The Iola Register: September 8, 2023

The most important meal of the day, with the most important people

Insurance statement alerts local to fraud

By SUSAN LYNN The Iola Register

Betty Hawley of Elsmore has no need for a catheter or a knee brace, thank you very much.

So alarms went off when she recently received a statement saying her Medicare account had been charged $8,400 for four catheters and two knee braces.

Hawley’s first step was to call her supplemental insurance company, which had paid $385 toward claims for the catheters.

“They said they couldn’t do anything about it be-

cause Medicare approved the claims,” she said.

From there, she called Medicare’s fraud line.

After they got digging, “they told me about the knee brace charges,” she said.

Medicare officials verified the equipment was ordered by a physician in Atchison from a business called Pretty in Pink in El Paso, Texas.

When Hawley called the physician’s office, personnel said they had no record of her and that the physician had since closed up

See FRAUD | Page A4

Iolans Gary McIntosh, left, and David Heard look through an old yearbook from when both were students at Allen Community College, then known as Iola Junior College. Both attended when classes were held on the third floor at Iola High School. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN

Alumni recall Allen’s early days

By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register

With Allen Community College set to celebrate its centennial anniversary, the Register spoke with several former Red Devils on why ACC remains a special place in their hearts. Today, we speak to Red Devil alums George Catron, David Heard, Gary Hoffmeier, Ken and Kit McGuffin and Gary McIntosh.

All attended Allen when it was still Iola Junior College, and located on the third floor of Iola High School.

Ken McGuffin compared the third-floor environment

Paraprofessionals find joy in new role as teachers

By VICKIE MOSS The Iola Register

Andrea Weide has plenty of advice for her fellow teachers and paraprofessionals at Iola Elementary School when it comes to balancing their jobs, family and online schooling.

It all comes down to time management. “You have to be a self-starter. You have to keep pushing yourself and reminding yourself that the end will be so worth it,” she said.

She would know.

Weide graduated in May from Wichita State University’s Teacher Apprentice Program (TAP). It allowed her to continue working at the elementary school as a para while she took an intensive slate of online classes to earn a teaching certificate.

Now, she has her own first-grade classroom.

“I love teaching. I love those ‘aha’ moments, those light bulb moments. I love helping a child develop con-

See PARAS | Page A2

to a New York City cocktail party, with hundreds of students, often shoulder to shoulder, moving from class to class.

“It was like the big time,” Kit McGuffin agreed. “I grew up in Moran, and I only had 22 in my senior class.”

The McGuffins actually met while students at IJC.

“It was a history class on the first day,” she recalled. “People were standing in the aisles because there weren’t enough seats.”

The instructor asked for any volunteers willing to attend a different class to alleviate the overcrowding.

“Ken just volunteered, and

I just kind of noticed him,” she said with a smile. “Right after that, I kept my eye on him.”

THE STUDENTS came to college for one reason or another. For Heard, it was the economic benefit.

“I’d gotten a great scholarship, and classes were just a jump upstairs,” noted Heard, an Iola native. His scholarship was so extensive, he had to pay a whopping $4 out of his pocket to attend IJC his first year.

McIntosh, a Blue Mound native, said former IJC col-

See ALUMNI | Page A4

Gale Hoag, who teaches art for kindergarten through second grade at Iola Elementary School, helps Journey Harrison, left, and Brailynne Brown learn how to mix primary colors. REGISTER/VICKIE MOSS

From left, Gail Klaassen joins grandson Titus Klaassen, 5, at Breafast with Grandparents at Iola Elementary School Thursday morning. Center, Sharon Bolling and grandson Teddy Bolling, 4, shared a bite to eat before preschool. At right, Steve Eisenbart and granddaughter Kinley Joy had breakfast before Kinley headed off to third grade. “We love events like these,” said principal Andy Gottlob. “Days like today help kids start the day on the right foot, and we want community members in our schools.” Breakfast with Grandparents, spread over three days, concludes Friday. REGISTER/TIM STAUFFER

Betty Hawley received a statement on her Medicare account for equipment she didn’t order. REGISTER/SUSAN LYNN

Devices improve reading

By COLLEEN DOBBINS SEK Library System

There’s a world of new devices and special media for blind and print-disabled individuals, said Cynthia Chalker, special needs consultant for the Southeast Kansas Library System based in Iola. A new, international Braille is under development, and talking books, which have been around for a while, are now streamlined and much simpler to use.

Chalker will introduce these and other aids and services and tell how to access them at 7 p.m., Thursday, at the Iola Public Library.

Anyone who has difficulty reading printed material is encouraged to attend. Print disability may be perceptual, physical or visual, Chalker explained. Reasons vary but may include a learning disability such as dyslexia, brain injury or cognitive impairment, early

Talking books are free, easy to access and to use for people who find reading print a challenge. Books or magazines are digitized on a cartridge which is inserted into a small player, shown here by Cindy Chalker, special needs consultant for the Southeast Kansas Library System. SUBMITTED

PHOTO

dementia or physical dexterity problems resulting from multiple sclerosis, arthritis or Parkinson’s disease.

A free Braille and talking book program administered by the National Library for the Blind and Print Disabled brings books and magazines of choice right to your door. Ap-

Paras: Discover latent talents

Continued from A1

fidence,” she said.

“It doesn’t feel like a job. I’m just having fun.”

Weide is one of several current or former Iola Elementary paras making the transition to become a teacher. Seven of them sat down with the Register last week to discuss the program.

They come from different backgrounds and have different reasons for wanting to be a teacher. But all have one thing in common: They love working with kids.

GALE HOAG

Hoag is no stranger to education.

best,” he admitted, which he took as a warning.

Even so, the idea of being a teacher stayed with him.

That’s when he took up a friend’s suggestion that he become a paraprofessional to better experience the elementary school environment.

It took.

“The kids are great, much better than high school. They’re just so fun.”

as a substitute teacher for the 2020-2021 school year.

Still eager to keep her music skills honed, Prather attended a band camp the summer of 2021. It was then that she received a call from the local school district offering her a job to teach music to third-, fourth- and fifth-graders.

plication forms are available at the library. Audio Reader, a free reading and information service operated by the University of Kansas, is available by several means, including apps — you can even tell Amazon Alexa to connect you. Audio Reader’s most popular feature is news.

Judge: Rio Grande buoys must go

By AARON TORRES and TODD GILLMAN The Dallas Morning News/TNS

AUSTIN, Texas — Texas must remove floating border buoys by Friday, Sept. 15, and cannot install any similar structures in the Rio Grande without receiving proper approval, a federal judge wrote Wednesday in a scathing ruling criticizing Gov. Greg Abbott for ignoring federal laws.

