The Iola Register, Nov. 2, 2022

County cool to renegotiating EMS

also reluctant on

By VICKIE MOSS The Iola Register

Allen County commission ers don’t want to renegotiate a contract with the City of Iola for ambulance services.

“We negotiated our contract in good faith,” Commissioner Bruce Symes said at the end of a meeting on Tuesday.

“We’ve got our financial terms. Our budget is what it is. Our fiscal condition is what it is. Our wish is to con tinue under the terms of the current agreement.”

Their response comes after Iola Council members voted to split the city’s fire and EMS

services. The city has strug gled to find qualified workers willing to provide both fire fighting and emergency med ical care services.

But the move will come with an extra cost of about $600,000 annually. The Iola-on ly fire service is expected to cost the city about $1.9 million

Building put up for sale

By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register

At its peak, Cara Thomas had a crew of 75 employees at Bolling’s Meatery and Eatery.

But the ripple effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which shuttered the steakhouse por tion of the business in early 2020, have subsequently con vinced Thomas and husband Daniel to put their building at 415 W. Madison Ave. up for sale.

The plan is to sell the building, including all of the restaurant equipment, in or der for the Thomases to focus solely on the meat market por tion of the business. Bolling’s Meat Market will eventually find a new location after the building sells — whenever that occurs.

“It’s heartbreaking,” Thom as said. “But it could have been worse.”

The meat market has been in Iola since 2010 when Thom as, the fourth generation in her family involved in meat processing, acquired the

tion building on South State Street.

As the business grew, Thomas eventually added a deli to her offerings, and it be

in 2023; EMS-alone would cost $2.2 million.

The city and county nego tiated a five-year contract at

Toland releases second book in Funston trilogy

By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register

“Heat and Ice,” the second book of Clyde Toland’s “Be coming Frederick Funston Trilogy,” has been re leased. Signed copies of the book — offi cially titled “Heat and Ice: Fred erick Fun

ston’s Exploration of Death Valley, Alaska, and the Brit ish Northwest Territory’’ — will be available soon at

the Allen County Historical Society. The brook is also available on Amazon.

This portion of Funston’s biography covers his years as an explorer and as a bot anist for the United States Department of Agriculture.

Nancy, Clyde’s wife, came up with the title, Clyde noted, because Funston’s excursion in Death Valley featured temperatures as high as 120 degrees, while plummeting to a minus 50 degrees when he slept out doors in Alaska and the Northwest Territory.

Volume 3, “Yankee Hero,”

Texts to Kansas voters rile election official

By JOHN HANNA The Associated Press

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas’ top elections official warned voters Monday that text messages from outside the state were giving them incorrect information about where to vote, but groups involved in the texting said they weren’t trying to con fuse or mislead people.

Several Democrats said they began hearing about the texts Sunday or had re ceived them. Each message said it was from a represen tative of Voting Futures, Voto Latino or Black Voters Matter and provided the ad dress of a voting site, with a picture of a building. In some cases, the person al ready had voted; in others, people couldn’t vote in ad vance at the listed site, and

in some, people could vote in advance there, but not on Election Day, Nov. 8.

Movement Labs, a vendor headquartered in Oakland, California, working for both Voto Latino and Black Voters Matter, tweeted that texts also went to voters in Illinois, New Jersey, North Carolina and Virginia.

Kansas Democrats who learned of the texts worried that a disinformation cam paign had targeted their vot ers in hopes of preventing their ballots from counting or discouraging them from voting. And Kansas Secre tary of State Scott Schwab, a Republican, said voters should be on "high alert" about potential election mis information from such texts.

Voting Futures later said in follow-up texts that its

Commissioner David Lee, second from right, talks with Gregg Hutton, Iola building and codes director, far left, as commissioners Jerry Daniels and Bruce Symes listen. Jason Trego, emergency management director, is in the background. REGISTER/VICKIE MOSS

Cara Thomas works behind the counter at Bolling’s Meatery and Eatery.

This building at 415 W. Madison Ave. currently houses Bolling’s Meatery and Eatery. The building is for sale. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN

Clyde Toland

were and were Cabinet Tues Suk that re man for and resourc effective capability, government ex national is deadliest fer 304 lax regula Saturday’s public what done hu aching victims grandchil Chung pay mourn Tuesday. country country, are di a to officer report officers videos secu area vid social police interviewed witnesses had main the on more officers 2018 pan observ whether were the people in ques role fact offi of Saturday pro of Po acknowledged dis were to a nar crowd could that

S. Korea officials admit fault in crowd deaths

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean officials admitted re sponsibility and apol ogized on Tuesday for failures in preventing and responding to a Halloween crowd surge that killed more than 150 people and left citi zens shocked and angry.

The government is facing growing public scrutiny over wheth er the crush Saturday night in Seoul’s Itae won district, a popular nightlife neighborhood, could have been pre vented and who should take responsibility for the country’s worst di saster in years.

National police chief Yoon Hee Keun said an initial investigation found there were many urgent calls from citi zens notifying authori ties about the potential danger of the crowd gathering in Itaewon. He said police officers who received the calls failed to handle them effectively.

“I feel a heavy re sponsibility (for the di saster) as the head of one of the related gov ernment offices,” Yoon

said in a televised news conference. “Police will do their best to prevent a tragedy like this from happening again.”

Yoon said police have launched an intense internal probe into the officers’ handling of the emergency calls and other issues, such as the on-the-spot response to the crowd surge in Itae won that night.

Separately, South Korea’s interior min ister, emergency office chief, Seoul mayor and the head of a ward of fice that includes the Itaewon neighborhood all offered public apol ogies.

Powerball prize soars to $1.2 billion

By MARGERY A. BECK The Associated Press

There were no big treats from the Hallow een night Powerball drawing, as none of the tickets sold matched all six numbers.

The lack of a winner means the next drawing Wednesday night will be for a massive $1.2 bil lion jackpot.

The winning num bers drawn Monday were: white balls 13, 19, 36, 39, 59 and the red power ball 13.

The increased jack pot will be the 4th-larg est in U.S. history. The biggest prize was a $1.586 billion Powerball jackpot won by three ticketholders in 2016.

Massive lottery jack

pots have become more common in recent years as lottery officials have adjusted game rules and ticket prices to pump up the top prizes. The most recent tweak came in August, when Powerball officials add ed an additional draw ing day — going from two a week to three — to build larger prizes and boost sales.

Although the adver tised top prize Wednes day will be an estimated $1.2 billion, that is for winners who receive their winnings through an annuity paid over 29 years. Winners almost always opt for cash, which for Wednesday night’s drawing will be an estimated $596 mil lion.

Seoul Mayor Oh Sehoon apologized deeply and wept and briefly halted his news confer ence as he talked about the parent of a 20-yearold woman who was de clared dead earlier in the day.

“When I tried to com fort a person with a daughter hospitalized at the National Medi cal Center yesterday, they said their daughter would survive and they believed so,” he said.

“But I heard she passed away this morning. I am sorry that my apology

has come late.”

The disaster — which left at least 156 people dead and 151 others in jured — was concentrat ed in a narrow downhill alley in Itaewon. Wit nesses described people falling on one another, suffering severe breath ing difficulties and fall ing unconscious. They said rescuers and am bulances failed to reach the crammed alleys in time because the entire Itaewon area was packed with slow-moving vehi cles and partygoers clad in Halloween costumes.

Obituaries

Kay Tindel

Kay Tindel, 80, Independence, died Saturday, Oct. 29, 2022, at Eagle Estates in Independence.

Kay was born on Oct. 14, 1942, to Ida May Kel ley and John James Nash, in Kansas City, Mo.

She is survived by her two youngest children, son Kelley Tindel of Iola and daughter Krystal Kaiser (husband Ben) of Independence; and seven grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her two oldest sons, Melvin Stierwalt Jr. and Bill Stierwalt.

A celebration of life will be at 10:30 a.m. Sat urday, Nov. 5, at First Baptist Church in Iola. Burial will follow at Gas City Cemetery.

Clyde Parks

Clyde D. Parks, 81, Welda, died Monday, Oct. 31, 2022, at Parkview Heights in Garnett. Clyde Dean Parks was born on March 7, 1941, in Garnett.

On Jan. 12, 1964, Clyde was united in mar riage to Janice Stroble in Independence.

Clyde is survived by his wife, Janice Parks, of the home; three children, Richard and Jody Parks of Welda, Kim Moreland and Marcus of Louisburg and Russ Parks of Olathe; six grand children, a sister and numerous cousins.

Funeral services will be at 10 a.m. Friday, Nov. 4, at the Feuerborn Family Funeral Service Chapel in Garnett. Burial will follow in the Wel da Cemetery. Clyde’s family will greet friends from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday at the funeral home.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Welda Community Building or to the Anderson County FFA Scholarship and left in care of the funeral home. Condolences may be sent to www. feuerbornfuneral.com

Colony Christian Church

Whenever there is a fifth Sunday in a month, the Colony Christian Church Youth step up to lead the service.

It is always encour aging to see these young believers share their faith. As you en ter the sanctuary, you are greeted with eye contact from a smiling teenager.

Stage fright is over come as young musi cians offer up praise to God, leading the whole congregation in wor ship.

Sunday’s Commu nion meditation was given by Jacob Zim merman and Col. 2:623 was read by Abigail Meiwes in preparation for the sermon. The book of James points out that faith without works is dead, which

is why Youth Sunday has such an impact in growing the faith of young believers. Our faith grows stronger as we practice what we are taught.

We all must have roots that grow down deep in order to build our lives upon the solid foundation of Jesus. It is necessary that our faith be strong so that we are not captured by empty philosophies and high sounding non sense the culture of the day demands we accept and validate.

Don’t let anyone think less of you be cause you are young (or old, male or female, or for any other rea son). Instead, be an ex ample to them by what you say, the way you live, how you love, and

the work of your faith through reading the scripture, encouraging believers, and teaching them the truth you have been taught (1 Tim 4:1213).

You can hear all our sermons by using your favorite podcast app, on our Facebook page, or on our website at www. colonychristianchurch. org.

Journalists walk amongst personal belongings retrieved by police from the scene of a fatal Halloween crowd surge that killed more than 150 people in the Itaewon district. AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES/ANTHONY WALLACE/TNS

Feeling the bite of inflation? Here’s why

By PRAKASH KOLLI Wealth of Geeks

Inflation is an inescap able fact of life in 2022, and the bite it’s taking out of your wallet makes it harder to balance bud gets.

