The Iola Register, Oct. 7, 2023

Huddling for housing solutions IHS teacher honored

K-State delegation wraps up Allen Co. visit

By VICKIE MOSS The Iola Register

There’s a simple solution to the housing crisis in Southeast Kansas: Money.

But without a ready supply of cash to build infrastructure and buildings, and without buyers flush with funds, the problem is a lot more difficult to solve.

Even those who are passionate about finding solutions struggle to find the most effective way to improve affordable housing in a community.

“You can recruit businesses all day long, but if you don’t have a bed for them to sleep in or safe day care for their children, they will not continue to work for you,”

Jeri Hammerschmidt said.

She has 20 years of experience in banking, real estate and economic development in rural communities and

By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register

Iola City Council members will discuss a laundry list of infrastructure projects Tuesday that could be funded with federal dollars. There’s much that could be handled if the city receives its share of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law

Kansas State University sponsored a community conversation about housing Thursday afternoon at the Southwind Extension District office. Becky Gray, executive director of Building Health, a subsidiary of the Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas, talks with Todd Gabbard, a professor of architecture at K-State, as they look at a student-designed model for an apartment development. REGISTER/VICKIE MOSS

was part of a diverse group who gathered on Thursday afternoon to discuss housing. The conversation was part of a two-day event organized by Kansas State University.

“It’s really a math equation,” Becky Gray, executive

director of Building Health, said.

“How do we get creative with capital to make housing affordable?”

Communities woo developers with various incentives such as abatement of property taxes, infrastruc-

ture and sometimes even free land. But developers are skeptical. Who would build a $250,000 home between two $30,000 homes in the middle of a small city in a rural area, where the vacan-

See HOUSING | Page A7

By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register

Brody Nemecek’s busy week in Iola included a stop by his alma mater Thursday.

Nemecek, a 2020 Iola High School graduate, is in his senior year at Kansas State University and was part of a delegation in Allen County Wednesday and Thursday as part of the college’s “K-State 105” campaign, an effort to improve the economic outlook of all 105 Kansas counties.

In between the different forums and community conversations, Nemecek paid a visit to IHS to honor ag in-

See HOLMAN | Page A3

(BIL) fund, a five-year, $1.2 trillion federal investment into the country’s infrastructure.

Iola City Administrator

Matt Rehder has compiled a list of potential projects, including a $10 million main gas line replacement, $8 million for relining sewer mains; $1 million for replacing the city’s 69-kilovolt

power line; $800,000 for a new transformer for the Bassett substation, and $34,500 for information technology upgrades. Rehder noted that the funding typically comes in the form of grants, reimbursable to the city after funds first have been used. The sewer lining project would come in the form of a

low-interest loan. The power pole and transformer projects also may require matching funds from the city.

Rehder said the city hopes to utilize a fund established by the state to help with matching funds. He’s already had conversations with Thrive Allen County re-

See COUNCIL | Page A3

Wells sees bright future for Iola

Huda Zeitouni is in her first semester teaching psychology at Allen Community College. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN

Love of teaching guides Zeitouni

By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register

In coming to Allen Community College, Huda Zeitouni is able to parlay two of her passions — a love of teaching, and a love of exploring the world of psychology — into her career.

“It’s very fulfilling,” said Zeitouni, hired this fall as

a psychology and humanities instructor at Allen. “I love the experience of being around young minds, of educating them, of relating psychology to their everyday life.

“What’s fascinating about psychology is people might not realize how relative it is

If Jon Wells were a betting man, he’d be all in on Iola. “We’re right on the cusp. There’s a lot going on in town, and a lot that could happen for Iola. But it could go either way.” The possibilities light up his face. They’re also what motivate him to run for city council — again.

KNOW YOUR CANDIDATES VOTE NOV. 7

Former

Iola

istered literally just a few minutes before he did, and I thought it’d be to fill an emp

ty seat,” Porter told the Register. “Jon and I are on the same page. We’ve talked a couple of times, and I think we would really vote similarly. I am proud to support him.”

A NATIVE of Tulsa, Wells came to Iola in 2008 as a history and political science instructor at Allen Community College. He didn’t imagine he’d stick around long. “It

Federal funds may aid infrastucture projects

Jailed Iranian activist wins Nobel Peace Prize

By the Associated Press

Imprisoned Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday in recognition of her tireless campaigning for women’s rights and democracy, and against the death penalty.

Mohammadi, 51, has kept up her activism despite numerous arrests by Iranian authorities and spending years behind bars. She has remained a leading light for nationwide, women-led protests, sparked by the death last year of a 22-year-old woman in police custody. Those demonstrations grew into one of the most intense challenges ever to Iran’s theocratic government.

Berit Reiss-Andersen, the chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, began Friday’s announcement with the words “Woman, Life, Freedom” in Farsi — the slogan of the demonstrations in Iran.

“This prize is first and foremost a recognition of the very important work of a whole movement in Iran with its undisputed leader, Narges Mohammadi,” Reiss-Andersen said. She also urged Iran to release Mohammadi in time for the prize ceremony on Dec. 10.

GETTY IMAGES/TNS

For nearly all of Mohammadi’s life, Iran has been governed by a Shiite theocracy headed by the country’s supreme leader. While women hold jobs, academic positions and even government appointments, their lives are tightly controlled. Laws require all women to at least wear a headscarf, or hijab, to cover their hair as a sign of piety. Iran and neighboring Afghanistan remain the only countries that mandate that.

In a statement released after the Nobel announcement, Mohammadi said she will “never stop striving for the realization of democracy, freedom and equality.”

“Surely, the Nobel

Peace Prize will make me more resilient, determined, hopeful and enthusiastic on this path, and it will accelerate my pace,” she said in the statement, prepared in advance in case she was named the Nobel laureate.

Mohammadi, an engineer by training, has been imprisoned 13 times and convicted five. In total, she has been sentenced to 31 years in prison. Her most recent incarceration began when she was detained in 2021 after attending a memorial for a person killed in nationwide protests sparked by an increase in gasoline prices. She has been held at Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison, whose

Electric vehicle tax credits coming in 2024

DETROIT (AP) —

Starting next year, people who want to buy a new or used electric or plug-in hybrid vehicle will be able to get U.S. government income tax credits at the time of purchase.

Eligible buyers, including those that bought an EV or hybrid this year, have had to wait until they filed their federal income tax returns to actually get the benefits.

The Treasury Department says the near-instant credits of $7,500 for an eligible new vehicle and $4,000 for a qualifying used vehicle should lower purchasing costs for consumers and help car dealers by boosting EV sales.

Under the Inflation Reduction Act, which included the credits, buyers can transfer the credits to dealers, which can apply them at the point of sale starting Jan. 1.

Plus, the government says people can get the full credits from dealers regardless of how much they owe in federal taxes.

The vehicles have to qualify under guidelines spelled out in the law, and buyers' incomes have to fall below limits.

Dealers have to hold state or local licenses in order to offer the credits, and they must register on an Internal Revenue Service website. After dealers turn in the sales paperwork, dealers can expect to get payments from the government within about 72 hours, officials said.

To be eligible, electric vehicles or plugins have to be manufactured in North America. SUVs, vans and trucks can't have a sticker price greater than $80,000, while cars can't sticker for more than $55,000.

Birth announcement

inmates include those with Western ties and political prisoners.

Amnesty International called for Mohammadi’s immediate release.

“Her recognition today by the Nobel Peace committee sends a clear message to the Iranian authorities that their crackdown on peaceful critics and human rights defenders will not go unchallenged,” Amnesty Secretary-General Agnès Callamard said in a statement.

Mohammadi’s brother, Hamidreza Mohammadi, told The Associated Press from Norway where he lives that he has not been able to speak with his sister but knows the prize “means a lot to her.”

“The prize means that the world has seen this movement,” but it will not affect the situation in Iran, he said. “The regime will double down on the opposition. ... They will just crush people.”

Court news

IOLA MUNICIPAL

COURT

Judge Patti Boyd

Convicted as follows with fines assessed:

Henry Davis Roe

Bill and Mandy Roe, Topeka, announce the birth of their son, Henry Davis Roe, born Sept. 1, 2023, at 1:34 p.m. Henry was born at Stormont Vail Hospital in Topeka and weighed 6 pounds and 9 ounces and was

Police news

Vandalism reported Roland Sutterby told police officers Sunday somebody cut his trampoline and basketball goal net sometime the previous evening in the 400 block of South Walnut Street. An investigation continues.

