The Iola Register, July 1, 2023

Growing Place gets $1.16M grant to add new spots

By VICKIE MOSS The Iola Register

HUMBOLDT — At The Growing Place, the number 39 seems significant.

Back in April, when Janie Works and crew decided to apply for a grant to expand the daycare and preschool center, it had a waiting list of 39.

That’s the same number of children the center cares for between birth to age 3.

And if things go according to plan, the expansion will provide another 39 new spots for early childhood education.

Ideal, right?

Except now, the center’s waiting list has grown to 55 for that age group.

“We thought this would take care of our waiting list but there’s still so much need,” Works said.

The Growing Place re-

Court rejects student loan relief

a

grant

increase its capacity for early childhood child care. From left, teacher Jennifer Thieman and owner Janie Works and companions hang out in the infant room. REGISTER/VICKIE MOSS

ceived a $1.162 million grant to build a nearly 6,000-square-foot expansion. The Child Care Capacity Accelerator grant is administered by the Kansas Children’s Cabinet and Trust Fund to create affordable and accessible child care

throughout the state.

More than $43 million in grants for 52 organizations were announced last week. Nine of those are in southeast Kansas, including The Growing Place and Grow at Eden LLC, a Parsons-based daycare that recently pur-

Race brings vintage autos through Iola

By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register

Iola motorists were treated to a pleasant surprise Thursday as 120 vintage automobiles rolled through town. Turns out the owners of those classic cars were equally surprised to be going through Iola.

The occasion was the Hemmings Motor News Great Race 2023, which takes competitors from St. Augustine, Fla., to Colorado Springs.

While the competitors know their destination cities — Thursday took them from Joplin to Wichita, by way of Emporia — their route is a mystery, even while they’re driving.

You see, unlike practically every other motor race, The Great Race doesn’t care whose car goes fastest, but rather which driver-navigator team can best follow rudimentary (yet amazingly pre-

cise) instructions. The instructions themselves are a sight to behold, listing such things as road signs and other markers to

chased the former Kids Kingdom in Iola.

“There’s a child care crisis all over the nation. Kansas has really embraced the challenge,” Works said.

Works believes her cen-

WASHINGTON (AP) — A sharply divided Supreme Court on Friday effectively killed President Joe Biden’s $400 billion plan to cancel or reduce federal student loan debts for millions of Americans.

The 6-3 decision, with conservative justices in the majority, said the Biden administration overstepped its authority with the plan, and it leaves borrowers on the hook for repayments that are expected to resume in

See GROWING | Page A4 See COURT | Page A7

Local ‘Elite’ investment organization disbands

By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register

In the spring of 1996, a group of local women got together to learn about the world of high finance.

The Elite Investors Investment Club featured 13 women — all of whom were a part of the now-defunct Business and Professional Women’s chapter in Iola — who were eager to learn about stocks, bonds and other ins and outs of the money markets.

Fast forward 26 years, the four remaining remembers are ready to cash out.

They met for the last time as a chartered organization Thursday morning to officially dissolve the club.

“It’s been very fun, but

we knew the time had come for us to disband,” said Sandy Ellis, one of the remaining quartet. She gathered with Charlene Levans, Ann Morrison Houk and Aileen Wilson at Iola’s Landmark National Bank to fill out the remaining paperwork.

The other charter members were Margeret Bryson, Marsha Burris, Mary Clark, Debra Cooper, Barbara Culbertson, Nelda Cuppy, Barbara McCrate, Teri Porter and Bernice Smart.

The investment club’s rules were simple enough.

Members chipped in $25 a month, and pooled their assets for a variety of investments in stocks, bonds and securities.

“We wanted to be di-

See ‘ELITE’ | Page A4

The Elite Investors Investment Club, a group of local women who formed in 1996 to learn about investing in the stock market, has disbanded. The four remaining members meetingt Thursday to dissolve the club are, from left, Aileen Wilson, Charlene Levans, Ann Morrison Houk and Sandy Ellis. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN

The Growing Place in Humboldt received

$1.16 million

to

Among the classic cars spotted in Iola as part of the Hemmings Motor News Great Race 2023 are, above, a 1935 Chevy Master Coupe and a 1969 Chevy Camaro; and a 1935 Auburn Speedster, below. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN

Supreme Court rules in favor of designer, a defeat for gay rights

WASHINGTON (AP)

— In a defeat for gay rights, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority ruled on Friday that a Christian graphic artist who wants to design wedding websites can refuse to work with same-sex couples. One of the court’s liberal justices wrote in a dissent that the decision’s effect is to “mark gays and lesbians for second-class status” and that it opens the door to other discrimination.

The court ruled 6-3 for designer Lorie Smith despite a Colorado law that bars discrimination based on sexual orientation, race, gender and other characteristics. Smith had argued that the law violates her free speech rights.

Smith’s opponents warned that a win for her would allow a range of businesses to discriminate, refusing to serve Black, Jewish or Muslim customers, interracial or interfaith couples or immigrants. But Smith and her supporters had said that a ruling against her would force artists — from painters and photographers to writers and musicians — to do work that is against their beliefs.

Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the court’s six conservative jus-

Kelly rejects AG’s advice on new anti-trans law

By TIM CARPENTER Kansas Reflector

tices that the First Amendment “envisions the United States as a rich and complex place where all persons are free to think and speak as they wish, not as the government demands.”

Gorsuch said that the court has long held that “the opportunity to think for ourselves and to express those thoughts freely is among our most cherished liberties and part of what keeps our Republic strong.”

In a dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote: “Today, the Court, for the first time in its history, grants a business open to the public a constitutional right to refuse to serve members of a protected class.”

She was joined by the court’s two other liberals, Justice Elena Kagan and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.

Sotomayor said that the decision’s logic “cannot be limited to discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.” A website designer could refuse to create a wedding website for an interracial couple, a stationer could refuse to sell a birth announcement for a disabled couple, and a large retail store could limit its portrait services to “traditional” families, she wrote.

TOPEKA — Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach on Thursday promised to see Gov. Laura Kelly in court after she said state agencies will continue to support residents who seek gender-affirming birth certificates and driver’s licenses. The political rivals are tangling over conflicting interpretations of Senate Bill 180, which takes effect July 1. The law conflates the meaning of gender and sex as it attempts to define women and restrict transgender rights.

Government officials, attorneys and LGBTQ advocates have tried to decipher the vaguely worded law with varying results. Earlier this week, Kobach advised state agencies to stop changing gender markers on government documents and to revert any that have been changed.

Kelly, a Democrat who defeated Kobach, a Republican, in the 2018 governor’s race, said Thursday that state agencies would follow the advice of their own attorneys.

“While my administration and the attorney general’s office have had many conversations about the law, KDHE and KDOR disagree about its impacts on their operations and will instead keep in place their policies regarding gender markers on birth certificates and driver’s licenses,” Kelly said.

S. Koreans grow younger overnight

SEOUL, South Korea

(AP) — As South Korea campaigns to retire an old and odd age-counting method that makes people a year or two older than they really are, children are among the few who seem most eager to stick with the past.

“I turned 6 and then became 5 again,” Kim Da-in said when a TV reporter asked her about a new law that went into effect Wednesday that formalizes the international age-counting method in administrative and civil laws and encourages people

Court news

IOLA MUNICIPAL COURT

Judge Patti Boyd

Convicted as follows: Christopher L.D. Dinkel, Chanute, driving while suspended, $315

Bradden L. Dobson,

to tally their own ages accordingly.

South Korea’s traditional age-counting custom considers every person 1 year old at birth and adds another year when the calendar hits Jan. 1, meaning a child born on Dec. 31 turns 2 the next day.

While the new law is the country’s latest attempt to retire that method and standardize international ages based on the passing of birthdays, it’s not immediately clear what will actually change — putting aside the minor frustrations of chil-

Iola, no seat belt, $30

Cristofer J. Holland, Kansas City, Kan., theft of services, $315

Isaac J. Hopkins, Iola, racing on highways, $315

Orion C.J. Nicholas,

dren like Da-in waiting for their birthdays.

President Yoon Suk Yeol has described standardizing international ages as a key goal of his government, citing a need to reduce “social and administrative confusion” and disputes. But officials in South Korea’s Ministry of Government Legislation acknowledge the new law won’t meaningfully change how the country’s public services are done, as most are already based on international ages.

possessing drug paraphernalia, $315, probation ordered

Amanda E. Rogers, Iola, no seat belt, $30

Damien J. Warner, Petrolia, theft, $319.98, probation ordered

Kobach’s response: “She is violating her oath of office to uphold Kansas law. We will see her in court.”

Republicans passed the law earlier this year, referring to it as a “women’s bill of rights.” In late April, they overrode the Democratic governor’s veto of the measure. The law defines women as having the ability to produce eggs for reproduction and men as those whose reproductive systems are developed to fertilize eggs — a definition that conflicts with social and scientific definitions of gender.

The language of the law suggests that people who don’t meet these requirements should be banned from female-specific places, such as locker rooms, bathrooms and crisis shelters. But legal authorities say the law can’t actually be used to ban transgender people from specific spaces, in part because there is no enforcement mechanism or penalty specified in the law.