There are five reasons why prices keep increas ing.

Supply Chain Disruptions

The worst months of the pandemic are behind us. However, it disrupted almost all business oper ations in multiple ways, and the effect is still be ing felt. Companies ex perienced a significant reduction in demand because consumers were not buying goods and services.

Millions lost their job; the unemployment rate soaring to almost 15%, the highest on record. As normal demand patterns changed, companies cut orders to their suppliers, disrupting the supply chain, especially when combined with employ ees calling in sick.

But with more peo ple at home, demand for items like paper prod ucts, flour, dairy, frozen food, electronics, etc., rose unexpectedly quick ly. As a result, producers could not meet consumer needs, and prices start ed to rise. Alternatively, the retail price stayed the same, but sizes and quantities became small

er, i.e., shrinkflation.

As the unemployment rate dropped and de mand started to rebound, everything reversed and many companies did not have enough supply to meet demand. Big-tick et items like cars, elec tronics, RVs, etc., must be planned in advance by manufacturers to or der input materials and change tooling and pro cesses. This also drove up prices.

China remains an uncertainty in the glob al supply chain. The country manufactures a large percentage of electronics, consumer goods, fasteners, etc. But the government has locked down entire cit ies because of COVID-19 restrictions. Companies utilizing China as their manufacturing hub are severely impacted. Ap

ple is now attempting to move manufacturing to India and Vietnam.

China’s lockdowns and resulting supply chain disruptions likely limit supply and also contrib ute to high inflation.

Labor Shortages

In the US, labor short ages are hindering pro duction for small busi nesses, manufacturers, farms, etc. Unemploy ment is sub-4%, and jobs are plentiful and easy to find. The United States had 21 months of job growth. Companies have reported people retiring early or leaving for new jobs.

When companies and small businesses have difficulty filling posi tions, production and output suffer. Also, they must pay higher wages for labor that are passed

on to customers. Hence, rising wages are contrib uting to high inflation.

Drought

One wild card in ris ing inflation is drought. Globally, drought has been a significant prob lem, and 2022 worsened it. In the United States, many large agricultural states are experiencing prolonged droughts.

Parts of China, Eu rope, and Africa are ex periencing their worst drought in decades.

Drought has reduced agricultural production by farmers. Ranchers have reduced the output of livestock. The result is rising prices for grain, cereals, dairy, and meat, as experienced by many people in grocery stores. In some regions, drought will not end soon, and prices will probably stay elevated.

War in Ukraine

The second wild card was the war in Ukraine. Ukraine is a significant exporter of grain and oilseeds, and lower ex ports have caused sky rocketing food prices around the world.

Russia is also a major wheat exporter. Sanc tions are limiting its ex ports and helping prices rise. Lastly, the war has caused global oil, natural gas, and auto fuel prices to spike. Rising energy costs are a leading con tributor to inflation.

Building: Many iterations over the years

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came evident a larger venue was needed.

The Thomases ac quired the building at 415 W. Madison in 2015, first renting it out as an event center for wed dings and other large gatherings.

After remodeling the building, the steakhouse opened and Thomas phased out the event center.

Then came the pan demic, which hurt busi ness in multiple ways, Thomas said.

For one, Thomas was leery of selling cooked steak as a takeout op tion, “and I lost most of my staff because they had kids at home,” she said.

“Luckily, we still had the meat market side,” she said.

As nationwide meat shortages came along, it meant added demand for meat processing, Thom as said. “We became too busy on the meat mar ket side, so we did away with the restaurant,” Thomas said.

Coupled with the re alization that, when the steakhouse was at its busiest, Thomas regu larly put in 80- to 90-hour work weeks, she knew a change was in order.

“It was just the thought of hiring back those people, or new peo ple, the cost of training, and buying new prod ucts, and then putting in all those hours,” she said. “I didn’t feel confi dent I wanted to do that. That’s what shut down the steakhouse.”

Thomas kept the deli open, but finding em ployees there has been a struggle as well.

About 15 months ago, the Thomases began reaching out to prospec tive buyers, to no avail.

That led to the Oct. 19 Facebook announce ment that her building

was for sale.

“We were nervous about making it public because of how rumors fly,” she said, “but it’s time.”

THOMAS considers herself fortunate that she had already phased out the event center por tion of the business be fore the pandemic.

“That would have meant no events, with bills still coming, and we would have had to re fund deposits,” she said.

“We were fortunate because we still had the meat market to sustain us,” she said. “So many restaurants didn’t have that. The meat market carried us when the restaurant couldn’t.”

Downsizing meant doing away with nearly all of her staff. Husband

Daniel helps when need ed, and Thomas has a couple of part-timers come in on weekends. Other than that, she has one full-time worker to help with the meat mar ket.

With the deli’s clo sure, Thomas extend ed the meat market’s hours to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. She’s also open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays, and has added various meat bundle specials, as well as special “take and bake” offerings.

THE 10,000-square foot building has be come something of a landmark on Iola’s west side since its construc tion in 1910 by local busi nessmen to help attract new industries to Iola.

The first occupant

was the Wheeler-Motter Mercantile Co., which later became the Wheel er Overall Factory.

H.L. Miller & Son ac quired the building in 1933. The dress facto ry called the two-story brick building home for the better part of 40 years until that business relocated to Miller Road.

The structure sat va cant for years before it was converted into a steakhouse and then a sports bar before the Thomases took over.

“I look forward to” the sale, Thomas said. “I want a new restaurant as much as the next per son. It will still make a great wedding venue or a great restaurant.”

The Thomases live in the upstairs living quar ters, and will relocate when the building sells.

Federal and Monetary Stimulus

The federal govern ment has provided sig nificant stimulus to state and local governments, businesses, and Ameri cans in general. Bills like the Coronavirus Aid, Re lief, and Economic Secu rity Act, known as the CARES Act in 2020; the American Rescue Plan Act in 2021; and supple mental bills pumped tril lions of dollars into the US economy.

This money arguably limited deeper unem ployment and state and local problems, but it drove up demand as it put money in the hand of consumers. Manu facturers and retailers could not meet the need

quickly, causing prices and inflation to rise.

Simultaneously, the US Federal Reserve low ered the Federal Funds Rate from 0% to 0.25% and the discount rate to 0.25%. But they did not stop there. Instead, the Fed implemented an ar ray of programs with one goal: to increase li quidity and stimulus.

The combination of fiscal and monetary stim ulus caused demand to rise and drove inflation. Borrowers with access to cheap money started buying, increasing de mand and prices. Fiscal stimulus has ended, and the Fed is attempting to remove monetary stimu lus, but like a large ship with momentum, it takes time to change course.

Financial Focus

Avoid becoming ‘burden’ on grown children

Here’s an interesting statistic: Some 72% of retirees say one of their biggest fears is becoming a burden on their families, according to a 2021 survey by Age Wave and Edward Jones. Both before and during retirement, what steps can you take to avoid burdening your loved ones in the future?

Here are a few suggestions:

• Build your retirement savings. The greater your financial resources, the less likely it becomes that you’d ever have to count on your grown children for financial support. You may have access to a 401(k) or similar retirement plan at work, so take advantage of it. Even with an employer-sponsored plan, you also may be eligible to contribute to an IRA. In addition to offering a variety of investment options, a 401(k) and IRA provide potential tax advantages. And once you do retire, be careful about how much you withdraw each year from your retirement plans and other investments.

• Plan for health care costs. Once you are retired, health care costs will be a significant expense. You may have Medicare, but you'll also want to consider your need for supplemental health insurance to cover traditional medical costs. And you’ll want to consider another potential health-related expense: long-term care. You may never need the services of a home health aide or a stay in a nursing home, but no one can predict the future.

Medicare does not cover most costs for long-term care, which can be quite high. In 2021, the annual national median cost for a private room in a nursing home was over $108,000, while the median cost for a full-time home health aide was nearly $62,000, according to a survey by Genworth, an insurance company. You may want to consult with a financial professional on strategies for protecting yourself from these costs.

• Create necessary legal documents. If something were to happen to you, and you didn’t have the appropriate legal documents in place, your loved ones could be placed in a bind, both financially and emotionally. That’s why it’s a good idea to create documents such as a durable financial power of attorney, which lets you name someone to manage your finances if you became incapacitated, and a durable power of attorney for health care, which allows someone to make medical decisions on your behalf if you can’t make them yourself. You’ll want to work with a legal professional to develop the documents appropriate for your needs.

• Evaluate your housing needs. As you enter retirement, you may want to evaluate your living situation. Could you downsize to a smaller home, or perhaps a condominium or apartment? Not only might you save money with such a move, but you could also end up relieving your grown children of the responsibilities and hassles involved in clearing out and selling your home should you become unable to do so yourself during the later years of your retirement.

By taking these measures, along with others, you can go a long way toward maintaining your independence and putting yourself in a place where you won’t burden your grown children. And that’s a good place to be.

Russia reinforces military, expands Kherson evacuations

KYIV, Ukraine (AP)

— Russia reinforced its fighting force Tuesday with an annual fall draft of 120,000 men, and dou bled the number of civil ians it’s trying to evacu ate in anticipation of a major Ukrainian push to recapture the strate gically vital southern port city of Kherson.

Russian military of ficials have assured that conscripts to be called up over the next two months will not be sent to fight in Ukraine, including to the Kher son region, three other Ukrainian areas that Russia recently illegally annexed or to Crimea, which the Kremlin made part of Russia in 2014.

However, the U.S.based Institute for the Study of War said the Russian Defense Min istry “is attempting to deceive the Russian pop

ulation into believing that autumn conscripts will not be sent to fight in Ukraine, likely to pre vent draft dodging.”

Russia’s illegal an

nexation of occupied Ukrainian regions “means that all of the fighting is taking place in areas that the Krem lin claims as Russian territory,” the institute said, so “conscripts will almost certainly be de ployed to Ukraine after their training is com plete around March or April 2023, and could be deployed sooner in response to changes on the battlefield.”

This year’s fall draft was scheduled to start in October, but was de layed because of an extraordinary partial mobilization of 300,000 reservists that President Vladimir Putin ordered Sept. 21. While Russian officials declared the

partial mobilization completed Monday, crit ics have warned that the call-up could resume af ter military enlistment offices are freed up from processing conscripts.

Russian Defense Min ister Sergei Shoigu said Tuesday that 87,000 of the men called up in the partial mobilization were deployed for com bat to Ukraine. Training them are 3,000 military instructors with combat experience gained in Ukraine, Shoigu said.