Home, vehicle damaged Douglas Thomas reported Thursday evening a broken window and damage to his vehicle in the 100 block of McGuire Drive.

19.5 inches long. He joins big brothers William, age 6, and Miller, 2. Maternal grandparents are Joe and Cheryl Miller, Iola, and paternal grandparents are Bill and Donna Roe, Atchison.

Arrests reported Cristofer Holland of Iola was arrested by Iola police officers Wednesday evening for suspicion of theft at Iola Walmart. Officers said Holland also had an active warrant when he was taken into custody.

Iola police officers arrested Iolan Jeffery Jones early Sunday morning in the 200 block of North Washington avenue for suspicion of criminal damage to property.

Used electric vehicles can't have a sale price of more than $25,000. There also are income limits for buyers set up to stop wealthier people from getting the credits. Buyers cannot have an adjusted gross annual income above $150,000 if single, $300,000 if filing jointly and $225,000 if head

of a household. To qualify, buyers have to be below the income limits either in the year of purchase or the prior year. If their income exceeds the limits both years and they took the credits, they'll have to repay them when they file their income tax returns, the government said.

WORSHIP WITH US AREA CHURCH DIRECTORY

Cory A. Boren, Iola, grass clippings in roadway, $25

Melinda M. Fischer, Le Roy, theft, $365, probation

Tony L. Hendricks, Chanute, disorderly conduct, pedestrian under the influence, $435, probation

Ricardo Ramirez, Yates Center, no driver’s license, $195

Iranian opposition human rights activist, Narges Mohammadi, at the Defenders of Human Rights Center in Tehran in 2007. BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP VIA

Council

Continued from A1

garding the application process.

As an aside, Rehder said there are projects that may not qualify for BIL monies, including water tower rehabs, expected to cost about $600,000; cleaning sludge out of the city’s sewage lagoons, projected to cost about $300,000; or installing a new aeration structure for the lagoons, projected to carry a $6 million price tag.

It doesn’t appear Iola can use BIL funds for electric vehicle charging stations, either, he noted, nor could Rehder find any grants that would apply for a costly rebuild of U.S. 54 through Iola in the near future.

Also on the agenda are discussions about 2024 employee holidays and Council meeting dates.

The meeting is set for 6 p.m. Tuesday at the New Community Building at Iola’s Riverside Park. The Council typically meets on the second and fourth Monday of each month, but because Monday is Columbus Day, the meeting was pushed back to Tuesday.

Zeitouni: Joins Allen

Continued from A1

to everyday experiences, until they start learning about it,” Zeitouni said.

Zeitouni, 42, came to the United States more than 20 years ago to pursue her college education. Her family is from Syria, but she grew up in Saudi Arabia.

The transition from Saudi Arabia to the United States was a smooth one.

“Culture-wise, Saudi Arabia is an international country, where you’ll meet people from different backgrounds,” she noted. “I was fortunate to have friendly people all around me.”

It was her first college experience in America — she earned an associate degree from Indian Hills Community College in Ottumwa, Iowa — that also instilled Zeitouni’s appreciation for the junior college atmosphere.

“I loved my experience there,” she said. “My professors were so supportive. I don’t know if I had started my education at a big institution, how my journey would have looked.”

Zeitouni admits to having given little thought about a career in education as a child — “Twenty-year-old me never thought I’d be a teacher,” she laughed — but she soon fell in love with the classroom experience.

“When I started, all I

staff

wanted to do was earn a bachelor’s degree,” she said. “After getting my bachelor’s, I thought, ‘OK, let’s go for a master’s.’ Then it was ‘OK, let’s go for a PhD.’”

Zeitouni earned her bachelor’s in psychology at the University of Wisconsin; a master’s at the University of Alabama, and her doctorate in philosophy at the University of Kansas.

“Studying psychology was very interesting to me,” she said. “The more I learned, I found myself wanting to learn more.”

Zeitouni’s education included shadowing professional psychologists to determine if she’d consider a career as a psychologist.

“I like the idea of teaching more than practicing,” she concluded.

Part of her studies included exploring optimum environments in which students can prosper, “so they feel like they belong,” Zeitouni said.

“Now it’s time for me to apply what I’ve learned and practiced.”

The beauty of teaching at a community college level, she noted, was the varying degrees of exposure her students have had the humanities.

Some students have never taken as much as a psychology course. Others did so in high school. A handful are

Holman: Teacher lauded

his FFA adviser.

there simply to get a college credit.

ZEITOUNI lives in Overland Park with her husband and four children.

Her daily commute — more than an hour each way — would seem daunting.

She finds it refreshing.

Zeitouni recalled attending classes on the KU campus in Lawrence, which required a 50-minute commute, plus several more finding parking on the crowded campus.

And attending classes in Milwaukee involved lengthy city bus rides, for an hour or longer.

“It’s much more convenient here,” she smiled.

Additionally, arising at the crack of dawn means there’s little traffic to contend with in suburban Kansas City.

“The road is clear,” she said. “I’m a person who really doesn’t like to talk first thing when I wake up. Driving in silence is probably the best way to start my day.”

Likewise, her ride home allows Zeitouni to decompress, “refresh, reboot and get ready for my kids.”

Outside of the classroom, Zeitouni enjoys cooking.

“I like trying different recipes,” she said. “I think I cook good food. People say they like it.”

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structor Amanda Holman. “As part of the Connected Cats, I get to pick somebody who had a big impact on my education,” Nemecek explained in giving Holman a Spirit of K-State Award. With the designation, Holman, in turn, will select an IHS

student to receive a $1,000 college scholarship.

Nemecek said Holman — who also happens to be a KSU alumna — was a natural choice.

“Growing up, 4-H and FFA greatly shaped me and who I am,” he said.

Holman had Nemecek in several classes and served as

“At K-State, they always talk about family, and she definitely was that, even to the point sometimes we’d butt heads a little bit,” he laughed. “But we always got along. She helped me out quite a bit.”

Holman received the award in front of a schoolwide assembly.

Iola City Council members will discuss potential upgrades to the Bassett substation. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN

Feinstein’s legacy honored

SAN FRANCISCO

(AP) — The late U.S.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein was toasted Thursday at a memorial service as a leader with uncommon integrity and a defender of American values — as well as a talented artist and a grandmother who gave crooked haircuts in her kitchen.

President Joe Biden, who sent recorded remarks, was among the short list of speakers who praised Feinstein at the private memorial service outside San Francisco City Hall.

Why Kansas makes it harder to qualify for food assistance

By BLAISE MESA KCUR

TOPEKA, Kansas — Kansas lawmakers have continued to pass on a federal policy that could make more people eligible for food assistance programs. Now, the state is one of the last in the country that has not yet adopted it.

The policy has to do with how much value people can have in assets and still receive food stamps. The flexibility allows families to have more assets and still be eligible for food assistance, something that especially benefits older people or families caring for elderly relatives.

So far, 41 states, two territories and the District of Columbia have adopted the more flexible rules, including conservative states like Texas, Florida and Alabama.

Those states have even raised the minimum thresholds for eligibility as part of the program.

Adopting the policy — called broad-based categorical eligibility — would not mean that more people automatically get food assistance. It simply allows states to expand federal guidelines to make more people eligible. Those people would still go through the application process and could be denied.

Current federal policy cuts off benefits to anyone making too much.

That’s $1,133 in monthly net income for a household of one or $1,920 for a household of three.

In addition to income limits, people are ineligible for food stamps if they have $2,750 in assets — such as money in savings accounts or the value of cars — or up to $4,250 in assets if at least one person in the household is over 60 or disabled. Dozens of states have waived asset limits and have almost doubled income thresholds because of categorical eligibility.

Haley Kottler, a food policy expert with Kansas Appleseed, said making it harder to get food assistance can have negative affects on families in other ways. A 2017 study from the University of Kansas found that welfare cuts increased the number of foster care cases. A later study further confirmed that expanding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program could decrease the number of foster care cases.

Kottler said asset limits can be especially harmful because it penalizes people for hav-

ing savings needed for the “curveballs that life often throws at us — car repairs, home repairs, unexpected job loss and family funerals, just to name a few.”

