The Iola Register, Aug. 2, 2023

County seeks solution for excess tires

By VICKIE MOSS The Iola Register

A company that recycles used tires has been dumping more than 200,000 tires at the Allen County Landfill over the past six months, prompting county leaders to consider changes to the way it handles or charges for tire collection.

Shane Lamb with FMS/ United Tire told commissioners he needs to dump shredded tires at the landfill until he’s able to build a facility that can convert the material into fine, crumb rubber that is a highly desirable recycled product used by many industries.

Lamb operates out of a facility at the former Lehigh Portland Cement plant.

Since February, Lamb’s company has dumped 1,980.57 tons of tire material at the landfill. By comparison, the next

Above, this pile of shredded tires has grown significantly within the last six months at the Allen County Landfill, with the bulk coming from FMS/United Tire, which collects tires for recycling and dumps those that cannot be recycled. At right is a pile of passenger and truck tires. REGISTER/VICKIE MOSS

highest customer, J.D.’s Automotive, dumped 67.31 tons in the same period.

The county charges Allen County residents and businesses a fee of $5.50 per ton for cut or shredded tires,

compared to $130 per ton for out-of-county residents.

Commissioners and Public Works Director Mitch Garner told Lamb they are concerned

See TIRES | Page A6

Report: Children removed from Medicaid rolls

By TIM CARPENTER Kansas Reflector

TOPEKA — A Kansas advocacy organization said state records indicated children comprised two-thirds of the 45,000 people who have lost Medicaid coverage for procedural reasons since the restart in April of eligibility assessments halted during the COVID-19 emergency.

Kansas Action for Children, a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization in Topeka, said Kansas Department of Health and Environment statistics showed 62.3% of Kansans dropped from KanCare because of application issues were children.

“As children’s coverage has been discontinued until their caregivers submit the renewal form or reapply, this will cause a significant disruption to kids receiving time-sensitive health services,” said Heather Braum, health policy Advisor of Kansas Action for Children. “Sadly, their caregivers might not even know coverage has been discontinued until trying to access ser-

vices for their children.”

KAC said the exodus of children from Medicaid appeared most significant in the counties of Chautauqua,

Clark, Decatur, Finney, Ford, Grant, Gray, Greeley, Hamilton, Rawlins, Seward, Stanton, Stevens, Thomas and Wyandotte.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government suspended eligibil-

See MEDICAID | Page A3

Local merchants bring ‘Sandlot’ to Iola square

By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register

A group of local merchants is offering up a free night at the movies Friday, from the comfy confines of Iola’s downtown square.

The 1993 baseball classic “The Sandlot” will be shown on a 20-foot movie screen set up on the courthouse lawn.

“It’s an opportunity for us to give something back to the community,” said Gabe Gleason of Fillmore Coffeehouse and Plant Cafe, one of the organizers. Other sponsors are the Iola Pharmacy, Sonic

Drive-in, Emprise Bank and 110 Lounge and Event Center.

The festivities will begin at about 7:30, with complimentary popcorn and bottles of water, with vendor trailers from Red Beard BBQ and Simply Delicious, as well as Fillmore’s gelato cart.

Guests are encouraged to bring their own lawn chairs or cozy blankets to set up their viewing spots. The movie begins at dusk.

The inaugural Movie Night coincides with Iola’s annual Sidewalk Sale, with down-

See ‘SANDLOT’ | Page A6

By VICKIE MOSS The

It’s almost time for students to head back to the classroom.

Area districts are enrolling this week for the fall semester. Iola schools will enroll from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. today and from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursday. All students from preschool through 12th grade will enroll at Iola Elementary School, 203 N. Kentucky St. New preschool or kindergarten students will

See ENROLL | Page A6

Christine Osterlund, deputy chief of operations for Kansas’ Medicaid program, joined U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids and Gov. Laura Kelly at a news conference to raise awareness about a challenging application process for thousands of Kansans who might lose KanCare coverage. KANSAS REFLECTOR/TIM CARPENTER

Scene from “The Sandlot” TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX/TNS

Death toll rises from China floods

BEIJING (AP) — Torrential rain in areas around China’s capital, Beijing, killed at least 20 people and left 27 missing, the government reported Tuesday, as flooding destroyed roads, uprooted trees and knocked out power.

Thousands of people were evacuated to shelters in schools and other public buildings in suburban Beijing and in the nearby cities of Tianjin and Zhuozhou.

The severity of the flooding took the Chinese capital by surprise.

Beijing usually has dry summers but had a stretch of record-breaking heat this year.

Other areas, especially China’s south, have suffered unusually se-

vere summer flooding that caused scores of deaths. Other parts of the country are struggling with drought.

Muddy water surging down streets washed away cars in the Mentougou district on Beijing’s western edge.

“The cars parked on the street floated and got washed away,” said a resident, Liu Shuanbao. “A couple of cars parked behind my apartment building disappeared in just one minute.”

Emergency workers used bulldozers on Tuesday to clear streets while residents waded through mud.

“Neither officials nor ordinary people expected the rain to be so heavy,” said another Mentougou resident, Wu Changpo. “There

Ga. nuke plant online

ATLANTA (AP) — A new reactor at a nuclear power plant in Georgia has entered commercial operation.

Georgia Power Co. announced Monday that Unit 3 at Plant Vogtle, southeast of Augusta, has completed testing and is now sending power to the grid reliably. It’s the first new American reactor built from scratch in decades.

At its full output, Unit

3 can power 500,000 homes and businesses. Utilities in Georgia, Florida and Alabama are buying the electricity. A fourth reactor is nearing completion at the site, where two earlier reactors have been generating electricity for decades. The third and fourth reactors were supposed to cost $14 billion, but are projected to cost owners $31 billion.

were a lot of landslides and flooded villages. I cried repeatedly seeing these reports.”

Eleven deaths were reported in Beijing and authorities were looking for 27 missing people, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

Nine deaths were reported in Hebei province, which surrounds the capital.

Power to some 60,000 homes in the capital’s Fangshan district was knocked out, Phoenix TV reported on its website.

In Zhuozhou, southwest of Beijing, some 125,000 people from high-risk areas were moved to shelters, Xinhua said.

President Xi Jinping issued an order for local governments to go “all out” to rescue those trapped and minimize loss of life and property damage. The government of Tianjin, a port east of Beijing, said 35,000 people were evacuated from near the swollen Yongding River.

As much as almost 20 inches of rain has fallen in some places since Saturday,

according to the Hebei province weather agency. Some areas reported as much as 3 1/2 inches of rainfall per hour.

Some 13 rivers exceeded warning levels in the Haihe Basin, which includes Beijing, Tianjin and Shijiazhuang, Xinhua said, citing the Ministry of Water Resources.

About 42,000 people were evacuated from areas of Shanxi province to Hebei’s west, it reported, citing emergency officials.

In early July, at least 15 people were killed by floods in the southwestern region of Chongqing, and about 5,590 people in the far northwestern province of Liaoning had to be evacuated.

Area students earn KU honors

LAWRENCE — Several local students at the University of Kansas earned honor roll distinction for the spring 2023 semester.

Honor roll criteria vary among the university’s academic units. Some schools honor the top 10% of students enrolled, some establish a minimum grade-point average, and others raise the minimum GPA for each year students are in school. Students must complete a minimum number of credit hours to be considered for the honor roll.

∙ Jocelyn Erbert, Iola, College of Liberal Arts &

Police reports

Vehicles colide Jorge Cumplido was southbound in the 200 block of South State Street the morning of July 21, and had veered to the left in an attempt to turn right into a parking lot.

Nickolas Bauer, who was trailing Cumplido, was un-

aware Cumplido was turning right, and instead veered right in order to pass, and their vehicles collided. Neither driver was injured, Iola police officers said.