Another portion of the bill stipulates that any agency, office or organization that collects vital statistics has to identify the person as either male or female based on designation at birth.

Students get degrees

WICHITA — More than 2,060 students completed a total of 2,293 degrees at Wichita State University in spring 2023.

Those graduating from this area include:

From Iola: Elizabeth Hopkins, master of social work; and Trey D. Wilson, bachelor of applied arts, media arts

From Humboldt: Bryce D. Isaac, doctor of physical therapy

The right to change gender markers on birth certificates was confirmed in 2019 as part of an agreement in a federal lawsuit. Kobach’s office has asked the federal court to nullify the agreement.

Kelly’s office said the Kansas Department of Health and Environment would continue to follow the federal court order and protect the right to gender-affirming birth certificates for transgender Kansans.

The governor’s administration also said the new law won’t affect the Kansas Department of Revenue’s handling

of driver’s licenses.

“The governor has stated that SB 180 changes nothing with respect to drivers licenses and birth certificates,” Kobach said. “That is nonsense. The Legislature passed SB 180 and overrode Governor Kelly’s veto specifically to ensure that those documents reflect biological sex at birth. The governor doesn’t get to veto a bill and then ignore the Legislature’s override.”

Other entities, including the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas, have called Kobach’s interpretation of the law incorrect.

Senate President Ty Masterson, R-Andover, called Kelly’s decision a “blatant” attempt to defy the intentions set out by SB180.

“I support aggressive action by our attorney general to uphold the law and hold this administration accountable,” Masterson said. “Their oaths were to the Kansas Constitution, not the radical ideology of the extreme left.”

Kris Kobach appears during a June 26, 2023, news conference at the Statehouse to offer his interpretation of Senate Bill 180. (SAM BAILEY/KANSAS REFLECTOR)

When heat becomes life-threatening

Increased physical activity and prolonged exposure to the sun during hot, humid weather can bring on heatstroke, a dangerous condition in which the body is unable to cool itself.

Heat exhaustion is a condition in which the body becomes dehydrated.

Heatstroke

Heat exhaustion

Insufficient water and salt intake are the primary causes; faintness,

Storms, heat blanket Midwest

INDIANAPOLIS (AP)

— The nation’s midsection is heading into the July Fourth weekend and instead of enjoying the start of summer people are facing smoky haze, high temperatures and powerful derecho winds that knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of residents.

Utility crews were scrambling Friday to restore electricity after a storm front moved across Illinois and Indiana on Thursday packing winds more than 70 miles an hour at times.

The storm caused widespread damage to trees and buildings in the central parts of both states from the Mississippi River to the Indianapolis area. Utility companies faced the challenge of trying to replace electrical lines entangled in downed trees ahead of more expected thunderstorms and temperatures climbing to around 90 degrees.

“We’re seeing a large number of broken poles, trees and powerlines, spans of wire down,” said Angeline Protogere, a spokeswoman for Duke Energy in Indiana.

Some communities in central Illinois and western Indiana declared local disaster emergencies to limit traffic on roads for utility and cleanup crews to work. Utility companies reported that more than 250,000 homes and businesses were without electricity Friday morning in Illinois and Indiana.

The National Weather Service described Thursday’s storm as a derecho as it moved east across Illinois. A derecho is often described as an inland hurricane because of its line of strong winds stretching for hundreds of miles.

“We had damage all the way from northeast Kansas, all the way down into Kentucky and across Indiana,” said John Bumgardner, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in central Illinois.

A dangerous heat wave is also moving across the country, blamed for the deaths of at least 14 people and expected to reach the mid-South by the weekend. Forecasters warned that heat indexes could rise above 110 degrees and an excessive heat warning remained in place Friday for west Tennessee, eastern Arkansas, north Mississippi and the bootheel of Mississippi.

In Memphis, city and county officials said relief efforts are focused on those who still had no power and air conditioning after strong storms Sunday that produced winds of up to 90 mph, knocked down trees and power lines and cut power to 120,000 homes and businesses. About 10,000 homes and businesses still had no power on Friday morning, according to the local utility, Memphis Light, Gas and Water.

“To all of those customers, I’m sorry for what you’re going through. I know how difficult it can be in the absence of a utility and a commodity that you rely on for your daily life to help you cook, clean, and stay cool,” said Doug McGowen, the utility’s president and CEO, during a news conference Thursday.

The storm front moving across the Midwest did help clear the region’s air of smoke from Canadian wildfires that had prompted warnings for people to stay inside.

The Environmental Pro-

tection Agency had listed many cities including Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis and Cleveland, Ohio, as having “very unhealthy air” earlier in the week.

The worst of the smoky air was pushed Friday into the northeast in a swath into Pittsburgh, Buffalo and New York City.

Air quality alerts remained in place Friday for Cleveland and most other areas in northeast Ohio, which saw thick smoke in some places and hazy conditions throughout the region. However, officials said conditions should improve as the day progresses.

The Midwest might only have a brief respite from the Canadian smoke as another storm front is poised to move through the region on Sunday — ahead of Tuesday’s July Fourth holiday, meteorologist Bumgardner said.

‘Elite’

US bombers likely get North Korea’s attention

Continued from A1 SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The United States flew nuclear-capable bombers to the Korean Peninsula on Friday in its latest show of force against North Korea, days after the North staged massive anti-U.S. rallies in its capital.

verse,” Ellis explained. “We tried to keep it in different markets, in case one wasn’t good.” The strategy paid off handsomely.

“I think we only purchased one stock that didn’t do anything,” Levans said, “And we sold it.” They met monthly, usually just prior to BPW meetings until that organization disbanded years ago.

“It was a social event, but we were learning the market,” Levans said. “It has been interesting to learn how funds work.”

The long-range B-52 bombers took part in joint aerial drills with other U.S. and South Korean fighter jets over the peninsula, South Korea’s Defense Ministry said in a statement. The bombers’ flyover is the latest in a series of temporary U.S. deployments of strategic assets in South Korea

in response to North Korea’s push to expand its nuclear arsenal.

Two weeks ago, the U.S. deployed a nuclear-powered submarine capable of carrying about 150 Tomahawk missiles to South Korean waters for the first time in six years.

The USS Michigan’s arrival came a day after North Korea resumed missile tests to protest previous U.S.-South Korean drills that it views as an invasion rehearsal.

The South Korean Defense Ministry said the B-52 bombers’ deployment boosted the visibility of U.S. strategic assets to the penin-

sula. It said the allies have been demonstrating their firm resolve to strengthen combined defense postures and will continue joint drills involving U.S. strategic bombers.

On Sunday, more than 120,000 North Koreans participated in mass rallies in Pyongyang to mark the 73rd anniversary of the start of the Korean War. During the rallies, officials and residents delivered speeches vowing “merciless revenge” against the United States over the war while accusing the U.S. of plotting an invasion on North Korea.

The Korean War end-

ed with an armistice, not a peace treaty, leaving the peninsula in a technical state of war.

The U.S. stations about 28,000 troops in South Korea as deterrence against potential aggression by North Korea.

Since its June 15 launches of two shortrange ballistic missiles, North Korea hasn’t performed any further public weapons tests. But the U.S. bombers’ deployment could prompt it to launch weapons again in protest.

Enhancing “regular visibility of U.S. strategic assets” to the Korean Peninsula was part

of agreements reached between U.S. President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol during their summit in Washington in April. Biden stated at the time that any North Korean nuclear attack on the U.S. or its allies would “result in the end of whatever regime” took such action. Since the start of 2022, North Korea has carried out more than 100 missile tests in a bid to enlarge its arsenal of nuclear-capable missiles targeting the U.S. mainland and South Korea. The allies have responded by expanding their military exercises.

The architect’s drawing shows the nearly 6,000-square-foot expansion at The Growing Place in Humboldt will be located to the west of the existing facility as shown above. The project will add four classrooms, two for preschool and two for school-aged children, as well as an expansion behind the recreation area. Playgrounds will be added behind the facility (not shown). COURTESY/ZINGRE ARCHITECTS

Growing: Humboldt day care facility gets $1.16M grant

Continued from A1

ter’s grant, which was prepared by Damaris Kunkler with A Bolder Humboldt and a team from The Growing Place, was successful mainly because their project is shovel-ready, including an architect’s drawing in hand.

Plus, the center has experience with adding onto their facility. The center opened in 2006. In 2009, a couple of rooms were added. In 2021, a 4,000-squarefoot expansion that doubles as a community storm shelter and includes a 1,400 square foot recreation room was added.

Finally, Works has financial resources from her family’s business, B&W Trailer Hitches, that can meet the $400,000 or so matching funds required by the grant. She’s also looking for other financing options to help reduce the amount needed from B&W.

Many of the families that attend The Growing

Place are B&W employees.

“B&W and the Works family have always been really good about making sure we have what we need,” Works said.

EXPANDING THE Growing Place is just one piece of the overall puzzle when it comes to child care in Allen County.

The expansion will include four new classrooms, two each for preschool and for schoolaged children. It also includes restroom facilities.

