled Legislature, should have protected the paper. It allows law enforcement agencies to seek subpoenas to obtain confidential information from news organizations, but it requires them to show that they have a compelling interest and can't obtain it in another way.Former Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt, a Republican who helped write the shield law as a state senator, said the law doesn't contemplate law enforcement using a search warrant to get information without going to court to get a subpoena. Still, he said, “The spirit of the law is that it should be broadly applied.”Jeffrey Jackson, interim dean of the law school at Washburn University in Topeka, said he recently wrapped up a summer constitutional law course that dealt with press freedoms and the federal privacy law and told his students — before the Marion raid — that a police search of a newspaper “really just never happens.”Jackson said whether the raid violated the state’s shield law would depend on Cody’s motives, whether he was trying to identify sources. But even if Cody was searching for evidence of a crime by newspaper staff, Jackson believes he likely violated the federal privacy law because it, like the state law, contemplates a law enforcement agency getting a subpoena.“Either they violated the shield law or they probably violated the federal law,” Jackson said. “Either way, it's a mess.”

Raid on a Kan. newspaper likely broke the law, experts say. But which one?

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's Luna-25 spacecraft crashed into the moon after it spun into an uncontrolled orbit, the country's Roscosmos space agency said Sunday.

The pilotless spacecraft was aiming to be the first ever to land on the south pole of the moon, an area where scientists believe there could be important reserves of frozen water and precious elements. It had been expected to land Monday.

However, Roscosmos said it lost contact with the Luna-25 on Saturday after the spacecraft ran into difficulties and reported an&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-moon-mission-luna-25-glitch-0eccbb5427af29ca7fb4c90369389dbf">“abnormal situation</a>&nbsp;”.

“The apparatus moved into an unpredictable orbit and ceased to exist as a result of a collision with the surface of the moon,” read a statement from the agency.

The Luna-25 was in a race with an Indian spacecraft&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/india-lunar-mission-space-launch-d67a041cb93df070d191523680203653">launched on July 14</a>&nbsp;to be the first to reach the south pole. Both were expected to reach the moon between Aug. 21 and 23.

Vitaly Egorov, a popular Russian space analyst, said despite the crash the mission had some successes.

“Luna 25 showed important progress. It flew toward the Moon, carried out orbit correction, and tested onboard electronics and scientific tools," he said via videocall. "It even managed to collect some small scientific data during the flight and from the lunar orbit. It also sent photos of the Moon. Russian cosmonautics was not at this level before. But then, an error occurred somehow.”

The lunar mission was Russia’s first since 1976, when it was part of the Soviet Union. Only three governments have managed successful moon landings: the Soviet Union, the United States and China.

The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/more-water-on-moon-science-349b42556e36b99fd6a87295b34e39cf">lunar south pole</a>&nbsp;is of particular interest to scientists, who believe the permanently shadowed polar craters may contain frozen water in the rocks that future explorers could transform into air and rocket fuel.

A previous&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/8533918d2dd348d6819057968182c6f4">Indian attempt to land</a>&nbsp;at the south pole in 2019 ended when the spacecraft crashed into the moon’s surface.

Roscosmos said it wanted to show Russia “is a state capable of delivering a payload to the moon,” and “ensure Russia’s guaranteed access to the moon’s surface.”

Egorov said Roscosmos needs the experience of landing on the Moon.

“It will not be able to talk with China on equal terms, because China has already three successful landings on the moon, while Roscosmos has none,” he said. "Roscosmos will lag starkly behind the Chinese lunar program.”

Sanctions imposed on Russia since it began its actions in Ukraine have affected its space program, making it more difficult to access Western technology.

The Luna-25 was initially meant to carry a small moon rover but that idea was abandoned to reduce the weight of the craft for improved reliability, analysts said.