Sciences

∙ Henry Lohman, Iola, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences

∙ Elanie Sturgeon, Iola, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences

∙ Jonathan Wall, Iola, School of the Arts and College of Liberal Arts & Sciences

∙ William Wall, Iola, School of Journalism & Mass Communications

∙ Teryn Johnson, Humboldt, School of Education & Human Sciences

∙ Sam Neeley, Humboldt, School of Business

∙ Simon Stephens, Humboldt, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences

∙ Clara Boyd, Moran, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences

∙ Kari Shadden, Elsmore, School of the Arts

∙ Liberty Cavender, Yates Center, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences

∙ Jasmine Schlotterbeck, Yates Center, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences

∙ Miranda Meats, Le Roy, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences

529 plans offer benefits in all markets

A new school year will soon begin. And if you have young children, that means it’s one year closer to the day when they head off to college or some other post-secondary education or training. You might be preparing for that day with a 529 education savings plan — but should you be concerned if you need to start taking withdrawals to pay for education expenses when the financial markets are volatile?

Long-term investment vehicles based on the financial markets, like a 529 plan, will always fluctuate in value. If you’ve had a 529 plan for many years, you’ve probably invested money when the market has been up, down and flat. In fact, during down periods, it’s often a good time to invest because your dollars buy more shares than they could when prices are up. Your hope is that, over the years, your 529 plan will gain enough to overcome the short-term declines in value.

In any case, you'll want to keep in mind the key benefit of 529 plans: Earnings and withdrawals are federally tax free when the money is used for qualified education expenses for college and some trade school programs. And your state may give you an income tax deduction or a credit for your 529 plan contributions. In some states, a 529 plan can be used for K-12 schooling as well.

You have another incentive to keep your 529 plan intact despite temporary drops in value. Specifically, if you withdraw money and don’t use it for eligible education expenses, your withdrawal may be subject to a 10% penalty in addition to state and federal income taxes. That could be a high price to pay for a move that may not be in your best interest. After all, if you were to move your 529 plan money into a minimal-risk asset, such as some type of cash vehicle, you could sacrifice some of the growth potential you might need to meet the high costs of higher education.

Many 529 plans offer investment portfolios that gradually become more risk averse as the beneficiary gets closer to college age. A financial advisor can discuss the investment options with you.

While this investment feature doesn’t guarantee you’ll have complete immunity from financial market volatility, it can help reduce its impact when you need access to the money.

Here’s one more point to keep in mind: Just because you’ve planned to access your 529 plan when your child reaches 18, or whatever age they begin their post-secondary education, you’re not required to take money out at that point. You can keep your 529 plan intact until you feel more comfortable making withdrawals, though you’ll need to consider how this decision will affect your ability to help pay for your child’s education.

The financial markets will always be in some type of flux, but don’t let these movements deter you from sticking with a 529 plan — it’s still one of the best investments you can make in your child’s future.

Medicaid: Two-thirds of those pulled from rolls are kids

Continued from A1

ity reviews to allow families across the United States to remain on Medicaid. Nationally, Medicaid enrollment surged from 71 million in February 2020 to 93 million in February 2023.

In Kansas, nearly 130,000 Kansans were added to KanCare during the three-year suspension. That hiatus in annual eligibility evaluations was lifted in April, which launched a 12-month review cycle in the states and territories. That meant about onefourth of 530,000 Kansans in KanCare would be drawn into the eligibility process. Magnitude of the assessment bottleneck in Kansas and other states has proven difficult for program administrators.

KFF News, formerly known as Kaiser Health News, reported 3.8 million Medicaid enrollees in 39 states and the District of Columbia had been disenrolled from Medicaid as of Monday. Across all states with available data, KFF said, 74% of people disenrolled had coverage terminated for procedural reasons.

The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services previously said four of five people dropped from Medicaid lost those benefits due to procedural complications.

The great unwinding

April Holman, executive director of Alliance for Healthy Kansans, said the inability of Kansas to approve eligibility expansion of Medicaid created a coverage gap for low-wage parents and their children who didn’t have alternatives for affordable health care coverage.

She said the ongoing Medicaid redetermination process, also

referred to as “unwinding,” placed Kansas children at a disadvantage compared to youth in neighboring states.

“Though the data available for each state in the unwinding process varies, it is clear that Kansans are in a more precarious position with the Medicaid unwinding than working families in states that have moved forward to ensure access to affordable health care,” Holman said.

“Unlike Kansans, individuals in Missouri, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Colorado, along with 36 other expansion states, don’t need to worry about falling in the coverage gap.”

She said the quickest and most effective way to protect Kansans from losing health coverage under Medicaid was to expand KanCare — the name of Kansas’ Medicaid program. She said the reform could lower rates of infant mortality and raise high school graduation rates. It would narrow racial disparities in health coverage and outcomes while enhancing services for mental and behavioral care, Holman said.

“By providing afford-

able health coverage to low-wage parents, we can protect Kansas children and ensure they have access to the health care they deserve.

Braum said information released by KDHE didn’t reveal precisely why individuals were dropped from Medicaid by the agency and placed in a pool of people given 90 days to reapply or otherwise complete applications. While families have the option of continuing the application process, concerns have been raised about individuals not fully understanding their responsibilities in the process.

“One thing is clear, though, greater outreach is needed for all KanCare members, especially to families whose children are

likely still eligible for coverage even if adults in the household are not,” she said.

Inside the numbers

According to KDHE, at the end of June the

agency had sent 275,647 Kansans renewal letters for KanCare. Overall, 29,012 individuals had been renewed and 7,432 were notified they weren’t eligible. At the same time, 45,837 individuals had their Medicaid coverage discontinued for procedural reasons. It’s unclear how many people had submitted renewal forms that had yet to be processed.

Kansas officials began by sending renewal notices 30 days before they were due from applicants, but other states granted applicants weeks longer to respond.

KDHE didn’t respond to a request Monday for comment about what steps might be taken by the agency to address the large number of discontinuations involving children. KDHE spokesperson Philip Harris said KDHE did

temporarily pause procedural disenrollments until June 18 due to mail-service disruptions.

That grace period was designed to give the agency an opportunity to find the “permanent solution” to application challenges, said Christine Osterlund, deputy operations chief for the state’s Medicaid office.

Kelly said at that time the complexity of the Medicaid unwinding process affirmed the need to expand eligibility for the program in Kansas. The Kansas Legislature, which is led by Republicans in the House and Senate, has fought off attempts by Kelly to gain legislative approval of KanCare expansion.

“It will boost our economy, bring hardearned tax dollars back to our state and, most importantly, save lives,” Kelly said.

Some states began disenrolling people from Medicaid earlier than others.In Kansas, roughly two-thirds of those removed from the rolls were children.

GETTY IMAGES VIA KANSAS REFLECTOR

Is AI’s hallucination problem fixable?

By MATT O’BRIEN The Associated Press

Spend enough time with ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence chatbots and it doesn’t take long for them to spout falsehoods.

Described as hallucination, confabulation or just plain making things up, it’s now a problem for every business, organization and high school student trying to get a generative AI system to compose documents and get work done. Some are using it on tasks with the potential for highstakes consequences, from psychotherapy to researching and writing legal briefs.

“I don’t think that there’s any model today that doesn’t suffer from some hallucination,” said Daniela Amodei, co-founder and president of Anthropic, maker of the chatbot Claude 2.

“They’re really just sort of designed to predict the next word,” Amodei said. “And so there will be some rate at which the model does that inaccurately.”

Anthropic, ChatGPT-maker OpenAI and other major developers of AI systems known as large language models say they’re working to make them more truthful.

How long that will take — and whether they will ever be good enough to, say, safely dole out medical advice — remains to be seen.

“This isn’t fixable,” said Emily Bender, a linguistics professor and director of the University of Washington’s Computational Linguistics Laboratory. “It’s inherent in the mismatch between the technology and the proposed use cases.”

A lot is riding on the reliability of generative AI technology. The McKinsey Global Institute projects it will add the equivalent of $2.6 trillion to $4.4 trillion to the global economy. Chatbots are only one part of that fren-

zy, which also includes technology that can generate new images, video, music and computer code. Nearly all of the tools include some language component.

Google is already pitching a news-writing AI product to news organizations, for which accuracy is paramount.

The Associated Press is also exploring use of the technology as part of a partnership with OpenAI, which is paying to use part of AP’s text archive to improve its AI systems.

In partnership with India’s hotel management institutes, computer scientist Ganesh Bagler has been working for years to get AI systems, including a ChatGPT precursor, to invent recipes for South Asian cuisines, such as novel versions of ricebased biryani. A single “hallucinated” ingredient could be the difference between a tasty and inedible meal.

When Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, visited India in June, the professor at the Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology Delhi had some pointed questions.

“I guess hallucinations in ChatGPT are still acceptable, but

when a recipe comes out hallucinating, it becomes a serious problem,” Bagler said, standing up in a crowded campus auditorium to address Altman on the New Delhi stop of the U.S. tech executive’s world tour.

“What’s your take on it?” Bagler eventually asked.

Altman expressed optimism, if not an outright commitment.

“I think we will get the hallucination problem to a much, much better place,” Altman said. “I think it will take us a year and a half, two years. Something like that. But at that point we won’t still talk about these. There’s a balance between creativity and perfect accuracy, and the model will need to learn when you want one or the other.”

But for some experts who have studied the technology, such as University of Washington linguist Bender, those improvements won’t be enough.

Bender describes a language model as a system for “modeling the likelihood of different strings of word forms,” given some written data it’s been trained upon.

It’s how spell checkers are able to detect

when you’ve typed the wrong word. It also helps power automatic translation and transcription services, “smoothing the output to look more like typical text in the target language,” Bender said. Many people rely on a version of this technology whenever they use the “autocomplete” feature when composing text messages or emails.

The latest crop of chatbots such as ChatGPT, Claude 2 or Google’s Bard try to take that to the next level, by generating entire new passages of text, but Bender said they’re still just repeatedly selecting the most plausible next word in a string.

When used to generate text, language models “are designed to make things up. That’s all they do,” Bender said. They are good at mimicking forms of writing, such as legal contracts, television scripts or sonnets.

“But since they only ever make things up, when the text they have extruded happens to be interpretable as something we deem correct, that is by chance,” Bender said. “Even if they can be tuned to be right more of the time, they will still have failure

modes — and likely the failures will be in the cases where it’s harder for a person reading the text to notice, because they are more obscure.”

Those errors are not a huge problem for the marketing firms that have been turning to Jasper AI for help writing pitches, said the company’s president, Shane Orlick. “Hallucinations are actually an added bonus,” Orlick said. “We have customers all the time that tell us how it came up with ideas — how Jasper created takes on stories or angles that they would have never thought of themselves.”

The Texas-based startup works with partners like OpenAI, Anthropic, Google or Facebook parent Meta to offer its customers a smorgasbord of AI language models tailored to their needs. For someone concerned about accuracy, it might offer up Anthropic’s model, while someone concerned with the security of their proprietary source data might get a different model, Orlick said.

Orlick said he knows hallucinations won’t be easily fixed. He’s counting on companies

like Google, which he says must have a “really high standard of factual content” for its search engine, to put a lot of energy and resources into solutions.

“I think they have to fix this problem,” Orlick said. “They’ve got to address this. So I don’t know if it’s ever going to be perfect, but it’ll probably just continue to get better and better over time.”

Techno-optimists, including Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, have been forecasting a rosy outlook.

“I’m optimistic that, over time, AI models can be taught to distinguish fact from fiction,” Gates said in a July blog post detailing his thoughts on AI’s societal risks.

He cited a 2022 paper from OpenAI as an example of “promising work on this front.”

More recently, researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich said they developed a method to detect some, but not all, of ChatGPT’s hallucinated content and remove it automatically.

But even Altman, as he markets the products for a variety of uses, doesn’t count on the models to be truthful when he’s looking for information.

“I probably trust the answers that come out of ChatGPT the least of anybody on Earth,” Altman told the crowd at Bagler’s university, to laughter.

The risk in generative AI, such as ChatGPT, is on a new level and something for all of us to watch with caution. DREAMSTIME/TNS

~ Journalism that makes a difference

Sinead O’Connor blazed a trail for Swifties, ‘Barbie’ to shine

I was never a Barbie girl, but I definitely understand what it means to live in a Barbie world.

Growing up in the ‘80s in a feminist household, I didn’t have a Barbie, but I knew what they were and what they represented. My friends had Barbies and I would play with their dolls and their Barbie-pink Dreamhouses. The impossibly proportioned 11.5” plastic embodiment of unattainable female beauty standards loomed over my childhood, along with the thin, white actors and supermodels of the era.

Barbie serving as an aspirational ideal for girls was in sharp contrast to our household, where my sister and I wore our boy cousins’ handme-down jeans and shirts, and were encouraged to use tools, dig for geoducks, play in the dirt and build things.

But dominant society was ever present. Diet culture reigned in the media and unlike today, there was no social media and no countermovement of body positivity, racial and size inclusive casting or queer visibility to disrupt the mainstream narrative.

So it was against that backdrop that when I heard there was going to be a live-action Barbie movie, I shrugged. But as the buzz started to grow and I learned Greta Gerwig was directing, I became more curious. How could a staunchly feminist director like Gerwig tackle the contradictions of a doll that represents so much of retrograde sexism? After watching the film last week, I realized she did it by addressing it head on.

Naomi Ishisaka

Much to the loud — and in one case literally flaming — meltdowns of conservative male critics, the “Barbie” movie directly addresses criticism of the toy and creates a bluntly feminist alternate universe where the Supreme Court is all women and the president is played by Issa Rae. Trans women and cisgender women of all backgrounds, shapes and sizes (though only under age 30 it seems) are bosses of everything. Sexism is nonexistent, sexual violence unheard of and the men, the Kens, are an afterthought at best.

It’s only after (spoiler alert!) Stereotypical Barbie and Ken visit the real world that Ken is exposed to the delights of patriarchy and comes back to Barbieland with an armful of Ken’s Rights books and a new belief in his own natural superiority.

Yes, it’s silly, but it’s also subversive.

The “Barbie” movie joins a wave of pop culture phenomena where — to crib the Eurythmics and Aretha Franklin anthem — sisters are doing it for themselves and breaking records while they are at it.

Not only did the Barbie movie shatter the box office record for a film directed by a woman and earn $162 million in its opening weekend, over the same weekend, Seattle saw the meteoric power

of another pop culture icon — Taylor Swift — and her staggering 144,000 fans who rejoiced in Swift’s own brand of feminism and womanhood. Swift and her Swifties were so loud at Lumen Field that the show registered as seismic activity, a “Seismic Swift.”

SWIFT ALSO addresses sexism in her work, tackling double standards in songs like “The Man” (the video is extraordinary). I am no Swiftie, by any stretch, but I know many women and girls, in particular, who through Swift’s music feel empowered, inspired and seen. I get that feeling. When I was an adolescent, I remember struggling with the tension between what I was told

I could be at home and what I saw in the media and pop culture. But in the later part of the ‘80s, when more conventional singers like Tiffany or Debbie Gibson were leading the pop charts, I had my own experience of feeling seen and empowered.

I remember watching MTV during that time and my jaw dropping at the sight of a baldheaded young woman with piercing eyes and a ferocious but vulnerable voice. She was not a prepackaged pop star by any measure. Sinéad O’Connor defiantly wore what she wanted and did what she wanted without regard for the male gaze, the music industry or dominant beauty standards.

O’CONNOR spoke up about

As Teamsters reach deal, summer of labor rolls on

The Teamsters, as always, are delivering the goods, this time in the form of a labor agreement with UPS as a potential strike threatened to shut down deliveries that undergird large parts of the American economy.

It’s worth here pausing and reiterating what exactly the Teamsters have won here. This deal came after months of negotiations that included, among other demands, a pledge for the company to install air conditioning in their ubiquitous brown vans. With temperatures this year rising to the hottest days on record, UPS drivers, driving dozens of miles a day and performing hard physical labor, it’s baffling that it would take the specter of a strike to get the company to commit to A/C, which far more than an amenity is a life-saving feature. Indeed, more than 140 UPS workers were hospitalized with heat-related illnesses in just the the period between 2015 and 2022.