U.S. District Judge David Ezra wrote that he expects the Justice Department to prevail in its civil suit against Abbott. The Biden administration argues that Texas violated a federal law that forbids unauthorized construction in navigable waterways.

Texas argued the rules didn’t apply because the barrier is in a part of the river too shallow to be navigable. The state also said it has the right to self-defense under the U.S. Constitution, in this case to protect itself against a migrant “invasion.”

Ezra disagreed.

Under Texas’s logic, he wrote in the 42-page ruling, a state could declare it has been invaded, then wage war as it sees fit “subject to no oversight.”

“Such a claim is breathtaking,” the

Abbott knows his actions are illegal. I’m glad the court is forcing him to remove his death traps from the Rio Grande.

— U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio

judge wrote. Texas filed an appeal shortly after the court order came down.

It was not immediately clear if that means the state will refuse to comply pending a ruling from the New Orleans-based Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, one of the nation’s most conservative appellate courts.

“This ruling is incorrect and will be overturned on appeal,” Abbott said in a statement. “We will continue to utilize every strategy to secure the border, including deploying Texas National Guard soldiers and Department of Public Safety troopers and installing strategic barriers.”

At the Justice Department, associate U.S. Attorney General Vanita Gupta said, “We are pleased that the court ruled that the barrier was unlawful and irreparably harms diplomatic relations, public safety, navigation, and the operations of federal agency officials in and around the Rio Grande.”

U.S. Rep. Joaquin

Castro, D-San Antonio, who recently led a delegation of lawmakers to Eagle Pass, also embraced the ruling.

“Abbott knows his actions are illegal. I’m glad the court is forcing him to remove his death traps from the Rio Grande. He has endangered lives, damaged Texas’ working relationship with our largest trading partner and let politics rather than sensible policy dictate his actions,” he said.

Abbott previously boasted that Texas was not “asking for permission” when it installed razor wire along 60 miles of border and the 1,000-foot floating barrier two miles downstream from Eagle Pass.

Since 1997, she has served as a substitute teacher, on and off. She also has a multitude of college credits under her belt, estimating she’s probably earned enough to get her teaching degree. The problem was that because she attended several different colleges, she never could transfer enough of the credits to graduate.

A call from the school district several years ago, prompted her to get back on track to get a teaching certificate.

“They needed someone to fill an art position and thought I would be perfect for it,” she recalled.

She finished out that first year as a long-term substitute art teacher for kindergarten through second grade students.

She started the Teacher Apprentice Program in 2022, but is only able to take classes on a parttime basis.

Meanwhile, she continues to teach K-2 art.

PARKER SMITH

Smith was just 15 when he became a volunteer for SAFE BASE, the district’s afterschool program. Eight years later, he’s still with it.

That should have been his first hint as to where his talents lie.

Smith graduated from Iola High School in 2019, thinking he wanted to teach high school. He attended Allen Community College on a theatre scholarship, which reminded him that although he loved acting, he wasn’t the best student.

“I was lackluster at

Smith is back at ACC now with a more distilled focus to complete the necessary prerequisites he needs to begin the TAP program.

Being in the area of something I enjoy, I thought why not?

“Being in the area of something I enjoy doing, I thought, why not? If I didn’t like it, that’s not the worst thing.”

If I didn’t like it, that’s not the worst thing.

— Addy Prather

“I’m still a pretty lackluster student,” he said, “but the goal keeps me excited.”

ADDY PRATHER

Though music was always her passion, Prather didn’t see herself wielding the baton.

Today, Prather is one semester away from becoming a full-fledged teacher.

Prather’s path was detoured by two things: Though she loved music, she didn’t consider it as a viable career. And the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted her college experience.

Prather took band classes all through middle and high school, graduating from Iola High School in 2018.

From there, she attended ACC on a band scholarship and earned an associate of arts degree. Unsure of her next step, she became a library substitute in January 2020.

“And then COVID hit, so we didn’t finish that year,” Prather said.

Prather then worked

Turns out, she enjoyed it so much she decided to get her teaching certificate and enrolled in the TAP program in January 2022.

This fall, she’s working as a paraprofessional in Laura Caillouet’s second-grade classroom. In the spring, she’ll go back to teaching music. That’s where she hopes to stay.

NICKI GOSSETT

“Teaching was not really in my wheelhouse,” Gossett always thought.

After high school, she earned an associate degree in accounting from ACC and headed to Pittsburg State University with the intention of becoming an accountant.

That’s when she took the advice of a psychology teacher to become a high school counselor.

After earning her bachelor’s degree, Gossett got married and returned to Iola, where she worked for Gates Manufacturing for 14 years.

From there she took a position at SEK-CAP’s preschool followed by a stint with ANW Cooperative to work as a para in the special education

See PARAS | Page A3

IF YOU THINK BUZZED DRIVING IS OK, YOU’RE WASTED.

Paras: Role as both a teacher and student is a juggling act

Continued from A3

resource room. It was then Gossett realized she wanted to work with all children.

Shortly thereafter Gossett took a position as a paraprofessional for kindergarten through second grade at Jefferson Elementary School.

After five years, then-Jefferson principal Tiffany Koehn encouraged Gossett to fill a position as a fifth grade behavioral teacher with ANW.

Gossett thought, “If the principal thinks I would be good for a teaching position, I must be doing something right.”

She was hired two weeks before school started last fall. She also works part-time in the patient registration department at Allen County Regional Hospital.

She began the TAP program in September of 2022 and is in her second year. She expects to graduate next summer. It’s a lot of work, she admitted.

“There’s many days where I forget I’m a student. Then I get online and, oh, I have three assignments due today.”

KRISTIN BARNETT

After Barnett graduated from Humboldt High School she worked as a paraprofessional in the Iola district for 15 years, all with kindergarteners.

The experience has fostered her enthusiasm to accept the responsibility of having her own classroom.

“I’ve matured in my compassion and learning as I’ve grown,” she said.

“And, honestly, it’s the inspiration of the wonderful teachers I have worked with and my friends who have pushed me to go back and get my teaching certificate.”

Barnett is in her first semester of the Teacher Apprentice Program.

That she also is taking some prerequisite classes in addition to a full semester of TAP classes makes for a busy schedule.

“I’m trying to get in the groove and figure out how to balance family time, homework time and a very busy lifestyle.

“My kids are going, going, going all the time. One is in sports. The other does rodeo. We’re busy. I’ve had to do a lot of homework on the road or sitting in the stands of a game.”