The craft launched from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia’s Far East on Aug. 10. The spaceport is a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/d23d2e5dda5041c69e2a48ab8fc61b33">pet project</a>&nbsp;of Russian President Vladimir Putin and key to his efforts to make Russia a space superpower.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/8/1692533896521.png" alt="In this photo taken from video and released by Roscosmos State Space Corporation, the Soyuz-2.1b rocket with the moon lander Luna-25 automatic station takes off from a launch pad at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Russia's Far East, on Friday, Aug. 11, 2023. The Russian space agency says its Luna-25 spacecraft has crashed into the moon. Russia’s unmanned robot lander crashed after it had spun into uncontrolled orbit, the country’s space agency Roscosmos reported on Sunday, Aug. 20. 2023. (Roscosmos State Space Corporation via AP)" />
 <figcaption>In this photo taken from video and released by Roscosmos State Space Corporation, the Soyuz-2.1b rocket with the moon lander Luna-25 automatic station takes off from a launch pad at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Russia's Far East, on Friday, Aug. 11, 2023. The Russian space agency says its Luna-25 spacecraft has crashed into the moon. Russia’s unmanned robot lander crashed after it had spun into uncontrolled orbit, the country’s space agency Roscosmos reported on Sunday, Aug. 20. 2023. (Roscosmos State Space Corporation via AP)</figcaption>
 </figure>MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's Luna-25 spacecraft crashed into the moon after it spun into an uncontrolled orbit, the country's Roscosmos space agency said Sunday.The pilotless spacecraft was aiming to be the first ever to land on the south pole of the moon, an area where scientists believe there could be important reserves of frozen water and precious elements. It had been expected to land Monday.However, Roscosmos said it lost contact with the Luna-25 on Saturday after the spacecraft ran into difficulties and reported an&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-moon-mission-luna-25-glitch-0eccbb5427af29ca7fb4c90369389dbf">“abnormal situation</a>&nbsp;”.“The apparatus moved into an unpredictable orbit and ceased to exist as a result of a collision with the surface of the moon,” read a statement from the agency.The Luna-25 was in a race with an Indian spacecraft&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/india-lunar-mission-space-launch-d67a041cb93df070d191523680203653">launched on July 14</a>&nbsp;to be the first to reach the south pole. Both were expected to reach the moon between Aug. 21 and 23.Vitaly Egorov, a popular Russian space analyst, said despite the crash the mission had some successes.“Luna 25 showed important progress. It flew toward the Moon, carried out orbit correction, and tested onboard electronics and scientific tools," he said via videocall. "It even managed to collect some small scientific data during the flight and from the lunar orbit. It also sent photos of the Moon. Russian cosmonautics was not at this level before. But then, an error occurred somehow.”The lunar mission was Russia’s first since 1976, when it was part of the Soviet Union. Only three governments have managed successful moon landings: the Soviet Union, the United States and China.The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/more-water-on-moon-science-349b42556e36b99fd6a87295b34e39cf">lunar south pole</a>&nbsp;is of particular interest to scientists, who believe the permanently shadowed polar craters may contain frozen water in the rocks that future explorers could transform into air and rocket fuel.A previous&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/8533918d2dd348d6819057968182c6f4">Indian attempt to land</a>&nbsp;at the south pole in 2019 ended when the spacecraft crashed into the moon’s surface.Roscosmos said it wanted to show Russia “is a state capable of delivering a payload to the moon,” and “ensure Russia’s guaranteed access to the moon’s surface.”Egorov said Roscosmos needs the experience of landing on the Moon.“It will not be able to talk with China on equal terms, because China has already three successful landings on the moon, while Roscosmos has none,” he said. "Roscosmos will lag starkly behind the Chinese lunar program.”Sanctions imposed on Russia since it began its actions in Ukraine have affected its space program, making it more difficult to access Western technology.The Luna-25 was initially meant to carry a small moon rover but that idea was abandoned to reduce the weight of the craft for improved reliability, analysts said.The craft launched from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia’s Far East on Aug. 10. The spaceport is a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/d23d2e5dda5041c69e2a48ab8fc61b33">pet project</a>&nbsp;of Russian President Vladimir Putin and key to his efforts to make Russia a space superpower.

Putin's pet project: Russian spacecraft crashed into the moon 

Mandate lowers financial barrier to lifesaving treatment of diabetes

BY: TIM CARPENTER <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/">Kansas Reflector</a>

TOPEKA — U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids recoiled at evidence people with diabetes in the United States paid up to five times more for insulin than patients in other countries.

She was troubled insulin-producing manufacturers Sanofi, Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk had systematically increased prices in the United States over the past two decades to levels that meant her constituents in the 3rd District around Kansas City risked serious health problems, including heart disease, stroke, kidney failure and blindness. She said Kansans were rationing their supply of medication regulating blood-sugar levels or ending the treatment entirely.

“For too long,” Davids said, “Kansans have been forced to pay extremely high prices for insulin while drug companies rake in massive profits.”

The federal government also grappled with skyrocketing costs of insulin for millions of Medicare beneficiaries, she said.

That led the Democrat to support passage one year ago of the Inflation Reduction Act, which included provisions making health care more affordable for seniors. At the start of this year, the federal law capped the out-of-pocket cost of insulin for people enrolled in Medicare’s prescription drug plan at $35 for a one-month supply. It also imposed a requirement insulin manufacturers pay a rebate to Medicare if their prices grew faster than inflation.

Under pressure from consumers eager for an affordable supply of insulin, the three drug companies dominating the U.S. market agreed to extend the $35 cap to people with private health insurance.

