John McCain dies at 81, Pain & Profit, fiery crash in Tarrant County: Your weekend news roundup

August 26,  2018 By Tommy Cummings and Carla Solórzano Good morning! Here is a look at the top headlines of the weekend so far. 🌞 Weather: Sunny and hot with a high of 98 degrees. 🔎 Prefer the online view? It's [here](. Your tax money may not help poor, sick Texans get well, but it definitely helps health care companies get rich. Today, we launch Part 6 of Pain & Profit, our investigation into Medicaid managed care. (Tom Fox/Staff photographer) JOHN McCAIN | 1936-2018 War hero, maverick senator and presidential contender, dies at 81 Arizona Sen. [John McCain, the war hero who became the GOP's standard-bearer in the 2008 election, has died.]( He was 81. McCain, with his irascible grin and fighter-pilot moxie, was a fearless and outspoken voice on policy and politics to the end, unswerving in his defense of democratic values and unflinching in his criticism of fellow Republican President Donald Trump. He was elected to the Senate from Arizona six times but was twice thwarted in seeking the presidency. The Republican U.S. senator died at 4:28 p.m. Saturday with his wife, Cindy, and family by his side, according to a statement from his office. [He had battled brain cancer for more than a year.]( Your tax money may not help poor, sick Texans get well, but it definitely helps health care companies get rich. Today, we launch Part 6 of Pain & Profit, our investigation into Medicaid managed care. (Tom Fox/Staff photographer) investigations How a company’s refusal to cover medical costs is hurting sick foster kids in Texas Last summer, child-welfare workers dropped a disabled girl, two pairs of pajamas and some diapers at Lorna Spears’ home in Kerrville, about 100 miles west of Austin. The 11-year-old could hardly see, couldn’t eat without choking and couldn’t survive without constant monitoring. Spears knew that taking in a “medically complex” foster child would be tough, but she had watched her sister, a nurse who lived nearby, care for similar kids. Spears thought she could do it, too. “I had raised my kids, and I just wanted to help,” says Spears, 52. “It’s just that motherly instinct.” Often, though, Spears felt overwhelmed. The state assures foster parents that everything the children need, including expensive home nursing, will be provided by a health care company that it pays hundreds of millions of dollars each year. But Superior HealthPlan wouldn’t provide enough medical supplies to keep the girl clean and comfortable, Spears says. Nor would the company pay for all the home nursing her doctor recommended, covering only 16 hours a day and leaving Spears alone with the child for eight. Foster parents cannot give consent for their children to be publicly identified, so The Dallas Morning News is withholding the girl’s name. [Pervasive problems with Superior’s health care management are worsening the state’s already troubled child-welfare system](, a News investigation found. The company’s refusals to cover medical costs, from inexpensive diapers to costly treatments, have made some foster parents’ tough jobs nearly impossible. Foster parents, doctors and child-welfare workers have filed hundreds of formal complaints about the company in recent years. Judges in Houston have stepped in to order medical care that Superior has denied to foster kids. And families who have taken in medically needy children are backing out, The News found, adding to the state’s drastic shortage of beds. Previously: [Read Parts 1-5 of our investigation into Texas' Medicaid managed-care system](. Explainer: [How does Medicaid work?]( The documents: [How we reported this special investigation](. Two people were killed in a dump truck that collided with a Trinity Railway Express passenger train on Calloway Cemetery Road in far East Fort Worth. (Tom Fox/Staff Photographer) News 2 dead, 2 critical after fiery crash between dump truck, TRE train in Tarrant County A fiery collision between a dump truck and a Trinity Railway Express [killed two people in the semi and injured several people on the train](, two of them critically, authorities said. The crash was reported about noon in the 12500 block of Calloway Cemetery Road in far East Fort Worth, an area between North Arlington and Euless. Firefighters from Fort Worth, Euless and Arlington were called to the scene, and several ambulances were also dispatched. The truck burst into flames after the collision, killing two victims inside, [according to Fort Worth fire spokesman Mike Drivdahl. Their names have yet to be released.]( East Oak Cliff: [A pedestrian was struck and killed as he walked along Interstate 45]( early Saturday. Also: Thanks to an alert police officer, [a Seagoville family escaped their burning home unharmed overnight](. And: [A vehicle passenger was shot just before rush hour Friday]( in Fort Worth, and may possibly be the victim of road rage. TXDOT Lakewood neighbors feel ignored by plan to rebuild 'wonky' G-streets interchange Most anyone in East Dallas will agree that [the bottleneck at the intersection of the three "G-streets" needs to be fixed](. The spot where Gaston and Grand avenues meet Garland Road, just south of White Rock Lake, endangers pedestrians and bicyclists, puts drivers in a weird yield situation and spins state highway traffic into a neighborhood without a signal. "It's just a wonky intersection," said Mark Clayton, whose council district is one of three that surround the intersection. But while everyone agrees a fix has been needed for decades, [how best to rebuild the interchange stokes controversy in the surrounding neighborhoods.]( Grant proposal: Ted Cruz and Betsy DeVos both want to improve school security. [Could guns be part of the plan?]( Editorial: He's waging an unwinnable trade war — and [now President Donald Trump has a chance to end it.]( Advertisement Ashley Landis/Staff photographer Photo of the WEEKEND Ernesto Rangel presents his best impression of Mexican singer Juan Gabriel at a festival Saturday at Mercado 369 in Dallas. The event honored Gabriel on the second anniversary of his death. Around The Site - Crime: Two people were arrested in Seagoville early Saturday [after a high-speed chase that originally began in Mesquite](. - Politics: [The president's efforts to prop up the coal industry won't change the trajectory in Texas](, where one coal-fired plant is likely to close at the end of the year. - Dress code woes: McKinney ISD tells a student with brain cancer [she can't wear a turquoise wig she says makes her feel "awesome."]( - Arts: '[Mexico' and 'Robert Beck/Robert Buck' are two provocative new shows]( at Erin Cluley Gallery. - Dallas City Council: The council agreed to a slight decrease in the city's current tax rate which won't mean much on a property owner's bottom line, [but it will mean $16 million more for City Hall to spend](. - Claims violation: A [Plano-based rehabilitation company will pay $6.1 million over allegations]( it traded kickbacks for company loyalty. - Political celebrity: Twitter pops snack-selling Texan into [Australian fame as 'the people's prime minister.']( Finally ... Cowboys must answer these questions before deciding to play starters Sunday From Dallas Cowboys beat reporter David Moore: As the Cowboys and Arizona Cardinals prepare for a preseason game traditionalists label the dress rehearsal, one of the great, unresolved questions of our time continues to roil. OK, maybe it's not great. It's downright tiresome. But since the regular-season opener is still two weeks away, enticing options are limited. Here you go: [Why should the Cowboys put quarterback Dak Prescott or other key starters in harm's way Sunday night at AT&T Stadium for a meaningless preseason game?]( This conversation is even more intense locally since fans watched Pro Bowl guard Zack Martin limp off the field with a knee injury last week, then learned Pro Bowl center Travis Frederick suffers from Guillain-Barre syndrome, an autoimmune disease that clouds his availability for the season. Advertisement 👋 That's all for this morning! 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