JOHN HIGGINBOTHAM

Higgingotham always wanted to be a teacher — but with a twist.

As a senior at Iola High School, he worked with Laura Caillouet’s second grade class.

“After I was done with the year, I thought, I really love these kids but I do not want to be an elementary school teacher. I just don’t know how they do it,” he said.

After graduating from IHS in 2004, Higginbotham attended Ottawa University with the intention of getting a degree in education.

Unfortunately, OU eliminated the program during Higginbotham’s tenure there. Instead of education, Higginbotham earned a degree in theatre.

In short order he also got married and he and his wife, Jenna, started a family, taking his life down a decidedly different path.

—

Higginbotham took a job in 2013 at his old stomping grounds, the Bowlus Fine Arts Center, where his position included leading the Children’s Summer Theatre Workshop.

“The more I got involved with teaching CSTW, the more I was like, ‘I really do miss this,’” he said of working with children.

This year, Higginbotham is the new art teacher for grades 3-5.

His path is a little different than the others. Instead of attending Wichita’s TAP program, he’s pursuing his master’s degree through a similar transitional program at Fort Hays State University.

ANDREA WEIDE

Weide graduated from Yates Center High School, then received a vocal scholarship to attend ACC, where she graduated with an associate degree in art.

After she became a

mother, she decided she wanted a job that would have the same schedule as her son. She was hired to work as a paraprofessional with fifth-graders at Jefferson, which she did for 10 years. Then, she switched to kindergarten and worked as a para for another six years.

“I had always wanted to be a teacher. I get so excited when they get their school supplies out. Even when I was a kid, I would take my supplies out and put them back out, then take them out again just so I could touch them. I drove my parents crazy doing that.”

She joined a transition-to-teaching program at Fort Hays State University, but its requirement that she work as an unpaid student teacher proved impractical.

“It just wasn’t feasible for my family for me to not have a job,” she said.

The TAP program at Wichita was perfect because it allowed her to continue working as a para while taking classes.

She graduated in May. Just days before the graduation ceremony, the Iola district hired her as a first-grade teacher.

“My family was very supportive. My husband would cook dinner so I could study. My boys knew if Mom was sitting at her computer, they’d have to wave at me if they needed something.

“To see their faces when I crossed that stage to graduate was the most heartwarming thing.”

IT HELPS to have a supportive group behind you, the teachers and paras said.

They’ve been able to

share textbooks and resources. They even give each other advice about which instructors to request when enrolling for new semesters.

“It’s nice having that sense of community,” Weide said.

The TAP program includes professional learning groups that meet over Zoom and work on assignments together.

classes.

We’re still able to provide for our families, have jobs and go to school.

— Amber Weide

They’re each assigned a “success coach,” a working administrator somewhere in Kansas. Each student must teach between one to four lessons each semester. They must develop a lesson plan and record themselves teaching students. IES teachers have been very gracious in allowing them to work with their

Tuition is adjusted to accommodate the kind of salary a para makes, Prather said. Students also can receive financial aid and apply for student loans. Typically, a semester costs between $2,500 to $3,500. She also recommends anyone who is interested to research the various transitional teaching programs offered by numerous Kansas universities.

TAP is a great option for those who want to become teachers but do not live near a college that offers a teaching program, the group said.

“We’re still able to provide for our families, have jobs and go to school,” Weide said.

Several Iola Elementary School paraprofessionals have or are taking part in Wichita State University’s Teacher Apprentice Program or similar transitional college programs. Front from left, Addy Prather, Kristin Barnett, Andrea Weide; back, Parker Smith, Nicki Gossett and John Higginbotham. Not pictured is Gale Hoag. REGISTER/ VICKIE MOSS

If the princial thinks I would be good for a teaching position, I must be doing something right.

Nikki Gossett

Alumni: College provided safe space for growth, adulthood

Continued from A1

lege president TC Brown played a large role in getting him to Iola.

“I was set to go to auctioneer school, but TC got me a scholarship from Milne and Mann,” he said.

It was part of Brown’s charm and savvy, all agreed, to find ways to lure prospective students.

“Iola was always good about hiring students when they got to town,” Kit McGuffin agreed.

For Hoffmeier, junior college was the springboard to his career as an electrician.

“I was pretty good at physics,” he recalled.

After school, Hoffmeier enlisted in the Navy, where his dreams of becoming a pilot were dashed because of poor eyesight.

Instead, Hoffmeier focused on learning a trade, which eventually led to his opening Hoffmeier Electric after his service ended.

“For me, it was an opportunity to go on to college,” Ken McGuffin said. “I was the first in my family to get a college education. Most kids when they get out of high school don’t know what they want to do, and I didn’t either.

“It was convenience, opportunity and economics,” he continued. “It was a springboard for me to get a college education.”

WHILE IJC was its own entity, there were still obvious connections to Iola High, Catron noted.

“It’s actually a misnomer that all of the

classes were only on the third floor,” he said. “I remember having some classes on the second and even the first floor.”

And it was a common sight to see high-schoolers at Red Devil basketball games, and juco students in the stands when the Mustangs were playing. (Girls and women’s sports were still 20 years away from becoming reality.)

In another sign of the times, McIntosh recalled idle time spent in “the pit,” when the gymnasium floor was in the high school basement.

The junior college students would play hoops during their lunch hour. TC Brown would ring a gong when it was time to return to class.

Oh, and smoking was allowed.

“You could go downstairs, and it would be so blue from the smoke

was

— Ken McGuffin

that you could hardly see,” McIntosh said. “That was before smoking was a no-no.”

McIntosh also recalled the one time he was in the middle of a game when he took a shot to the eye, opening a sizable gash.

“What would it cost to get stitches?” McIntosh queried the late Dr. Tommie Osborn.

“It’ll be $1 if I don’t deaden it, and $2 if I do,” Osborn replied with a grin.

“Doc, don’t deaden it,” McIntosh laughed. “I don’t have insurance.”

Fraud: Claims cause concern

Continued from A1

shop.

Hawley’s efforts to contact the Texas business also hit a dead end.

As for Medicare taking action against either, Hawley has her doubts.

When it comes to fraud, “$8,400 is peanuts,” she said.

Which leaves Hawley, who turns 78 on Sept. 14, unsettled.

“I want to know who has my Medicare number and whether I should be issued a new one,” she said.

Being a three-time cancer survivor, she has multiple providers that have access to her insurance information.

“I worry that one of my providers or pharmacists has been hacked,” she said.