It will be built to the west of the existing facility, and will require moving a metal “bicycle barn” and electrical equipment.

The gym also will be extended to the north to create a second room for infants, with a separate sleeping room and new cribs or beds.

Creating those new rooms will allow the center to shift things around with more classroom space for those

ages birth to 3. They’ll be able to welcome another nine infants, and 10 each in classrooms for 1-, 2- and 3-year olds.

The plan also will add space for another eight school-aged children.

Currently, the center is licensed for 124 children. After the expansion, it can have 172.

Outside, the project will create new playgrounds. One will be designated for infants, one for those ages 1 and 2, and a much larger playground for those ages 3 and older. The playgrounds will feature both new and existing equipment with a large sand pit.

In Kansas, children must go outside at least 30 minutes every four hours, though the time can be broken into smaller increments.

The grant also allows for operational expenses. That money will be used to hire and train staff, and pay their salaries for the first year.

“One of the reasons

it’s so difficult to provide childcare for infants is because you need more staff, and that gets expensive,” Works said.

Currently, they have 16 full-time staff members, with another five who work part-time. After the expansion is completed, they’ll need to hire nine full-time staff and another five part-time members for a total of 14 new hires.

The total project is expected to cost around $1.6 million.

As part of the grant requirements, The Growing Place will go through a competitive bid process. Works hopes that can be completed this summer, with construction to start soon after that.

It should take about a year before the expansion is completed.

WORKS, a teacher who left the profession after 19 years to spend more time with her grandchildren, decided to open the daycare

and preschool when a longtime provider retired. She saw the need for child care in the community — and that need has only continued to grow.

So has the understanding of the importance of early childhood education.

“We learn more between birth and age 5 than any other time in our lives; especially birth to 3,” Works said.

Schools also have changed the way they approach early childhood education. All three Allen County districts either have introduced or are working to bring school-based pre-

school programs.

“The next thing is going to be earlier childhood education in the schools,” Works said.

“If parents aren’t able to be with their children during the day, they need good quality care with people who are trained.

“If we trained and aimed at working with children on relationships, on conversations, on words, on interactions, it would be really helpful to us all. It’s better to have a citizenry who are loving and kind, and we learn how to do that before we’re even aware that we’re being taught.”

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Kelly renews call for Medicaid expansion

By RACHEL MIPRO Kansas Reflector

OLATHE — Standing at the site of a future mental health hospital, Gov. Laura Kelly on Thursday emphasized the benefits Medicaid expansion would have for low-income families struggling with mental health challenges.

The Democratic governor has pushed Medicaid expansion for years, but Republican leaders in the Legislature have blocked legislation from moving forward. By expanding eligibility for health insurance coverage, the governor said, thousands of Kansans could receive mental health treatment.

“The North Star of my second term is making Kansas the best state in the country to live, to work, to raise a family,” Kelly said. “Improving mental health in every community is critical to that goal.”

Kelly appeared with Republican U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran and Democratic U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids to emphasize the need to prioritize mental health during a groundbreaking ceremony for a 72-bed Olathe mental health hospital.

The Olathe facility, which will be jointly operated by KVC Health Systems and Children’s Mercy Hospital, will have the capacity to treat more than 3,400

patients annually. The project is supported in part by $12.7 million in funding from federal COVID-19 relief dollars. The hospital construction comes at a crucial time for Kansas mental health treatment, with the state’s mental health needs far outstripping available mental health beds and psychiatric hospitals.

A 2023 Mental Health America report ranked Kansas last in terms of meeting overall mental health needs, and with the unwinding of pandemic-era health care protections, numbers are expected to worsen.

“I’ve seen the anguish, I’ve seen the fear of families that are

Panel to discuss infamous Bender site

INDEPENDENCE — A panel discussion is set for July 14 in Independence to look at the notorious 150-year-old Bender murder mystery in Labette County.

The panel discussion, “Unearthing the Bloody Bender Mystery,” is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Friday, July 14, at the Independence Civic Center, the Parsons Sun reported.

The event is free and open to the public.

The family owned two tracts of land in the remote grasslands of Labette County, along the Osage Mission trail, just a few miles north of Cherryvale.

Lonely travelers looking for a fresh meal or hoping to water their horses were known to seek relief at the Bender farm.

As the story goes, the interior of the Bender home was divided by a canvas partition. The family slept on one side of the curtain and took their meals on the other. Travelers in need of a hot meal were given the seat of honor, a log bench directly in front of the canvas.

Unfortunately for the brittle skulls of the unsuspecting diners, the Benders kept their stash of axes and sledgehammers behind the curtain and would, when the time was ripe, bludgeon their guest before he’d even finished his sides.

It is said that the Benders killed anywhere between 12 and 24 poor wanderers. Of those, eventually 11 bodies were found on

the Benders’ property, each one buried in a shallow grave near the family’s orchard.

As word of the Bender murders got out, the family’s reputation for hospitality took an understandable dip. Perhaps sensing this, the Benders abandoned their home under the cloak of night and were never heard from again.

SPEAKERS will include event host Bob Miller, the new owner of the Bender property; Blair Schneider, principal forensic investigator with the Kansas Geological Survey; and Max McCoy, author and executive director of Western Writers of America, the Parsons Sun reported.

“The story isn’t over,” said Miller. “I believe there is so much yet to learn, and when you dig in, it’s really fascinating.”

In early 2020, Miller purchased at auction the 160-acre tract of farm ground in Labette County where the Bender family cabin was located from 1871 to 1873.

“The tale has been spinning for a century and a half,” Miller said. “There have been so many theories, stories, books, movies, etcetera, about what the Benders did, who and how many victims there really were, and even what eventually happened to the Benders after they fled the area but were never apprehended. I want to see if we can add to the story.”

struggling to find services and access services for their loved ones. That ultimately is what brings us here,” said Jason Hooper, KVC Health Systems president and CEO.

State of Medicaid

In Kansas, Medicaid is provided through KanCare and limited to low-income people who have disabilities or children. Medicaid expansion would increase eligibility to adults under the age of 65 with incomes up to 138% of the federal poverty level. If the state broadened enrollment of uninsured adults in KanCare, thousands of lower-income families would be provided with

health care options.

Kelly estimated that Medicaid expansion would give 150,000 Kansans access to affordable health care and that nearly one-third of those Kansans currently struggle with mental health issues or substance abuse disorders.

Expanding Medicaid would unlock an estimated billion dollars in annual federal aid. Kansas is one of 10 remaining states that hasn’t adopted expansion.

With the expiration of the federal pandemic emergency declaration, 120,000 Kansans who are already enrolled in Medicaid must re-apply for benefits and are at risk of losing coverage.

“I refuse to give up on

this issue,” Kelly said. “I’m going to propose Medicaid expansion for the sixth time when the Legislature reconvenes in January and I hope legislative leadership will do the right thing.”

Her speech comes after another legislative session in which Republican leaders refused to consider a vote on Medicaid expansion.

“Every year, I have tailored the proposal to address concerns expressed by legislative leadership,” Kelly said. “Every year, they’ve moved the goalpost. That can’t keep happening.”

Lawmakers attending the groundbreaking event had mixed views on the matter.

“It’s really neglectful not to be doing it,” said Rep. Mari-Lynn Poskin, D-Leawood. “And I would use a stronger word, but let’s leave it at that because we’re talking about working together.”

With little Democratic input in the GOP-controlled agenda, the fight may be futile.

“I don’t know that it’s a long-term good thing,” said Rep. Carl Turner, R-Leawood, who didn’t elaborate.

Call for unity Moran and Davids both called for unity at a federal level.

While Moran took a little time in his speech to correct Kelly’s usage of the term “federal money” — he prefers to call it “taxpayers’ money” and “money that’s being borrowed” — he said he approved of the funding being used on the hospital.

“I’m celebrating, I hope, with all of you, the recognition that we have the capacity of coming together,” Moran said. “And perhaps as a side note, it would be useful and wouldn’t it be great for the country if Congress and the political climate could reach the same conclusion that working together gets results.”

Davids said she agreed with Moran.

“If we could get this sort of thing happening in D.C., it would be amazing,” Davids said.

CHANUTE — Neosho County Attorney Linus Thuston will not prosecute a couple accused of killing a Parsons man.

The Kansas Attorney General’s Office will instead prosecute Clint W. Nibarger and his wife, Kimberly J. Thomas Nibarger, accused of killing Dakota A. Patton.

District Judge Kurt Loy, assigned to review the case, removed Thuston because of a conflict of interest, the Chanute Tribune and Parsons Sun reported.

Thuston has filed to have the judge’s ruling set aside, the newspapers reported.

Loy based his ruling on a Labette County case in which Thuston represented Clint Nibarger, the newspapers reported.

Additionally, Thuston represented a Missouri resident, to whom the Nibargers apparently fled after Patton’s killing on April 26.

It was a message from the Missouri resident to Thuston, who in turn contacted law enforcement, that led officers to Patton’s body in rural Neosho County on May 8, the newspapers reported.

The Nibargers left Parsons about midnight April 25, checked into a motel

Newspapers put truth ont and center

in Wagoner, Oklahoma, at 2:05 a.m. April 26 and then traveled to Dallas, Texas. They rented a motel in Miami, Oklahoma, April 26 in the evening and got married April 27, returning to Parsons about noon that day.