“It is extremely disappointing that state lawmakers have continued to villainize and stigmatize our neighbors that need access to programs like food assistance the most,” she said in an email. “So often Kansas is lagging behind other states when it comes to helping hungry people access food.”

Kansas lawmakers appear unlikely to make it easier to access SNAP. The state has only added on more requirements to get food assistance, like expanding age ranges for work requirements and increasing the minimum number of hours someone has to work.

The state also set up a welfare reform committee to continue to look at changes. Francis Awerkamp, the Republican chair of that committee, didn’t respond to requests for comment about what lawmakers want to do when they return to Topeka in January.

Republicans have said those changes incentivize more people to get jobs and help lift them out of poverty.

In 2016, when Kansas passed the HOPE Act, a

wide-ranging bill with a host of restrictions on welfare programs, then-Republican governor Sam Brownback said this would be good for low-income people.

“It’s helped people get out of poverty. It’s helped people have more income and in some cases it’s helped people get back their dignity to get back into the labor force,” Brownback said in 2016.

Gina Plata-Nino, deputy director for SNAP at the Food Research and Action Center, looks at SNAP policies across the country. She didn’t have glowing reviews of the Kansas program.

She said expanding eligibility has been a positive thing for other states. Not only does it make programs more flexible for users, but it reduces the administrative burdens on states.

“They’re still making sure everyone who’s getting in is eligible, but they don’t have to go through additional hoops,” Plata-Nino said.

“So I will say that states that have done it, do report being more administratively flexible and able to concentrate on the ongoing issues.”

A majority of SNAP recipients are kids, and she said making it harder to get benefits could hurt people who have no real way of making money.

Vice President Kamala Harris, herself a product of San Francisco politics, and other national leaders spoke in person to send off the first female mayor of San Francisco and longest-serving woman in the U.S. Senate.

“She was always tough, prepared, rigorous, compassionate. She always served the people of California and our nation for the right reasons,” Biden said. “God bless a great American hero. She was something else, and she was a dear friend.”

The service marked the end of two days of events in the city that launched Feinstein’s political career amid tragedy. Hundreds of everyday people streamed into City Hall on Wednesday to pay their respects to the woman who shattered numerous glass ceilings.

On Thursday, it was time for national lead-

Dianne Feinstein

ers and Feinstein’s family to share tributes to the woman they knew. They did so with personal and warm anecdotes that reflected Feinstein’s kindness, wit, and passion for the city in which she was born and raised, California and the country.

Eileen Mariano recalled how Feinstein, her grandmother, created the AMBER Alert program and protected California’s deserts. But she was also a woman who hated losing at chess, cut hair crookedly and sang Mariano to sleep with “You Are My Sunshine.” She taught Mariano to put in the work and

to keep going no matter what.

“That, and she would also say to me, if you ever go out of town, no matter where you’re going, it doesn’t matter if you’re going to a city or the desert or a beach or the mountains, always pack a black pantsuit. There is no occasion to which you can’t wear a black pantsuit,” Mariano said.

About 1,500 people were invited to the private memorial, where two large outdoor screens showed photos of Feinstein over the years. Guests seated in white chairs sweltered on an unseasonably hot day as the U.S. Navy Blue Angels flight team soared overhead, occasionally interrupting speakers with the roar of their jets. The flight demonstration squadron is in the city as part of Fleet Week, an annual San Francisco celebration started by Feinstein in 1981 when she was mayor.

Commission recommends raising legislators’ pay

By TIM CARPENTER Kansas Reflector

TOPEKA — A bipartisan commission led by former state lawmakers Thursday endorsed recommendations raising the base salary of House and Senate members to $43,000 per year and establishing a method of indexing annual adjustments linked to a three-year rolling average of growth in overall Kansas wages.

The commission was given authority by the 2023 Legislature to study compensation provided the state’s 165 lawmakers. The group’s proposal will be subject to public comment prior to a final vote of the commission Oct. 19 at the Capitol. Approval would forward the report to the 2024 Legislature, which could vote to block the plan or allow it to be implemented. Unlike a regular bill, Gov. Laura Kelly has no role in the decision.

“This gets the Legislature on a better course,” said former Rep. Mark Kahrs, a Republican. “We’ve reached a very good product. I’m really proud of the work we’ve done here. We represent

a pretty broad political spectrum, yet we’ve worked well together.”

Former Democratic Rep. Ed McKechnie said the package forged by the commission was the product of efficient deliberations.

“Almost gives myself goose bumps,” McKechnie said. “This is how the republic was supposed to work. Commission is formed. We come in. We do our work. We go home.”

Former GOP Rep. Mark Hutton, who chaired the

Case No. AL-2023-CV-000039

NOTICE OF SUIT

NOTICE OF SERVICE BY PUBLICATION

The State of Kansas to the above-named Defendants and any unknown corporations, partnerships, persons, and other legal entities that may derive or claim any unrecorded title or interest in the property, their successors, assigns, heirs, trustees, legal representatives, and all other persons, including any unknown spouses, corporations, partnerships, legal entities, beneficiaries, or successors claiming by, through or under them or claiming under a person, firm, corporation, or trust named in the Petition, and any tenants residing or having an interest in or possession of the Property at issue and all other concerned persons:

commission, said the core of the proposal was the move to set a base annual salary for each legislator at $43,000. It would be equivalent to one-fourth of the salary paid a member of the U.S. Congress, but would represent a 50% raise for Kansas legislators.

Hutton said the proposed salary figure was drawn from a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report of average annual wages among Kansans employed in the pri-

(24), RANGE NINETEEN (19) EAST OF THE SIXTH PRINCIPAL MERIDIAN, ALLEN COUNTY, KANSAS and THE NORTHWEST QUARTER (NW/4) OF SECTION TWENTY-THREE (23), TOWNSHIP TWENTY-FOUR (24), RANGE NINETEEN (19) EAST OF THE SIXTH PRINCIPAL MERIDIAN, ALLEN COUNTY, KANSAS, LESS THE FOLLOWING

TWO TRACTS:

THAT PART OF THE NORTHWEST QUARTER (NW/4) OF SECTION TWENTY-THREE (23), TOWNSHIP TWENTY-FOUR (24), RANGE NINETEEN (19) EAST OF THE SIXTH PRINCIPAL MERIDIAN, ALLEN COUNTY, KANSAS, DESCRIBED AS BEGINNING AT A POINT 433.4 FEET EAST OF THE NORTHWEST CORNER OF SAID SECTION, THENCE EAST

899.1 FEET, THENCE SOUTH

855.6 FEET, THENCE WEST 212.1 FEET,

vate and public sectors. It assumed a legislator was dedicated to the job 100% of the time for five months during the legislative session from January to May. It also assumed legislators were committed to state government duties 50% of the time in the other seven months. The workload equivalent to 8.5 months, accounting for roughly 70% of the year, helped establish the $43,000 base salary. Hutton suggested the

commission tie annual adjustments in legislator salary to the latest yearly percentage increase or decrease in wages earned among Kansas workers. Several commissioners sought to avoid situations in which legislator pay suddenly surged or had to be cut due to economic forces.

“If the rest of Kansas takes a hit,” Hutton argued, “I don’t see any reason that a legislator shouldn’t take a hit.”

Instead, the commission decided to rely on a three-year rolling average of the statewide increase in wages reported by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. For example, the average salary earned by Kansans in 2021, 2022 and 2023 would be the basis for determining the percentage raise for legislators in 2025.

The commission said the per diem daily allowance paid legislators for lodging, meals and incidental expenditures should be unchanged at $157 per day. The per diem is available to legislators during the annual session, on special session days and for interim committee meetings.

(First published in The Iola Register Sept. 23, 2023)

Affidavit of Publication for the Allen County Historical Society, Inc.

The annual Allen County Historical Society, Inc., business meeting will be held at the Stadler Room at the Allen Community College (1801 N. Cottonwood St. Iola, KS) on Monday, October 16, 2023 at 6:30 p.m. Following the business meeting, John Masterson will be presenting the history of ACC at 7 p.m. The meeting is free and open to the public to attend. For more information contact the historical society at (620)365-3051, email achsdirector@outlook.com

(9) 23, 30 (10) 7

American tourist arrested

JERUSALEM (AP)

— Israeli police have arrested an American tourist at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem after he hurled works of art to the floor, defacing two second-century Roman statues. The vandalism late Thursday raised questions about the safety of Israel’s priceless collections and stirred concern about a rise in attacks on cultural heritage in Jerusalem.