Activists and reports by Russian media and The Associated Press said many of the mobi lized reservists were in experienced, were told to procure basic items such as medical kits and

flak jackets themselves, and did not receive training before they were sent off to fight. Some were killed with in days of being called up. After Putin’s order, tens of thousands of men fled Russia to avoid serving in the military.

Some of the fresh troops have reportedly been sent to Kherson, on the 684-mile front line. Russian-installed authorities in Kher son, fearing a major Ukrainian counterat tack, on Tuesday re ported relocating 70,000 residents and expand ed an evacuation area they had announced last month to people living within 9 miles of the Dnieper River.

County: Commissioners consider revitalization program

Continued from A1

the end of last year, af ter the county explored other options and nearly decided to go with a dif ferent provider. In the end, the county agreed to stay with the city and pay $1.65 million for EMS services this year, increasing that payment 2.5% each year through the life of the contract.

But with a $300,000 difference between pro jected cost and revenues for EMS, Iola Adminis trator Matt Rehder said the city should attempt to renegotiate its con tract with Allen County to cover those expenses.

Commissioners met with Counselor Bob Johnson in executive session for about 20 min utes on Tuesday to talk about the city’s actions, even though no one from the city has formally ap proached the commis sion on the matter.

After the executive session, commissioners said they would explore all options but, Symes said, “we want to con tinue the good ambu lance service we have. It may continue as is. It may take some different form.

“We have a fiscal re sponsibility to our tax payers. We also have a very sobering responsi bility to provide for the health and safety of our county residents.”

His fellow commis sioners, Chairman Jer

ry Daniels and David Lee, agreed they were willing to talk to the city but did not wish to change the terms of the contract.

COUNTY AND CITY leaders also were at odds on another joint pro gram.

Commissioners ap pear reluctant to sign on to a city proposal to ex pand the Neighborhood Revitalization Program.

The program will is sue a rebate for property taxes when a property owner makes improve ments, such as by build ing a home or remodel ing. The rebate forgives the amount of increased property taxes caused by the improvement.

Currently, the pro gram gradually reduces the rebate, starting at 100% for six years, then to 80, 60 and 40. The city wants to change to 100% for the full 10 years.

Four entities are in volved in the program: the City of Iola, the county, USD 257 and Al len Community College. Other cities, such as Humboldt and LaHarpe, have similar but sepa rate programs.

Commissioner Bruce Symes opposed the change, saying he thought the current pro gram was working well.

He researched the program with the help of county treasurer Dar olyn Maley and found

HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION No. 5014

A PROPOSITION to amend Article 1 of the Constitution of the state of Kansas by adding a new section thereto, concerning oversight by the legislature of certain executive branch actions.

Be it resolved by the Legislature of the State of Kansas, two-thirds of the members elected (or appointed) and qualified to the House of Representatives and two-thirds of the members elected (or appointed) and qualified to the Senate concurring therein:

Section 1. The following proposition to amend the Constitution of the state of Kansas shall be submitted to the qualified electors of the state for their approval or rejection: Article 1 of the Constitution of the state of Kansas is hereby amended by adding a new section to read as follows: Ҥ 17. Legislative oversight of administrative rules and regulations

Whenever the legislature by law has authorized any officer or agency within the executive branch of government to adopt rules and regulations that have the force and effect of law, the legislature may provide by law for the revocation or suspension of any such rule and regulation, or any portion thereof, upon a vote of a majority of the members then elected or appointed and qualified in each house.”

Sec. 2. The following statement shall be printed on the ballot with the amendment as a whole:

“Explanatory statement. The purpose of this amendment is to provide the legislature with oversight of state executive branch agencies and officials by providing the legislature authority to establish procedures to revoke or suspend rules and regulations.

“A vote for this proposition would allow the legislature to establish procedures to revoke or suspend rules and regulations that are adopted by state executive branch agencies and officials that have the force and effect of law.

“A vote against this proposition would allow state executive branch agencies and officials to continue adopting rules and regulations that have the force and effect of law without any opportunity for the legislature to directly revoke or suspend such rules and regulations.”

Sec. 3. This resolution, if approved by two-thirds of the members elected (or appointed) and qualified to the House of Representatives and two-thirds of the members elected (or appointed) and qualified to the Senate, shall be entered on the journals, together with the yeas and nays.

The secretary of state shall cause this resolution to be published as provided by law and shall cause the proposed amendment to be submitted to the electors of the state at the general election in the year 2022, unless a special election is called at a sooner date by concurrent resolution of the legislature, in which case it shall be submitted to the electors of the state at the special election.

the county issued rebate checks for 161 proper ties last year for a total of $665,113. Checks were written to 154 property owners: 93 in Iola, 42 in Humboldt, nine in Gas (which has ended its program) and 10 in La Harpe.

This year, the county has about 184 properties that qualify.

In 2013, when Maley took over as treasurer, the county had just 59 properties in the pro gram.

Gregg Hutton, build ing and codes director for the City of Iola, at tended Tuesday’s meet ing to ask if the coun ty would agree to the change.

The goal is to encour age housing develop ment by offering the tax rebate as an incentive. After 10 years, the prop erties would go back on the tax rolls with the full amount of taxes due.

In the past six years, only six residential houses have been built within the city limits.

Symes said he under stood the city’s goal, but he would like to see the various entities work on a different type of incentive program. The Neighborhood Revital ization Program helps property owners make improvements, but it hasn’t resulted in a

significant increase to housing.

“Maybe we need to think about a building incentive program that solely addresses devel opers and doesn’t bring in the Neighborhood Revitalization Program, because that program is being well-used and I think it’s working well the way it is,” Symes said.

Commissioners had other questions, such as whether other counties offer the full 100% re bate for all 10 years.

Maley didn’t know the answer to that, but she did know how many properties qualified for rebates in other South east Kansas counties. The caveat is that each county and city sets its own rules, so they may have different guidelines.

Miami County had 32 properties in 2021; Anderson had 10; Craw ford, 85; Montgomery, 85; Bourbon, 65; and Neo sho, 145.

Commissioners said they wanted to research the matter further be fore deciding what to do about the city’s request.

Another question is if the city can set its rebate independent of other en tities. That would mean the city could issue a re bate of 100% each year, while the county’s por tion might be graduated.

IN OTHER news, commissioners:

• Heard a weather up date from Emergency Management Director Jason Trego. He said severe storms were ex pected west of Wichita this week, but by the time the system made its way east, Allen Coun ty could expect about 2 inches of rain between Thursday and Saturday, with low risk for severe weather.

Learned 911 Director Chelsie Angleton and Trego had been select ed to teach classes at an international confer ence for emergency dis patchers in April. Trego taught a class at the con ference last year and it was so well received, he was asked to return.

• Got an update on

how the county utilizes its fleet of tractors, as Road and Bridge Direc tor Mark Griffith is de bating whether to lease tractors.

• Heard an update on Saturday’s auction of surplus county equip ment. Preliminary esti mates show the county sold everything except a few chairs and the auction brought about $62,000, but that doesn’t include auctioneer’s fees.

• Were invited to at tend a “Veterans Day Mess Call” dinner at 6 p.m. Nov. 11 at the Iola North Community Building, 505 N. Buck eye St., organized by the Iola Veterans Day Com mittee. The event is free to the first 50 veterans and one guest; RSVP by calling 620-228-7349.

HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION No. 5022

A PROPOSITION to amend sections 2 and 5 of Article 9 of the Constitution of the state of Kansas to require that a sheriff be elected in each county for a term of four years.

Be it resolved by the Legislature of the State of Kansas, two-thirds of the members elected (or appointed) and qualified to the House of Representatives and two-thirds of the members elected (or appointed) and qualified to the Senate concurring therein: Section 1. The following proposition to amend the Constitution of the state of Kansas shall be submitted to the qualified electors of the state for their approval or rejection: Sections 2 and 5 of Article 9 of the Constitution of the state of Kansas are hereby amended to read as follows:

Ҥ 2. County and township officers. (a) Except as provided in subsection (b), each county shall elect a sheriff for a term of four years by a majority of the qualified electors of the county voting thereon at the time of voting designated for such office pursuant to law in effect on January 11, 2022, and every four years thereafter.

(b) The provisions of subsection (a) shall not apply to a county that abolished the office of sheriff prior to January 11, 2022. Such county may restore the office of sheriff as provided by law and such restoration shall be irrevocable. A county that restores the office of sheriff shall elect a sheriff by a majority of the qualified electors of the county voting thereon for a term of four years. Such sheriff shall have such qualifications and duties as provided by law. The time of voting for the office of sheriff may be provided for by the legislature pursuant to Section 18 of Article 2 of this Constitution.

(c) The filling of vacancies and the qualifications and duties of the office of sheriff shall be as provided by law.

(d) The legislature shall provide for such other county and township officers as may be necessary.”

Ҥ 5. Removal of officers. (a) Except as provided in subsection (b), all county and township officers may be removed from office, in such manner and for such cause, as shall be prescribed by law.

(b) A county sheriff only may be involuntarily removed from office by recall election pursuant to section 3 of article 4 of this constitution or a writ of quo warranto initiated by the attorney general.”

Sec. 2. The following statement shall be printed on the ballot with the amendment as a whole:

“Explanatory statement. This amendment would preserve the right of citizens of each county that elected a county sheriff as of January 11, 2022, to continue electing the county sheriff. The amendment would also provide that a county sheriff only may be involuntarily removed from office pursuant to either a recall election or a writ of quo warranto initiated by the attorney general.

“A vote for this proposition would preserve the right of citizens of each county that elected a county sheriff as of January 11, 2022, to continue electing the county sheriff via popular vote. The amendment would also direct that a county sheriff only may be involuntarily removed from office pursuant to either a recall election or a writ of quo warranto initiated by the attorney general.”

“A vote against this proposition would not make any changes to the constitution and would retain current law concerning the election of a sheriff and the procedures for involuntary removal of a sheriff from office.

Sec. 3. This resolution, if approved by two-thirds of the members elected (or appointed) and qualified to the House of Representatives and two-thirds of the members elected (or appointed) and qualified to the Senate, shall be entered on the journals, together with the yeas and nays. The secretary of state shall cause this resolution to be published as provided by law and shall cause the proposed amendment to be submitted to the electors of the state at the general election in November in the year 2022, unless a special election is called at a sooner date by concurrent resolution of the legislature, in which case it shall be submitted to the electors of the state at the special election.

