Kansas City Business News - Local Kansas City News | Kansas City Business Journal

1. Brownback’s Medicaid reform program lures five insurer bids
   Five insurance companies have submitted bids to participate in KanCare, Gov. Sam Brownback’s effort to remodel the state’s Medicaid program. Announced Wednesday, the five are competing for three spots to oversee the program, which seeks to replace the current state-run operation with a private “managed care” model. The five are WellCare of Kansas, based in Tampa, Fla.; Sunflower State Health Plan, based in Topeka; United Health Care, based in Minneapolis; Coventry Health Care of Kansas, based in Wichita; and Amerigroup, based in Virginia Beach...

   
2. Kansas attorney general asks Google to revise privacy policy
   Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt spoke out against Google Inc.’s privacy policy Wednesday. Schmidt and attorneys general in 30 other states signed off on a letter asking Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) CEO Larry Page to revisit its policy, citing concerns about the sharing of user data among Google services. “Until now, users of Google’s many products could use different products in different ways, expecting that information they provide for one product, such as YouTube, would not be synthesized with information they provide for another product, such as Gmail and Maps,” the attorneys general wrote in the letter...

   
3. Google asks Missouri and Kansas to allow video service in KC
   Google Inc. officials leading fiber efforts in Kansas City are asking the states of Kansas and Missouri for permission to provide video service, citing Internet-based home TV offerings. The applications, filed Friday with the Missouri Public Service Commission and the Kansas Corporation Commission, seek franchises to offer video service in Kansas City, Mo., and Kansas City, Kan. — where Google is laying its ultra-fast Internet network. Google Fiber Kansas LLC’s application states that the company “will utilize national and regional video headend facilities to send IPTV (Internet protocol television) across a private IP network to subscribers...

   
4. GasBuddy.com expects gas prices in KC to rise rapidly by the weekend
   GasBuddy.com is warning of a sharp rise in Kansas City gasoline prices during the next few days. The spike is attributed to a refinery fire in Washington state. “I expect stations to increase prices as much as 5-20 cents per gallon by the conclusion of the weekend, with some stations starting to raise prices immediately,” Patrick DeHaan, GasBuddy.com senior petroleum analyst, said in a release. DeHaan said prices in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky already have risen by 30 cents to 40 cents a gallon, with prices rapidly rising on the East Coast from New England to Florida...

   
5. Koster will appeal MOSIRA ruling to state high court
   Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster plans to appeal to the state Supreme Court a Cole County judge’s ruling that invalidated a new incentive program for technology companies. “The Missouri Science and Innovation Reinvestment Act is an important economic development tool that can bring high-tech jobs to Missouri and preserve jobs that are already here,” Koster said in a statement his office released Wednesday. “I don’t want to see important job-creating legislation fail. We intend to appeal this matter to its conclusion...