Police identified the suspect as a radical 40-year-old Jewish American tourist and said initial questioning suggested he smashed the statues because he considered them “to be idolatrous and contrary to the Torah.”

The man’s lawyer, Nick Kaufman, denied that he had acted out of religious fanaticism.

(Published in The Iola Register Oct. 7, 2023)

KS-AL-038 or Allen County Parcel No. Tax ID: 08623-0-00-00-002-00-0-01, Parcel KS-AL-040) Service by Publication, Defendants.

You are notified that a Verified Petition for Condemnation has been filed in the District Court of Allen County, Kansas, Civil Division by Nextera Energy Transmission Southwest, LLC, the object and general nature of which is to condemn the following real property and to obtain an easement to construct and maintain a high voltage, direct current transmission line and associated facilities on the property. The real property parcels are legally described as: THE FOLLOWING REAL PROPERTY LOCATED IN THE COUNTY OF ALLEN, STATE OF KANSAS: THE WEST HALF OF THE NORTHEAST QUARTER (W/2

NE/4) OF SECTION TWENTY-TWO (22) TOWNSHIP TWENTY-FOUR

OF LAND IN THE NORTHWEST QUARTER (NW/4) OF SECTION TWENTY-THREE (23), TOWNSHIP TWENTY-FOUR, RANGE NINETEEN (19), EAST OF THE SIXTH PRINCIPAL MERIDIAN, ALLEN COUNTY, KANSAS DESCRIBED AS FOLLOWS: COMMENCING AT THE NORTHEAST CORNER OF THE NORTHWEST QUARTER (NW/4) OF SECTION TWENTY-THREE (23), TOWNSHIP TWENTY-FOUR (24), RANGE NINETEEN (19), THENCE SOUTH ON THE QUARTER SECTION LINE A DISTANCE OF 1483.0

telephone number

are further notified that you are required to file an answer or other pleading or otherwise appear and defend against the aforesaid petition on or before 45 days from the date of the first publication, in the Court at Allen County, Kansas. If you fail to plead, judgment by default will be rendered against you.

Dated: September 26, 2023 POLSINELLI PC

By: /s/ Seth C. Wright SETH C. WRIGHT (#20981) AMBER J. SIMON (#27280) 900 W. 48th Place, Suite 900 Kansas City, MO 64112 (816) 572-4464 (800) 886-4064 (Fax) scwright@polsinelli.com asimon@polsinelli.com

ATTORNEYS FOR PLAINTIFF (9) 30 (10) 7, 14

(Published in The Iola Register Oct. 7, 2023)

Public Notice Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas is submitting an application for operating assistance for transportation under the U.S.C. (rural public transportation) of the Federal Transit Act. The application will be for operating funds to help provide transportation services in the area.

Written comments and questions in regards to this application are encouraged and will be accepted until 5:00 pm on October 31, 2023, and should be sent to: Becky Gray at bgray@chcsek.org or 3015 North Michigan Street, Pittsburg, Kansas 66762.

(10) 7

Public Notice of DBE Notification Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas, Inc (CHC/SEK) receives Federal Transit Administration (FTA) operating dollars. This funding is utilized for things such as, but not limited to, the purchase of fuel, insurance, equipment, maintenance, and storage. This agency is seeking Kansas Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) certified companies as potential vendors for these services. Please contact CHC/ SEK, if you are a DBE or are interested in learning more about the DBE program. Comments and questions in regards to this are encouraged and will be accepted until 5:00 PM on October 31, 2023, and should be sent to Becky Gray at bgray@ chcsek.org 3015 North Michigan Street, Pittsburg, Kansas 66762. (10) 7

A special commission created by the Kansas Legislature approved a draft plan Thursday that would raise the base salary of state legislators to $43,000 and link annual raises to the three-year rolling average of increases in wages earned by Kansans in the private and public sectors. TIM CARPENTER/KANSAS REFLECTOR

Saturday, September 7, 2023

~ Journalism that makes a difference

A6 Music adds rich dimension to travel

By SUSAN LYNN The Iola Register

Oftentimes, it takes getting away to get a closer perspective of home. Or yourself.

Such is the case with a trip my husband, Brian, and I recently took to Ireland with local friends Nancy and Patrick Haire.

The excursion coupled music and travel.

The latter, I’m fairly adept.

The former, however, I’ve increasingly distanced myself.

ON THE TOUR were 21 fans of musicians James Moors and Kort McCumber. Brian and I, who had listened to their music only enough to confirm we were open to more, did not feel we qualified as such. Our status has since changed.

The duo go by the name Moors & McCumber. When not on the road performing, Moors lives in Wisconsin and McCumber in Colorado.

The tour’s fans also hailed from the Midwest including Iowa, Minnesota, Colorado and Kansas. Our regional proximity helped us discover other commonalities.

Our worldviews frequently overlapped, allowing for free-flowing conversations.

The musicians left the actual guiding and driving to a professional tour guide and driver.

As we traversed the Republic of Ireland, Moors and McCumber would frequently play at spots of historical or geographic significance.

Their music crosses the genres of folk, bluegrass, rock, country and Celtic, resonating with fans of Van Morrison, Jackson Brown, Simon & Garfunkel and the like.

Whenever they began to play, passersby would gather round.

One such stop included the village of Skibbereen where we learned of the impact of The Great Potato Famine. Skibbereen lost more than 10,000 townspeople, onethird of its population, to the famine, 1845-1852.

More than 1 million nationwide died due to starvation and related illnesses and another 1.25 million emigrated to escape the horrors.

It’s only today that Ireland has caught up in terms of population.

The psychic toll, however, is woven into Irish culture.

Surrounded by an exhibition at the Skibbereen Heritage Centre, Moors and McCumber pulled out a guitar and mandolin to sing their song, “Leaving for Cobh,” which tells of the nightly

death carts that hauled bodies to mass graves and of a family’s decision to sail to America from the port at Cobh.

“In the nights you can hear the carts passing by Delivering loved ones to homes in the sky …

We drink to remember

We drink to forget

We drink to put rest

To the ghosts in our heads

Who remind us of home

As we sail to new lands

So we’re leaving for Cobh in the morning.”

ON THE MAJESTIC Cliffs of Moher that look over the vast North Atlantic Ocean, the duo performed an instrumental and again at the ancient Poulnabrone Dolmen, a Stonehenge-like gravesite from more than 5,000 years ago.

As we traversed the region, we were also introduced to Irish performers who over the years have become fast friends with their American counterparts.

Most performed in local pubs — a family affair.

In a conversation with Donnchadh Gough, owner of a pub called The Local in Dungarvan, County Waterford, he said he used the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown as an excuse to turn the place “back to how I always wanted it.”

Down came the TVs plastered around the walls as well as the sound system that blared music late into the night.

“We went from a sports bar to a pub where people come to talk and listen to music.”

The locals welcomed the change, he said.

“We have live music six

The Cliffs of Moher, above, are on the Republic of Ireland’s southwestern coast. At right, musicians James Moors, left, and Kort McCumbers, play an instrumental along the cliffs. The duo’s professional name is Moors & McCumber. Twice a year they sponsor tours to Ireland and Scotland where they not only perform for the group whenever they feel the urge, but also pair up with Irish musicians along the route. Pictured below, friends Nancy and Patrick Haire, right, join my husband, Brian Wolfe, and I on the adventure.

days a week, and close up shop at 10 p.m.”

I DIDN’T set out to make friends with 21 strangers, but it happened. Sharing experiences can do that.

But I mostly credit the music. Those notes and voices found their way into my

bones. And heart.

Before I knew it I was beginning to learn some of the duo’s songs. Even as I write this, I’m humming their song, “Sacred Ground.”

I recently learned that U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is a serious fan of rock ‘n’ roll and plays a mean electric guitar as well as sings vocals.

Other than world peace, music is his passion. Blinken would say the two complement each other.

“Music is the most powerful connector,” Blinken said in a recent New York Times article. “It transcends virtually any kind of barrier you can think of.”

I now know what he means.

GOP hostility to Ukraine is hurting American arms production

Tuesday’s ouster of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was a spectacular exercise in Republican masochism, and some in the party are increasingly confused about national defense too. To wit, since when do Republicans oppose shoring up U.S. weapons stocks?