Ukrainian firefighters put out a fire in a residental building following a shelling on the frontline town of Bakhmut, in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region, on Saturday. (DIMITAR DILKOFF/AFP/GETTY IMAGES/TNS)

Opinion

Chris Mann, hands down

In selecting their next at torney general, Kansas voters have a choice between a polit ical newcomer whose record of public office — if decidedly not public service — is blank, and a political retread whose sell-by date has long since passed.

Former Secretary of State Kris Kobach convinced his party four years ago to let him carry the Republican banner against longtime legislator and Democrat Laura Kelly for Kansas governor. He lost. Two years later, he tried to win the GOP primary for U.S. Senate — and lost again.

Now, he’s back, sending trepidation throughout his party. Members of the Kan sas Chamber of Commerce warned they fear he’d be un able to adequately represent the state’s businesses if elect ed. Campaign insiders have promised he’s a more downto-earth campaigner this year, less prone to the wild state ments that characterized his previous failed bids. And yet, some redecorating has done little to improve his two gall ing liabilities in the race: his previous record as secretary of state, and his current cam paign, which is so free of sub stance and so heavy with ap peals to divisive social issues that it’s hard to imagine a less attractive candidate for the state’s top law enforcement office.

Actually, it’s not too hard. A suitable role model is Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton or current Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt, who is running against Kelly to become governor. Thankfully, Kobach is not indicted, as Pax ton is, but he promises to take the same scorched-earth, pol itics-first approach as Paxton and Schmidt have.

Found zero proof of organized voter fraud

Perhaps Kobach’s most memorable legacy after two terms as secretary of state was his prosecution of 12 cas es of voter fraud. His office, responsible for the integrity of elections, saw convictions in nine of the 12. “You have to be an attorney to understand that voter fraud exists,” he has said. “Those on the left who say there is no election fraud are simply ignoring reality.”

His condescension aside, what Kobach fails to under stand — despite his time as a student at Harvard, Yale and Oxford — is that his critics haven’t said voter fraud does not exist, period. In a nation of more than 300 million res idents, there are going to be individual examples of people voting in ways they shouldn’t. But there has been no evi dence of widespread, orga nized voter fraud of a scale anywhere near large enough to influence the outcome of elections. This has been con firmed over and over again, by courts, by secretaries of states from both parties and by the utter failure of entities such as Donald Trump’s short-lived commission on voter integrity.

Kobach should know all about that, since he was the commission’s vice chair, and it folded without finding evi dence of fraud.

Most of the convictions in the cases Kobach pursued were of individuals who ap parently double-voted by mistake. The reality is that Kansas’ elections in 2020, and every other year in recent his tory, were perfectly legitimate and entirely reliable. The only galling aspect of the election has been that Kobach, a for mer secretary of state, has done so much to undermine confidence in their results. By aligning himself with Trump in sowing endless doubt about

the integrity of our elections, and in the 2020 presidential results in particular, Kobach has chosen to lend his support to the Big Lie — and that’s disqualifying for the office of attorney general, or should be.

The other black mark against Kobach? Last month was awfully late to decide to resign from the board of “We Build the Wall,” the nonprof it campaign set up by former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon to raise money to aid in building a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico. The state of New York indicted Bannon and the organization in early September, prompt ing Kobach’s resignation. But why in the world would he have agreed to be on its board in the first place? Bannon and others involved were indicted in 2020 on charges of fraud, and of misdirecting hundreds of thousands of dollars in do nations to their own pockets.

Several pleaded guilty. Trump saved Bannon from a trial with a timely pardon then.

All of these are strong rea sons to vote against Kobach for attorney general. But are they enough to vote for his op ponent, attorney Chris Mann, who has no prior service as an elected official?

We strongly believe the an swer to that question is yes.

A blank resume for elected office normally gives us pause before recommending a can didate for a position as im portant as attorney general.

But in Mann’s case, it’s made considerably easier by his sig nificant track record in public service.

Injured as police officer before becoming lawyer Mann says he knew since boyhood he’d become a police officer, and became one by the time he was 21. That ca reer ended, however, after he was struck by a drunk driver during a routine traffic stop. He went to law school and be came a prosecutor in Wyan dotte County and later for the Kansas Securities Commis sion. After opening his own law practice, his primary fo cus was on seeking justice for victims of drunk driving, and eventually on providing legal services to the poor.

These experiences would serve him well as attorney gen eral. But in our conversation with Mann, he stressed that should he be elected, his pri mary focus for the office would be on the bread-and-butter ser vices that the AG provides for ordinary Kansas residents. For all the headlines about phantom voter fraud and the 2020 election, the bulk of the work performed by the hun dreds of lawyers in the Kan sas attorney general’s office is far more mundane. Child sup port, open records requests and consumer protection — those are the services that most Kansans rely on from their attorney general.

Mann has promised to up hold the Constitution, and that could mean weighing in on hot-button developments as the state’s chief law offi cial. But mostly, he told us, he wants to use the office to help those who need it.

Mann’s career has been guided by a passion for law en forcement, by his faith, and by the way he responded to unex pected setbacks of a kind that would have sidelined many others. It has not been marked by politics. This is his first at tempt at statewide office.

We believe voters would be wise to make him the next at torney general. It’s been a long time since that office has been held by someone whose chief ambitions have been to serve, rather than to win.

City Star

Kelly has earned a second term

widely done online without any state regulation or ben efit.

If we could go back in time and endorse the Derek Schmidt of the early 2000s for governor, we would.

As a state senator and Senate majority leader, Schmidt was a thoughtful conservative with an earned reputation for holding back some of the more extreme elements of the Republican Caucus in the Legislature.

Unfortunately, Schmidt has evolved over time into just another mediocre poli tician who thinks the key to the castle lies in inflaming hot-button social issues in stead of doing his job.

His performance as attor ney general hasn’t earned this newspaper’s endorse ment, or your vote.

Laura Kelly hasn’t been the perfect governor.

She’s disappointed on oc casion, such as the shroud of secrecy over the negotia tions bringing a Panasonic plant to the Kansas City area to make batteries for Teslas.

And her eagerness to “work across the aisle” sometimes leads her to ap pease extremists in the Leg islature when she should stand up to them.

But let’s give credit where credit is due: She managed to shame the Legislature into finally taking action to phase out the second-high est-in-the-nation food sales tax, that for far too long has drained our wallets through our grocery bills.

Kelly was also instrumen tal in bringing Kansas into the 21st Century on sports wagering, which was being

Most of all, Kelly navigat ed us through the pandem ic by following the science. And while anyone can play Monday-morning quarter back like Schmidt does, the decisions Kelly made were about the best that could be made with the information available, when facing a pre viously unknown disease that was killing Americans in the hundreds of thou sands.

She was dealt a bad hand but played it well.

Regardless of what you may have heard elsewhere, Kelly wasn’t the first gov ernor to close schools state wide. That was Republican Gov. Mike DeWine of Ohio — and nearly all governors eventually did. But Kelly was the first to recognize that it would take more than a couple of weeks for COVID to throttle down, giving Kan sas schools an invaluable head start on ramping up re mote learning.

Test scores are down across Kansas and the coun try, but Kansas children, their parents and their teachers are mostly alive to catch up to grade levels. Schmidt’s vow to never close schools again is short-sight ed at best and pandering to anti-vax COVID deniers at worst.

Meanwhile, Schmidt failed Kansas on two fronts that disqualify him for gov ernor — one thing he did, and one he didn’t do.

The thing he did was join us all to Donald Trump’s bi zarre effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election, by backing Texas in a law

Letters to the editor

Dear editor, Gov. Laura Kelly and Lt. Gov. David To land are economic and community devel opment super heroes. Their campaign slo gan should be “Jobs for Kansas workers and customers for Kansas businesses.”

The $14 billion in new business invest ment they have recruited to Kansas will benefit generations of Kansans.

Four years ago the state pension fund was underfunded and the highway fund had been robbed to pay for the previous administration’s tax cuts favoring the wealthy. Schools were underfunded and the state was in debt.

The Kelly administration has balanced the budget, paid back the pension fund, ful ly funded schools for four years, and estab lished a well-funded rainy day fund.

If a private sector CEO experienced this level of success they would be sought after by every major corporation. We need to reelect the Kelly/Toland team Nov. 8.

Mike Bruner, Humboldt, Kan.

suit challenging Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Georgia election results. To put that in perspective, ask yourself how you’d feel if California tried to dictate its election procedures in Kansas to overthrow your vote.

THE THING SCHMIDT didn’t do: After announcing that he would investigate the obvious price gouging for natural gas that occurred during the Big Freeze of February 2021, he’s made no discernible progress in the last 20 or so months. Mean while, depending on which utilities you have, you’ll be paying an extra $5- to $12 a month on your bills for years to come.

Schmidt has one heck of a nerve trying to blame Kelly for global inflation. When he had the chance to fight for economic justice for Kansas consumers, he didn’t. And now he never will.

His big campaign issue is the nearly nonexistent problem of transgender chil dren and girls’ sports. He’s certain to sign a bill Kelly vetoed that would take deci sions on who can play out of the hands of sports-govern ing associations where they belong.

In our view, seeking to en hance one’s popularity on the backs of vulnerable chil dren who are struggling to understand their sexuality is not the act of a governor, it’s the act of a middle-school bully.

Laura Kelly may be a foot and half shorter than Derek Schmidt, but as governor, she’s head and shoulders above him.

Dear editor, In a letter to the editor on Oct. 25, Bowlus patrons from Humboldt said they attended the recent Quiana Lynnell program and termed it “world class” entertainment.

It is too bad, however, that more local pa trons did not feel the same way as they also pointed out that the Bowlus auditorium was “less than half full.”

I am not sure how this programming is selected, but in my opinion, much of it is not compatible with our local rural cul ture. Here are some of the past programs that were well-attended: An Evening with Cindy Summers (2014), Trails West (2018), Sons of the Pioneers (2011) and, A Band Called Honalee (2017).

I do not know what is currently available but I believe the goal is to fill as many seats as possible by providing entertainment lo cal people can identify with.

A long-term Bowlus supporter, Paul L. Zirjacks, Iola, Kan.

Journalism that makes a difference

— The Wichita Eagle

Derek Schmidt has let us down

Results hinge on younger voters

By JOHN WILKENS San Diego Tribune-Union

SAN DIEGO — The voting rate of young people in their late teens and early 20s has long been the lowest of any age group, and the 2020 presidential elec tion was no exception.