UPS reached an agreement on air conditioning in

ery on June 30 in Miami, Fla. The union representing UPS workers announced a strike is “imminent” if the company didn’t come to the table with a significantly improved financial offer. GETTY IMAGES/

JOE RAEDLE/TNS

mid-June, which left more meat-and-potatoes issues like pay and benefits on the table. A particular sticking point was pay for part-time workers, which in UPS and the broader economy, make up increasing chunks of the labor force as managers try to make the idea of a stable, long-term job with guarantees a thing of the past. As the ink dries on an ultimate deal, it now goes to the company’s roughly 340,000

Teamsters to vote on. Even after the drawn-out talks, it’s not clear that the contract will be ratified and a strike averted. That’s partly due to significant built-up frustrations with the company among drivers who were expected to do mandatory overtime during the pandemic, putting their health at greater risk, while company profits skyrocketed.

Let that be a lesson to UPS and other companies about the folly of holding out too long, not listening to your workforce and hoping their concerns will just dissipate. They won’t, and surging workplace organization and the so-called summer of strikes will ensure your employees will be heard one way or another.

While work stoppages can and should be a last resort, they’re proliferating precisely because many workers feel like the dynamics and trade-offs that have long powered U.S. industrial and cultural prosperity — a fulltime job can sustain a family, gains in productivity and

profits will be disseminated throughout the income ladder, work will have some measure of stability and security and getting sick or having a momentary setback won’t unravel everything — have fundamentally broken down, and can’t be fixed by other means.

If they were to strike, the Teamsters would join the SAG-AFTRA actors and WGA writers who help create the country’s film and television sectors, and potentially the UAW autoworkers who are pondering their own strike over disagreements with automakers. The actions cause some short-term strife and pain to peripheral industries, like the crews that would be staffing the film and TV productions not currently getting made, but it’s telling that even these workers are broadly supportive of their striking colleagues. That’s because they understand that we’re at an inflection point here that will determine how labor operates in an era of AI and gig work.

— New York Daily News

injustice, in ways that cost her personally and professionally. She spoke up for hip-hop and against racism. She talked about the legacy of trauma and abuse. O’Connor was for me and millions of other girls, a beacon of what was possible. Her death last week at just 56 was devastating for so many in Gen X and beyond. Standing for what is right is never easy or popular, and she paid the price a million times over, but never backed down.

But I believe O’Connor helped pave the way for artists like Gerwig, Swift and so many others to forge their own paths and break the mold for future generations. That path can be whatever we want it to be.

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

THIRTY-FIVE YEARS AGO

AUGUST 1988

Aldie Ensminger, a Republican candidate for the 10th District State Representative, led in votes 1,407 to 1,115 over John Carder to win the primary election Tuesday. Denise Apt, a candidate for the 12th District State Senate Republican nomination, won over Wes Worthington, and Earle Binford in that race. Gordon Conger, 2nd District county commissioner, defeated Dale Mitchell, for the Republican nomination in his bid for election to the position. Conger is an incumbent by appointment.

****

James P. McFadden, 62, of Overland Park, a former resident of Iola, was killed Wednesday morning in a single-engine airplane crash. He had farmed northeast of Iola at one time and operated the Ford Tractor Agency here for several years. After that he opened Service Fertilizer and Grain, which later became Iola Grain.

The Seattle Times

Actress Margot Robbie poses on the pink carpet upon arrival for the European premiere of “Barbie” in central London on July 12. AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES/JUSTIN TALLIS/TNS

A UPS driver makes a deliv-

Tires: County in quandary

Continued from A1

because the landfill could soon run out of room for tires if that rate continues, and because many of those tires are coming from outside the county.

The situation created a bit of a dilemma:

Lamb’s business operates in Allen County, but if most of the tires come from outside the county, which rate should he pay?

“We’re processing a lot of tires that aren’t Allen County tires but you’re paying Allen County prices,” Chairman David Lee said.

Lamb said he believes he should pay the county rate, as the origin of the item shouldn’t matter.

The situation is temporary, he said. He expects to build a larger facility within the next

year and a half. The shredded tires will then be further recycled.

Currently, about 70% of the tires he collects cannot be recycled. He is able to sell semi tires to a company that recycles them for playgrounds, while others are used to create watering stations for cattle. Usable tires are resold.

In previous years, Monarch and Ash Grove Aggregates used facilities to burn tires. Those efforts were shuttered.

Lamb hopes those facilities will be upgraded to allow for a return to burning, but that could take a couple of years.

He also takes tires to landfills at Chanute, Coffey County in Burlington and places near Kansas City.

Most of the tires that go to the landfill come from passenger cars

Enroll: Students

Continued from A1

need to attend a screening.

Classes begin Wednesday, Aug. 16, for preschool and elementary students, and for ninth grade students at Iola High School. Classes begin Aug. 17 for middle and most high school students.

Open houses will be offered for elementary students from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on Aug. 15, and for middle and high school students from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on Aug. 22.

This year, Iola schools will offer free breakfasts and lunches for all students, regardless of income. Adults will need to pay $2.15 for breakfast and $4.65 for lunch. Extra milk can be purchased for 55 cents.

Families will be asked to fill out an income survey. Those who do will not have to pay a technology fee.

Humboldt

and light trucks. Those tires could be converted to recycled crumb rubber once Lamb builds a new facility. At that time, he expects to recycle all but about 10% of the tires he collects.

Commissioners were unsure of a solution.

They asked Garner to do more research on how other landfills handle similar situations.

Garner said he is concerned the landfill will run out of room for the shredded tires if the current pace of collection continues. He initially asked Lamb to stop bringing material to the landfill; commissioners said Lamb could dump the 150 or so tons he currently has but asked him to put further shredding on hold until they decide what to do.

“We’ll do some more research and come up with a middle ground solution that will be fair to everybody,” Commissioner Jerry Daniels said.

Anniversary

Vaughn and Margaret Rinehart

Vaughn and Margaret Rinehart of Humboldt will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary on Thursday, Aug. 3

The couple were united in marriage at the Humboldt Methodist Church in 1973.

The ceremony was officiated by Reverend Ronald Bumstead.

Vaughn continues to farm on the home place west of Humboldt and Margaret is retired after many years of teaching at Humboldt Elementary School.

The couple have two sons, Jason and Cathy Rinehart of Erie and Dean and Samantha Rinehart of Humboldt, and

five grandchildren, Zoey (Omaha), Ema (Parsons), Abby (Olathe), Eli and Elyana (Erie).

Please feel free to help the family celebrate by showering the happy couple with cards. Cards can be mailed to 405 Connecticut Rd., Humboldt.

Enrollment for Humboldt students will be from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday and from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday.

Enrollment will be at each attendance center’s office.

Families should expect to pay a $25 textbook fee unless their income qualifies for free meals. Half of the fee is waived for those who qualify for reduced-price meals.

Families also will be asked to pay a technology fee of $25.

Classes begin for all students on Thursday, Aug. 17.

Marmaton Valley

Marmaton Valley students can enroll from 8 to 6 p.m. on Thursday and Friday in the commons area. Students will have school pictures taken during enrollment.

Classes begin for all students on Thursday, Aug. 17.

‘Sandlot’: Square

Continued from A1

town merchants setting up shop this weekend for assorted sales and specials Saturday morning, although Gleason has no intention of stopping with just one showing.

The plan is for monthly movie nights the first Friday of each month. The sole excep-

tion will be in September, when the movie is pushed back a week to Sept. 8 because Sept. 1 conflicts with Iola High School’s football home opener.

“We plan on doing this all year long,” Gleason added, with the proceedings moving indoors if the weather gets too cold.

REQUIREMENTS:

Signed • Address & phone number included

Names will be omitted on request only if there might be danger of retribution to the writer

SEND LETTERS TO:

editorial@iolaregister.com

PO Box 767, Iola, KS 66749

Wednesday, August 2, 2023

Sports Daily B

Chiefs bulking up to back Pat

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Chiefs need look no further than last season’s playoffs, and the sight of Patrick Mahomes hobbling to the sideline against the Jacksonville Jaguars with a high ankle sprain, to understand the importance in protecting their quarterback.

Yet oddly enough, they were OK watching both of their starting offensive tackles leave in free agency.

The big blow was the departure of left tackle Orlando Brown Jr., for whom the Chiefs paid the Ravens handsomely in a trade, when the two sides failed to reach an agreement on a long-term deal.

But nearly as painful was the loss of right tackle Andrew Wylie, who had gone from an afterthought fighting for a job to one of the more reliable players along the offensive line.

