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AHCCCS cuts mean $12 million from YRMC

Impact less than first thought
BY RICHARD ROMERO SUN STAFF WRITER Yuma Regional Medical Center says cuts to AHCCCS will not impact the hospital as much as originally thought. YRMC CEO Pat Walz said the hospital will take a $12 million hit, or about 2 percent of its budget, due to state cuts to Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, which went into effect Friday. Originally, YRMC thought the impact would be around $17 million, Walz explained. Now obviously, nobody wants to have to cut back $12 million, but well be able to absorb it, Walz said. Gov. Jan Brewer cut the states AHCCCS budget for the fiscal year that began July 1 by more than $500 million. The cuts, which went into effect Friday, mean that childless adults can no longer enroll in the system. AHCCCS is the states Medicare system. Under Brewers plan, any childless adult that was already enrolled by Friday will be allowed to remain in the program. But anyone else will be turned away. The other savings to AHCCCS will come from changes the state wants to implement Oct. 1. These range from requiring co-payments for care and a 25-day hospital inpatient limit for adults to no longer enrolling some adults earning more than 75 percent of the federal poverty level, though their children will remain eligible. The total cuts to AHCCCS will impact about 50,000 people in the Yuma area, Walz said. Walz said those who qualified before the freeze will remain on

AHCCCS. However, if the paper work to reapply is not filled out every six months, the individual will be rolled off the plan. Walz said the impact will be less on YRMC than originally thought because AHCCCS is being frozen, instead of cutting off people already enrolled. Walz said the hospital is already talking about their next fiscal year budget $320 million, which starts Oct. 1. Walz said he SEE YRMC/A5

YUMA IS HOT
city named hottest in u.s.

shocking news

Shooting survivor comes home

BY MARA KNAUB SUN STAFF WRITER

Linda Kay Clatone, the only survivor in a June 2 shooting spree, came home Tuesday after spending a month in a Phoenix hospital. Shes really happy to be home, Kay Kitty Desche, Clatones close friend, said. About a dozen close friends welcomed her back to Wellton with a small party and cake and ice LINDA cream. CLATONE She was ready for it. It was a good surprise for her, Desche, 70, said. She noted Clatone, 52, is doing wonderful and making progress. In her first week home, Clatone stayed busy taking care of her affairs, filling out insurance forms and trying to find her things. We cleaned her house before she got home so consequently she cant find some things, Desche explained.

SEE SURVIVOR/A5

ELSIE MOSS, AGE 4, has fun splashing around on one of Friendship Parks animal-themed water features Thursday morning.
BY SARAH WOMER SUN STAFF WRITER summertime. I didnt have a tough decision to make when I look at the data, he said about choosing Yuma as No. 1. Laredo, Texas, came in second but Erdman said that Yuma blew Laredo out of the water with a skyrocketing amount of triple-digit temperature days, with Yuma averaging 114 days of 100 degrees or higher and Laredo averaging 68 days. But, he added, on average Laredo begins seeing 90-degree days earlier in the season than Yuma does, noting that Laredo will begin to see 90 degree weather as early as Valentines Day or Presidents Day, while Yuma generally starts to see them in March. Yuma typically sees at least 90 percent of possible sunshine each year, one of the sunniest locations in the U.S, he said. Only roughly three inches of rain falls the entire year in Yuma. Other parts of the country may see three inches of rain in just a few hours in the spring and summer months. Erdman also commented that since 1878, Yuma has experienced temperatures 120 degrees or higher seven times. From July through September, increasing surface moisture from the Gulf of California and aloft from the

PHOTO BY CRAIG FRY/YUMA SUN

AMERICAS TOP 6 HOTTEST CITIES

1. Southwest: Yuma, AZ 2. South-central: Laredo, TX 3. Southeast: Montgomery, AL 4. Midwest: Wichita, KS 5. Northwest: Medford, OR 6. Northeast: Washington, DC

nyone who has ever stepped foot inside the city limits of Yuma knows that it is hot. Now, our hometown is receiving national recognition for its frequent triple-digit temperatures. Yuma was named the No. 1 hottest city in the Americas Top 6 Hottest Cities contest that was recently conducted by the Weather Channel. Jonathan Erdman, senior meteorologist for the Weather Channel, explained that the cities chosen were selected in six regions ordered by temperature and were also based off average high temperature for the past 30 years in the months of June, July and August. It was also restricted to cities with populations of 50,000 or higher, he said. Erdman commented that if they didnt divide up the cities up by region (Southwest, South-central, Southeast, Northeast, Northwest and Midwest, excluding Alaska and Hawaii), all of the winners would most likely be located in Arizona or Texas. Back in January, he said, they had a contest for Americas Top 6 Coldest Cities and so they felt it was time to make a list of the hottest cities come

Yuma has ties to 3 death row inmates

DARREN DARONCO SUN STAFF WRITER

SIZZLING FACTS ABOUT YUMA

Average Jun-Aug high temperature: 104.3 Average number of 90+ days/year: 177 days Average first 90+ day of year: March 23 Average final 90+ day of year: Oct 31 All-time record high: 124 (7/28/1995) Average # of 100+ days/year: 114 days

Source: The Weather Channel Gulf of Mexico trigger afternoon and evening thunderstorms in the Desert Southwest, he concluded. Even when summer thunderstorms dont bring rain, the increase in humidity, coupled with even average heat can make the air feel as thick and oppressive as the Gulf Coast.
Sarah Womer can be reached at swomer@yumasun.com or 539-6858.

With the execution of Richard Bible on June 30, there are now three inmates left on death row with ties to Yuma County Alvie Kiles, Gregory S. Dickens and Theodore Washington. Alvie Kiles, 50, has been on death row since March 1990 for the triple homicide of his girlfriend, Valerie Gunnell, and her two daughters, 9-month-old Lecresha and 5-year-old Shemaeah. On February 9, 1989, Kiles and Gunnell resumed a long-standing argument over Kiles propensity for stealing Gunnells food stamps to buy cocaine, according to Arizona Supreme Court documents. During the argument, Kiles went to his car to retrieve a tire jack and then pummelled Gunnell to death. Kiles then killed the two children because they were crying and hollering and screaming at the sight of seeing their mother SEE INMATES/A5

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