Had the Inflation Reduction Act been in place in 2020, about 15,000 Kansas residents would have saved an estimated $650 annually on out-of-pocket costs.

Davids, the Kansas congressional delegation’s lone Democrat, went against the grain of Republicans from Kansas who opposed the bill signed in August 2022 by President Joe Biden. U.S. Sens. Jerry Moran and Roger Marshall voted against the bill along with U.S. Reps. Ron Estes, Tracey Mann and Jake LaTurner.

At that time, LaTurner objected because the massive federal spending package was oriented to support Democrats’ “radical agenda under the guise of lowering inflation.” He said $700 billion earmarked for the law would implement liberal environmental policy, make it harder for businesses to create jobs and prompt tax increases.

Marshall said he anticipated the law would help push the nation’s economy into recession, while Moran urged Congress to concentrate on lowering fuel prices and the cost of other goods and services for Kansans battered by inflation.

“Rather than taking steps to curb spending and expand energy production, the so-called Inflation Reduction Act will raise taxes on small businesses and working families,” Moran said.

At the one-year mark, Davids said the law held great promise for growing the U.S. economy and dealing with climate change. She said health care pieces of the law succeeded in lowering the burden on thousands of Kansans and illustrated the need to push ahead with mandates capping the price for all insulin users.

“I voted for this historic legislation to lower costs for Kansas families,” she said. “The law is lowering health care costs, growing the middle class with new clean energy and manufacturing jobs, and making the largest investment in the fight against climate change in our nation’s history.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/8/1692358864019.png" alt="U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, a Kansas Democrat, said health care provisions of the federal Inflation Reduction Act approved one year ago had prompted substantial reductions in the cost of insulin relied upon by people with diabetes. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)" />
 <figcaption>U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, a Kansas Democrat, said health care provisions of the federal Inflation Reduction Act approved one year ago had prompted substantial reductions in the cost of insulin relied upon by people with diabetes. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>Mandate lowers financial barrier to lifesaving treatment of diabetes</h2>BY: TIM CARPENTER <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/">Kansas Reflector</a>TOPEKA — U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids recoiled at evidence people with diabetes in the United States paid up to five times more for insulin than patients in other countries.She was troubled insulin-producing manufacturers Sanofi, Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk had systematically increased prices in the United States over the past two decades to levels that meant her constituents in the 3rd District around Kansas City risked serious health problems, including heart disease, stroke, kidney failure and blindness. She said Kansans were rationing their supply of medication regulating blood-sugar levels or ending the treatment entirely.“For too long,” Davids said, “Kansans have been forced to pay extremely high prices for insulin while drug companies rake in massive profits.”The federal government also grappled with skyrocketing costs of insulin for millions of Medicare beneficiaries, she said.That led the Democrat to support passage one year ago of the Inflation Reduction Act, which included provisions making health care more affordable for seniors. At the start of this year, the federal law capped the out-of-pocket cost of insulin for people enrolled in Medicare’s prescription drug plan at $35 for a one-month supply. It also imposed a requirement insulin manufacturers pay a rebate to Medicare if their prices grew faster than inflation.Under pressure from consumers eager for an affordable supply of insulin, the three drug companies dominating the U.S. market agreed to extend the $35 cap to people with private health insurance.Had the Inflation Reduction Act been in place in 2020, about 15,000 Kansas residents would have saved an estimated $650 annually on out-of-pocket costs.Davids, the Kansas congressional delegation’s lone Democrat, went against the grain of Republicans from Kansas who opposed the bill signed in August 2022 by President Joe Biden. U.S. Sens. Jerry Moran and Roger Marshall voted against the bill along with U.S. Reps. Ron Estes, Tracey Mann and Jake LaTurner.At that time, LaTurner objected because the massive federal spending package was oriented to support Democrats’ “radical agenda under the guise of lowering inflation.” He said $700 billion earmarked for the law would implement liberal environmental policy, make it harder for businesses to create jobs and prompt tax increases.Marshall said he anticipated the law would help push the nation’s economy into recession, while Moran urged Congress to concentrate on lowering fuel prices and the cost of other goods and services for Kansans battered by inflation.“Rather than taking steps to curb spending and expand energy production, the so-called Inflation Reduction Act will raise taxes on small businesses and working families,” Moran said.At the one-year mark, Davids said the law held great promise for growing the U.S. economy and dealing with climate change. She said health care pieces of the law succeeded in lowering the burden on thousands of Kansans and illustrated the need to push ahead with mandates capping the price for all insulin users.“I voted for this historic legislation to lower costs for Kansas families,” she said. “The law is lowering health care costs, growing the middle class with new clean energy and manufacturing jobs, and making the largest investment in the fight against climate change in our nation’s history.”