Rarely do the Chiefs make such moves without a plan, though. General manager Brett Veach acted quickly to sign ex-Tampa Bay tackle Donovan Smith to handle the left side and former Jacksonville tackle Jawaan Taylor to handle the right, then Veach used a third-round pick on Oklahoma’s Wanya Morris to create instant competition at

both positions. So far, Chiefs coach Andy Reid — an old offensive line coach — has liked what he’s seen.

“You’re never sure exactly what you’re going to get there,” Reid said, “but they’re competing and that’s important. That’s an important part of this, that you’re able to push through these practices, run and pass. I like the way

they work their game.”

The decision to put Mahomes’ health in the hands of Smith and Taylor is a gamble, though. Neither of them graded out particularly well last season, depending on the metric you use, though both of them have shown flashes of high-level play in the past.

Smith, for example, ranked No. 66 among 81 offensive tackles by Pro Football Focus.

Brewers acquire Canha

By STEVE MEGAREE The Associated Press

The Milwaukee Brewers made another attempt to upgrade their lineup for their NL Central title quest on Monday as they acquired outfielder Mark Canha, the latest veteran dealt by the disappointing New York Mets.

Milwaukee sent minor league pitcher Justin Jarvis to the Mets, who agreed to pay $3.26 million of Canha’s $3.5 million in remaining salary this year.

Taylor was just one spot better.

But the Chiefs have established a track record of unlocking the potential in relatively unheralded players, particularly along the offensive line, where assistant coach Andy Heck is among the best in the business.

Wylie is a prime example: He was undrafted out of East-

See

Relieved Americans escape, move on at World Cup

AUCKLAND, New Zealand

(AP) — The Americans came into the Women’s World Cup as the two-time defending champions and tournament favorites.

By the end of the group stage, they are relieved to still be in the competition.

“That was stressful. I was like (expletive),” said United States star Megan Rapinoe, using a curse word to describe her emotions after the team squeezed into the knockout stage with a 0-0 draw against Portugal on Tuesday.

Had Portugal substitute

Ana Capeta’s shot gone into the net rather than hit the post and rebounded out in stoppage time, the Americans might have been eliminated.

As it is, they are advancing in second place behind the Netherlands.

A blast of relief ran through every American player, coach and fan in Eden Park when the final whistle sounded.

While they may not be playing their best at the moment, the U.S. players were quick to point out after the

game that they are, in fact, still playing.

“We’re not happy with the performance we put out there, but at the same time we’re moving on,” Alex Morgan said. “This isn’t the first

time in my career that we’ve moved on second in the group.”

The last time the United States didn’t win its group was 2011, when the Americans finished second to Swe-

den before eventually losing to Japan on penalty kicks in the final.

This time around, the back-to-back defending champions scored just four

See USA | Page B3

“He’s a guy that we’re excited to have,” Brewers president of baseball operations Matt Arnold said. “He’s somebody that’s been a productive big league player now for a long time. He still is a versatile guy as well. Between what he’s done over the course of his career offensively and also with the ability to play the outfield, first base, DH, etc., he’s somebody that we think can help us here down the stretch.”

Milwaukee will pay Canha $240,000, a prorated share of the $720,000 major league minimum for the final 62 days of the season. The Brewers also are responsible for the $2 million buyout if they decline his $11.5 million buyout for 2024.

This move comes four days after Milwaukee added former Pittsburgh Pirates first baseman Carlos Santana, who hit his first homer as a Brewer in a Sunday afternoon 8-6 loss to the Atlanta Braves.

The Mets have been one of the most active sellers in the days leading up to Tuesday’s trade deadline, a remarkable shift for a franchise that opened the season with a $355 million payroll that was the highest in major league history.

After trading reliever David Robertson to the Miami Marlins on Thursday night, they sent three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer to the Texas Rangers in a deal announced Sunday.

The Robertson deal brought the Mets two players from the Mar-

See BASEBALL | Page B4

Chuck Howley, a Super Bowl losing MVP, now in HOF

him, ‘What’d you do?’”

a

ers in Dallas. “I guess my mom got a hold of him, and the next day in its place was parked a wood panel-sided station wagon, and I was just crushed,” Scott Howley said. “And I asked

The younger Howley enjoys telling that story with his 87-year-old father headed to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, something more significant to go with his quirky

Super Bowl claim to fame. The answer for a devastated son about the disappearing Charger was simple, of course. NFL contracts then weren’t

See NFL | Page B3

Kansas City Chiefs offensive tackle Jawaan Taylor, center, warms up with teammates at the Kansas City Chiefs training facility on June 8. EMILY CURIEL/GETTY IMAGES/TNS

USA’s defender (4) Naomi Girma (L) and Portugal’s forward (10) Jessica Silva vie for the ball during the Australia and New Zealand 2023 Women’s World Cup Group E football match between Portugal and the United States. SAEED KHAN/GETTY IMAGES/TNS

DALLAS (AP) — Chuck Howley brought home a cowboy blue Dodge Charger after being named MVP of Super Bowl 5 — still the only losing player to earn the honor all these years later.

The son of the former Dallas Cowboys linebacker was sure his dad would give him that car when he was old enough to drive, which would have put him on

short list of coolest teenag-

What do ‘dense breasts’ mean?

By SONYA GOINS Mayo Clinic News (TNS

A recent Food and Drug Administration rule requires healthcare providers to notify people if they have dense breasts. Studies have shown that dense breast tissue can make it more difficult to detect breast cancer early.

Dr. Kristin Robinson, a Mayo Clinic breast radiologist, says women with dense breast tissue are at a slightly increased risk of developing breast cancer compared to women without, and that’s why early detection is so important.

“About 50% of women have dense breast tissue,” says Dr. Robinson.

Dr. Robinson says you can’t tell by looking at a woman whether she has dense breasts. She says people with dense breasts have less fat and more glandular and connective tissue in their breasts.

“When we see a woman’s mammogram, that dense tissue, that fibroglandular tissue, looks white, whereas the fat looks dark or like a black color. So, when we’re looking at a

mammogram, the more white tissue we see, the more dense a woman’s breasts are considered,” says Dr. Robinson.

She says it’s difficult to detect cancer in dense breasts because breast cancer and dense tissue appear white on a mammogram.

“Our sensitivity or our ability to detect breast cancer goes down in women who have dense breast tissue for that reason,” she explains.

Dense breast tissue supplemental screenings

The radiologist encourages women with dense breast tissue to have supplemental screenings.

“Whole-breast screening ultrasound, MRI, molecular breast imaging, and contrastenhanced mammography” are some options patients might consider, says Dr. Robinson.

Mayo Clinic healthcare professionals recommend annual mammograms starting at age 40 for most women. In addition, a personalized breast cancer risk assessment is suggested at age 30 for all women to see if screening is needed before age 40.

Washington tennis tourney offers unequal prize money

WASHINGTON (AP)

— A poster hanging at the DC Open site shows Frances Tiafoe — a competitor in the field from nearby Maryland — flanked by other men such as Andy Murray and Taylor Fritz and women such as Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegu-

la.

It is a simple visualization of a complicated change to a tournament that began Monday and has been around for men since 1969, added women via a simultaneous but lower-tier and less-promoted event in 2009 and now

Mahomes: Earning needed linemen assets

Continued from B1

ern Michigan and wound up earning two Super Bowl rings in Kansas City before signing with Washington.

“All of us have played a lot of football and a lot of big games, tough games,” Taylor said. “We’re all smart mentally, physically. It’s just more so we’re tying in each and every individual aspect of who we are and how we play and tying it together and figuring out what works, what meshes. You know, just the many things we bring to the table per guy I would say is our strength.”

Another strength is having one of the best interior offensive lines in the NFL. Left guard

Joe Thuney is considered one of the top five in the league at his position, right guard Trey Smith is likewise considered a top-tier guard, and center Creed Humphrey was picked for the Pro Bowl in just his second season in the league.

It also helps having Mahomes calling out the signals.

“Just a great leader man. He brings that energy every day, you know? He holds everybody accountable,” Donovan Smith said.