Hawley also contends fraudsters prey on those who have met their insurance deductibles because the companies

then pay the claims outright.

Hawley suspects others may be unwitting victims.

“It’s a lesson to look at your Medicare statements, especially those sent electronically,” she said.

“People complained that they didn’t want to be responsible for submitting their claims, well this is what can

Fast forward more than 60 years and McIntosh is still going strong at McIntosh/Booth Insurance.

Catron, who joked he was too lazy to look for a job after high school, decided to continue his schooling instead.

Funny part is, some of Catron’s best friends in college were on the basketball team.

“But I never got to see them play a single game because I was working Friday nights,” he laughed.

IOLA JUNIOR College also played a hand in the formation of the Iola Community Theatre, Ken McGuffin noted.

Dale Creitz, local music teacher icon, also taught choral music for IJC, and was keen on putting together a production of the musical “Oklahoma.”

“It was our freshman year, and it was wildly successful,” he said, “so much so that he decided the next year to do ‘South Pacific’ at the old Municipal Auditorium. We filled the place.”

By then, the community members realized the wealth of talented performers in and around Iola.

The Iola Community Theatre was formed two years later.

BY THE TIME the McGuffins, McIntosh, et al had graduated, enrollment at both IJC and Iola High School was

bulging at the seams.

In 1965, county taxpayers voted 3 to 1 to build a new campus for what then had become Allen County Community Junior College on North Cottonwood Street. All of the alums were in favor of the new home. Ken McGuffin noted what was gained with

new facilities in a stateof-the-art education center.

“The only thing I miss was that there was such a community feel for the college when it was in the high school,” he said. “It was more intertwined. I don’t know if the community feel continued with the college’s new place. It became its own entity.”

happen when we let others do it,” she said.

She also wonders if the Atchison physician, like her, was taken advantage of, or is complicit in the fraud.

One thing she does know.

“They picked on the wrong person,” she said, with a renewed determination to see if she can get this wrong set right.

Iola High School’s third floor was Iola Junior College’s first home. PHOTO FROM THE CHRONICLES OF ALLEN COUNTY

Ken and Kit McGuffin and George Catron share memories of their college days. All three attended what then was Iola Junior College, when classes were held on the third floor at Iola High School. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN

It

a springboard for me to get a college education.

Opinion

~ Journalism that makes a difference

Editorial excerpts

Anti-choice states trap women

To assess what America’s increasingly radicalized movement against abortion rights is plotting next against America’s women, it’s generally useful to look to Texas. And what’s going on in the Lone Star State right now should be chilling not just to those who support reasonable abortion rights but to anyone who understands that unfettered travel within the U.S. is as fundamental a freedom for Americans as speech or religion. …

Ordinances already approved in two Texas cities and in two counties make it illegal for anyone to aid a pregnant woman in leaving the state for abortion services by using local roads and highways. ….

School officials are still arguing about teaching climate change

Really? We’re still arguing about this?

Partisan sniping about whether human fuel-burning is warming the planet — about which there is no reasonable debate — and whether society should do anything about it feels more like 2003 than 2023. Yet officials in states such as Texas continue to fight a rearguard action against reality.

July marked the hottest month ever recorded on Earth. This summer has tested Texas in particular, with record-breaking temperatures straining the state’s electric power grid, forcing Texas to issue eight energy conservation requests in August. An extended blackout would have almost certainly meant widespread deaths. Yes, Texas always gets hot in the summer. But the severity and frequency of extreme heat will only increase as the world warms, driven by burning fossil fuel.

Contrast this reality with the debate on what to teach Texas students about climate change, currently raging on the state’s board of education, a body with outsize power to decide not only what Texas students learn — but those in other states, too.

The board is considering which science textbooks Texas eighth graders can be given. Because the board approves which books can be used in the huge state, it can influence the national textbook market. State curriculum standards require only that textbooks note that human activities “can” influence climate. Since those standards were adopted, the board has drifted further right.

Will Hickman, a Republican board member who works as a senior legal counsel for the oil giant Shell, asked whether Texas textbooks should also discuss the benefits from burning fos-

sil fuels, given that modern life is still powered by hydrocarbons such as oil and gas. Patricia Hardy, another board member, said at a board meeting that students should learn that fossil fuels and naturally occurring climatic changes can both lead to increasing temperatures, which would downplay conclusive research showing fossil fuel use is rapidly warming the planet.

OF COURSE, the world still depends on fossil fuels; students should know what their parents are putting into their gas tanks and where the electricity comes from when they flip on the lights (still often natural gas or coalfired power plants). But that requires a full and unvarnished exploration of the fossil-fuel economy’s escalating costs, too.

Yet, Texas officials are not alone in their attempts to weaken climate education. Florida approved for use material from the conservative Prager University Foundation, which includes climate change denial videos. North Carolina lawmakers tried to replace a required earth science course, which includes instruction on climate change, with a computer science class. Utah’s state school board barely mustered a majority to keep climate change as part of its state science curriculum.

Americans largely recognize that human activity is causing climate change, with 74 percent of people agreeing. This number should only grow. Schools can prepare a rising generation of students with facts about how their environment is changing. Or they can continue engaging in a desultory argument about reality that should have ended decades ago.

—The Washington Post

If a husband wants to prevent his wife from leaving the state for an abortion, for example, he could threaten to sue anyone who offered to drive her. …

Sit with that a moment.

For the almost five decades that Roe v. Wade was in force, its opponents argued that individual states, not a federal court ruling, should determine their own abortion standards. But since the overturn of Roe last year, that stance has given way to one in which lawmakers in some red states are aggressively seeking to extend their own bans on neighboring states in various ways.

Missouri’s abortion ban, in effect since the very day Roe fell, is as strict as any in the nation, outlawing the procedure from the moment of conception in every case, including rape and incest, with a sole, vague exception for medical emergencies. Doctors who violate it can face 15 years in prison.

Having cast off Roe in part with a state’s-rights argument, the antiabortion movement is now determined to cast aside states’ rights and impose its will on every region of the country, regardless of whether those regions like it. There is no better argument for a national law codifying the protections that existed under Roe.

— St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Prisons should be fit to live in

The purpose of the juvenile justice system in Louisiana is not to punish but to rehabilitate. But dozens of young Louisianans were transferred nearly a year ago to the vacant former death row of the notorious adult maximum security state penitentiary known as Angola, where they have suffered through a summer of record-breaking heat — without air conditioning, according to plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the state. As temperatures outside reached triple digits for days, conditions inside the windowless cells became unbearable.

This is not rehabilitation, and it’s not even punishment.