But that was only part of the story.

Turnout jumped to 66% among college stu dents nationwide, just below the 67% regis tered by voters overall, according to tracking by the Institute for De mocracy & Higher Edu cation at Tufts Univer sity.

That was an increase of 14 percentage points from 2016, more than double the hike expe rienced by all voters in the election.

“That students, often younger and first-time voters, turned out at rates commensurate with the general pub lic is nothing short of stunning,” the insti tute said in a report about the election.

Those results contin ued a trend that’s been going on for almost a decade. Colleges are paying more attention to voting rates as a measure of civic en gagement — a sign that they are fulfilling their mission to help create an informed citizenry.

Campuses in San Diego are part of the effort.

“Sometimes students

feel like voting won’t matter, so we try to tell them that it does,” said Catherine Mansour, 20, a junior at the Univer sity of San Diego who helps run a non-par tisan campaign there called USD Votes.

“Even if they think one opinion isn’t super powerful, they are part of a demographic that doesn’t get heard from enough,” she said. “If they want their con cerns taken into con sideration, they have to vote.”

Now another elec tion looms, midterms that typically attract fewer voters. Will young people continue to participate?

“I think it will be higher than it was in 2018,” when 40% of students voted in the midterms, said Nancy Thomas, director of the institute at Tufts.

“It would be great if they turned out in numbers similar to the 2020 general election, but I don’t want to be unrealistic.”

The institute started in 2013 and now has a database of some 11 million de-identified student records that have been combined with publicly available voting records to com pile a picture of what’s happening on campus es.

More than 1,200 col leges participate and in return get detailed re ports about how many of their students are

showing up at ballot boxes.

Thomas said the project sprang from a concern that colleges weren’t doing enough to fulfill their civic mission, and that the efforts they were pur suing — encouraging students to volunteer, for example, or holding dialogues about cultur al or racial differences — weren’t objectively measurable.

In the beginning, it was hard to convince schools to sign up, Thomas said, because they didn’t want to be seen as political. Once they joined, it was hard to get them to believe the voter-turnout num bers that came back.

She remembered one college administra tor telling her, “These numbers are so low, they couldn’t possibly be accurate.”

Storm clouds

Last week, the Har vard Youth Poll — a twice-annual national survey of 18- to 29-yearolds — found that in terest in elections re mains high. Forty% said they “definitely” will vote on Nov. 8, which is on track to match or potentially top the record-setting 2018 midterm turnout among young people.

But an earlier Youth Poll, in April, found some storm clouds.

The percentage of those agreeing that “political involvement

rarely has any tangible results” rose from 22% in 2018 to 36% in 2022.

Those who agree that “I don’t believe my vote will make a real difference” increased from 31% in 2018 to 42% in 2022.

And those who feel that “politics today are no longer able to meet the challenges our country is facing” went from 45% in 2018 to 56% in 2022.

“I’m pretty anxious about the way things are,” said Joshua Raw son, 23, a senior at San Diego State University and head of the Col lege Republicans on campus. “Both sides seem pretty hard-set in their ideologies. There are issues and policies where they can proba bly come to a compro mise, but I don’t know if they can do it in the current climate.”

At USD, Brown said she’s hopeful about the future. “Through out our history, people have had to fight to make voting accessible to everyone,” she said. “It seems like people are constantly finding ways to undermine that. But I think we will prevail through all of the challenges. And voting is an important part of it.”

But not the only part, according to Thomas, the institute director at Tufts.

“A strong, robust de mocracy — that’s the end goal,” she said.

ACC gets the news

Allen Community College students now have access to free copies of The Iola Register, available in the newly renovated Student Center. The newspaper rack was donated by the Register and refurbished by the college’s maintenance and art departments. Similar programs are already in place in Iola High School, Iola Elementary School, Humboldt High School and Marmaton Valley High School.

Book: Funston

Continued from A1

is due to be released by the end of the month, Toland said, and covers Funston’s military ca reer after he joined the Cuban Liberation Army and found the military to his liking. He eventu ally became a general.

The first volume, “American Hero, Kan sas Heritage: Frederick

Funston’s Early Years 1865-1890,” was released in the spring.

The extensive biogra phy of Funston’s early years took Toland 27 years to complete, start ing about the time Fun ston’s home was moved from its original farm site north of Iola to the west side of the court house square in 1995.

Voting: Groups say they did not endorse misleading texts

Continued from A1

formation may not have been correct. Voto Lati no said the problem was a vendor’s “database issue,” without naming Movement Labs, and said voters would re ceive corrected informa tion.

Both Black Voters Matters and Movement Labs said that group had not endorsed the texts.

“We are deeply sorry for the confusion that these text messages created and have taken steps to correct this sit

uation,” Black Voters Matter said. “The last thing we ever want is for our outreach to be con fused with intentional disinformation which is sometimes targeted to our communities.”

Movement Labs said in separate tweets for Voto Latino and Black Voters Matter: “We take full responsibility for these mistakes and have issued correction texts.”

Kansas counties be gan allowing people to vote in advance in-per son Oct. 19, and people

Voting should be accessible to people and straight-forward, and this complicates that. Voting should be empowering.

— Alexis Simmons, Kansas House Democrats’ communications director

don’t need a reason to request a mail ballot. While mail ballots must be postmarked Nov. 8 or before, they can still be counted if they arrive in election offices by Nov. 14.

Democrats and abor tion rights advocates have been watching for misinformation after deceptive texts went to voters on the eve of a statewide vote Aug. 2 decisively rejecting a

proposed anti-abortion amendment to the Kan sas Constitution. The texts falsely told voters that a yes vote would protect abortion rights, when the opposite was true.

Schwab said in a statement that his office doesn’t use third parties to send information to voters and urged them to contact state and lo cal officials if they have questions, or go to the VoteKansas.gov web site.

Voters across the

state reported that they started receiving texts Sunday from the three groups about where they could vote, includ ing in the Kansas City area, Wichita and Tope ka.

“Voting should be ac cessible to people and straight-forward, and this complicates that,” said Alexis Simmons, the Kansas House Dem ocrats’ communications director, who received two of the texts Sunday. “Voting should be em powering.”

Sports Daily

Crest carries toughness to Osborne

By QUINN BURKITT The Iola Register

COLONY — Crest’s Holden Barker barreled over a Norwich defender in their eightman 2A opening round playoff victory last Thursday.

The senior running back is currently playing with a broken hand and a cast on his left arm.

“I like to run the ball, it’s just a little tougher now with a broken hand,” he said. “It makes it a lot harder because my main move is the stiff arm move and I can’t really do that anymore.

“We’re really aggressive and we just like contact football,” he continued. “I look for the contact. If there’s ever an open alley that I can take I always look to see if there’s someone sitting there.”

Barker’s mindset epitomizes that of the Crest High School football team as the Lancers get set for a second round playoff matchup at Osborne on Friday.

Crest has 11 seniors on their roster and the motivation could never be higher for another Friday night under the lights. The team finished its regular season with a 6-2 record, only falling against Chase County and Lebo.

Other leaders besides Barker are quarterback Ethan Godderz and leading receiver Stetson Setter.

“We’re always fighting for another chance to play anoth-

er game,” said Barker. “You never really think your last football game would come but we’re getting down to it so it’s really starting to come into effect.”

The Lancers are known for their physicality and toughness when it comes to making tackles and trucking through defenders. This is a good identity to have playing deep into the chilly postseason when hitting hard becomes much less appealing.

“That’s where the weight room comes into play, just be-

ing more physical and stronger, especially on the line,” Godderz said. “Our line has improved a lot in strength and they may not be as fast as others but I can tell they’re definitely stronger than other lines we’ve played, which helps a lot.”

As Barker and Godderz take snaps, their offense couldn’t be gelling together at a more perfect time.

Between Barker running over defenders and Godderz and Setter’s connection through the air, the Crest of-

Allen women’s hoops in good hands

By QUINN BURKITT The Iola Register

Before Allen women’s basketball head coach Leslie Crane was brought in to lead the Lady Red Devils last season, the team had only won two games the year prior.

Crane has an extensive coaching resume that spans stints at Division I universities including the University of Missouri and Western Illinois University.

The longtime coach also has experience at the junior college level at Independence Community College, Kansas City Community College as well as at the high school level.

Not to mention, Crane’s father Neil coached the men’s team years ago and was very successful on the court and molding his players for the real world.

“Changing the culture here is part of it and how we look at things as a women’s basketball program,” said Crane. “What we need to do to win games, you’ve got to work every day and you’ve got to relax on the offensive end and shoot the ball. The ball doesn’t always go in so you’ve got to count on defense and rebounding.”

Defense and rebounding will be the Lady Red Devils’ calling card. Crane has a winning recipe of recruiting players from high school and club programs which pride

themselves on the defensive end of the court.

She says if the offense isn’t there, the defense and rebounding is what you have to rely on.

The Lady Red Devils have a strong core of front court, interior players returning and recruited some shooters to help with the perimeter offense. Those returning include Naomi Smith and Clara Romero.

“We’ve got some good weapons this year, we’re still going to play inside out,” Crane said. “Everyone knows you can’t have a perimeter game until you have an interior game. We’ve got some good kids inside and some good shooters out there that we’ve

recruited.”

Naomi Smith was an All-Conference player last year. Others returning to work the inside are Clara Romero and Skylar Evans.

“The new kids that we have coming in are shaping up nicely and know what their roles are.”

Crane said she looks for well-rounded students.

“It’s always a winning combination when you recruit a good student-athlete that’s both good in the classroom, good on the court and good character kids,” Crane said. “We try to vet our kids as much as possible and bring those kids into a program

fense seems to be firing on all cylinders.

“Our offense is way more explosive this year. It helps having Stetson (Setter) back. Our passing has improved a lot too,” said Godderz. “Our defense lacked a little bit last game but we’re working on it and I think we’re going to play well Friday night. I’m excited.”

The Lancers are a difficult team to stop between their high-scoring offense and a defense that always brings toughness. It’s to the credit

of their senior leadership that the team has been able to bring this type of game.

Barker is currently leading the team with 140.6 rushing yards per game and 21 touchdowns, followed by Godderz 115.8 rushing yards per game. Godderz and Setter are also leading the Lancers with 19 touchdown passes and 15 touchdown receptions, respectively.

“Our strong suit has always been running the ball,” Godderz said. “We struggle sometimes with our blocking but when our blockers get into I don’t think there’s many teams that are going to stop our run game. Our run defense is the same way. We don’t care how big or tough you are, we’re going to get in there and make some tackles.