“You mess up, we are going to redo it. Even in the walk-throughs and the learning periods, we always slow it down and we get to learn the offense. That’s been

helping me a lot with the walk-throughs and learning the things they like doing here.”

The Chiefs were fortunate to overcome Mahomes’ ankle injury in the playoffs. He returned in the second half to lead them past Jacksonville in the divisional round, and he hobbled through an AFC title game-thriller against Cincinnati, before hurting the ankle again in the Super Bowl — and then leading the Chiefs past Philadelphia for the Lombardi Trophy.

The pressure is on the Chiefs’ new offensive tackles to prevent the same such stress this season.

NOTES: RB Clyde

Edwards-Helaire returned to practice Monday after missing the previous two with an illness. ... TE Jody Fortson (shoulder), WR Kadarius Toney (knee) and DE Mike Danna (calf) were among those that remained out. P Tommy Townsend also spent time in the medical tent, though no reason was given by the Chiefs. ... DT Chris Jones continued his holdout. He has been fined $50,000 for each day missed, which brings the total to $550,000. ... The Chiefs had a short practice Monday after three consecutive workouts in pads. They are off Tuesday before resuming camp Wednesday.

NFL: Inducting Chuck Howley to HOF

Continued from B1

what they are today, and Howley was the father of two. Cars needed a practical use, even for a football star who had just intercepted two passes and forced a fumble in a 16-13 Super Bowl loss to Baltimore.

“That’s just the way it was,” Scott Howley said. “And that’s the way he was. He was very quiet and never really talked much about anything.”

A year after the loss to the Colts that prompted star defensive tackle Bob Lilly to fling his helmet in frustration, Howley had an interception and a fumble recovery when the Cowboys finally broke through for their first championship to cap the 1971 season.

Quarterback Roger Staubach was the MVP in a 24-3 victory over Miami, but Lilly and Howley anchored the “Doomsday Defense” when the Cowboys were on their way to becoming “America’s Team” in the 1970s.

The first of Howley’s two standout Super Bowls capped the last of his five consecutive AllPro seasons, and he was a six-time Pro Bowler. He made the Hall of Fame in the senior category, for players who have been retired at least 25 years.

The choice was long overdue in the eyes of Gil Brandt, Dallas’ personnel chief for the franchise’s first 29 seasons and a Hall of Fame inductee four years ago.

“I don’t think there was ever a better pound-for-pound player in the National Football League than Chuck Howley,” Brandt said. “As a pass rusher, as a linebacker, as a defensive lineman, as a person.”

The Chicago Bears drafted Howley — still the only athlete to letter in five sports at

West Virginia, where he played offensive line — in the first round in 1958. He retired after sustaining a serious knee injury his second year, returning to his home state to run a gas station.

He wasn’t out of the NFL for long.

After playing well in a Mountaineers alumni game, he decided to try again, and Brandt acquired his rights in exchange for draft picks in 1961. Howley spent 13 years with the Cowboys, and his 24 interceptions with Dallas are second among linebackers in club history behind Lee Roy Jordan. “If he saw a slot receiver doing something, he could catch most of them,” Lilly said. “He had the ability and he obviously had a good mind for it. He was probably looking at it from a notch above most of us.”

Hall of Fame coach

Tom Landry, who led the team along with Brandt and general manager Tex Schramm for the franchise’s first 29 years, was a stickler for the scheme. Howley was one of the few he let get away with freelancing.

Scott Howley said that while his dad is in great shape physically for his age, dementia has affected his ability to communicate. The former linebacker’s neurologist doesn’t believe the cognitive issues are a result of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, according to Scott.

The condition can’t be diagnosed until after a person dies, and Scott Howley said his dad doesn’t want to have his brain screened for the presence of CTE.

Howley ran an industrial laundry business while still playing for the Cowboys, a career that continued after

he retired in 1973. Lilly said Howley often disappeared as soon as practice was over while teammates went to the locker room and made plans for dinner or racquetball.

“Sometimes he was still combing his hair,” Lilly said. “But he was gone shortly thereafter.”

Howley and his teammates in the locker room didn’t know what to do when they were told he had be named MVP after the loss to the Colts. He was the first of 10 defensive players who have won it.

“He thought they were kidding when they came into the locker room and told him he’d gotten the MVP,” Scott Howley said. “He thought, ‘I’m on a losing team. That never happens.’”

For 52 years and counting since then, Howley has been right.

is taking a further step by touting itself as the first combined ATPWTA 500 event. That is two levels below Grand Slams and one level below Masters 1000s and was accomplished by elevating the women’s portion through the lease of what had been

a hard-court tourney in San Jose, California, played during the same week.

While ostensibly that puts the men and women on equal footing in Washington — where players both will be trying to win a

See TENNIS | Page B4

USA: Ties Portugal, 0-0

Continued from B1

goals during the three-game group stage. And the three goals were scored in their tournament opener against Vietnam. The 2019 United States team more than tripled that number in its groupstage opener against Thailand, which it won 13-0 in a record for goals in a match at a Women’s World Cup.

“We trust our forwards, we trust our players to get it done. We haven’t in the group stage –- and that’s on us,” defender Julie Ertz said. “Once it gets to the knockout stages, you kind of become a different team. It’s just do or die at that point.”

Part of the Americans’ problem has been injuries.

U.S. forward Mallory Swanson missed the tournament with a torn patellar tendon suffered in April in a friendly versus Ireland. Prior to that, Swanson was the United States’ leading scorer, and netted four of the team’s five goals in this year’s SheBelieves Cup.

But on Tuesday night, the players weren’t making excuses.

“I think we can create better chances to get a goal,” forward

Lynn Williams said. “But at the end of the day, it’s one of those things where you turn the page and you have to learn and grow really quick because you have no time to dwell on this.”

The United States will likely play Sweden in the round of 16 on Sunday in Melbourne, Australia.

Sweden currently sits undefeated on top of Group G. In order for the date between the United States and Sweden to fall through, Sweden would have to lose to Argentina, and Italy would have to beat South Africa by a large margin to overcome the current 10-goal difference between the two teams.

The Swedes are familiar foes for the Americans, and another matchup would be the seventh time the two countries have played in the Women’s World Cup.

Sweden beat the United States 3-0 in the group stage of the Tokyo Olympics. “I feel like we always play them. We know them so well,” Ertz said. “They’ve been great this tournament, so I’m excited. You always want to play against the best and I’m so excited to play them and show them what we have.”

Defending champion Liudmila Samsonova of Russia. AP PHOTO/HOWARD FENDRICH

CBS and Nickelodeon team up for Super Bowl

By JOE REEDY The Associated Press

SpongeBob and Slimetime are coming to the Super Bowl.

The NFL and CBS Sports announced Tuesday that this season’s Super Bowl will have a kids-centric presentation on Nickelodeon, marking the first time the Super Bowl has had an alternate telecast on another network.

CBS has the rights to Super Bowl 58, which will be played in Las Vegas on Feb. 11, 2024.

“We’re thrilled to partner with CBS Sports and Nickelodeon to present the first alternate telecast of the Super Bowl,” NFL media executive vice president Hans Schroeder said in a statement. “Our previous telecasts on Nickelodeon have been huge hits and created a new and different way to experience an NFL game. We’re excited to bring that creativity to Super Bowl 58 and give our fans another way to enjoy one of the world’s most popular sporting events.”

This will be the fourth season that CBS and Nickelodeon have teamed up, but the first time it will do more than one broadcast. For the second straight year, Nickelodeon will have a game on Christmas when the Kansas City Chiefs host the Las Ve-

gas Raiders.

The Super Bowl broadcast will mark the third time an NFL playoff game has aired on Nickelodeon. It had a wild-card round game during the 2020 and ‘21 seasons.

The Nickelodeon presentations — which feature eye-popping graphics that feature slime-filled end zones or SpongeBob SquarePants between the goalposts on field-goal attempts — have also received plenty of acclaim for its ability to introduce a younger age group to the basics of the game

but also focused on the action happening on the field to keep parents interested.

The first broadcast, which featured the New Orleans Saints against the Chicago Bears in a 2020 NFC wild-card round game, averaged 2.06 million fans. Last season’s Christmas game between the Denver Broncos and Los Angeles Rams averaged 906,000.

