TUESDAY,FEB.12,2002
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 5A
Committee talks tuition fails to pick final proposal
By Meredith Carr
Kansan staff writer
With Thursday's Board of Regents meeting right around the corner, the Ad-Hoc Committee on University Funding met yesterday afternoon to discuss the progress of the proposed tuition increase.
The committee focused on the size of the increase and the use of the funds, but did not select a final tuition increase proposal.
Administrators proposed the tuition increases to close the gap between the University's funding and the funding of its peer schools. According to administrators, the gap is
approximately $50 million.
Student Senate members expressed concern about closing the gap entirely through tuition increases.
"I if the deficit fairy came down, I'd love to see $50 million," said Matt Steppe, Student Senate legislative director, "But I don't think the students should be the deficit fairies."
Other committee members were concerned that students didn't know how the increases would benefit them. One of the benefits of the tuition increase would be more faculty. Dallas Rakestraw, committee cochair, said he didn't think students realized a lack of
faculty was a problem.
"Most students don't think 'I can't get into Journalism 301 because there aren't enough teachers,' they think 'I can't get into Journalism 301 because there are too many students.' Rakestraw said.
The Provost's office is working on two other tuition proposals to present to the committee next week.
Rakestraw asked for a "town meeting" with the committee, Chancellor Robert Hemenway, faculty and students.
Contact Carr at mcarr@kansan.com. Edited by Kristi Henderson.
Sheriff posing as teenage girl surprises six pedophiles
The Associated Press
CHILLICOTHE, Mo. — Six men have traveled to Chillicothe, thinking they would meet with a 13-year-old girl named Carrie they had met over the Internet. Imagine their surprise when they met Sheriff Steve Cox instead.
Working on his own, with little more than a modem and some spare time, the 37-year-old Livingston County Sheriff has been a one-man pedophile patrol, posing as girls between the ages of 11 and 14 in Internet chat rooms for a few hours each week. Five of the men traveled to Chillicothe have been charged, and a case against the sixth is pending.
Cox says the men who contact "Carrie" seek friendship, photographs and, often, much more. He said he was careful not to solicit relationships himself. He would answer questions and agree to meetings, but he wouldn't suggest sexual activity or make demands, which could be seen as entrapment.
Across the country, sting operations such as Cox's are becoming the new front line in a growing war on Internet predators.
During the 2001 fiscal year, the FBI opened a record 1,559 new cases against alleged predators under its Innocent Images initiative.
The initiative, begun in 1995, enlists the help of local law enforcement and U.S. Customs agents in a handful of cities to focus on Internet predators.
Cox's method is simple: When men begin to show interest, he tries to develop a relationship by e-mail, which stamps each letter with the sender's computer fingerprint.
His invented personas — small-town girls from fatherless homes whose mothers are asleep or away — have interested men from Minnesota to Texas.
"They're looking for a bad girl," Cox said, his fingers dancing over the keyboard, his eyes fixed on the screen. "I tell them I'm skipping school, they love it."
Blue Cross buyout rejected in Kansas
Insurance commissioner says higher premiums would have resulted
TOPEKA — Insurance Commissioner Kathleen Sebelius rejected the sale of Blue Cross-Blue Shield of Kansas to an Indiana firm after concluding that Kansans' premiums would have risen unacceptably.
The Associated Press
"It would cost Kansas businesses, small employers, and families millions of dollars." Sebelius said after issuing an order yesterday denying the sale. "My job was pretty straightforward, to look out for the public interest."
Indianapolis-based Anthem Insurance Companies Inc. would have had to raise premiums significantly to make Kansas Blue Cross more profitable, Sebelius said. Insurance Department attorneys, working independently of Sebelius, had estimated the increases at $248 million over five years.
Anthem, a publicly held corporation, operates former Blue Cross plans in eight states and covers about 7.8 million people.
Blue Cross is owned by its policyholders and has 45 percent of the Kansas health insurance market. It has 172,000 group and individual policies covering 400,000 people, and another 315,000 people work for employers who self-insure but have their plans administered by the Blues.
Officials of Blue Cross argued the deal would have given the Kansas company access to capital and new markets and spread its claims risk over many more policyholders.
Policyholders approved the deal last month. The vote was 63,504, or 63.4 percent, in favor and 36,618, or 36.6 percent, against. The 100,122 who voted represented about 58 percent of the 172,038 eligible.
from many, while others don't want to let go of what we have built," said John Knack, Blue Cross president and chief executive officer.
"This is simply a case of Blue Cross-Blue Shield of Kansas charting its course for the future, gaining support
Officials of the two companies said they would evaluate Sebellius' order before deciding whether to appeal it in Shawnee County District.
we continue to believe that this type of partnership would be best for Kansas," said Anthem spokeswoman Laura Green-Caldwell.
Anthem planned to pay $190 million to acquire Blue Cross, with at least $142 million of it going to policyholders.
Blue Cross would have distributed $131 million of its existing reserves to policyholders as well, meaning they could have received up to $321 million.
But the prospect of Kansas Blue Cross' conversion into an operation of a publicly held, out-of-state corporation drew opposition from many Kansas doctors, hospitals and nurses, as well as an advocacy group for poor and working-class families.
Critics said Anthem would have to increase premiums or cut back on medical coverage to make its new Kansas affiliate more profitable.
in ner order, Sebelius noted that Anthem said it had no plans to change Blue Cross coverage. She also said Anthem provided no substantial evidence on how it would lower costs in Kansas, and noted that Blue Cross' costs currently are lower than Anthem's.
"The lack of evidence supporting a conclusion that Anthem will reduce medical expenses, change benefit design, increase membership or lower administrative expenses, necessarily points the analysis toward premium rate increases," Sebelius said in her order.
She told reporters,"Frankly,the millions of dollars of rate increases is untenable for Kansas."
Anthem operates former Blue Cross plans in Colorado, Connecticut, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Nevada, New Hampshire and Ohio.
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