Crest’s matchup at Osborne Friday night will serve as another reminder of just how much the game means to the Lancers in their attempt to advance in the playoffs.

“Our mentality is just leave it all out on the field,” said Godderz. “Especially our senior class, knowing that it could potentially be our last game, we don’t know what’s going to happen so we’ve just got to leave it out there no matter what. No matter how good or bad the other team is, we’ve got to give it our all.”

Crest will kickoff at Osborne at 7 p.m. on Friday night.

Chastain rides wall to NASCAR title race

By JENNA FRYER The Associated Press

There’s been an internal battle raging inside Ross Chastain as he’s clawed his way into NASCAR’s championship finale.

He’s an eighth-generation watermelon farmer from Florida who was never supposed to make it to the top level of stock car racing.

But he did and it required Chastain to bump and bang his way through traffic from journeyman driver to a top Cup team with race-winning cars. He built a solid list of rivals critical of his aggressive style along the way, and as it became clear Chastain might actually have a chance to race for the Cup title, he started to wonder if his rivals were right about him.

Was he making too many mistakes? Trying too hard? Did he need a different approach?

Doesn’t matter now.

With a spot in NASCAR’s championship finale in sight if Chastain could somehow pull off a miracle, he went video game-style and used a wall-hugging ride he’d tried as a kid while playing NASCAR 2005 on his Nintendo GameCube.

Two points shy of Denny

Hamlin for the final transfer spot to next week’s race, Chastain found himself too far behind to make up the ground. So shifted his Chevrolet into fifth gear on the backstretch, deliberately smacked the Martinsville Speedway wall, then took his hands off the wheel.

Chastain let the wall guide the No. 1 the final quarter-mile around the Virginia short track with his foot flat on the gas. He went from 10th to fifth as the breathtaking move shot his Chevy around cars and into the final four.

“This is the best thing of 2022 in motor racing!” two-time Formula One champion Fernando Alonso tweeted on Monday. “We all did this on video games with damage disable. Never thought this could become reality.”

The move put Chastain into the championship four for the first time in his career, in his second season of full-time Cup racing with a competitive team. It gave second-year team Trackhouse Racing its first shot at the title, too.

Chastain said he’d been beaten by the move on the video game by his brother at “Dodge Raceway some-

Crest’s Ethan Godderz (12) throws a pass against Norwich in the rst round of the eight-man 2A playo s on Thursday, Oct. 27. The Lancers knocked o the Eagles, 60-40. REGISTER/QUINN BURKITT

Allen women’s basketball player Naomi Smith (14) dribbles the ball in a game last season. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN

15 hurt in Chicago shooting

CHICAGO (AP) — As many as 15 people, including three children, were injured in a driveby shooting on Halloween night that sent shots flying into a crowd along a Chicago street corner, police said.

Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown said the three juvenile victims are a 3-year-old, an 11-yearold and a 13-year-old. The others wounded by gunfire Monday night are adults ranging in age from their 30s to their 50s.

In addition, police said a woman fleeing

from the shooting scene was struck by a vehicle as she crossed traffic. She was hospitalized in fair condition.

The Chicago Fire Department said it sent at least 10 ambulances to the scene in Chicago’s Garfield Park neighborhood. Brown said the victims’ conditions range from non-life threatening injuries to critical condition. No fatalities were immediately reported and police were waiting to interview the shooting victims after they received medical treatment.

Swallowing pills together is OK, usually

DEAR DR. ROACH:

I have always wondered if it matters if you swallow a bunch of pills in one swallow or if it would be better to space them out. I take a bunch, like Eliquis, dicyclomine, gabapentin, etc. — B.A.

ANSWER: With most pills, it’s OK to take them as a bunch together, if you can tolerate doing so (I’ve known people who have a tough time taking multiple pills at the same time due to gagging). There are a few combinations of pills that shouldn’t be taken together, such as tetracyclines and calcium, but these should be labelled clearly on your bottle. A few medicines, like alendronate (Fosamax), can’t be taken with any other medicines. Some medicines, including all the ones you mentioned, can cause sedation, which can be worse if taken together.

As always, your

pharmacist is your best friend for questions about medication interactions.

DEAR DR ROACH:

Despite having family history of high cholesterol (including early death due to heart failure), I was told at 53 that my 10-year risk is not alarming. I do not smoke nor drink.

I recently had some tests done and was told that my Lipoprotein (a) is above normal. I am wondering if that may explain my concern of why, despite keeping a very careful diet over two decades (and a fairly good Mediterranean diet before, as well) and an ideal BMI, my figures are not getting better. (I still have a high LDL, low HDL and high tri-

glycerides.)

After I recovered from COVID, I seemed to have a high pulse and was advised that my stress ECG is positive. I find aerobic exercise very challenging, but keep active when I can. I tend to be anemic and feel tired very often due to heavy periods, but I take iron supplements.

What should I do concerning my cholesterol in my blood? I am concerned that my high figures may indicate a silent serious illness. — M.H.

ANSWER: The 10year risk is a good place to start in deciding whether elevated cholesterol needs to be treated; however, the 10-year risk does not consider some risk factors, including the high Lp(a), which is an independent risk factor on top of your high LDL and low HDL. The Lp(a) doesn’t affect the other cholesterol numbers.

Diet and exercise do

tend to help cholesterol numbers, and definitely help reduce heart disease risk, but it is possible to have cholesterol results that are not ideal despite a very good lifestyle.

A positive stress test is a concerning finding and is usually followed up by a definitive test for blockages in the artery, such as an angiogram. The results of that will absolutely guide your cardiologist as far as further treatment, including whether you need treatment for your cholesterol numbers.

Although statin drugs do not reduce Lp(a), they do reduce the risk of heart disease in people with elevated levels of Lp(a). I follow the advice of experts who recommend a lower threshold for medication treatment in people with high Lp(a) levels, especially in people with a family history of heart blockages or heart attacks.

Dr. Keith Roach

To Your Good Health

Jazz, Spurs off to fast starts in West

DENVER (AP) — A year ago, Mike Conley Jr. was on a team men tioned as a champion ship contender. This year, the Utah Jazz ar en’t in that conversa tion.

That doesn’t change Conley’s approach.

“We’re trying to win every day,” Conley said. So far, the Jazz are winning more days than not. And two weeks into the NBA season, there are some surprises — some good, some bad, with the Jazz finding themselves on the more fun side of that ledger.

Conley and the Jazz are off to a 6-2 start af ter Monday’s win over Memphis. Gregg Popo vich and the San Anto nio Spurs are 5-2, which matches the team’s best start since they were 6-1 on the way to winning the NBA title in the 2013-14 season.

If the Jazz and Spurs were tanking, they’re definitely doing it wrong. Not even the lure of landing the winning lottery ticket that will provide 7-foot-3 French teen Victor Wemban yama — who has skills often compared to Kev in Durant, Giannis An tetokounmpo and Dirk Nowitzki — is enough to get the Jazz and Spurs to try and not win. Quite the contrary. They’re playing hard,

playing the right way, playing defense and it’s working.

“They’re young enough they don’t know any better,” Popovich said of his squad. “They just keep playing hard. ... They’re pretty much obeying the basketball gods, doing all the sim ple things that help win games.”

They should be feel ing pretty happy in a couple other cities, too. Cleveland was 5-1 en tering Monday, as was Portland. On the flip side of the surprise coin — Brooklyn was 2-5, the Los Angeles Lakers started 0-5 before get ting their first win, and Miami is 2-5 entering a game Tuesday against Golden State. The reign ing champs aren’t ex actly setting the world ablaze either, off to a 3-4 start.

It’s early. There’s al most a whole season left to go. But San Antonio and Utah are surprising just about everybody so far — well, everybody except themselves.

“We just do our job,” Conley said. “At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what people say.”

It wasn’t uncommon to think the Jazz and Spurs might be among the teams that vie to be among the odds-on favorites for Wemban yama (the bottom three

teams each have a 14% probability to land the No 1 pick). The Spurs are extremely young and feature a lineup consisting of hardly household names. The Jazz spent the summer trading away three of their biggest pieces in Donovan Mitchell, Rudy Gobert and Bojan Bogdanovic.

“For some reason, the league goes, ‘Oh, Utah is tanking because they got rid of Donovan and Rudy and Bogdanovic,’” Nuggets coach Michael Malone recently said.

“Tell Mike Conley that. Tell Jordan Clarkson that. Tell Lauri Mark kanen that. Those guys are NBA players and

have played in a lot of big games. They’re playing hard. They’re getting out and running and they’re defending.”

Credit should go to Utah coach Will Hardy, who was mentored by Popovich. Among the lessons Hardy picked up from Popovich — his former boss in San Antonio, before Hardy spent last season as an assistant in Boston — was the art of fostering relationships.

“He taps into that hu man element very, very well,” said Hardy, who spent 11 seasons with Popovich and the Spurs, including five as an as sistant coach. “For all of his greatness from

an X’s-and-O’s stand point or an in-game coaching standpoint, it’s all the stuff he does in-between games, on the human side, that for me separates him.”

Hardy’s team has quickly picked up on the building cohesion part. An illustration: The Jazz all recently gathered in a room in New Orleans during a trip and “just chilled, and had fun,” explained Malik Beasley, who was acquired as part of the massive deal this off season that sent Gobert to Minnesota. On plane rides, they’ve been known meet in a group to chat and break down game film.

“We have a great vibe,” Beasley added. “It’s going to be fun to go to where we want to go to.”

Which, so far, is north in the standings, not south.

“We’re tired of peo ple being surprised,” Beasley said. “We’re a good team, too.”

The Jazz remain a huge longshot to win the NBA title this sea son, according to Fan Duel Sportsbook. The same applies to Or lando, Oklahoma City, Indiana, Houston, Sacramento, Detroit and San Antonio. All of those clubs are the ones expected to be in the running for the No. 1 pick and the chance at Wembanyama.

Not that the Spurs and Jazz have been paying any attention. Or caring what others believe. Popovich has a bunch of kids playing like seasoned vets.

“I don’t think they even know what the capital of Texas is,” Popovich cracked. “But I don’t care.”

Added Spurs guard/ forward Keldon John son, who was part of the team that won Olym pic gold at the Tokyo Games in 2021: “We’re playing great team bas ketball. We’re making each other better. It’s fun playing basketball that way.”