The stopgap government funding measure Congress passed over the weekend didn’t include aid for Ukraine, which President Biden has requested. More than 100 Republicans voted last week to strip $300 million for Ukraine from a spending bill. The Pentagon said Tuesday that it could continue to offer aid to Ukraine for “a little bit lon-

ger,” with roughly $5 billion left to draw down U.S. stocks.

But the account that lets the Pentagon backfill U.S. military weapons that have been donated to Ukraine is down to $1.6 billion. “We have already been forced to slow down the replenishment of our own forces to hedge against an uncertain funding future,” the Pentagon’s comptroller said in a letter to Congress. Allow us to unfurl some ironies. GOP critics frequently complain that support for Ukraine is putting another country’s problems over our own. Yet now this crowd is stonewalling money to refill U.S. military cupboards, from bombs to air defenses, even though much of this will

be an upgrade for American forces over Cold War equipment — such as new tactical vehicles to replace old Humvees.

The Ukraine skeptics fret that the U.S. is expending too much ammunition in Europe, a distraction from the larger threat from China.

Yet that is an argument for forcing Mr. Biden to move faster to expand U.S. weapons production. The war in Ukraine has revealed that the U.S. needs deeper reserves in everything from artillery to long-range fires. And it is a strategic gift to learn this lesson before U.S. troops are dying in a war.

Take 155mm artillery. The U.S. is producing 28,000

shells a month, a Pentagon under secretary said in September, up from about 14,000. By 2025? On track for 100,000 a month. The Biden ramp up has been too slow given Ukraine’s need for shells, but it’s far superior to the meager previous output that couldn’t sustain a protracted fight.

In other words, money marked for Ukraine is tied up with America’s ability to defend itself, even if Mr. Biden has failed to explain this to the public. The more weapons America can produce, the more the world’s Xi Jinpings have to think long and hard about provoking the U.S. The now empty Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which

lets the Pentagon procure new weapons from industry, is a down payment on a larger U.S. industrial base.

Arms production isn’t an American jobs program or economic stimulus, a fallacy that Republicans should reject. But it is nonetheless puzzling to see conservatives who complain about “hollowed out” U.S. manufacturing oppose money for producing missiles in Alabama or tanks in Ohio.

In less polarized times, Republicans would be capitalizing on Mr. Biden’s Ukraine request to expand U.S. military power, not holding equipment and ammo as a partisan hostage.

— Wall Street Journal

Housing: Panelists examine barricades, opportunities

Continued from A1

cy rate is more than double other areas?

And who can afford — or qualify — for a mortgage for such a home? If the developer receives incentives to build, are they passing those savings down to the buyer?

“How do we reduce the debt and make the sales price or the rent affordable to whatever market we’re aiming at? Sometimes it’s private money. Sometimes it’s grant money. Sometimes it’s municipal or public money.”

It’s a struggle Iola’s city administrator Matt Rehder knows all too well.

Rehder was part of the panel and shared a recent example. A developer wanted to build houses and asked the city to extend street, water and electric infrastructure at the former Cedarbrook Golf Course. The city’s costs exceeded $1.5 million, forcing administrators to pull from other funds to pay for the work. Then, the developer backed out, leaving the city with 16 improved — but empty — lots.

“What do we do now?” Rehder asked. “Do we go even further and give the lots to a developer for free? We’ve already spent the money. We are doing everything but building a house and selling it ourselves.”

Thrive Allen County has been invested in housing since 2015, when the organization joined Iola Industries in support of a project to build a grocery store and apartment complex at the former hospital site.

It was a learning experience — and a turning point for Thrive, the organization’s CEO, Lisse Regehr, said. Thrive’s primary focus is health; leaders realized how important housing is to the overall health of a community and its residents.

“We had community conversations, and

Thursday’s morning session at Allen Community College focused on applied learning, where students apply lessons learned in the classroom to real-world settings. Students and faculty from both Allen and K-State shared the value of applied learning and explored ways to strengthen the relationship between Allen and the Iola community. Here, Allen students discuss how applied learning has enhanced their college education. From left, Emily Ator, an Allen sophomore from Iola; Anabeth Ratzlaff, sophomore from Kingman, Kan.; Josiah Bobb, a freshman from Trinidad and Tobago; Dr. Graciela Berumen, K-State’s assistant director of college access and community outreach; and Jay Leach, a Chanute sophomore at Allen.

tary schools into apartments. Work has begun to convert the former Arkhaven nursing home into apartments.

“We have all this momentum, but then we kind of get stutter-stepped. Barriers come up. Developers drop. Grants don’t come through. So we pivot and try to find another way.”

Thrive has worked with R. Todd Gabbard, a professor of architecture at K-State. In recent years, he has brought students to study the needs of communities in Allen County. Students met with local leaders to learn about the communities and offer a fresh perspective.

dents’ work to show how the land could potentially be developed.

WHAT does “affordable housing” mean?

As Gray noted, there’s a math equation for that.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development defines

“affordable housing” as spending less than 30% of post-tax income on housing. Yet, a national coalition found 18 million families in the U.S. spend more than 50% of their income on housing.

“Affordable housing is such a broad term,” Hammerschmidt said.

“Basically what that means is ‘affordable to me.’ It’s very subjective. For a long time, everything was about low-income housing. We’re forgetting about our workforce and blue-collar workers who have been neglected for a long time.”

Hammerschmidt works for First Step Builders, a contracting company that helps communities in southeast Kansas obtain housing, and serves on the board of SEK Inc., a housing coalition. She said banks look at gross income, not net, in calculating whether someone can afford a mortgage.

“If you’re relying on a bank to tell you what you can afford, you’re screwed as soon as you walk in the door,” she said.

Gabbard, the professor, noted efforts to solve the housing prob-

we kept hearing people say, ‘We need housing,’” Regehr said. “So there’s been a concerted push toward that. We’re really trying. We have really strong partnerships and we’re going outside the box to come up with unique ways to solve issues.”

Momentum built. Multiple housing projects have been proposed in recent years. Some, such as the Cedarbrook development mentioned by Rehder, did not pan out. Others are pending, such as a proposal to convert three former elemen-

“We help people visualize solutions,” Gabbard said. “I like to get students involved and bring them to small towns like Iola, to help them understand the context of what they do. They talk to people, they help identify problems and think about solutions.”

When Thrive and other groups asked state lawmakers to approve Lehigh Portland State Park, they used the stu-

Tonya Johnson, vice president of finance and operations at Allen Community College, reflected Thursday on the importance of student internships as Stephen Ebel, Allen’s director for institutional effectiveness and research, Dr. Bruce Moses, Allen president, and Melanie Wallace, dean of distance and general education at Allen, listen.

REGISTER/TIM STAUFFER

Iola City Administrator Matt Rehder speaks at a conference about housing issues Thursday in Iola. The forum was sponsored by Kansas State University. REGISTER/VICKIE MOSS

See KSU | Page A8

Wells: Aims to rejoin Iola Council

Continued from A1

was supposed to be a threeyear stint,” Wells said. “Funny how things work out.”

Sixteen years later, Wells has finished his doctorate, is chair of Allen’s social and behavioral sciences division and finds himself very comfortable in Iola.

“Iola is home. I’m not going anywhere,” said Wells. “Now if the University of Hawaii calls me, that sounds great. But I’m not looking to leave.

“I like the sense of community. I love the friendliness.

I walk every day, and when I first moved to town, I wondered why people were always waving at me. But now I appreciate that.”

Wells, 40, first ran for council hoping to get young people involved. He went on to serve four years as a council member and four more as mayor. After his second two-year stint as mayor during “the fun COVID years,” as he mordantly describes them, Wells felt it was time for a break.

“You burn out a bit,” he reflected. “I knew I wasn’t running after that. You have to take some time off, step back, and come back to it when you’re passionate about it again.”

RECHARGED after a twoyear hiatus, Wells sees lots of possibilities for Iola. He ticks off the new state park, the prospective PrairieLand location north of town, improvements to Allen County Regional Airport, and progress on the Cedarbrook Third Addition.

“We have some good starts. The big issue in Iola is housing. It’s everyone’s big issue. If everything goes right with these projects, we can have up to 100 units available,” said Wells.

Wells looks to Iola’s square

as another way the town can better serve small businesses. “We’re too protective of the square sometimes,” he opined. “Sure, we have to keep it nice and pretty, but if businesses on the square need something, we should try it. The parking debate is a good example. That took months, and it was silly.” (In 2019, after much discussion the Iola City Council approved changes to overnight parking regulations on Iola’s square. Wells championed the compromise.)