According to the recently unsealed probably cause affidavit, at 10:34 p.m. May 5, Thuston texted law enforcement and reported he may have a location for “your body,” the newspapers reported.

A KANSAS Bureau of Investigation agent then called Thuston, who said the Nibargers were in Hollister, Missouri, staying with a couple whom Thuston represented in the past, the newspapers said.

Thuston’s former

clients told him that the Nibargers had confessed to Patton’s murder. Thuston instructed his former clients to get more information and the location of Patton’s body, even a map if possible.

On May 6, Thuston forwarded text messages from his former clients to law enforcement suggesting the location of Patton’s body. Patton was found at 11:40 a.m. May 8.

Thuston also told a law officer at the scene that Clint Nibarger and/ or Kimberly Nibarger contacted him recently about representing them in the case, but that he had declined because the crime happened in Neosho County, the newspapers said.

Nibarger had Thuston’s number in his

phone’s contact list, the affidavit said.

In his June 6 ruling, Judge Loy wrote that when Thuston told the Nibargers he could not represent them in matters that happened in Neosho County, he also offered them legal advice about not talking with law enforcement.

Thuston, in his June 14 filing, asked to have the order disqualifying him set aside. He claimed the order was made without proper jurisdiction, the newspapers reported.

Roger Luedke, assistant Kansas attorney general, and Jessica Dome, first assistant Kansas attorney general, made appearances in the Nibarger cases as prosecutors. A status conference is set for July 18.

Neosho Co. attorney removed from murder case TRUTH

Gov. Laura Kelly renews her call for Medicaid expansion during a Thursday appearance in Olathe at the site of a new mental health hospital. KANSAS REFLECTOR/RACHEL MIPRO

A6

Saturday, July 1, 2023

Morning reflections a rewarding exercise

As a teenager, I idealized my Grandparents Lynn’s desert lifestyle outside of Tucson, Ariz.

Little did I know that in 50 years, southeast Kansas would be its rival. Boy, are we baking.

My grandparents taught me valuable lessons on how to cope with the heat. At sunrise we took morning walks. In the afternoon, Granddad napped while Granny went to the pool for water aerobics with her friends. In the evening we sat in the shade of the veranda to enjoy the breeze even though the temperature was “still warm,” as they would say. They were big on acceptance.

I BEGAN this piece

Thursday evening when at 9 o’clock the temperature was 91 degrees and I was on the back porch enjoying the manufactured breeze of a ceiling fan while the cicadas broke into chorus.

My inner teenager rolls her eyes. But I can sense my grandmother nodding in approval.

I’ve also adopted my grandparents’ habit of getting outside in the early hours.

Friday morning, I’m back on the porch equipped with my computer, coffee and cereal. It’s now 6 a.m. and 76 degrees. Usually a robe is necessary at this hour. I worry about the heat’s stress on my withering lawn.

Curious about the warm night, I was able to verify that last July was the nation’s third-hottest on record and that July’s nighttime temperatures were the highest on record, an average 63.57 degrees for the lower 48.

Thursday afternoon, our lights and computers at the office flickered briefly. Outside temps exceeded 100. Our biggest consolation is that our electric bill

~ Journalism that makes a difference

Susan Lynn Register editor

for May was almost half of last year’s thanks to solar panels on the Register’s roof.

While in my lifetime I may not witness a dollar-for-dollar return on the investment, I feel good about the alternative energy source.

I INTERRUPT my early morning work routine by wandering into the yard to water and deadhead flowers. Pull stray weeds. I’m kidding. I have more weeds than grass.

I don’t remember my grandparents having any ornamental plants. Perhaps that was another way they graciously yielded to their environment.

With their decision to move to the desert they downsized from a two-story home to an Airstream trailer they pulled behind their Lincoln Continental. According to grandmother, the limited space helped her avoid clutter.

Their home was always neat as a pin.

More and more, I am coming to understand their logic in making such a life-changing decision to move to the desert. The sparse climate was tailor-made to their priorities, which they winnowed as the years passed.

When they died, their possessions were relatively few.

WITH THE DAY fully declared, I concede it’s time to go into work, having sorted through memories and dreams, newly made determinations and promises I know I won’t be able to keep but grateful for the time to reflect.

Russian nuclear arms for Belarus a global concern

Russia said this spring that it would send tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus, and on Tuesday President Alexander Lukashenko said he has received some of them. This development is another escalation by Vladimir Putin and another indication of Moscow’s takeover of Minsk.

Mr. Putin helped Mr. Lukashenko quell the 2020 protests against the Belarusian government, but at a price for Belarus independence. Military integration is a key component of Russia’s slow-rolling annexation of Belarus.

Mr. Putin has positioned Russian troops in Belarus and used its territory to launch Russian ground forces and missiles to attack Ukraine. Russia has also stationed S-400 surface-to-air and Iskander short-range missile systems there. Belarus’s Defense Ministry said in April that Russia helped train its soldiers on the use of tactical nuclear weapons, and now Mr. Lukashenko says they’re in-country.

Amid last weekend’s chaos in Russia, Mr. Lukashen-

Partisanship gets a bad rap

There’s a mayoral election taking place in Wichita, Kansas’s largest stand-alone city, right now. Also, strikes have been declared at Spirit AeroSystems, Wichita’s largest single employer, and Ascension Via Christi, the city’s largest hospital. What does all this have in common?

Potentially many things. The business slowdowns, budget deficits, and unemployment which any labor unrest may contribute to, are obviously all topics that people seeking political office are going to have to struggle with.

And similarly, the positions taken by a city’s mayor can play a large role in determining how and when strikes or contract negotiations may be resolved. So, these topics are going to be entwined in Wichita, as they would in any community.

But there is another similarity between them, one that isn’t often noticed, but which I think lurks behind the scenes in how we approach either an election or a strike. When voters organize in support of someone running for political office, or when workers organize and make collective demands of their employer, we are seeing “factions” at work.

Russell Fox

Insight Kansas

mon” good. This meant societies had to stay small and simple and homogeneous, so as to prevent the factional temptation.

But James Madison defended the proposed U.S. Constitution in part by insisting that factions were a natural result of human freedom. The goal shouldn’t be to prevent them, but to expand and include them, and seek to manage their effects instead.

Madisonian pluralism can be criticized, but it remains the way the American system usually looks upon factional differences. When employees have differences with how they are treated by their employers, they can organize into unions and make demands, including through strikes. True, many are suspicious of unions, and the Republican party, both nationally and in Kansas, has often opposed them.

tal floor often disappears, though. when it comes to City Hall. As I wrote above, there are Republicans running for Wichita’s mayor, as well as a Democrat and a Libertarian and unaffiliated candidates, which shouldn’t surprise anyone. Yet when it comes to local elections — in contrast to national and state ones — many share the belief that “partisanship” (which can just mean thinking and acting factionally, in support of the interests of one’s supporters) is poisonous, like was assumed by many long ago.

Parties can be corrupt, of course — in the same way unions, or for that matter businesses, can be. Institutional collusion and self-interest within any kind of faction or organization warrants being called out for such.

ko positioned himself as a mediator between Mr. Putin and the mercenary warlord-turned-rebel Yevgeny Prigozhin, and the Belarusian no doubt hopes to leverage this role for more influence with the Kremlin. Yet the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons that Mr. Putin will control is another step in the erosion of Belarus’s sovereignty.

Like Ukraine, Belarus gave up its nuclear weapons after the fall of the Soviet Union.

Russia’s war in Ukraine will discourage other countries from surrendering their nuclear weapons, and now Mr. Putin is proliferating them. The Kremlin knows that its nuclear saber-rattling has had some effect on Western calculations of how much to support Ukraine, and his deployment of nuclear weapons to Belarus is another failure of Western deterrence.

Russia’s nuclear deployment also illustrates what Mr. Putin had in mind for a Kremlin-controlled Ukraine. The West helps its own security when it helps Ukraine defeat Russia.

— Wall Street Journal

The concept of a faction — people who act together in support of their shared interests — has a storied place in our constitutional order. For much of history, factions were seen as poisonous; the assumption was that if people organized around particular agendas, there could be no united, “com-

But even with the challenges the striking machinists and nurses might pose to Wichita’s economy, none of the candidates for mayor, including the Republican ones, spoke against the strikers as a faction (though some were more supportive than others).

It is odd that our recognition of factional differences on the factory or hospi-

But as the Wichita mayoral race moves forward, it will be interesting to see which candidates, if any, will be forthright — like the striking machinists and nurses have been — in defense of the factions they represent and the particular agenda they offer to voters, and which will instead insist that specific shared interests must be set aside in the name of a “unified” good.

Madison had some doubts about that approach, centuries ago; there are good reasons for us to doubt it still today.

About the author: Dr. Russell Arben Fox teaches politics at Friends University in Wichita.

A look back in t me. A look back in t me.