The Rams’ 51-14 rout was known more for SpongeBob sidekick Patrick Star roasting Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson after an inter-

Damar Hamlin practices for first time since scare

PITTSFORD, N.Y.

(AP) — Of the thousands of emotions — trepidation among them — running through Damar Hamlin’s head Monday while pulling on his pads for practice for the first time at training camp, the one that ultimately won out was joy.

ception.

“That’s not what he wanted to cook,” said Star, who is voiced by Bill Fagerbakke, after Wilson was picked off by Bobby Wagner during the first quarter.

“We are unbelievably proud to partner with CBS Sports and the NFL to bring Nick’s personality and unique visual sensibility to the Super Bowl,” Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon CDO Brian Robbins said in a statement. “As we’ve shown with our prior zeitgeist-busting Wild Card and Nickmas coverage.

Tennis: Tourney in Washington unequal

Continued from B3

trophy and to prepare for the U.S. Open, the year’s last Grand Slam tournament — it still is not equal all the way around.

Most notably: The men’s champion receives a check for $353,445; the women’s champion earns $120,150. That is not an anomaly. There are other stops on the professional tennis tours that include female and male players but do not pay them evenly.

“Our main goal is to work toward equal prize money. That is what we want on the WTA side and what we think is fair. Especially at the combined events, we don’t want to see a discrepancy there. We want to see that we’re earning the same at the same event,” said

Pegula, an American who is No. 3 in the rankings and seeded No. 1 in Washington and a member of the women’s tour’s player council. “The fans are coming to watch both of us, and we should be making the same.”

All four Grand Slam tournaments offer equal prize money across the board, something the U.S. Open started doing 50 years ago and others as recently as 2007. That won’t happen at the DC Open until 2027 as part of a wider plan the WTA recently announced to get equal paychecks at certain events by that year and at others by 2033.

“That will give everyone a chance to hopefully get revenues to grow to be able to afford it,” said Mark Ein, who has been the tournament

chairman since 2019 and is part of the group that recently bought the NFL’s Washington Commanders from Dan Snyder.

“When we took over the tournament, one of my top goals was to secure a women’s event at an equal level as our men’s,” Ein said. “One of the things I love about tennis is it’s really the only sport where athletes of both genders compete on the same playing surface at the same time.”

There are other discrepancies between the men’s and women’s brackets in Washington. The men’s field is 48 players; the women’s is 28. The rankings points available are nearly the same, but the men’s champion gets 500, the women’s 470.

Like Pegula, threetime major champion Murray, who is seeded 15th in Washington, said that all players “at the same event, on the same courts,” should be vying for the same payouts.

“But I think for it ever to become like truly equal, the WTA and the ATP are actually going to have to come together and work as one before that’s the case, because I don’t think it’s that straightforward just now that both tours have different sponsors, different TV deals and all of that stuff, too,” Murray said. “There is a few things that still need to change, but I feel like things are going in the right direction, like with the move to this event becoming a 500 for both. Can obviously still get better.”

For everything the Buffalo Bills safety has overcome in seven months since going into cardiac arrest during a game and needing to be resuscitated on the field, Hamlin leaned on his faith in God and himself, along with the support from his family and teammates, to take another step toward resuming his playing career.

“This is just a another milestone on the journey — might be one of the biggest ones,” Hamlin said after practice.

“I made the choice to play. But I’m processing a thousand emotions. I’m not afraid to say that it crosses my mind of being a little scared here and there,” he added. “My faith is stronger than any fear. That’s what I want to preach up here. And that’s the message I want to spread on to the world that as long as your faith is stronger than your fear, you can get through anything.”

Though Hamlin was cleared to resume practicing in mid-April, he did so wearing a helmet and shorts with his

teammates through their spring sessions and first four days of training camp, as mandated by NFL rules. The magnitude of the Bills’ first day in pads wasn’t lost on Hamlin, given it marked the first time he was in full uniform since collapsing on the field in Cincinnati on Jan. 2 after making what appeared to be a routine tackle of Bengals receiver Tee Higgins.

“It’s a super-blessed space. To be able to do what I love again,” Hamlin said. “Just trying to keep everything as normal as possible.”

The normality of football struck him about an hour into practice when Hamlin took the field for the first time during a team red-zone running drill in which tackling was still not allowed.

On his second play, Hamlin showed no hesitation when bursting toward Damien Harris and wrapping him up with both arms.

Hamlin’s biggest contact came on the final play of practice, when he avoided a block to work his way into the backfield and help a teammate stop tight end Quintin Morris for what would have been a loss.

“That first little moment of contact, that was just letting me know. I felt alive, man. I felt like I’m here,” Hamlin said

See HAMLIN | Page B6

Brewers: Nab Canha

Continued from B3

lins’ rookie-level Florida Complex League affiliate: infielder Marco Vargas and catcher Ronald Hernandez. The Scherzer trade enabled the Mets to land minor league infielder Luisangel Acuña, the younger brother of Atlanta Braves superstar Ronald Acuña Jr.

Shedding Canha will cut the Mets’ luxury tax bill by $216,000. The three trades have cut the Mets’ payroll by nearly $13.79 million and

resulted in a projected tax lowered by $12.4 million.

While the Mets look to the future as they boost their farm system, the Brewers are hoping this trade helps them get back into the playoffs after their franchise-record string of four straight postseason berths ended last season. Milwaukee got swept at Atlanta over the weekend to fall behind the Cincinnati Reds in the NL Central standings heading into Monday’s action.

George Johnston IV, a correspondent on Nickelodeon NFL Slimetime, interviews quarterback Lamar Jackson during the Baltimore Ravens preseason game against the Washington Commanders. JERRY JACKSON/TNS

Girlfriend objects to partner’s plans

Adapted from an online discussion.

Dear Carolyn: Recently my girlfriend and I attended a family gathering. Afterward, I was set to go to a close friend’s house party. My girlfriend could have gone, but she did not want to. Which I think is fine, because we do not have to accompany each other all the time. The problem is that she did not want me to go, either. She did not give a particular reason. (I should have asked, but I did not.) I wanted to go to the party, all the more so because it was my friend’s birthday party, which I pointed out, my thought being that this made it important that I go, even aside from my desire to go. Even more than if it were a regular party, my friend would probably be disappointed, even offended, if I did not go to their birthday party.

My girlfriend responded along the lines of: “So what? Birthdays are so important that you have to go to every friend’s birthday party?”

I was confused. First, my girlfriend has never minimized birthdays before, and second, yes,

Carolyn Hax

I believe celebrating a friend’s birthday is an important part of maintaining friendships, especially if that person throws a party and invites you. (Again, separate from the fact that I wanted to go.)

Am I missing something? Since this happened, I am starting to see other incidents, where I was set to see some friends and she, in retrospect, concocted some argument between us or some other emotional situation that resulted in my staying home, because I guess I felt it would be wrong to go out if she were angry or upset, as part of a pattern. With this latest example, I can almost see that if I had not already been out at the family gathering, I would have ended up acceding to her desire and missing the birthday party. For what it is worth, I have some homebody tendencies and would describe myself as an introvert. In other words,

Public notice

(Published in The Iola Register Aug. 2, 2023)

I am not going out with high frequency. Are these red flags, or am I overthinking this?

— Seeing a Pattern

Seeing a Pattern: A pattern you dislike does not have to warrant a label or fit a definition like controlling, manipulative, abusive, etc., to be significant. You dislike it, and it is something she does regularly: That is an action item. So is just wanting to break up. There are no justifications necessary.

As it happens, though, what you describe is a basic form of controlling behavior in a relationship: The controller wants you to do something (not see your friends), so she makes sure you know there will be uncomfortable emotional consequences (she gets angry or upset) if you do not do what she wants. You complete the control circuit by staying home in response to her distress. You are also at risk of doing the work for her one day by anticipating her distress and just turning down invitations you know will upset her.

Not only is this a form of control unto it-

self, but it is also Part 1 of a second form of control, and that is isolation. Back out on friends enough, and you will have no outside network of friends anymore, and you will feel compelled to work even harder to please her, because she will be all you have. Anyway, as I said upfront, none of this needs to be true for you to opt out of the relationship. You can decide that a person who has “concocted some argument” every time you have wanted to go to a freaking birthday party is not mature enough or managing her anxiety well enough to date. Your call. But it is good to be conversant on red flags.