“And I didn’t follow the entire debate on the issue, but I thought Paul Porter’s idea to allow charging stations on the square was a good one. I would have been in favor of it.”

Wells also foresees the council having to address some big ticket items in the near future.

“No one likes it, but the rebuild of Highway 54 has to happen,” he said. “We can keep patching it, but what should last seven to 10 years now lasts two. We’re wasting money until we do it.” Wells has reached out to State Sen. Caryn Tyson and U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall to see if infrastructure funds are available.

He also sees some sort of action necessary regarding the city’s sewage treatment infrastructure. “I don’t know what that is, but we may have to address the lagoons or think about a mechanical plant. As the state changes its regulations, we have to adapt.”

WELLS’ eight years on city council taught him some lessons he won’t soon forget. First up: be willing to compromise.

“Half a loaf of bread is better than none,” said Wells. “You have to be willing to work with others. Any time you

KSU: Ends visit

Continued from A7

talk about budgets, it’s a compromise. The same goes for a rate increase. No one wants to do those things, so it’s always a compromise. Everyone is working for what they believe is best for the community. Remembering that makes it a lot easier to find common ground.”

Looking back, Wells points to the new Peerless facility, G&W’s new grocery store, a successful school bond issue, CHC/SEK’s new building, continued EMS contracts with the county and Tramec Sloan’s new location as examples of the city collaborating with others. “And I’m proud of how the City of Iola made it through the February 2021 storm,” said Wells. “We didn’t take out loans. It was expensive, but we paid the bill and moved on. Other communities are still paying off loans with significantly higher rates.”

He expanded on the theme. “Energy, energy, energy. The way Iola is going to achieve economic success is with enterprise funds. We need more energy production options, including renewables. That’s how the city can sell energy, make a profit, and use it to help alleviate the stress on taxpayers. Iola has been able to keep our tax rates much lower than surrounding communities.”

“We can also do more to diversify our local economy,” he said, preparing for another discussion. But it was time for the interview to end, and as Jon Wells walked to his car he appeared still deep in thought, pondering the next problem to solve, or how to frame a topic. The political scientist deals in theory, but the rubber really meets the road in local politics. Wells is ready to step back into the arena.

lem typically focus on specific segments of the population, such as those who are low income versus moderate income.

“But, basically, housing is not affordable at pretty much every level, unless you win the lottery,” he said. Gray added to his point, mentioning other groups that have unique challenges. Her organization, Building Health, is a subsidiary of Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas that was created to address the “social determinants” of health such as housing, transportation, early childhood education “and things in the built-environment that impact our health outcomes.”

She pointed out the aging Baby Boomer population is creating a “Silver Tsunami” of seniors who want to remain in their homes but cannot always maintain them properly. Young adults who have mental or physical challenges need supportive services to help them navigate the complexity of home ownership.

MANY STATE and local groups are working to improve the housing situation in Kansas.

The Kansas Housing Resource Center recently was awarded $65 million in grants for efforts to improve housing for moderate-income levels. Other housing assistance programs also have targeted working families with moderate incomes.

Darin Luebbering, president of Advanced Sys-

tems Homes, attended the event as an audience member. He discussed Neosho Memorial Regional Medical Center’s Green Living program, a maintenance-free housing program for seniors. When the resident is ready to move to an assisted living center, the program buys back the house.

Gabbard said that’s just one example of how public and private organizations can find alternative solutions.

“I think there is a model for a nonprofit developer, and it doesn’t necessarily have to be a city,” he said.

Hammerschmidt noted SEK Inc. will host a housing conference in November “to ensure everyone doesn’t have to reinvent the wheel and we can work together as a team: industries, hospitals, municipalities.

“It’s going to take the whole community.”

Thrive Allen County CEO Lisse Regehr speaks at a housing forum Thursday. REGISTER/VICKIE MOSS

Saturday, October 7, 2023

Sports Daily B

Iola ends regular season at Louisburg

By QUINN BURKITT The Iola Register

LOUISBURG — The Iola Mustang cross country team wrapped up its regular season at the Louisburg Invitational Thursday.

Iola’s boys varsity came in sixth place in the 5000-meter run. Blue Valley, Spring Hill and Louisburg took home the top three placements.

“The key to the traditions of our team comes from their bond,” said Iola head coach Brittany Daugharthy. “They put in the effort to support each other. The boys make it worthwhile to race together while doing so with a positive attitude.”

Keegan Hill and Cole Moyer led the Mustang boys varsity team with 24th and 26th place finishes with respective times of 19:30 and 20:02. Brennen Coffield came in 40th with a time of 21:13 while Caden Coltrane took 44th place with a time of 21:40.

“Keegan Hill has made huge strides this season,” Daugharthy said. “He tried a new strategy, and it worked out well today. He is always ready to push himself in practice and meets.”

Kaiden Vega took 44th place with a time of 22:27, followed by Joshua Wanker in 50th place with a finish of 23:16 and Adriel Pina in 51st place with a finish of 23:42.

“This is definitely a fun group to coach,” Daughar-

thy said. “Some of our new team members were a little nervous about racing in the varsity division, but with the encouragement of their teammates, they went for it. We have seen great progress in times because of that.”

IN THE GIRLS varsity race, Lynsie Fehr came in 19th place with a time of 24:45. Mahailie Genoble came in 27th place with a time of 26:37. Iola meets in Wellsville next Thursday for the Pioneer League meet.

Three Rivers League teams run at Pleasanton

By QUINN BURKITT The Iola Register

PLEASANTON — Marmaton Valley, Crest and Yates Center’s cross country runners earned top finishes at their final meet of the season in Pleasanton Thursday.

Crest’s Peyton Schmidt earned first place, while Aubrey Allen snatched seventh in the varsity girls 5000-meter run. Yates Center’s Jalynn Birk also took 10th place in the girls race. In the boys 5K race, Crest’s Gunner Ellington finished sixth.

Marmaton Valley’s runners finished tops in the JV and middle school races, with Emma Louk earning first place in the seventh grade girls two-mile run. Sophia Heim took second place in the JV girls 5K run.

Crest In the varsity boys race,

Ellington crossed the finish line with a time of 18:02, followed by Elijah Taylor in 22nd place at 19:51.

In the varsity girls, Peyton Schmidt took first place with a time of 19:53 while Allen got seventh place with a finish of 22:23. Kaylee Allen took 12th place with a time of 24:29.

For the eighth grade boys two-mile run, Jimmy Ayers snatched a fifth place finish with a mark of 13:09. In the seventh grade girls two-mile run, Lynnex Allen got second place with a finish of 13:53 while Jordan Allen took home 10th place with a time of 15:47.

In the seventh grade boys two-mile run, Crest’s Wyatt Francis took 13th place with a time of 15:31 while Lukas Taylor got 14th place with a time of 15:33.

Marmaton Valley

Marmaton Valley’s young-

HMS Cubs dominate Bluestem

HUMBOLDT — The Humboldt Middle School Cubs dominated Bluestem in a 56-0 victory at home Thursday.

It was the third shutout for Humboldt’s (4-2) defense this year.

The Cubs went up early when Truman Grzybowski rushed for a 38-yard touchdown and the 8-0 lead.

Weston Johnson added on the two-point conversion.

Remington Strickler then went for a long 53-yard touchdown run, followed by a Grzybowski 25-yard touchdown reception with both two-point conversions successful for the 24-0 lead.

Humboldt runs at Osage City

OSAGE CITY — Humboldt’s cross country team finished their regular season at the Osage City Invite Thursday.

Nathan Swogar finished in 12th place for the Humboldt boys junior varsity and McKenna Jones took 28th in the girls varsity race.

In the varsity boys 5000-meter run, Colden Cook led Humboldt’s pack with a 44th place finish with a personal-record time of 18:56.

Other finishers included Brigg Shannon, 71st, 20:21; Thatcher Mueller, 79th, 20:48; Jack Works, 81st, 21:03; Landon Bauer, 83rd, 21:13 and Maxtyn Mueller, 84th, 21:20.

In the varsity girls race, three Humboldt girls finished within seconds of each other.

Jones’ finished 28th with a time of 22:44.