It is torture.

Adults are in prison for punishment as well as rehabilitation, but shouldn’t have to endure such conditions any more than teenagers should.

Yet intense heat has so affected imprisoned Louisiana adults that officials have had to step up suicide watches. At the Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman, a U.S. Department of Justice investigation found indoor temperatures reaching 145 degrees last year. In Texas, where 70% of prison living

quarters reportedly lack air conditioning, incarceration becomes execution, as climate change drives already blistering summer temperatures even higher.

… To our shame, it has long been part of American culture to accept or even delight in torturous prison conditions. In Maricopa County, Ariz., former Sheriff Joe Arpaio was treated as a folk hero for keeping jail inmates in tents in the desert amid daily summer temperatures of 120 degrees.

But cruelty is explicitly unconstitutional and not part of acceptable prison treatment, no matter what the individuals did to be sent there.

… Prisons cannot operate on the cheap, and climate change is making them even costlier. We will pay, one way or the other — either by making them slightly more humane or by paying wrongful-death verdicts and settlements for accepting the cruel torture of our fellow human beings.

— Los Angeles Times

Military promotions essential to safety

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, the highest-ranking and most senior commander in the nation’s armed forces, is scheduled to retire at the end of the month. What happens then is anyone’s guess.

That’s because footballcoach-turned-U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville shamefully continues to erode military leadership and compromise national security by blocking the promotions of hundreds of service members — including those at the top of the command structure — from action in the Senate.

The United States is today without confirmed chiefs to lead the Navy, Army and Marine Corps. Those three critical positions are among more than 300 officer promotions languishing as a result of Tuberville’s truculence.

... Tuberville’s “holds,” as they’re called, aren’t about the nominees’ qualifications, but are in protest to the Pentagon policy of providing time and reimbursement to service members who have to travel for abortion care when they’re stationed in states that have outlawed the procedure.

You see, Tuberville thinks the military is best served by depriving its female service members from reproductive choices about their bodies. He firmly believes that a woman who joins the armed forces and is stationed in a state that severely restricts access to contraceptives and abortion services should simply accept it.

Ask the military or law enforcement why they don’t negotiate with terrorists and they’ll tell you that capitulation only invites further action. Give an inch and they’ll take a mile.

The same goes for Tuberville. If he is rewarded for single-handedly blocking experienced and talented service members from ascending to leadership positions, then others will follow in his reckless, ill-considered path.

This never should have been allowed to fester, but there remains only one option: Tuberville should put the nation’s security first by lowering his cynical, irresponsible roadblock to military promotions and allow them to proceed in the bipartisan manner they had before he set foot in the Senate.

— The Virginian Pilot

Due to a significant drop in rainfall over the last several decades, Lake Mead has declined dramatically, leaving a “bathtub ring” of minerals coating the rocky shores. (BRIAN VAN DER BRUG/LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS)

Smoke from Canada’s wildfires engulfed NYC’s Central Park this summer, making breathing difficult for some. (TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/GETTY IMAGES/TNS)

By ROBERT CRONKLETON Kansas City Star/TNS

Kansans feel Canada’s smoke Mexico removes most abortion restrictions

Plumes of smoke from Canadian wildfires have settled across the center part of the U.S. pushing Kansas City’s air quality to an unhealthy level early Thursday.

The air quality index in Kansas City reached 159 Thursday morning, which places the air quality in the red or unhealthy category, according to the website AirNow.gov.

The primary pollutant was elevated particulate matter in the air caused by the smoke. The tiny particles, called PM 2.5, are about 1/30th of the width of human hair.

The poor air quality places those who already have respiratory or heart issues, such as asthma or heart disease, at greater risk,

Kansas skies have turned hazy as plumes of smoke from the wildfires in western Canada have settled across the region. The air quality across much of the state reached an unhealthy level Thursday morning, Sept. 7. (AIRNOW.GOV/TNS)

as well as older adults and children.

They are urged to reduce their exposure by avoiding strenuous outdoor activities, keeping outdoor activities short and moving physical activities indoor or rescheduling them.

Everyone else is urged to choose less strenuous activities so

they don’t breathe as hard outdoors, shorten the amount of time they spend outside and wait until air quality improves to be active outdoors, according to the AirNow.gov. Air quality will continue to be a concern through the end of the week, the National Weather Service in Kansas City said.

MEXICO CITY (AP) —

The decision by Mexico’s Supreme Court to invalidate all federal criminal penalties for abortion opened access for millions of people in the sprawling public health system a year after the court’s U.S. counterpart went in the opposite direction.

Under Mexico’s legal system, however, the ruling did not invalidate all criminal penalties for abortion, which remained on the books Thursday in 20 of Mexico’s 32 states. Those differences help explain why

Wednesday’s ruling, while a dramatic change in this predominantly Catholic nation, was not Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court ruling guaranteeing women’s access to abortion.

The ruling does mean that government health providers will not need to worry about federal penalties for abortion, because the court ruled that they were an unconstitutional violation of women’s human rights.

Millions of Mexican women receive healthcare services from the national government, granting the ruling immediate impact. The ruling also gave abortion rights advocates a powerful tool that they can use to continue their state-by-state

work of challenging abortion restrictions. However, along with those restrictions still on the books in many states, many millions of Mexican women work outside the formal economy, placing them outside those quickly affected by Wednesday’s ruling. Abortions are not widely prosecuted as a crime in Mexico, but many doctors refuse to provide them, citing the law.

“Today is a day of victory and justice for Mexican women!” Mexico’s National Institute for Women wrote in a message on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. The government organization called the decision a “big step” toward gender equality.

Biden cancels remaining oil and gas leases in Alaska’s Arctic Refuge

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP)

— In an aggressive move that angered Republicans, the Biden administration canceled the seven remaining oil and gas leases in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge on Wednesday, overturning sales held in the Trump administration’s waning days, and proposed stronger protections against development on vast swaths of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.

The Department of Interior’s scrapping of the leases comes after the Biden administration disappointed environmental groups earlier this year by approving the Willow oil project in the petroleum reserve, a massive project by ConocoPhillips Alaska that could produce up to 180,000 barrels of oil a day on Alaska’s petroleum-rich North Slope. Protections are proposed for more than 20,000 square miles

(51,800 square kilometers) of land in the reserve in the western Arctic.

SOME CRITICS who said the approval of Willow flew in the face of Biden’s pledges to address climate change lauded Wednesday’s announcement. But they said more could be done. Litigation over the approval of the Willow project is pending.