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as the property of the Defendant above named and will be sold without appraisement to satisfy said Order of Sale. Defendantowner is granted a three (3) month redemption period from date of sale.

NOTICE This is an attempt to collect a debt and any information obtained will be used for that purpose.

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in Allen

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American cyclist Dygert makes another world title run

By DAVE SKRETTA The Associated Press

Chloe Dygert’s career could have ended at the bottom of an Italian ravine, where the American cyclist had been racing for a world championship with an eye on Olympic gold before colliding with a guardrail and sustaining devastating leg injuries.

Her comeback to the top of the sport has been daunting.

Dygert needed several rounds of surgery to repair the damage. She was waylaid by the Epstein-Barr virus, which left her fighting extreme fatigue. She had heart surgery last fall to treat supraventricular tachycardia, an irregularly fast heartbeat. And this spring, another training crash took her off the bike again.

She is nothing if not resilient. Yet it’s hardly surprising that there were moments the past three years when Dygert, perhaps the most talented American rider of her generation, thought about giving up — on the bike and in life.

“What I physically had to go through for the injury itself, then mentally what I had to go through — all the personal things I won’t go into — my life at times did not matter to me,” Dygert told The Associated Press in an interview. “I didn’t care if I was alive. I did not care about things. People don’t see and understand, and I can say the same thing: I see people with injuries and things going on, and I can’t understand what they’re going through.

“So now,” Dygert continued, “when I’m able to come back and race and step on a podium and look at a goal, or winning

nationals, it’s like, they matter so much to me. ... It just makes me so proud and excited for myself.”

Dygert spoke by phone from Belgium, where the 2019 world time trial champion is finishing her preparations for this year’s worlds, held over a 10-day stretch beginning Thursday in Glasgow, Scotland.

It’s the first time the UCI, the governing body for cycling, will hold nearly all of its championships in one place, and it will make for a busy stretch for the 26-yearold from Indiana. Dygert will compete in the velodrome in the track cycling events, then head outside for the road race and time trial, where the U.S. champ will be among the favorites to win gold.

Just like she was in Imola, Italy.

Dygert hoped the 2020 worlds would be a springboard toward a golden Tokyo Olympics, and she was well ahead of the leading pace when her bike wiggled on a fast right-hand turn. Dygert crashed into the guardrail and skidded down a steep grassy pitch, and the gash to her thigh resulted in extensive blood loss.

It took Dygert nine months before she was sufficiently recovered to ride again. And while Dygert was able to compete at the Summer Games, which had been pushed back to 2021, she acknowledges now that she was nowhere near her best, even after helping the Americans win bronze in the team pur-

suit.

“My body was far from being anywhere close to being competitive,” Dygert said. “That was obvious.”

Afterward, Dygert turned her focus toward the Paris Games, now less than a year away. But those preparations have been hamstrung by Epstein-Barr, the heart procedure to treat a condition she had dealt with for a decade and another crash while at a team camp in Europe that left her fearful of a broken femur; nothing was broken but she was off the bike until March.

That made her performance last month at U.S. championships all the more impressive: She roared over the roads near Nashville, Tennessee, winning both the

Hamlin: Takes practice field again

Continued from B4

with a wide grin. “So it felt good. It was just that moment of: ‘All right, let’s settle in and let’s just take one play at a time. Let’s just keep going.’”

The 25-year-old from the Pittsburgh area is entering his third NFL season. Selected by Buffalo in the sixth round of the 2021 draft out of Pitt, he opened last season as a backup before starting 13 games after Micah Hyde sustained a season-ending neck injury.

This year, Hamlin is competing with offseason free agent addition Taylor Rapp for a backup role behind Hyde and Jordan Poyer. As for Hamlin’s next hurdle, it’ll come Aug. 12, when the Bills open their preseason schedule at home against Indianapolis.

Rapp, who spent his first four NFL seasons with the Los Angeles Rams, might be new to Buffalo but is impressed with how Hamlin has handled himself.

“How far he’s come and what he’s able to come back from late last season and just seeing how he goes about himself and attacks the rehab at the facility is nothing short of inspiring,” Rapp said.

A day earlier, coach Sean McDermott said

he was walking a fine line by treating Hamlin much like any other player while keeping in mind what he’s gone through.

“I think awareness is important, right? You’ve got X amount of guys out here and then you have Damar in there as well and trying to make it as a normal as possible,” McDermott said. “We’re going to support him through this, and to this point he’s done a phenomenal job.”

Before practice, Hamlin played catch with his younger brother, Damir. During the stretching period, the team’s head trainer, Nate Breske, went over to shake Hamlin’s hand. Following his news conference, Hamlin wandered over to a large group of fans to sign autographs.

Hamlin’s influence is evident on the training camp grounds, where fans can receive CPR training at an American Heart Association tent.

With his Chasing M’s Foundation, Hamlin made stops in Buffalo, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati to promote CPR training and hand out free automated external defibrillators to sports organizations.

And he received a stunning reminder of what had happened to

him just before training camp began when NBA star LeBron James’ son, Bronny, went into cardiac arrest during a basketball workout at Southern California last week. He has since been released from the hospital.

“It put everything back in perspective for me,” said Hamlin, who reached out to the James family after they supported him during his recovery. “I wanted to let him know I’ll be there for whatever he needs in his journey as far as his recovery and getting back to his sport, if that’s what he chooses to do.”

Hamlin made his

choice and is sticking with football for as long and far as it takes him.

“Some of these emotions will never leave. Whenever everybody’s not paying attention to me no more, I’ll still be processing these emotions myself,” he said.

“I kind of look at it like a challenge,” Hamlin added. “Not too many people get this level of overcoming something and being able to stand for so many good things.

... It’s a blessed space, and it’s a bunch of opportunity in there as well, if you choose to look at it that way.”

road race and time trial. Throw in podium finishes at the Vuelta a Burgos Feminina, a stage win at the RideLondon Classique and more podium finishes at the prestigious Giro Donne, and Dygert again is among the favorites to land on the podium at worlds.

“I feel like there were moments where, ‘I hate cycling and I’m never riding a bike again,’” Dygert said, “but I don’t think there was ever a doubt I’d continue. More the doubt: ‘Will I be back at my level? Will I be competitive again?’”

As much as anything, those are the thoughts that led Dygert to some dark places the past few years.

“It’s crazy to think about it now,” she said, “but life was just not OK. It was not.”

Mental health among Olympic athletes has become an important issue in recent years. Simone

Biles has been outspoken ever since the Tokyo Games, where she dealt with the “twisties” — a mental block where gymnasts can lose track of where they are in midair. Caeleb Dressel walked away in the middle of last year’s swimming worlds because of the pressure and stress, and fellow swimmer Adam Peaty is taking an extended break to work on with his own mental health.

Then there is cycling.

At the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games, Dygert was on the same pursuit team with Kelly Catlin, helping the U.S. win a silver medal. Three years later, after struggling with depression and one failed suicide attempt, Catlin was found dead in her Stanford residence.

“Everybody puts on such a front,” Dygert explained. “When I think about Kelly and the situation, what that was and what that meant for her family, for her teammates, for the world, it’s like — it’s not like, ‘I can’t do that and be like Kelly,’ but the trauma that caused for everyone around us, I think that was a huge factor. My life does matter. I do matter to people.”

Dygert believes she is in a better place these days. Her fitness is not yet where she wants to be, but the results show she’s on the right track. Optimism abounds not only for worlds but the Paris Games. “I would never take anything that’s happened in my life back. It’s made me so tough,” Dygert said. “I don’t know how to explain it, but it’s made me a better person, not for any other reason than just the compassion and maybe sympathy I have for a person or someone else. My outlook on things. It’s made me such a better person on and off the bike.

U.S. cyclists Sarah Hammer, Chloe Dygert Kelly Catlin and Jennifer Valente earn the silver medal in women’s cycling team pursuit on Saturday, Aug. 13, 2016, at the Rio Olympic Velodrome in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. BRIAN PETERSON/MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE/TNS