Anna Heisler came in

See CUBS | Page B2

IMS splits against Burlington

BURLINGTON — The

Iola eighth grade Mustangs came out on top while Iola’s seventhgraders were shut out by Burlington on the road Thursday.

In the second quarter, Humboldt completed three more touchdowns beginning with a Strickler 39-yard touchdown run. Gryzbowski came next with an intercepted pass for a 50-yard picksix. Weston Johnson then ran in a 26-yard touchdown for the 44-0 halftime lead.

Breckin Guenther punched in a one-yard touchdown followed by Mason Miller adding on a 56yard touchdown run for the final 56-0 score.

Defensively, Ty Shaughnessy brought in a teamhigh eight tackles for a loss and one sack. Johnson had

See HUMBOLDT | Page B4

sters ran well in the JV and middle school races.

Sophia Heim finished with a time of 25:14. In the JV boys 5K run, Brendon Newman earned an eighth place finish with a time of 22:46.

In the eighth grade boys two-mile run, Thomas Allee took home sixth place with a

time of 13:30 while Colin Ard took 10th place with a finish of 13:30.

In the seventh grade girls two-mile run, Emma Louk won with a time of 13:30.

In the seventh grade boys two-mile run, Jalen Curl took fourth place, clocking in at

See TRL | Page B2

The eighth grade Mustangs handily beat the Wildcats, 45-0, while Iola’s seventh-graders fell to Burlington, 40-0. Iola’s eighth grade defense earned a shutout, and Reginald Davis led the eighth grade Mustangs with four touchdowns.

Eighth grade Iola’s defensive front was solid on the night with Kiwi Dean, Noah Anderson, Byson Bak-

See MUSTANGS | Page B2

Mahomes has Minnesota on his radar

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — There’s only one team in the NFL that Patrick Mahomes has yet to beat. The Minnesota Vikings, it figures, are the only one he’s never faced.

Matching up with the two-time NFL MVP and his defending champion Kansas City Chiefs is hardly a recipe for maintaining the momentum generated last week by their vulnerable defense, but the Vikings of course don’t get to choose their schedule. What players with any pride would want it any other way? It’s time for the team that won 13 games and

the NFC North last season to show it can still be a factor in 2023 and keep those

long-frustrated fans from obsessing over next year’s

See CHIEFS | Page B3

Iola’s Keegan Hill, left, runs beside cross country runners from Wellsville at the Central Heights meet earlier this season. REGISTER/QUINN BURKITT

Peyton Schmidt, left, and Josie Walter, No. 1583, of Crest, at the starting line at Fort Scott. REGISTER/QUINN BURKITT

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes drops back to pass against the Chicago Bears. TAMMY LJUNGBLAD/ THE KANSAS CITY STAR/TNS

Europe-US Ryder Cup rivalry forms outside ropes

GUIDONIA MONTECELIO, Italy (AP) — Outside the ropes, there’s another Europe vs. United States rivalry forming at the Ryder Cup.

These teams are singing songs, not making putts.

In the blue corner, it’s the “Guardians of the Cup” — a group of university pals from Nottingham in central England regaling the European players with playful ditties.

In the red corner, it’s the American Marshals, a group of friends from Minnesota wearing helmets with horns and going hoarse backing Zach Johnson’s U.S. team with their own easy-on-the-ear ballads.

They are both now fixtures at the biggest show in golf and are sure to be there early on Friday, taking their places on the front rows of the grandstands around the first tee.

And they have some new songs in their repertoire, including this by the Guardians for Europe’s newest star, Sweden’s Ludvig Åberg, to the tune of ABBA’s “Knowing Me, Knowing You.”

“Knowing me, knowing you … Åberg. There is nothing you can’t do.

“Knowing me, knowing you … Åberg. We cannot believe you turned pro in June.

“Playing golf is never easy, I know, but you’re now Team Blue.

“Knowing me, know-

ing you, Ludvig, we just love you.”

The Guardians are easy to spot in their yellow caps, sunglasses with yellow rims, blue waistcoats and trousers with dotted with golden stars on the front, and knee-high yellow socks.

They were golf-loving friends at the University of Nottingham and needed something to keep them tight after they left. They chose to meet up at Ryder Cups, starting with the 2010 matches at Celtic Manor.

“Back in those days, people weren’t dressing up at all and we thought we’d add a little bit of spice,” said Teddy Shuttleworth, a 44-year-old Guardian.

Humboldt: Topples Bluestem

Continued from B1

three tackles and a fumble recovery. Strickler then brought in 3.5

tackles while Brandt Farmer had three tackles and one tackle for a loss.

The Cubs are at Neodesha Thursday, Oct. 12 for the final regular season game.

Cubs: XC at Osage City

Continued from B1

29th place with a time of 22:53 and Tori Melendez placed 30th at 22:59.

Other finishers included Mallory Sinclair,

49th, 24:57; Sophia Barlow, 50th, 24:59; Danica Modlin, 53rd, 25:21; and Jo Ellison, 59th, 26:31.

In the JV action, Swogar came in 12th with a personal-record

time of 21:21 while Cooper Gillespie placed 44th, 27:15.

Humboldt is in Fredonia for the Tri-Valley League meet on Thursday at 4 p.m.

Mustangs: Split at Burlington

Continued from B1

er, Isaiah Geisler, Hunter Brensten and Aidan Cheney all stepping up in a big way. Kevon Loving led the way with a team-high six tackles. Colton Thompson and Anderson each went for five tackles.

Reed Clift also had two fumble recoveries while Brodon Westerman and Loving each recovered a fumble.

“These guys stuffed Burlington’s running attack,” Iola head coach Scott Ellis said. “Our linebackers were making great reads, and our defensive backs kept them from getting anything big thrown at us.”

Offensively, Davis rushed for four total touchdowns and 223 yards on only seven carries. Davis’s touchdown runs were 54, 42, seven and 80 yards.

Reed Clift made a difference at quarterback for the Mustangs, passing for two touchdowns on 103 yards through the air. Colton Thompson hauled in a 61-yard touchdown reception on a trick play. The other touchdown reception was brought in by Davis III on a 42yard reception.

Thursday’s game was the first time in Ellis’ IMS coaching career that the team was successful on a field goal extra point, made good by Clift.

Seventh grade Iola’s seventh-graders came out on the losing end of their Burlington contest, falling 40-0.

The Mustang of-

fense couldn’t get anything going, amassing 76 yards while losing one ball to a fumble.

Lucas Boeken rushed for a team-high 36 yards but also had the lone fumble.

“Burlington put it on our seventh graders,” said Ellis.

“I thought the boys came out aggressively. We were only down 14 at the half, and we were driving the ball. In the second half, we gave up way too early and

they took advantage. I was glad to see Spencer Sargent lead the way he did.”

Iola’s defense couldn’t force any turnovers but were led by Spencer Sargent’s five tackles and Hunter McDaniel’s four. Findley Cameron also had three tackles while Jeep Harper and McDaniel each had one sack.

Iola hosts Wellsville next Thursday for their final matchup of the season.

“We sat on the first tee — when you could actually get on the first tee without climb-

ing through a hedge or sleeping under the grandstand — and Colin Montgomerie stood

out at the front, takes his hat off to address

TRL: Runners meet at Pleasanton

Continued from B1

13:18. Case Drake took ninth place with a time of 15:08, and Daniel Allee took 17th place with a finish of 15:57.

Logan Sneed finished in 22nd place with a mark of 16:43.

Yates Center Jalynn Birk led all Yates Center runners with a time of 23:51, good for 10th place. Asher Arnold took 28th place with a time of 20:22 for the varsity boys.

In the eighth grade boys two-mile run, Isaac Stoll took 11th place with a time of 14:54 while Maddox Bysfield took 17th place with a finish of 18:06.

In the seventh grade boys two-mile run, Laken Culver

took home 12th place with a finish of 15:29, while Joseph Bishop took 20th place with a time of 16:38. Connor Bysfield took home 21st place with a time of 16:39.

In the seventh grade girls two-mile run, Bentile Kuron got 22nd

place with a time of 20:18. Decembyr Garrett took 24th place with a time of 22:57. Crest, Marmaton Valley and Yates Center will all meet at the Three Rivers League meet at Southeast-Cherokee next Thursday at 4 p.m.

See RIVALRY | Page B6

The United States’ Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas and Max Homa celebrate on the 18th green. PATRICK SMITH/GETTY IMAGES/TNS

Mahomes: Vikings match up for first time in Minnesota

Continued from B1

draft position.