70 Years Ago July 1953

A resolution declaring that specified sidewalks in Iola’s business district are inadequate and unsafe and should be repaired or replaced was adopted this morning by the city commission. It provides that owners will be given until Aug. 18 to bring the sidewalks in front of their properties up to the specifications of the city engineer. After that date the city will take over the job. In either case the property owners will pay the bill.

*****

Iola voters yesterday approved the $460,000 bond issue for a new national guard armory and the onehalf mill levy to foster the

town’s industrial growth. The bonds carried by a margin of 773 to 458; the levy was OK’d 649 to 549. Both issues received majorities in the first four wards and fared less successfully in the fifth and sixth. *****

A large barn owned by the Sisters of St. Joseph was struck by lightning yesterday afternoon and destroyed by the resulting fire. Mr. and Mrs. Francis Peters, tenants, were able to save three calves but lost a new tractor, plow and the equipment in their milk room which adjoined the barn. The property is located on the north side of U.S. 54 about a quarter of a mile east of Rock Creek. *****

Largely through the efforts of one man, Dr. Kent Dudley, the Allen County Hospital will soon have a respirator to save the lives of pulmonary polio victims. It also may be used to ease the efforts of patients who have difficulty in breathing from other causes. Dr. Dudley has spent many hours building the cabinet of the “wooden lung.” It is a beautiful machine which could not be duplicated for less than $4,000 to $5,000 in the opinion of Charles Gray, hospital administrator. *****

According to the census taken this spring by the personal property assessors, Allen County’s population is now 17,480 and Iola’s is down to 6,819.

Chanute to celebrate 150th

CHANUTE — Chanute is celebrating the town’s sesquicentennial with a party Saturday.

Chanute’s 150th celebration runs from 2 to 8 p.m. with a downtown block party on Main Street from Lincoln to Evergreen, the Chanute Tribune reported.

One of the highlights of the event is a 4 p.m. communi-

ty photo, which will take place at the east corner of Main and Lincoln.

People can purchase 150th commemorative items for sale, including: medallions, water bottles and T-shirts.

Inspyral Circus will perform throughout the celebration, including aerial acts, stilt walkers and more.

Court: Conservatives, liberals disagree on loan relief

the fall. Biden was to announce a new set of actions to protect student loan borrowers later Friday, said a White House official. The official was not authorized to speak publicly ahead of Biden’s expected statement on the case and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The court held that the administration needed Congress’ endorsement before undertaking so costly a program. The majority rejected arguments that a bipartisan 2003 law dealing with national emergencies, known as the HEROES Act, gave Biden the power he claimed.

“Six States sued, arguing that the HEROES Act does not authorize the loan cancellation plan. We agree,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the court.

Justice Elena Kagan, wrote in a dissent, joined by the court’s two other liberals, that the majority of the court “overrides the combined judgment of the Legislative and Executive Branches, with the consequence of eliminating loan forgiveness for 43 million Americans.” Kagan read a summary of her dissent in court to emphasize her disagreement.

Roberts, perhaps anticipating negative public reaction and aware of declining approval of the court, added an unusual coda to his opinion, cautioning that the liberals’ dissent should not be mistaken for disparagement of the court itself. “It is important that the public not be misled either. Any such misperception would be harmful to this institution and our country,”

the chief justice wrote.

Loan repayments will resume in October, although interest will begin accruing in September, the Education Department has announced. Payments have been on hold since the start of the coronavirus pandemic more than three years ago.

The forgiveness program would have canceled $10,000 in student loan debt for those making less than $125,000 or households with less than $250,000 in income. Pell Grant recipients, who typically demonstrate more financial need, would have had an additional $10,000 in debt forgiven.

Twenty-six million people had applied for relief and 43 million would have been eligible, the administration said. The cost was estimated at $400 billion over 30 years.

Advocacy groups supporting debt cancellation condemned the decision while demanding that Biden find another avenue to fulfill his promise of debt relief.

Natalia Abrams, president and founder of the Student Debt Crisis Center, said the responsibility for new action falls “squarely” on Biden’s shoulders. “The president possesses the power, and must summon the will, to secure the essential relief that families across the nation desperately need,” Abrams said in a statement.

The loan plan joins other pandemic-related initiatives that faltered at the Supreme Court.

Conservative majorities ended an eviction moratorium that had been imposed by the

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and blocked a plan to require workers at big companies to be vaccinated or undergo regular testing and wear a mask on the job. The court upheld a plan to require vaccinations of health-care workers.

The earlier programs were billed largely as public health measures intended to slow the spread of COVID-19. The loan forgiveness plan, by contrast, was aimed at countering the economic effects of the pandemic.

In more than three hours of arguments last February, conservative justices voiced their skepticism that the administration had the authority to wipe away or reduce student loans held by millions.

Republican-led states arguing before the court said the plan would have amounted to a “windfall” for 20 million people who would have seen their entire student debt disappear and been better off than they were before the pandemic.

Roberts was among those on the court who questioned whether non-college workers would essentially be penalized for a break for the college educated.

In contrast, the administration grounded the need for the sweeping loan forgiveness in the COVID-19 emergency and the continuing negative impacts on people near the bottom of the economic ladder.

The declared emergency ended on May 11.

Without the promised loan relief, the administration’s top Supreme Court lawyer told the justices, “delinquencies and defaults will surge.”

At those arguments, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said her fellow justices would be making a mistake if they took for themselves, instead of leaving it to education experts, “the right to decide how much aid to give” people who would struggle if the program were struck down.

The HEROES Act — the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus

Emergency Solutions Act — has allowed the secretary of education to waive or modify the terms of federal student loans in connection with a national emergency. The law was primarily intended to keep service members from being hurt financially while they fought in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Biden had once

TUESDAY, July

doubted his own authority to broadly cancel student debt, but announced the program last August. Legal challenges quickly followed.

The court majority said the Republican-led states had cleared an early hurdle that required them to show they would be financially harmed if the program had been allowed to take effect.

Continued from A1

An emotional Charles H. Apt III — known to most as Chuck — speaks after earning his robe as Allen County’s newest magistrate judge Friday in the Allen County District Courtroom. Administering the oath of office was Kansas Supreme Court Justice Evelyn Wilson, seated at left. Seated next to her is 31st District Judge Daniel Creitz. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN

Vintage: Race brings classic automobiles through Iola

Continued from A1

identify every turn, speed change, stop, and start that the team must make throughout the day. Each day features more than 200 such instructions.

Additionally, drivers must pass anywhere between four to seven checkpoints daily to record the exact time that the team passes that point.

The objective is to arrive at each checkpoint at the correct time, down to the tenth of a second.

Pass the checkpoint too late, or too early, and your score is docked, noted Gerno Reinard, who joined Erin Roberts of San Antonio in a gleaming 1969 Camaro. Reinard and Roberts were among the owners who stopped at Pump N Pete’s in Iola for gas along their route.

“The judges know what time we’re supposed to be at each checkpoint,” Roberts added. “We do not.”

BUT THE true stars of the Great Race are the cars themselves.

Rules stipulate no automobile newer than 1974 is allowed. Simply keeping the vehicles running is one of the key factors. Older cars also receive bonus points if daily challenges are met.

The routes tend to follow scenic, lesser traveled road. In fact, when leaving Iola, cars traveled north on Old 169, on their way

to Emporia.

Lawrence Bettencourt of Newcastle, Calif., took advantage of his Iola stop to refill his 1935 Chevy Master Coupe with antifreeze

in preparation for triple-digit temperatures.

“The car’s running well,” Bettencourt said, “but we’ll find out today how it goes.”

THE GREAT RACE, formerly known as the Great American Race, dates back to 1983, when Tom McRae and Norman Miller organized an event to take

drivers from Los Angeles to Indianapolis, all using pre-World War II vehicles.

The event rapidly grew in popularity, which drivers signing

The Great Race 2023 brought several classic cars through Iola Thursday, including this 1966 Dodge Coronet, at left. Below at left, Erin Roberts of San Antonio, Texas, shows how directions dictate the route the racers follow from Florida to Colorado.

Below at right, Lawrence Bettencourt of Newcastle, Calif., poses for a photo next to his 1935 Chevy Master Coupe. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN

up on waiting lists, and paying $6,500 or up just to enter.

This year’s event ends Sunday in Colorado Springs.

Saturday, July 1, 2023

Iola AA Indians plow through Garnett

By QUINN BURKITT The Iola Register

GARNETT — Iola’s AA Indians swept past Garnett’s Post 48 Muddogs by racking up 21 hits in 14-6 and 10-6 victories on the road Thursday.

The Indians (17-4) scored four runs in the first inning, followed by adding a run in every single inning in a 14-6 win. In game two, Iola’s Brandon McKarnin knocked in a team-high two runs in the 10-6 victory.

Game one — 14-6 win

The Indians’ first inning outburst at the plate told the story of how the rest of the night would unfold for Iola’s offense.

Kaiden Barnett got the win on the mound for Iola when he threw two innings in relief, allowing three runs on four hits and striking out three. Tre Wilson started on the mound and served up three runs in the first inning.

Brandon McKarnin and Sam Hull tossed the final three innings.