Chastain: Rides wall to NASCAR title race

where in a fake city, somewhere in Florida,” but he’d never actually tried it in real life.

In fact, he stressed re peatedly it didn’t even cross his mind to ride the wall until it his sea son was a half-lap away from ending.

“Never once did it cross my mind or ever try it. I want to make that clear. The last time would have been a long time ago before I was even thinking about being a NASCAR driv er,” Chastain said. “It flashed back in my head on the white flag.”

Allen

Continued from B1 we’re trying to re build, it takes time.”

The success of Crane’s coaching ca reer means not just her success on the court winning games but also creating a game plan for life. She likes to teach her student-athletes the importance of win ning basketball games as well as winning in life.

“We’re teaching them how to have a game plan so to speak but also a game plan for life,” said Crane. “Sometimes you’ve got to have more than one game plan. If things go wrong you’ve got to have al ternatives just like on the court. I’ve al ways said the game of basketball parallels the game of life and you’re teaching kids how to be prepared for life.”

Allen will tip-off against McPherson’s JV squad on Tuesday at 6 p.m.

Chastain is now be ing celebrated in all circles of motorsports: the same driver who during this season of clashing with rivals was turned into a verb when Kyle Busch said “I got Chastained” after an on-track incident.

It was the fastest lap a stock car has ever run at Martinsville, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year. The track record was 18.954 sec onds. Chastain’s final lap was 18.845 seconds and he was hurtling at between 50 and 70 mph faster than the cars he was sailing past as the wall guided him.

NASCAR said Chastain’s move was legal.

His competitors ar en’t sure it should stay that way.

Hamlin crew chief Chris Gabehart not ed “the tracks aren’t

built with this in mind from a safety perspec tive. Someone could get hurt.... OUTSIDE the track.”

Kyle Larson tried a similar move at Dar lington Raceway last year and has since wished he’d never set the example.

“It’s just a bad look. I’m embarrassed that I did it at Darlington,” Larson said. “Maybe if I didn’t do it last year, people wouldn’t even think to do that, so I’m embarrassed myself and glad that I didn’t win (Darlington) that way.”

It’s not that drivers didn’t like the move — Chase Briscoe even tried it on a video game later Sunday night and complained when it didn’t work in make-be lieve — and Kevin Har vick noted Chastain would not have been successful if not for

NASCAR’s new, dura ble Next Gen car. He also predicted NASCAR potentially outlawing such moves.

“My guess is that will be the only time you see this. But making a rule is always a feath er in the cap!” Harvick tweeted.

Joey Logano even called on NASCAR to act before this week

end’s finale at Phoenix Raceway, where the championships will be decided in the Truck Se ries, Xfinity Series and Cup Series. NASCAR is already shrouded in Xfinity Series contro versy after Ty Gibbs wrecked teammate Brandon Jones to win Saturday at Martins ville and knock Jones out of the playoffs.

“As spectacular as it was, as much as it worked, the problem is now the box is open, right?” Logano said. “Now every Xfinity race, every Truck race, every Cup race, no mat ter the track, this wall riding is going to be a play. That’s not good. That’s not good.

“I mean, it was awe some, it was cool.”

The Utah Jazz’ Mike Conley (11) and Collin Sexton celebrate a play against the Denver Nuggets at Vivint Arena on Wednesday, Oct. 19. in Salt Lake City, Utah.

ALEX GOODLETT/GETTY IMAGES/TNS

What’s next after turbulent first season of LIV Golf?

By ANTHONY CHIANG Miami Herald

The most lucrative event of LIV Golf’s inau gural season came to an end on Sunday in Doral. It was also the final event of the controver sial Saudi Arabia-fund ed league’s season.

When it was done, the total prize pool for the eight events — includ ing individual bonus es — during LIV’s first season stood at $255 mil lion.

This weekend’s LIV Golf Team Champion ship at Trump National Doral Miami included a $50 million purse, with most of that money still up for grabs enter ing Sunday’s third and final round. The threeday event began with 16 four-man teams on Fri day, but only four teams were still alive for the first-place prize of $16 million on Sunday after four teams were elim inated on Friday and another four teams were eliminated on Saturday.

4 Aces GC won the Team Championship’s first-place prize of $16 million that will be split between golfers Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed, Talor Gooch and Pat Pe rez.

In a round of stroke play with all four in dividual scores count ing toward each team’s score on Sunday, John son, Reed and Perez each closed at 2-under and Gooch came in at 1-under for a combined score of 7-under to earn the title.

“We played great as a team,” Perez said. “Yeah, all the push back, all the negative comments, all the everything (LIV has) gotten, at this point I re ally don’t care. I don’t care. I’m paid. I don’t give a damn. My team played unbelievable this year. I feel like I’m really

part of something that I’ve never been part of.”

Punch GC closed in second place with a team score of 6-under to earn the second-place prize of $8 million that will be split between golfers Cameron Smith, Marc Leishman, Matt Jones and Wade Ormsby.

Smash GC came in at third place with a team score of 4-over to earn the third-place prize of $6 million that will be split between golfers Brooks Koepka, Jason Kokrak, Peter Uihlein and Chase Koepka.

Stinger GC finished in fourth place with a team score of 10-over to earn the fourth-place prize of $4 million that will be split between golfers Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel, Branden Grace and Hennie du Plessis.

Playing in twosomes, Johnson and Smith went through their round to gether on Sunday with

a group of at least 1,000 spectators lining the fairway when they teed off and then following them throughout the course.

Smith turned in the lowest round of the day at 7-under, but it was Johnson who clinched the victory for 4 Aces GC by sinking a 3-foot putt for par on the 18th hole on the final shot of the event to preserve his team’s one-stroke lead.

“I do not like stress and that was a little more stress than I was looking for,” Johnson said when asked about his title-clinching putt. “It’s different. If that was an individual tour nament, it would have been no problem, that putt. It’s straight in from three feet. But with it being the team aspect and knowing I had to make that for the team to win, I didn’t like it very much. My hands were not real steady and

I don’t know where I hit it on the putter face, but it went in.”

Johnson was the big winner during LIV’s in augural season.

Johnson brought in about $35.6 million in LIV’s eight events. That includes an $18 million prize for winning the season-long individual title and the $4 million share he earned Sunday for helping 4 Aces GC with the Team Champi onship.

“It was pretty good,” Johnson said of his sea son. “I feel like I should have been a lot better. But I’m happy with what ended up happening, obviously winning the Team Championship. That’s what we came here for. Personally my season, you add up the numbers and it was great. But I played good, I didn’t play my best. It always can be better, but that’s golf.”

What’s next for LIV

Golf? The offseason.

The current plan is for LIV’s second season to begin in February with an international tournament. There will be 14 LIV events in 2023, with a 48-player field for each competition, and the hope is for the first U.S. tournament of the season to be held in March.

“Next year we’re go ing to play 14 events plus (hopefully) the majors,” Phil Mickelson said on Sunday’s broadcast of the third round. “And that’s a lot of golf. I’ve got a lot of golf coming up next year and I really want to get back to the level that I know I can play.”

Mickelson, who’s the captain of LIV’s Hy Fly ers GC that was elimi nated Friday, is one of the high-profile play ers that LIV was able to poach from the PGA Tour. As LIV moves past its inaugural season that was met by plenty

of backlash for challeng ing the PGA Tour and its ties to Saudi Arabia, the league hopes even better days are ahead.

LIV believes the team concept is what will set the league apart. It’s also an important part of LIV’s business mod el, with the hope that each team can become its own franchise and create its own revenue stream.

“I’ve been walking up and down the range this morning and not one of the players has spoken about the individuality of it, even though they love it. They’ve talked about the team,” LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman said on Sunday’s broad cast. “And they’re look ing at that scoreboard for the other three play ers, what are they do ing. And that, to me, is a very powerful statement about what we wanted to bring. That’s the vir gin space that we recog nized in the beginning. I wanted the players to have that opportunity.”

An opportunity that will continue next year amid the league’s critics and skeptics.

“As we look into 2023 and beyond, knowing the energy and enthu siasm that these guys have for the franchise, for their team, for what they’re doing, next year is just going to be ex plosive, quite honestly, because they’re embrac ing it all,” Norman con tinued on the broadcast. “And then you’re talking about the fans, right? And they’re loving it and just starting to grab that momentum. So it’s been a phenomenal year.

“We’ve had a lot of headwinds. We’ve weathered all the storms, and we’re here. We’ve got a great crew of people and we’ve got a great product and we’re off and running.”

Ravens make a splash; trade for star linebacker from Bears

OWINGS MILLS, Md. (AP)

— The Chicago Bears agreed to trade linebacker Roquan Smith to the Baltimore Ra vens on Monday, a person with knowledge of the deal said.

The person spoke on con dition of anonymity because the trade had not been an nounced.

Smith, the NFL leader in tackles so far this season, joins a Baltimore team that has won two in a row and sits atop the AFC North.

The Ravens have had their issues defensively this sea son, but they’ve improved in

that area and now add a sec ond-team All-Pro to their line backing group.

It’s the Bears’ second major trade involving a defensive player in less than a week. They dealt three-time Pro Bowl defensive end Robert Quinn to Philadelphia for a 2023 fourth-round pick on Wednesday.

Smith was at the dais ad dressing reporters when re ports of the Quinn trade sur faced. He became emotional and cut the session short.

On Monday, Ravens coach John Harbaugh held his usu

al weekly news conference — shortly before the news of the Smith trade broke. He was asked is he anticipated a move before Tuesday’s trade deadline.

“If I did, then the cat would be out of the bag,” he said.

The 25-year-old Smith has 83 tackles and 2½ sacks this season. A first-round pick by Chicago in 2018, he has 16½ sacks in his career.

With his rookie contract set to expire, Smith was hop ing to strike a new deal. He participated in voluntary and mandatory offseason work outs, but with negotiations

at a standstill with the Bears, things took a heated turn once training camp started.

Smith, who does not have an agent, opted to “hold in” — attending meetings and prac tices without participating in drills. Tensions boiled over when he went public with a trade request.

He accused general manag er Ryan Poles of negotiating in bad faith.

Smith eventually ended his hold-in and practiced for the first time on Aug. 20.

Now he joins the Ravens, who have led by double digits

in every game this season and would have an even better record if not for some pretty bad fourth-quarter collapses.

Ravens linebacker Justin Houston already has six sacks on the season. Linebacker Odafe Oweh and defensive lineman Calais Campbell are also pass-rushing threats — and the Ravens added line backer Jason Pierre-Paul in late September.