“Alaska is home to many of America’s most

breathtaking natural wonders and culturally significant areas. As the climate crisis warms the Arctic more than twice as fast as the rest of the world, we have a responsibility to protect this treasured region for all ages,” Biden said in a statement.

His actions “meet the urgency of the climate crisis” and will “protect our lands and waters for generations to come,” Biden said.

Alaska’s Republican

governor condemned Biden’s moves and threatened to sue. And at least one Democratic lawmaker said the decision could hurt Indigenous communities in an isolated region where oil development is an important economic driver.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, who drew criticism for her role in the approval of the Willow project, said Wednesday that “no one will have rights to drill for

oil in one of the most sensitive landscapes on earth.” However, a 2017 law mandates another lease sale by late 2024. The Biden administration also announced proposed rules aimed at providing stronger protections against new leasing and development in portions of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska that are designated as special areas for their wildlife, subsistence, scenic or other values.

Mexico’s National Institute for Women called it a ‘big step’ toward gender equality

Sports Daily B

Friday, September 8, 2023

Mustangs slam it at Chanute; finish third

By QUINN BURKITT The Iola Register

CHANUTE — The Iola High tennis team took third place at Chanute Wednesday.

The Mustang duo of Kyndal Bycroft and Harper Desmarteau earned a first place finish while Keira Fawson also took home first place in singles action.

“It was a great day for tennis,” Iola head coach Chris Belknap said. “The weather was perfect and the wind didn’t make it impossible to play. Win or lose, as long as we’re trying our best and bringing something off the court to work on at practice, I’m happy.”

Fawson started her day by taking down Labette County’s Lily Beery, 8-7, before defeating Neodesha’s Callie Parrett, 8-1. She then defeated Columbus’ Hailey Ediger, 8-0, before falling to Chanute’s Ella Guernsey, 8-4.

“Keira is doing well so far this year. We are working on playing more aggressively

and I am pushing for her to charge the net more often for faster points,” Belknap

said. Rebekah Coltrane won two of her four matches. She

Lady Red Devils start fast, take down Pratt

By QUINN BURKITT The Iola Register

PRATT — Allen’s first conference road game of the season proved to be decisive in different ways for the men’s and women’s teams at Pratt Wednesday afternoon.

The No. 11 Lady Red Devils (3-0) got on the board only minutes into the game and scored two more times while holding Pratt scoreless for a 3-0 win.

The Red Devils (3-1) came out flat and could never recover from an early 3-0 deficit. Pratt got on the board early and often, scoring all of their goals in the first half. Allen struck with their only goal near the end of the second half.

Women’s soccer

Rebecca Lord scored Allen’s opening goal off an assist by Audrey Smith which she buried in the back of the net for the 1-0 lead. Smith fed the pass from the corner which is when Lord stepped in front of the goal and poked in Smith’s pass.

“I knew I had a strong starting 10 but the fact they play soccer this fast and good is huge,” said McGinnis. “I was impressed in

the preseason how well we moved the ball. It’s so hard to take things from training to games but the fact they’re relaying things over gives me a lot of pride and hope we can do some great things.”

Lord scored again off a pass from the corner for the 2-0 advantage.

The player of the year for Allen so far has been sophomore midfielder Lizeth Ayala, who scored off a Lord assist for the 3-0 halftime lead.

“Lizeth and Rebecca have

worked together all summer long. Lizeth is very comfortable with the ball at her feet and is very technical,” said McGinnis. “I think we came out a bit too comfortable and then got better as the game went on.” Lord led the Lady Red Devils with a team-high four shots on goal and five shots total. Smith had three shots and two shots on goal. Keimari Simons also had two shots, both on goal, while Ayala footed three shots and one shot on goal.

Pratt struggled to gain much of any possession and only had one shot on goal in the first half and three shots on goal total.

Lady Red Devil goalkeeper Lucia Solanilla Leo had to pinch herself to stay awake, making one save the entire match.

The No. 11-in the country Lady Red Devils will face off against No. 10 Johnson County on Saturday in a nationally recognized NJCAA women’s soccer game.

See ALLEN | Page B6

first lost to Labette County’s Hilary Byrd, 8-3, before beating Neodesha’s Madison McClanahan, 8-0. Coltrane won her third match over Columbus’ Paige Kueser, 8-3, before losing to Chanute’s Faith Fewins, 8-2.

In doubles action, Bycroft and Desmarteau stumbled to Labette County’s Madison Bevans and Kaitlyn Carson, 8-7, before they took down Neodesha’s Maggie Chandler and Rose Imhoff, 8-2.

The duo won their final two matches including an 8-3 victory over Columbus’ Chloe Ash and Meagan Hosier and then an 8-4 win over Chanute’s Ava Campbell and Laynie Jones, 8-4.

“They are playing very well together,” said Belknap. “Harper is becoming more aggressive at the net and that will help win a lot

See IOLA | Page B6

JV Mustangs take it to Osawatomie

OSAWATOMIE — The Iola

High JV Mustang football team won 44-22 on the road in their season opener at Osawatomie Tuesday. Iola relied on their defense, holding the Trojans to eight points in the first half, before cranking up the intensity on offense to score 28 points in the second half.

Keiser Nemecek, who had two touchdowns on the night, hauled in a pass from Jakolby Hill for the 8-0 lead.

Nemecek put Iola on the board again at the end of the first half on an interception returned for a touchdown for the 16-8 lead.

Jace Herrmann ran in a touchdown in the third quarter for the 24-16 lead.

Austin Crooks brought in a Hill pass for a 32-16 advantage.

Kale Pratt was the man of the hour for the Mustangs in the fourth quarter when he ran for two touchdowns to seal the deal on a 44-22 victory.

The Mustangs hit the road to face off against Wellsville next Monday at 4:30 p.m.

The Associated Press Illinois (1-0) at Kansas (1-0), Friday, 7:30 p.m. (ESPN2)

Line: Kansas by 3, according to FanDuel Sportsbook.

Series record: Illinois

leads 3-2.

WHAT’S AT STAKE?

Kansas started 5-0 last season and, despite a midseason letdown, went on to reach a bowl game for the first time since 2008. The Jayhawks will try to continue their non-conference

momentum against Illinois, which is playing them for the first time since a 47-7 loss in 1968. The Illini are coming off a last-second win over reigning MAC champion Toledo and could build some confidence for a matchup at seventh-ranked Penn State next weekend.

KEY MATCHUP Illinois QB Luke Altmyer against the Kansas pass defense, which struggled at times in a win over FCS-level Missouri State last week-

end. The Ole Miss transfer threw for 211 yards and two touchdowns while running for a score, and he led the Illini on a 12-play, 64-yard drive to set up Caleb Griffin’s winning field goal against the Rockets.