The scoring barrage began in the first inning when Trey Sommer singled to center field to bring home Wilson

for the 1-0 edge. Hull then grounded into a fielder’s choice at shortstop that plated Gavin Page for the 2-0 advantage. Barnett then singled to center to score McKarnin and Hull for the 4-0 lead.

Garnett got on the board

in the first as well when Kyle Belcher walked with the bases loaded to make it a 4-1 game. Easton Mead walked with the bases loaded to bring them within 4-2. The Muddogs added one more run in the first on a Porter Foltz RBI flyout to second.

Defense dooms Iola against Fort Scott

By QUINN BURKITT The Iola Register

After jumping on top in the opening inning, the Iola

A Indians weren’t able to overcome some poor defense later on and only had three hits in a nine inning 13-6 loss to Fort Scott’s E3 Freedom.

A couple of costly innings hurt the Indians (13-7) in the third and seventh innings when the Freedom scored three runs in each. Fort Scott then poured on five runs in the seventh to put an exclamation mark on a 13-6 loss.

Iola had only three hits all night and walked 10 times.

“We didn’t have energy today. There were plays that we didn’t make that we should have made,” Iola head coach Jason Bauer said. “There were plays where we didn’t help our pitchers. We’ve got to have base runners and we had too many strikeouts.”

Gavin Jones took the loss in relief, throwing the final three innings and allowing eight runs on eight hits with two strikeouts. Grady Dougherty opened the game on the hill and tossed six innings of five-run ball with six hits allowed and seven strikeouts.

Iola got on top early when

Ryan

But

Fort

grounded

See Iola As | Page B2

Trevor Church took home on a Sommer dropped third strike for the 5-3 lead. McKarnin then singled to center field to drive home Page and make it 6-3. Garnett added two more runs in the second on a Preston Kueser RBI single to cen-

Fermin’s

ter and a Dallas Kueser RBI single to second base to bring it within one, 6-5.

Church helped the Indians out even more in the third when he singled to left field to score Rogan Weir and Korbin Fountain for the 8-5 advantage.

The Muddogs plated their final run in the bottom of the third when Foltz scored on a passed ball to go ahead 8-6.

Sommer singled to right to bring home Wilson for the 9-6 edge in the fourth.

One inning later, Barnett singled to left field which brought home Weir for the 10-6 lead. Wilson then singled to left field to score Barnett for the 11-6 advantage and Page shot a sacrifice fly to left field which brought home Jack White for the 12-6 lead.

The Indians posted two more runs in the sixth when Barnett walked with the bases loaded and Logan Page poked a sacrifice fly to center field to bring home Hull for the 14-6 win. Wilson and Barnett each had a team-high three hits while Barnett drove in a

See INDIANS | Page B2

10th inning

double gives KC the win

KANSAS CITY, Mo (AP) —

José Ramirez daringly stole home for the go-ahead run in the 10th inning, but the Kansas City Royals rebounded to beat the Cleveland Guardians 4-3 Thursday on pinch-hitter Freddy Fermin’s two-run double in the bottom half.

Even with the win, the Royals reached the season’s midpoint at 23-58, the worst first-half record in team history.

Cleveland manager Terry Francona was in attendance but was not in uniform as an on-going precaution against health concerns.

Bench coach DeMarlo Hale managed the Guardians.

Ramirez started the 10th on second base as the automatic runner and advanced on Josh Naylor’s groundout. Josh Bell struck out and with an 0-2 count on Andrés Giménez and left-hander Aroldis Chapman (4-2) working from the stretch, Ramirez took five small steps toward the plate and burst home.

Ramirez noticed third baseman Maikel Garcia playing behind the base

and told third base coach Mike Sarbaugh “I’m going to try to steal home.” Sarbaugh told him to go for it.

“There were two outs, so I decided to take a chance,” Ramirez said.

He slid headfirst and with his body to the infield side of the line, slapped his right hand on the plate as catcher Salvador Perez gloved the high sinker and lunged forward. Umpire Jeremy Riggs called Ramirez out, but the call was reversed in a video review.

“Just instincts. That’s why he’s a great player.” Hale said. “He’s not afraid to play the game with his instincts. He’d seen an advantage and he took it. He felt he could make it and he did. Great slide.” Cleveland had not stolen homer since Leonys Martin on June 15, 2019.

“He’s amazing,” Guardians starter Shane Bieber said. “We rely upon him in so many different ways, for him to come up again in another different type of

See ROYALS | Page B2

Venus Williams embarks on 24th Wimbledon

WIMBLEDON, England

(AP) — Five-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams will begin her 24th appearance at the tournament against 2019 semifinalist Elina Svitolina, while Fri-

day’s draw put two-time titlist Andy Murray up against wild-card entry Ryan Peniston in an all-British firstround matchup. Williams, who is 43 and has played just five matches

this season, and Svitolina, who returned to the tour in April after taking time off to have a baby, both were given wild cards by the All England Club. Whoever wins that con-

test could face No. 28 seed Elise Mertens in the second round, followed perhaps by a matchup against No. 7 Coco Gauff, the American who was just 15 when she began her Grand Slam career by elimi-

nating Williams at Wimbledon in 2019. Williams won Wimbledon in 2000, 2001, 2005, 2007 and 2008, to go along with two U.S. Open trophies.

See WIMBLEDON | Page B2

Iola’s Rogan Weir at bat at Chanute on Thursday. REGISTER/QUINN BURKITT

Golden and Drake Weir were both walked with the bases loaded for the 2-0 advantage.

the lead was never safe.

Scott’s Brody Gomez

out to second base to bring home a run in the top of the second for the 2-1 score.

Iola’s Kade Nilges fields a ground ball at second base against Fort Scott. REGISTER/QUINN BURKITT

Iola As: Bats falter against Freedom

Continued from A1

In the top of the third, Fort Scott’s Kanin Brown scored on a passed ball to knot the game at 2-2. Gomez then tripled to right field to plate two more runs and sink the Indians into a 4-2 deficit.

Iola’s Blake Ellis took home on a passed ball to make it a 4-3 game in the third. Cole Mathes then doubled to left field to bring home Easton Weseloh and knot the game at 4-4 in the fourth.

Lenoxx Vann scored on a wild pitch to put Fort Scott ahead 5-4 in the top of the sixth. Then one inning later Vann delivered again with an RBI double to left field to extend the lead over Iola to 6-4.

“Our outfielders can get better jumps and they need to catch more of those fly balls,” said Bauer. “It’s a learning curve and they don’t all play those positions. We’ve just got to forget this game. It’s good for us to see. We didn’t lay down once the game

started.”

Two batters later, Fort Scott’s Brady Messer singled to center field to bring home Lenoxx and Brady for the 8-4 advantage.

Ellis came up for the Indians again in the bottom of the seventh when he poked an RBI double to right field to score Mathes and make it an 8-5 game.

Indians: Lay it on Garnett

Continued from B1

team-high four runs and Sommer knocked home another three runs.

Game two — 10-6 win

Similar to the opener, the Indians scored a string of runs in the first inning and never looked back in a 10-6 victory.

McKarnin drove in a team-high two runs while the Indians only tallied five hits and 11 walks.

Garnett chipped away in the bottom of the third when Foltz singled to left field to bring home Tyler Stinnett for the 5-1 score. Kueser then singled to center field to bring home Quinton King and make it a 5-2 game.

Fort Scott’s big inning came in the top of the ninth and sealed the deal on a victory. Gomez singled to right field to score two runs and make it 10-5. Two batters later, Ryder Newton doubled to left field to score two more runs and take a 12-5 lead.

Cedrik Martin then grounded out to third base to plate one more

run and take the 13-5 lead.

Iola got one run back in the bottom of the ninth when Weseloh scored on a passed ball to cut the deficit to 13-6 but that’s all Iola came up with after that.

Iola’s Mathes, Ellis and Lucas Maier each had one hit apiece.

Iola travels to Olpe next Thursday at 6 p.m.

Royals: Defeat Guardians on walk-off

Continued from A1

of way to do it. It was too bad we couldn’t end up on top after that, because we’d like that to be the marquee play of the game, but he provides those all the time.”

Nicky Lopez singled off Emmanuel Clase (15) leading off the bottom of the 10th, moving automatic runner Kyle Isbel to third.

“Whenever I get in the box it’s ‘how can I get on first base’,” Lopez said. “I take a lot of pride in getting on base, so I was trying to do something.”

Drew Waters took a called third strike, bringing up the pitcher’s spot in the order

created when designated Bobby Witt Jr. replaced Garcia at shortstop on the ninth inning. Fermin lined a pitch into the left-field corner, easily scoring Isbel and allowing Lopez to score standing up.

“I’ve faced him before,” Fermin said. “Just ready for the cutter and the slider, looking for something up and made a good swing.”

Clase blew a save for the sixth time in 30 chances.

Cleveland built a 2-0 lead in the fifth on Ramirez’s sacrifice fly and Bell’s twoout RBI single. Kansas City tied the score in the eighth on Edward

Olivares’ sacrifice fly and Nick Pratto’s twoout, run-scoring single against Trevor Stephan.

Bieber faced two batters over the minimum, working around leadoff doubles in the second and third innings. He allowed just the two hits in six shutout innings and struck out eight, one on Waters’ pitch-clock violation that ended the fifth.

