The Kansas City Star du lieu suivant : Kansas City, Missouri • A11

WEDNESDAY JUNE 14 2017 11ALocalKANSASCITY.COM Andrea Ramsey decided to run for Congress when she and other health care advocates gathered out- side U.S. Rep. Kevin Yod- office to protest the GOP congress- vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Ramsey, a 56-year-old Leawood attorney, officially launched her campaign as a Democrat for the 3rd Congressional District in Kansas on Tuesday morn- ing. Ramsey has spent the past eight years as a board member for the Turner House Clinic in Kansas City, which provides medical care to underserved children in Wyandotte County.

Hours after Ramsey began her campaign, Joe McConnell, an Iraq War veteran, announced that he was ending his cam- paign that was launched only three weeks ago and endorsed candi- dacy. Jay Sidie, the 2016 nominee, still plans to seek the Democratic nomination. Two other Democratic candidates, Reggie Marselus and Chris Haulmark, have also filed for the race. Ramsey pointed to the day of the health care vote in May and the protest outside Overland Park office as the pivotal moment in her decision. I held up a sign that said, up! Re- And people from the community came and talked to me and they told me the most personal Ramsey said.

was actually that day when people told me their stories, literally cried on my shoulder and gave me hugs, it was that day I decided I had to step up. I had to enter this The Congressional Bud- get Office estimates that the Republican bill will lead to 23 million fewer people with health cov- erage by 2026. Yoder was one of the key votes in helping the bill pass. C.J. Grover, a spokes- man for Yoder, said in a statement that the Repub- lican congressman focused on doing the job the voters of the Third District elected him to do putting policies into place to help small busi- nesses create jobs and grow paychecks.

working to reform our tax code, fix our broken health care system, and pass legislation to help working families, our veterans, and our mil- Yoder won re-election by double digits in 2016, but Democrat Hillary Clinton won the district, which covers the Kansas City suburbs, in the 2016 presidential race. Ramsey, a native of western New York with degrees from Boston Uni- versity and Georgetown University, moved to Kan- sas in 2002. Her husband, retired Army Col. Will Ramsey, is the former director of public works for Olathe. She worked as senior counsel for Overland Park-based engineering giant Black Veatch from 2006 to 2012 and previ- ously served as the vice president in charge of human resources for Quest Diagnostics, a For- tune 500 company that provides clinical laborato- ry services in multiple countries.

She began volunteering at the Turner House in 2009 and became a board member soon after that, she said. She stepped down as president and board chair to pursue the congressional seat. During the eight years Ramsey served on the board, the clinic doubled its number of annual pa- tients to 6,000 and ex- panded its services to include behavioral health and dental care, is an important service for kids in KCK some of those kids have never brushed their she said. Ramsey also helped the clinic weather state bud- get cuts and find alterna- tive ways to keep those programs running in re- cent years. had to fight to keep the doors of Turner House she said.

McConnell, a Bronze Star recipient who works for tech giant LinkedIn, had been seen as a strong candidate when he kicked off his campaign last month. Bryan Lowry: 816-234-4077, Leawood lawyer jumps into race for Congress BY BRYAN LOWRY Ramsey A remorseful 71-year- old man who robbed a Kansas City, bank last September and told police he hoped to land in prison to escape his wife told a federal judge Tues- day that heart sur- gery had left him de- pressed and unlike himself when he committed the crime. Though Lawrence John Ripple pleaded guilty to bank robbery in January and could have spent up to 37 months in prison, his attorney and federal pros- ecutors asked a U.S. Dis- trict Court judge for leni- ency. That request was supported by the vice president of the bank and the teller whom Ripple frightened, said Assistant U.S.

Attorney Sheri Cata- nia. U.S. District Court Judge Carlos Murguia sentenced Ripple on Tues- day to six months of home confinement after public defender Chekasha Ram- sey and Catania cited health issues, remorse and unlikeliness to re-offend. Ripple will also serve three years of supervised probation, including 50 hours of community serv- ice. He was ordered to pay $227.27 to the bank he robbed the amount representing the billable hours for bank employees who were sent home on the day of robbery and $100 to a crime victims fund.

story gained national attention last fall when he walked into the Bank of Labor, located a block away from the Kan- sas City, police headquarters, and gave a note to the teller. It read: have a gun, give me according to court documents. After the teller gave Ripple $2,924, Ripple sat down in the bank lobby to wait for police, and later told authorities that he had written out a robbery note in front of his wife and told her he would rather be in jail than at home. Ramsey told a judge Tuesday that before the September incident, Rip- ple had lived a law-abid- ing life. He had no crimi- nal record, was a dutiful father to four step-chil- dren and was in a stable relationship with his wife.

He suffered from de- pression after undergoing quadruple bypass heart surgery in 2015, Ramsey said. The depression re- mained undiagnosed and manifested as irritability, so Ripple think to report his symptoms to a doctor. Calling the robbery a for Ramsey said that Ripple has since been properly diagnosed, is on proper medication and feels like his normal self again. Ripple understands what he did and he re- spects the law as indicated by his past said Ramsey, who told the judge that Ripple had also been attending mandated counseling sessions with his wife. Accompanied by his wife and several family members Tuesday, Ripple appeared remorseful and apologized to both Bank of Labor and the bank teller.

He declined to talk to The Star. was not my intention to frighten her (the teller) as I Ripple said in court Tuesday. Ripple said that he felt better after finding the right medication and said prison would be more of a punishment for his wife than for him. feel great Rip- ple said. feel like my old Both Murguia and Cata- nia said that it was ex- tremely uncommon for a person convicted of bank robbery to receive a sen- tence that involve prison time.

Catania said she had only requested the court to consider other sentencing options in two other occasions through- out her career. got lost in the news reports is that Mr. Ripple went to a bank, robbed it and never Catania said. When a bank security guard and police found him, Catania said, he immediately returned the money. Though he had threatened the bank teller with a gun, the only items found on his person were nail clippers and a hair brush.

Katy Bergen: 816-234-4120, Tony Rizzo: 816-234-4435, Man who robbed bank to flee wife gets home confinement BY KATY BERGEN AND TONY RIZZO Ripple.