PLAYERS TO WATCH Illinois: DB Miles Scott made his first career start a memorable one, returning his first interception 48 yards for a touchdown against Toledo. The former wide receiver was chosen

the Big Ten’s co-defensive player of the week.

Kansas hosts Illinois in Big Ten-Big 12 showdown Alcaraz reaches Open semifinal

Kansas: Whoever starts at QB, whether that is Jalon Daniels or Jason Bean. Daniels has been slowed in fall camp by a back injury and was held out of the opener against Missouri State, even though Jayhawks coach Lance Leipold said he could have played. Bean threw for 276 yards and two touchdowns in the win.

See JAYHAWKS | Page B6

NEW YORK (AP) — Carlos Alcaraz found himself in a hint of a predicament 35 minutes into his U.S. Open quarterfinal against Alexander Zverev on Wednesday night.

At 3-all in the first set under the lights in Arthur Ashe Stadium, Zverev earned the See US OPEN | Page B6

Iola’s Rebekah Coltrane goes for a hit at Iola’s home meet. REGISTER/QUINN BURKITT

Allen’s Audrey Smith, right, drives toward the goal against Hesston. REGISTER/QUINN BURKITT

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Judge admits high court has an image problem

CLEVELAND (AP) —

U.S. Supreme Court

Justice Brett Kavanaugh told a judicial conference on Thursday he hopes there will be “concrete steps soon” to address recent ethics concerns surrounding the court, but he stopped short of addressing calls for justices to institute an official code of conduct.

ed criticism over his failure to report trips in previous years.

Reporting by the investigative news site ProPublica also revealed that Justice Samuel Alito failed to disclose a private trip to Alaska he took in 2008 that was paid for by two wealthy Republican donors, one of whom repeatedly had interests before the court.

AS, AGS, MS, Career and Technical Education Certificates, and programs leading to licensure. Admission criteria include a completed application, high school transcript or proof of GED completion, and transcripts from any other cdleges attended.

Allen Community College Notice of Non-Discrimination allencc.edu

Today in history

In 1504, Michelangelo’s towering marble statue of David was unveiled to the public in Florence, Italy. *****

In 1900, Galveston, Texas, was struck by a hurricane that killed an estimated 8,000 people.

***** On Sept. 8, 1974, President Gerald R. Ford

granted a “full, free, and absolute pardon” to former President Richard Nixon covering his entire term in office. *****

In 2022, Queen Elizabeth II, who spent more than seven decades on the British throne, died at age 96; her 73-yearold son became King Charles III.

“We can increase confidence. We’re working on that,” Kavanaugh told the judicial conference in Ohio. He said all nine justices recognize that public confidence in the court is important, particularly now.

“There’s a storm around us in the political world and the world at large in America,” he said. “We, as judges and the legal system, need to try to be a little more, I think, of the calm in the storm.”

Justice Clarence Thomas acknowledged recently that he took three trips last year aboard a private plane owned by Republican megadonor Harlan Crow even as he reject-

The Associated Press also reported in July that Justice Sonia Sotomayor, aided by her staff, has advanced sales of her books through college visits over the past decade.

“My perspective is we’re nine public servants who are hardworking and care a lot about the court and care a lot about the judiciary as a whole,” Kavanaugh said. He added that he believes justices “respect the institution and want that respect for the institution to be shared by the American people, recognizing that people are going to disagree with our decisions.”

Q: I see that Lea Thompson is returning in a new series. What was the last one she did?

A: As a series regular, that would have been “Switched at Bir th,” on which she played one of the mothers whose daughters were well, check the title of the show again. She also had recurring roles on “Scorpion” (as the Katharine McPhee character’s mom) and “The Goldbergs,” and she had a guest par t last year on “Star Trek: Picard.”

It’s wor th noting that Thompson also was a director on the latter two programs, and she’s been spending a lot of time in that job – which she shares with her husband, Howard Deutch (“Pretty in Pink”) – in recent times. She also has guided episodes of “Will Trent” (on which Deutch is an executive producer and occasional director), “Resident Alien” and “Young Sheldon” among other shows. Earlier, Thompson directed four “Switched at Bir th” stories as well as two of the “Jane Doe” myster y movies in which she starred.

Thompson’s other major series credit as a star is the 1990s sitcom “Caroline in the City,” which ran almost as long as “Switched at Bir th,” ending just shor t of 100 episodes.

She’ll have another shot at longevity on weekly TV when she returns in “The Spencer Sisters,” a Canadian impor t premiering Oct. 4 on The CW. She and Stacey Farber play a myster y-writer mother and police-of ficer daughter (despite the “Sisters” in the title) who decide to open a private-detective agency. Thompson isn’t credited with directing any of that show yet, but that’s likely to change if it continues for additional seasons.

Embrace grandparents’ pet names

Dear Carolyn: My inlaws have informed us of the monikers they would like our new daughter to use for them, and they are ridiculous. I can make peace with the one my father-in-law wants — a spin on “Papa” — but the one my mother-inlaw wants is an actual proper name that bears no relation to her own name. Think: Her name is “Donna,” and she wants her grandchild, but only her grandchild, to call her “Gabrielle.”

It’s bonkers.

I’m all for letting people be called what they want to be called, but … this is weird, right? Is it weird enough to say

Carolyn Hax

something over? And if so, what? Or do I just inwardly roll my eyes for the next decade? I cannot say this name with a straight face.

— Anonymous Anonymous: I got to your question after I scrolled through about 15 others based on world events I can’t fix, so please know that has enormous bearing on the answer I’m about to give:

Embrace the bat[poop]

awesomeness of this with all your might, and call them exactly what they want. Your daughter will then mangle it in her own way and make it even better. Don’t even think of ruining this gift with eye-rolls. Wrap it in a chartreuse feather boa and toast it with something pink and fizzy and served with a paper umbrella.

A reader’s thoughts:

• Yes, please embrace the bonkers. My mother is very much a “glamma not grandma” kind of lady and had some fancy name she wanted my niece to call her.

Toddlers being toddlers, my niece mangled it, and anyway, now my

mom is “Lump” to six kids.

My mom has tried to change this for 16 years and with each new baby, and none of the grandkids will adjust. My niece even tells my mom that she can’t wait to get “Lump” tattooed on herself when she turns 18.

My mom also hates tattoos and can’t seem to internalize that my niece is trolling her.