“It was a grind,” Bieber said. “To be honest, it was one of those games that I look forward to, dealing with adversity.”

Royals starter Zack Greinke surrendered 11 hits and two walks, but limited the Guardians to two runs over six in-

Wimbledon: Talks heat up

Continued from B1

Audible gasps filled the All England Club’s main interview room where the draw was being conducted when Murray — who has twice undergone hip surgery since winning Wimbledon in 2013 and 2016 — was drawn to face a fellow British player, and again moments later when the winner of that match was slated to take on either No. 5 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, twice a major finalist, or 2020 U.S. Open champion Dominic Thiem.

Murray’s initial title at Wimbledon made him the first British man in 77 years to earn the singles title there.

PLAY AT THE year’s third Grand Slam tournament begins Monday, when No. 2 seed Novak Djokovic will open his bid for a fifth consecutive championship — and eighth overall — at the All England Club against Pedro Cachin, a 67th-ranked Argentine

making his Wimbledon debut. Djokovic, who is halfway to a calendar-year Grand Slam after winning the Australian Open in January and the French Open in June, is also seeking his 24th major title, which would set the record for most by a man or woman in the Open era.

The potential men’s quarterfinals are No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz vs. No. 6 Holger Rune, and No. 3 Daniil Medvedev vs. Tsitsipas on the top half of the bracket, and Djokovic vs. No. 7 Andrey Rublev, and No. 4 Casper Ruud vs. No. 8 Jannik Sinner on the bottom half.

The player Djokovic beat in last year’s final at Wimbledon, No. 30 seed Nick Kyrgios, will face David Goffin on Monday. Goffin is a two-time quarterfinalist at the All England Club who has been ranked as high as No. 7. Kyrgios could play Rublev in the third round and Djokovic in the quarterfinals.

Possible women’s quarterfinals are No. 1 Iga Swiatek vs. Gauff, and No. 4 Jessica Pegula vs. No. 5 Caroline Garcia on the top half, and No. 3 Elena Rybakina vs. No. 6 Ons Jabeur, and No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka vs. No. 8 Maria Sakkari on the bottom half.

Rybakina-Jabeur would be a rematch of last year’s final, won by Rybakina. She will begin her title defense against American opponent Shelby Rogers. Swiatek — who withdrew from a tune-up event on grass in Germany on Friday, citing a fever and possible food poisoning — was drawn to open on Monday against Zhu Lin, who is ranked 33rd this week but owns a 1-4 career mark at Wimbledon.

Gauff meets 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin in the first round.

Alcaraz’s first match will be Tuesday against French veteran Jeremy Chardy.

Sommer earned the win on the mound for Iola and allowed two runs on two hits while striking out six through the final three innings. Weir got the start and went one inning without allowing a run. Logan Page and Ashton Hesse worked the middle innings and gave up four runs combined.

Gavin Page scored on a wild pitch to take a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Weir then singled to right field to plate Sommer for the 2-0 lead and Logan Page walked with the bases loaded to make it a 3-0 lead.

Dallas Kueser singled to center to score one and bring it within 5-3. Mead then grounded into a fielder’s choice at shortstop to score one more run and bring the game within a run, 5-4. The one-run difference didn’t last long though as Sommer singled to right field to score Wilson and make it a 6-4 lead. Barnett and Hesse both walked with the bases loaded to put Iola ahead 8-4.

The Muddogs scored two more runs in the bottom of the fourth when Preston Kueser reached on an error and drove in a run on a fly ball to first base for the 8-5 score. Dallas Kueser then singled to second base to score one more and make it an 8-6 ballgame.

nings while stranding eight baserunners. He is 0-4 in 10 starts since beating Baltimore on May 3.

“Mainly just three extra outs on the bases, which helped,” Greinke said. “They win a lot of games doing that. It just kind of worked out good for us today.”

Naylor had two of the Guardian’s 13 hits and is hitting .398 (43 for 108) in his last 26 games.

“We left a lot of men on,” Hale said. “We did have our opportunities. It hurts to lose this kind of game with the pitching performance we got from Bieber.”

TRANSACTIONS

Guardians LHP Logan Allen was optioned to Triple-A Columbus and RHP Michael Kelly recalled from Columbus.

McKarnin added onto the lead in the second when he grounded into a fielder’s choice at shortstop to score Church and go ahead 4-0. White also grounded into a fielder’s choice next inning which scored Barnett and made it a 5-0 ballgame.

White scored on an error by Garnett’s catcher to make it a 9-6 lead before McKarnin sent a sacrifice fly to right field to score Wilson and give the Indians their 10-6 victory.

Iola travels to Pittsburg for the MOKAN Legion Showdown on

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Iola’s A Indians infield huddles on the pitcher’s mound during a home game against Fort Scott. REGISTER/QUINN BURKITT

Help us build a brighter future for Kansas children and families.

Healthy Families Home Visiting Family Support Specialist/ HFHVFSS

Kansas

As a family support specialist, your vital family services consist of visiting families in their homes to provide support in establishing positive home environments, promote strong attachments through the parent-child relationships, and encourage the well-being of children and families.

This position earns a competitive hourly wage starting at $17.25/hour. We provide excellent benefits and perks, including health insurance, PTO, sick leave, and vacation.

Do you enjoy assisting families that need support?

Are you ready to advance your career with a company that is committed to prospering the lives of children and families?

If so, please apply at:

https://www.kcsl.org/resources/careers/ or reach out to HR@kcsl.org for more information!

NOW HIRING

The City of Iola is requesting formal bids for clearing of condemned properties. Specifications and bid packets can be obtained by contacting the Code Services office at 620-365-4903 or at the Code Services Office, 2 E. Jackson Avenue, Iola.

Sealed bids will be accepted at the Code Services office no later than 10 a.m. on ,July 5, 2023. No contracts shall be awarded

ANDERSON COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE HAS TWO FULL-TIME DETENTION OFFICER OPENINGS AND ONE FULL-TIME 911 OPERATOR POSITION. Must be 18 years old, a high school diploma or its equivalent. No experience is needed, starting pay as a detention o cer or 911 operator o cer is $17.09 with a potential increase for experience. Must have a valid Driver’s License, pass criminal background, a general knowledge test, and a fit for duty physical. Shifts are 12 hours with paid lunch. Because of many questions, know that a tra c citation/ticket and simple misdemeanor convictions may not disqualify you from working for a government or law enforcement entity. Call 785-448-5678 for the application or stop by 135 E. 5th Ave., Garnett, KS 66032. ANCOSO is an equal opportunity employer and follows veterans’ preferences laws.

PUBLIC AUCTION

Sat., July 8 • 10:00 a.m.

Location: 1306 Northwestern, Iola, KS

Seller: Verle Briggs Estate

Household Items, Appliances and Kitchen Items, Antiques, Collectibles and much more VISIT www.allencountyauction.com or www.kansasauctions.net for photos and sale bill.

Allen County Auction Service Allen County Realty, Inc.

Auctioneers: Gerald Gray and Colton Heffern 513 North State St., Iola • 620-365-3178

Spouse keeps rehashing the past

Adapted from an online discussion.

Hi Carolyn: My spouse is going through some difficult times: sudden terminal illness and subsequent death of a parent, other parent facing some long-term but not terminal illness. We both have professional jobs and three minor children. Spouse’s job is more high-pressure than mine, and we have always divided the labor so that I take on more household work.

During the past few weeks, I have taken all household needs off spouse’s plate completely, to allow them to focus on their needs and impending loss. I’ve been trying to follow your rule of dumping outward, but because I’ve been so busy and physically isolated, I’ve just been plowing through alone — i.e., I haven’t had anyone to dump out to.

Here is my trouble: Spouse cannot stop rehashing the “coulda, woulda, shouldas” OVER AND OVER

AGAIN. I find myself exhausted and am losing patience. What sort of script can I use to let my spouse know that I want to be there for them, but that trying to rehash the same issue, with the same sad set of circumstances, for the fifth time in as many days, with no difference in the outcome, is just too much for me? — Coulda

Woulda Shoulda

Coulda Woulda

Shoulda: Your spouse can dump farther out, too, such as with counseling or a grief support group. Or both, because grief support is more accessible, which means you can set it up now, proactively, while your spouse waits for the longer process of setting up individual therapy.

A script for this step: “You have been through some unimag-

inable things, and I want to keep helping you through it. I worry, though, that you’re stuck, and I’m not qualified to get you unstuck. With your permission, I want to look for a grief support group for you.” See whether they’re open to this or more. If not, then insist, and hire out any “household needs” you can afford to.

Readers’ thoughts:

• And please take care of yourself. You are taking on a lot, for who knows how long. Whether it’s self-care, yoga/meditation, exercise, therapy, etc. Don’t hesitate to get child care if you need to do this. Your family also deserves to have one sane, healthy parent at all times.