Baltimore won at Tampa Bay last Thursday, so the Ra vens have extra time to pre pare for next Monday night’s game at New Orleans.

Branden Grace of Stinger GC, Team Captain Dustin Johnson of 4 Aces GC and Peter Uihlein of Smash GC pose on the podium after being named the top three golfers for LIV Golf at the LIV Golf Invitational - Miami Sun day in Doral, Fla. GETTY IMAGES/ERIC ESPADA/TNS

Making sense of last-minute wedding invites

Dear Carolyn: I have received two invitations in the past few months to weddings held within two weeks of receiving the invite. As a general rule, I think people wor ry too much about how wedding invitations re flect on the friendship. But the late invite cre ates an awkward deci sion. Do I accept the last-minute invite to the event that I know people have been planning for months? I’ve done this, and it makes me feel like a second-tier friend. Or do I decline because of the late invitation? I’ve also done this, and it feels petty.

Am I making too much out of this? I’m a single guy, and the friends in question are guys I went to grad school with and talk with four or five times a year.

— Last-Minute Last-Minute: With grad school friends mar

Carolyn Hax Tell Me About It

rying themselves off in droves, you’re probably this close to not having to care about this stuff. Check out an averageage-of-first-marriage graph, and you can cal culate almost to the year how much time you have left in heavy weddingguest rotation.

In the meantime, it may help just to tweak your mind-set toward feeling good either way vs. bad: If it sounds like a good time, then go. If it doesn’t, then don’t. None of us can ever real ly know how badly we’re wanted, anyway; might as well follow your bliss.

Dear Carolyn: I first got sober when I was

White Sox hire Grifol

CHICAGO (AP) —

The Chicago White Sox hired Kansas City Roy als bench coach Pedro Grifol to replace Hall of Famer Tony La Rus sa as their manager, a person familiar with the situation said on Tuesday.

The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the team has not an nounced the hiring. ESPN first reported the move.

The 52-year-old Grifol will try to lift a team coming off a disappointing season.

The White Sox fin ished second in the AL Central at 81-81 and missed the playoffs af ter running away with the division in 2021. La Russa missed the final 34 games because of health problems and announced he would not return.

Grifol spent the past 10 seasons in a vari

21 and have been sober over 17 years. Active in Alcoholics Anonymous, still go to meetings, etc.

Almost five years ago, when I got sepa rated from my now exhusband, he informed me that I would have a “black mark” against dating, because I am a single mom.

I have dated some, but now I’m not sure how to handle mentioning that I don’t drink for good reason, or the greatest present I ever got, my son. Some people say I should not mention either immediately; I should let the guy get to know me first. However, if he is going to decide that he doesn’t want ei ther of these in a girl friend, then I don’t want to waste his time or mine. I think I should be straightforward when it comes up in conversa tion. What do you think?

— Sober Mama

Sober Mama: I think someone who has worked as hard as you have at life — reading between the lines here — deserves to surround herself with good peo ple who are supportive of her two excellent causes.

An ex-husband who rubs motherhood in your face as a “black mark,” and current ad visers who see denial of your real self as your only shot at dating? These are not people who support your two excellent causes. These are, to varying degrees, underminers.

Yes, you’re right, you’re a sober mama, so you gain nothing by pre senting yourself as any one other than a sober mama.

The issue is deeper, though. I don’t mean to read more into your lines than they warrant, but if you have a history of trusting the wrong people, then that’s what deserves your attention.

As a sober mama, you have almost zero margin for error when it comes to being with jerks. You simply can’t afford it. So be straightforward without apology, but also fierce. Either people are good for you and your son, or they’re gone.

Yesterday’s Cryptoquote: Dia de Muertos has begun! It’s the one night of the year our ancestors can come visit us. — Abuelita, “Coco”

ZITS by Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman

BEETLE BAILEY by Mort Walker

HAGAR THE HORRIBLE by Chris Browne

FUNKY WINKERBEAN

by Tom Batiuk

BLONDIE

by Young and Drake

MARVIN by Tom Armstrong HI AND LOIS by Chance Browne

March Madness a bedrock in ever-changing college landscape

By EDDIE PELLS The Associated Press

If the latest spasm of conference realignment in college sports was supposed to spell doom for the Big 12 or Pac-12 — or for any other conference, for that matter — somebody forgot to tell the basketball coaches.

In college hoops, where virtually all success is measured by how a team, or conference, fares in March Madness, the 2022-23 campaign about to tip off looks a lot like business as usual.

With football-driven realignment joining the rapidly expanding transfer portal and the players’ newfound and meagerly regulated ability to make money off their celebrity, the postseason NCAA tournaments, men’s and women’s, are, more than ever, the glue that holds the increasingly fractured fabric of college sports together.

“At the end of the day, you play for the tournament,” Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said recently in summing up the bottom line of any college basketball season. “If you can’t play in the tournament, then you’re not good.”

In football, even after the announcement that the postseason will expand to 12 teams by 2026, a conference title has and will always be the most direct route to one of the few coveted spots in the playoff.

In basketball, whether a team wins a conference regular-season title, a conference tournament title or no conference title at all has little bearing on what the final verdict will be. Of the past 10 national champions, only three won their conference tournament. Hardly anybody, for instance, thinks of St. Peter’s as

Auburn res head coach

AUBURN, Ala. (AP) — Auburn fired coach Bryan Harsin on Monday after less than two seasons, ending a rocky tenure in which the Tigers struggled to compete in the Southeastern Conference.

Harsin went 9-12 overall and 3-5 this year. Auburn has lost four straight games while struggling against Power Five opponents, including a 41-27 loss to Arkansas on Oct. 29. Auburn will owe Harsin 70% of his remaining contract — more than $15 million — and half of that must be paid within 30 days.

“President (Chris) Roberts made the decision after a thorough review and evaluation of all aspects of the football program,” the school said in a brief statement announcing the move.

“Auburn will begin an immediate search for a coach that will return the Auburn program to a place where it is consistently competing at the highest levels and representing the winning tradition that is Auburn football,” the statement said.

the MAAC champion but anyone following the sport knows the Peacocks made it to the Elite Eight last year.

The same is true whether a team hails from the West Coast Conference (where Gonzaga is a major power every year) or the Big 12 or Pac-12, which appeared to be among the so-called “losers” in the most recent shuffling of teams to new conferences.

Last summer, Texas and Oklahoma announced they would be leaving the Big 12 to join the SEC. This summer, UCLA and Southern California said they were leaving the Pac-12 for the Big Ten.

Shortly after the Big Ten expansion was announced, the conference cut a seven-year media rights deal worth more than $7 billion. The SEC will make about $7 billion over the next 10 years. Over the weekend, the Big 12 agreed to a six-year contract extension for its media rights worth more than $2 billion through 203031.

Though there will only be room for one or two teams from each conference, the expanded football playoff could be worth more than $2 billion in media rights for 11 games. That would be about double what the basketball rights are worth in annual terms (and not distributed to as many conferences or programs).

It explains the reason for the moves, but does not necessarily portend the end of the Big 12 or Pac-12.

A lot of that is thanks to March Madness. Letting small guys go against the behemoths in a 68-team bracket each season remains an ingeniously simple idea — one that has left the bottom line in basketball, at least on the court, largely the same despite steady changes to the business model.

“You don’t need football to have a good basketball program,” Baylor coach Scott Drew said. “It does help financially. It does help in recruiting, because people want to have a good football program to go

watch and support. But you can do it without, as well. That’s been proven.”

In fact, the Big 12 heads into the 2022-23 season as the top-ranked basketball conference in the nation, on the strength of the last two national champions (Kansas and Baylor), a stacked team at Texas (still in the league for now), a strong TCU team and perennial contenders such as Kansas State and West Virginia. As of last week, for what it’s worth, the conference had three football teams ranked in the AP Top 25.

And coming soon to the Big 12, after the latest round of realignment is complete, are Cincinnati and Houston — a pair of brand names in basketball; the Cougars were in the Final Four two seasons ago.

The Pac-12 does not have the same depth, but even after it loses the two SoCal teams, it will still have a perennial powerhouse in Arizona, a 21st century Goliath in Oregon and at least one program enjoying a mini-renaissance in Col-

orado; neither Arizona nor Colorado have been powerhouses in football for decades.

“I don’t lose any sleep over what conference we’re going to be in, or what could happen,” said CU coach Tad Boyle. “Because the University of Colorado is a great academic institution. We’ve got a great brand name.”

It’s a brand name that has shown up in the bracket in five of the last 10 tournaments — hardly the stuff of North Carolina or Duke, but enough to keep it relevant, even in an era in which the football program has struggled to 13 victories over the past 3½ seasons.

Which is still 13 more victories than Gonzaga has because Gonzaga does not play football.

The Zags open yet another season as a favorite to make the Final Four. A few years ago, with the football-playing Mountain West Conference perennially knocking on the door, Gonzaga cut a deal with the WCC: It would stay in the hoops-only league

if, instead of splitting things evenly, the conference would give the Zags a bigger share of its NCAA tournament proceeds based on how they performed in March.

“We just felt that the more you advance, the bigger the amount should become,” then-athletic director Mike Roth said, “because at that point, it’s not about the conference, it’s the school that’s earning it.”

Unlike football, where Alabama, Georgia and LSU are intrinsically linked to the SEC and all the advantages that conference offers on the gridiron, when people think “Duke, or “Kansas” or “Gonzaga” they don’t think as much about a conference.

Unlike football, where wins in the Auburn-Alabama, Ohio State-Michigan, Texas-Oklahoma or UCLA-USC games can define a season for a program, regardless of the postseason, there is hardly ever such meaning attached to a regular-season meeting in basketball outside of Tobacco Road.

Nobody articulates it better than Boeheim, a 47-year coaching veteran whose program moved from the Big East to the ACC in 2013. Since then, the Orange have been to five tournaments, three Sweet 16s and one Final Four. Not once did they get a piece of either the regular-season or conference-tournament titles.

So, while Boeheim, like every college coach, was busy getting ready for his team’s opener in November, it’s not where the real focus of his season will be.

“I’ll take the Sweet 16 if we finish” sixth in the ACC, he said. “Would I like to do better in the regular season? Sure. But I’ll take that every year. We’ve been very good in the tournament.”

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The Kansas Jayhawks raise the NCAA championship trophy after beating North Carolina, 72-69 in April. THE KANSAS CITY STAR/RICH SUGG/TNS