I admit, it’s pretty hilarious to see my 8-yearold run across a soccer field yelling “LUMP! LUMP!” when he sees my mom on the sidelines, groomed impeccably. (My mom won’t even wear jeans, let alone sweats.)

PSA test in older men raises questions

DEAR DR. ROACH: I read your recent column on PSA testing and have a simple question. You mentioned that a PSA test could do more harm than benefit in men over 75, but since it is a simple blood test, I don’t understand what the harm would be. (I’m 75 years old and certainly plan to live more than another 15 years.) — G.K.

ANSWER: A PSA test is a simple and safe blood test, but the results may put a man onto a pathway that can lead to both benefit and harm, from which it is difficult to step off of.

The goal of PSA testing is to find not just any type of prostate cancer, but the kind that is destined to spread and ultimately causes death. Only a minority (less than 15%) of prostate cancer diagnoses lead to the death of a patient. This is largely because a majority of prostate cancer is “indolent” — very slow-growing.

For most men, the prostate cancer found during screening would never cause symptoms until he died of something else. The goal of

prostate cancer screening is to identify and treat the aggressive prostate cancers, while not unnecessarily treating the slow-growing, indolent cancers.

Prostate cancer treatment in men found through screening is most often surgery. Despite advances in surgery, there are still risks.

Mortality is uncommon, less than 0.5%, but 7% had a major complication during surgery. Nearly all men lose all, or part, of sexual function in the short-term, and over half of these men will continue to have erectile dysfunction a year after surgery. About 10% to 40% will lose some or full control of urination. Most men are willing to accept these risks if the surgery will prevent them from dying of prostate cancer, not when there isn’t any

benefit. Consequently, the decision of who should get operated on becomes critical. We are much better at identifying men whose risks are so low that they can be watched by a combination of the biopsy results, the PSA level, perhaps a genetic test like the 4Kscore, and the size of the tumor (by a CT or MRI scan). When the cancer looks risky, we recommend operating. When it’s in a gray zone, most urologists and most men prefer proceeding with other treatments.

In a man with a high PSA level and no symptoms, it may take a long time for symptoms to develop, and longer still before a man gets really sick and dies. The best estimate is that it takes 15 years of treatment on average, following a positive PSA test, before the men who are screened receive better results than the men who are left alone. If a man’s life expectancy is less than 15 years, more men will be harmed from the side effects of prostate surgery and treatment than those who will be

helped by removing the aggressive cancers.

The average life expectancy of a 75-yearold man is about 11 to 12 years, and cancers in older men tend to be more indolent, which is why 75 is a reasonable time to stop screening.

by Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman

by Mort Walker

HAGAR THE HORRIBLE by

Chris Browne

by Young and Drake

by Patrick McDonell

Armstrong

HI AND LOIS by Chance

Browne

ZITS

BEETLE BAILEY

BLONDIE

MUTTS

MARVIN by Tom

Dr. Keith Roach

To Your Good Health

Allen: Women beat Pratt

Jayhawks: Host Illinois Friday

Men’s soccer Pratt took control of the game early and footed five shots on goal, three of them reaching the back of the net in the opening half.

ACC’s Pascal Brose tried to get something started early offensively and finished with a

team-high four shots and three shots on goal.

Ayoup Bader, Ted Roberts, Diogo Cardeal and Musa Abdelgdir each had two shots.

Gaurav Sandhu had a busy day in goal for the Red Devils, making two saves.

Allen struck near the end of the match when

Colby Zimmerman scored off a pass from Roberts to cut the deficit to 3-1.

It was a chippy contest. Jose Haboud, Josiah Bobb and Bader each received yellow cards.

Allen hosts Johnson County Community College on Saturday at 2 and 4 p.m.

Iola: Tennis matches up in Chanute

Continued from B1

Continued from B1 of doubles.

“The team is having to fight for playing positions since we have 15 on the roster and only six varsity and six JV positions are open.”

Iola’s duo of Molly Riebel and Melanie

Palmer couldn’t pick up a win.

The pair lost to Labette County’s Amelia Carnahan and Alice Carnahan, 8-0; to Neodesha’s McKenzi Murrson and Abby White, 8-1; to Columbus’ Macey Allison

and Lizzy Welch, 8-3, and to Chanute’s Willow Vaughn and Gracie Wheeler, 8-1.

Iola traveled to Independence on Thursday. Results were not available at the time of publication.

US Open: Semifinal action set

Continued from B1

first break points of the match. An opening. An opportunity to gain an early edge against the defending champion. And then — poof! — gone. Alcaraz dismissed those chances to hold, then gained a break himself in the next game by depositing an overhead that bounced into the stands. One more service hold arrived and, just like that, the set belonged to Alcaraz, as did, eventually, a spot in the semifinals.

The top-seeded Alcaraz pushed aside Zverev 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 and moved a step closer to becoming the first man

to win consecutive titles at Flushing Meadows since Roger Federer collected five in a row from 2004-08.

“(If) I could have broken, it could have gone my way. It didn’t,” Zverev said about that key segment in the match’s seventh game. “Even though I lost the first set, I thought it was going to be a competitive match. I thought my level was there. I thought his level was there. I thought it was going to be a fun one.”

But the 12th-seeded Zverev, a 26-year-old German who was the runner-up at the 2020 U.S. Open, said he felt

something bothersome in his left hamstring area early in the second set. And because of that, he explained, sprinting and pushing off properly to serve became problematic.

“I didn’t give up,” said Zverev, who left the court for a medical timeout before the third set, “but there is very little you can do, in a way, against Carlos then.” There have not been many instances in which anyone has managed to slow down Alcaraz, a 20-year-old from Spain, in any real way over the past yearplus of Grand Slam action.

Continued from B1

FACTS & FIGURES Illinois and Kansas first played in 1892, when the Jayhawks won 26-4. Kansas also won the last meeting between the schools during the 1968 season. ... Illinois trailed Toledo 19-7 in the third quarter last week before rallying for a 30-28 win. It was the biggest comeback win for the Illini since a 25-point rally to beat Michigan State on Nov. 9, 2019. ... Kansas last started 2-0 in consecutive seasons in 2008-09. ... The Jayhawks had 521 yards of total offense against Missouri State last week. ... Devin Neal had touchdowns rushing and receiving for the Jayhawks against the Bears last week. He needs 109 yards rushing to reach 2,000 for his career. ...

The Kansas men’s basketball team travels to Illinois next month for an exhibition game that will benefit the relief efforts in Maui.

It will be the first time Jayhawks coach Bill Self has been back to State Farm Center since he left Illinois for the Kansas job.