• It’s possible that removing “all” the demands of daily life is not helping. Unfettered time to focus on loss isn’t necessarily a gift. The momentum of daily life is part of what keeps many of us grounded and moving forward,

Doctors cast off fatigue in older man due to aging

Dear Dr. Roach: I'm writing in regarding my 92-year-old father. He has always been active, still plays golf and had played softball up until the age of 88. My father has a history of blood clots, so he is on blood thinners. Nowadays, my father is constantly fatigued; walking out to the garage leaves him drained, and attempting to play nine holes of golf leaves him drained. He sleeps a lot during the day. All the doctors say is: "Hey, your dad

CRYPTOQUOTES

is 92 years old." So, my question is, is this a normal part of aging? —

J.N.

Answer: While it is true that we all slow down a little bit as we get older, and 92 is certainly a very respectable age, I would not rush to blame this on his age, especially if these changes are relative-

ly sudden. I certainly would not diagnose this as normal aging without, at least, a careful history and physical examination, as well as some judicious laboratory studies. Fatigue is a very nonspecific symptom that can be caused by abnormalities of virtually all your major organs, especially the heart, liver, kidney, lungs and bone marrow. Thyroid problems are another common issue, and depression is a frequently overlooked possibility, especially in older men.

even in the face of loss and grief.

• As someone who lost an elderly parent about 18 months ago, I can say that the coulda, woulda, shouldas are just like that and pop up irrationally every now and then. I know that logically there wasn’t more I could do, and most days it’s fine. But sometimes something triggers a memory and I think, “Oh, maybe I could have …”

• A friend who is also a therapist assured me that this is a normal part of grieving. So your partner is normal, and is grieving. And yes, maybe therapy will help.

· Seconding Carolyn’s advice, and also wondering whether some other support would be helpful for the letterwriter and the children. Although these are the spouse’s parents, they are/were also grandparents to the children, in-laws to the spouse — such that maybe some focus on how to handle the whole family’s grief is in order.

Yesterday’s Cryptoquote:

If I had my way, I’d remove January from the calendar altogether and have an extra July instead. — Roald Dahl

ZITS by Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman

BEETLE BAILEY by Mort Walker

HAGAR THE HORRIBLE by Chris Browne

BLONDIE by Young and Drake MUTTS by Patrick McDonell

MARVIN by Tom Armstrong

HI AND LOIS by Chance Browne

Dr. Keith Roach

PET SAFETY T IPS

• PROPERLY IDENTIFY YOUR PETS with collar and external ID tags.

• CREATE A SAFE SPACE for your pets, such as a cozy bed, room or crate. Also close windows and doors to minimize sound and escape routes.

• NEVER light fireworks around your pets.

• TURN ON the radio or TV for a familiar noise.

• KEEP YOUR PETS indoors, if possible.

• YOUR VET HAS MEDICATIONS that can help if your pet is overwhelmingly frightened.

them.

Fireworks Safe ty

• ALWAYS read and follow label instructions.

• NEVER give fireworks to small children.

• NEVER point or throw fireworks at a person, building or animal.

• NEVER attempt to re-light a malfunctioning firework.

• NEVER experiment with homemade fireworks. They are dangerous and illegal.

• ALWAYS shoot fireworks from a level surface.

• ADULTS should always supervise use of fireworks by children.

• KEEP a source of water handy, in case of a fire.

• WHEN lighting fireworks, never position any part of your body over them.

• NEVER ignite fireworks indoors.

• ONLY light one firework at a time.

• ALWAYS purchase high quality fireworks from a reliable, legitimate source.

Peewee Emprise Bank

In today’s summer sports magazine supplement, the order of the Peewee Emprise Bank team was incorrect. The correct order is, front row from left, Treyvion Trester, Nikolas Trester, Jude Welch, Derrek Yarnell; back row, Coach Brooklyn Whitcomb, Angelito Young, Enio Young, Marccus Whitcomb, Gus Cook and Coach Dustin Whitcomb. Our apologies for the errors.

Jr. Bitty Ball Allen Co. Regional Hospital

Front row from left, Jaxen Scheibmeir, Burke Trammell, Max Stinnett, Jett Rice, Huck Tidd, Jax Meats, Hayes Chester, Brayson Cox and Jaxson Burns; back row, coaches Tom Stinnett and Andy Chester. The magazine caption was incorrect.

ALLY 400 AT NASHVILLE SUPERSPEEDWAY

Ross Chastain had to hold off Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin by 0.789 seconds for the win – leading a race-best 99 of the 300 laps, including the final 34.

Quick pits help Chastain take Ally 400

LEBANON, Tenn. – Ross Chastain capped off a “perfect” race weekend, hitting all the right notes in the Music City to earn the winner’s guitar trophy in Sunday’s Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway – his first Cup Series race victory of the season, a day after claiming his first career pole position.

But before hoisting his new guitar, the 30-year-old Chastain had a watermelon to smash — his trademark victory celebration — a nod to his family’s multigeneration watermelon farm in rural Alva, Florida. And the sold-out Nashville crowd — home to his race team owner Justin Marks — roared with enthusiasm for the long smoke-filled victory burnout he did in front of the grandstands to his enthusiastic melon drop.

“A lot of self-reflection through all this,” Chastain said. “But I had a group that believed in me, and they didn’t let me get down,” he said of his challenges in 2023.

Chastain certainly proved that resilience and his faith in the process. He led early Sunday and then led late — thanks to incredibly fast pit stops from his Trackhouse Racing team helping position him for the race lead on the final round of stops.

It’s the first race win of 2023 for Chastain, who led the championship standings for seven weeks early in the year, and the first win of the year and inaugural pole position for Trackhouse Racing.

Ultimately, Chastain had to hold off Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin by 0.789 seconds for the win – leading a race-best 99 of the 300 laps, including the final 34.

Lapped traffic was a factor for Chastain to overcome all night. He lost his early lead to Tyler Reddick after Noah Gragson raced Chastain hard, trying not to be lapped. There is a history between Gragson and Chastain, who had a physical confrontation at Kansas Speedway in early May. Reddick went on to win Stage 1 after Chastain was unable to clear Gragson easily, but Reddick —

Ross Chastain, driver of the #1 Worldwide Express Chevrolet, takes the checkered flag to win the Cup Series Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway Sunday.

(Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)

who started the race alongside Chastain on the front row — spun out on pit road while losing a right-rear wheel, causing a caution shortly thereafter and ultimately not factoring for the win.

A Lap 147 restart saw Ryan Blaney’s race come to an end. A slow restart at the front of the field caused a stackup, causing Busch to contact the back bumper of Blaney’s No. 12 Team Penske Ford. Both Busch and Blaney spun through the infield grass, with Blaney nosing hard into the inside wall. The lastplace finish of 36th is Blaney’s first DNF of the season.

In the closing laps — with Truex hot on his bumper — Chastain had to navigate traffic again and again cars held him up in an effort not to get lapped.

Fortunately for Chastain, some of that traffic made things difficult for Truex as well, and the “Melon Man” was able to pull away some in the final 20 laps.

It was a clean race – only two short extra caution flags beyond the two scheduled stage breaks. Reddick took his third stage win of the season in Stage 1, and Hamlin notched his fourth in Stage 2.

“I just think we had a third-place car,” Hamlin said. “I thought the 19 (Truex) was a little better, and obviously, the 1 (Chastain) came on really strong there at the end.” With his runner-up showing, Truex maintained the NASCAR Cup Series championship lead, now up by 18 points on both Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron and Chastain. The 1.33-mile Nashville oval has been a good place for Chastain. He finished runner-up in 2021 and was fifth last year.

Chase Elliott, 2022 Nashville winner, finished fourth, followed by teammates Kyle Larson and Byron. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell, Legacy Motor Club’s Erik Jones, Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch and Kaulig Racing’s A.J. Allmendinger – who won the Xfinity race on Saturday – rounded out the top 10.

NEXT: GRANT PARK 220 Chicago Street Race 5:30 p.m. ET Sunday, NBC

• The Chainsmokers and Miranda Lambert will headline full-length concerts with the support of The Black Crowes and Charley Crockett for the races Saturday and Sunday. The 12-turn, 2.2-mile street race will take the Cup Series and X nity Series past and through many of Chicago‘s most renowned downtown landmarks as part of a two-day festival during Fourth of July Weekend. “The Chicago Street Race is truly a rst-of-its-kind two-day sports and entertainment event in the 75year history of NASCAR,” said Chicago Street Race President Julie Giese. “We are proud to welcome superstars as we reimagine the NASCAR experience in the heart of downtown Chicago over Fourth of July weekend.”

• On Saturday, the Chicago Street Race will feature X nity Series and Cup Series practice and qualifying followed by The Black Crowes concert. Following the X nity Series race, The Chainsmokers will take the stage for a full-length concert to close the rst day. On Sunday, Charley Crockett will open with Miranda Lambert headlining a full-length concert in advance of the rst-ever Cup Series street race.

• “I think its brilliant what NASCAR is doing, especially a street race in Chicago. I’m very excited. I think it’s going to be wild. These cars are not made to do this type of racing; that’s what’s fun, seeing how they’ll gure it out,” - CarlEdwards’ thoughtsonChicagoracing, sharedwhilehewasinNashvillebeingthe rsttobe inductedintotheSuperspeedway’sLegendsPlaza.