Playing the Chiefs (3-1) ought to be as accurate of a measuring stick as the Vikings (1-3) could find for the first weekend in October.

“You want to play against the best,” Vikings safety Harrison Smith said, “and these guys certainly have been that in recent history.”

With two Super Bowl titles in his first five seasons as the starter,

all those statistical accomplishments and his unique blend of fearlessness and improvisation that has gone a long way toward redefining quarterback play for a new generation, Mahomes doesn’t have much left to accomplish on the field.

Defeating the Vikings to complete the checklist of 31 other teams would be an impressive feat, considering half of the league only appears on the schedule every

four years in the NFL’s formula for interconference competition.

“I just want to win every week,” said Mahomes, who is 67-17 in the regular season and 11-3 in the playoffs as a starter. “It’s not necessarily beating this team because I haven’t played them. It’s going in with the mentality to do what I need to win the game.”

When the Chiefs beat the Vikings in 2019, Matt Moore was behind center while Mahomes

recovered from a dislocated kneecap. Though Mahomes has lost to Indianapolis in his only two regular-season matchups, he and the Chiefs beat the Colts in his first career start in the playoffs.

“Right now, we’re just all focused on trying to get things right,” coach Andy Reid said, “but it is an amazing stat for him for sure.”

The Chiefs are favored by 5½ points, according to FanDuel Sportsbook

odds, but even with a defense that ranks just 21st in the league in passing yards allowed the Vikings might well be catching their opponent at the right time in what’s sure to be a raucous U.S. Bank Stadium.

With a wide receiver group still trying to find its way, Mahomes has thrown four interceptions over four games and is only 15th in the NFL in passer rating (92.0).

“I have to put us in

better positions and make better decisions so guys can go out there and make plays for me,” Mahomes said.

PICKING HIS SPOTS Mahomes isn’t feared for his speed, but his ability to use his feet has still been a useful tool in Kansas City’s offense. He showed that in last season’s playoffs, when his scramble set up the winning field goal against Cincinnati in the AFC championship game.

Bears captured at factory

TOKYO (AP) — Three bears that snuck into a tatami mat factory in northern Japan and were holed up inside for nearly a day have been captured and killed, according to town officials and media reports.

A patrolling official spotted the bears, believed to be a parent and two cubs, as they walked into the factory on Wednesday morning in Misato, a town in Akita prefecture, where there’s been a growing number of reported bear attacks in or near residential areas.

An owner of the factory said he saw the bears walking outside but never thought they would come inside.

Town officials and police officers rushed to the site, wearing

Projects Technician

helmets and carrying shields, and kept watch. Local hunters used fire crackers to try to scare the intruders out, without success. They later set up a pair of cages at the entrance of the factory and waited overnight.

On Thursday morning, the bears were trapped in cages, two cubs in one and the adult in another. Television footage showed the cages being taken out of the factory and placed on a pickup truck with a crane. Misato issued an urgent message later Thursday to residents that all three bears had been captured. Media reports said the bears were later killed for fear that they would return to the town and pose a threat if released.

Hong Kong man imprisoned over books

HONG KONG (AP) — A Hong Kong man was sentenced to four months in prison Friday after he pleaded guilty to importing children’s books that were deemed to be “seditious publications.”

Kurt Leung, a 38-yearold clerk, was sentenced after he admitted to importing 18 children’s books featuring wolves and sheep. He was arrested in March after he signed for a delivery from the U.K. containing the books.

The books feature sheep that lived in a village and had to defend themselves against wolves. In the series of books, the sheep take action such as going on strike or escaping by boat, which are said to allude to incidents such as the 2019 anti-government protests and the detention of the 12 Hong Kongers who attempted to escape by sea.

Authorities say that

the books are an attempt at inciting hatred in young children and stirring up contempt against the government in Hong Kong and mainland China.

The sedition offence, which is a colonial-era law that carries a maximum penalty of up to two years’ imprisonment for first-time offenders, has in recent years been used by Hong Kong authorities to quash dissent in Hong Kong. The semiautonomous Chinese city was a British colony until it was returned to China in 1997.

Leung was accused of working with a former colleague to have the books delivered from the United Kingdom to Leung’s office in Hong Kong. He was arrested days after he signed for the package.

He has since expressed remorse about the incident in a letter to the court, where

he said he realized the books would “affect the general public.”

The creators of the sheep and wolves books were five members of the General Union of Hong Kong Speech Therapists. They were sentenced to 19 months in prison in September 2022.

Since then, a group of self-described overseas educators have taken over the project and published three more titles that are available to purchase in the U.K. Digital copies are also available for download.

Hong Kong has seen its freedoms decline in recent years as Beijing has tightened control over the city, following the imposition of a sweeping national security law aimed at stamping out dissent.

The national security law, together with the sedition law, has been used to arrest activists and outspoken pro-democracy figures.

Couple ponders confidential conversations

Tell

Adapted from an online discussion.

Dear Carolyn: The other day, my girlfriend and I were at dinner with some friends of ours, a couple. I was deeply shocked when our friends asked me for an update on a major career decision I’m in the middle of making.

I had not told them anything about it, though my girlfriend and I have talked about it daily for weeks.

I gave them a non-answer and laughed it off, but it has led to some serious relationship tension. My girlfriend does not see why it was a big deal that she mentioned my job situation to her friend — the wife in the other couple. She didn’t realize it was supposed to be private. I, meanwhile, think things discussed between us are assumed to be private unless we agree otherwise. We got as far as her exasperatedly saying that

next time, if she confides in the wife on the side, she will ask her not to repeat it to me, which, of course, is clearly beside the point and the opposite of what I want. Am I being unreasonable here? — Private

Private: Thinking that my or anyone’s confirmation of your reasonableness will make any difference here is unreasonable. Are you entitled to privacy? Yes. Do you have a right to ask people to keep your confidences, either on specific things or in general? More the former than the latter, but still, yes to both. Yet these don’t govern what others choose to do.

They’re statements of principle only.

In this situation, your girlfriend apparently didn’t know you felt this way about your major decision. That seems pretty normal to me, both ways: You just assumed People Don’t Share These Things because that’s your view, and she just assumed People Share These Things because that’s her view. They’re both valid views; you both made the rookie mistake of thinking that if you think it, then it must apply to everyone. (Aw, something you have in common …)

Now that you both know it doesn’t work that way, you each have an opportunity to decide how you’re going to handle each other’s information. You can decide to apply your standards to your business and hers to hers

— i.e., you both respect each other’s natures and keep your news private and blab hers freely. Or

Improve safety for trick-or-treaters

By SADIQA A. I. KENDI American Academy of Pediatrics

With Halloween around the corner, it’s a good time to consider ways to improve the safety of trick-or-treaters planning to roam neighborhoods and communities. The holiday brings delight to many but also heightens the risk of pedestrian injuries, as costumed characters dart from house to house or are distracted by scary sights and sounds, especially after nightfall.

Those who are handing out treats at home can also help improve safety by keeping pathways to the door well lit and free of any obstacles like bicycles or garden hoses that might block the path of visiting goblins, witches and ghosts. Drivers should be extra careful on the roads that day, especially between 5:30 and 9:30 p.m., when

trick-or-treaters are most likely to be out.

It’s always best for an adult to accompany young children when they trick or treat. Often your town or park district will offer Halloween activities earlier in the day so you can avoid going out after dark. Older children should travel in groups and create a “buddy system” to get each other home safely and prevent walking alone.

Here are some more suggestions:

• For older children going out with friends, agree on a specific time when they should return home and get flashlights with batteries for everyone. Carry a cellphone for quick communication.

• Only go to homes with a porch light on and, ideally, a well-lit pathway.

• Make sure that shoes fit and costumes are short enough so kids don’t trip on them. Hats and/or masks should fit

properly to prevent them from sliding over eyes and blocking vision.

• Remember reflective tape for costumes and trick-or-treat bags.

• Remain on well-lit streets and always use the sidewalk and crosswalks. If no sidewalk is available, walk at the far edge of the roadway facing traffic.

• Never cut across yards or use alleys.

• Only cross the street as a group in established crosswalks (as recognized by local custom). Never cross between parked cars or out of driveways.

• Don't assume the right of way. Motorists may have trouble seeing trick-or-treaters. Just because one car stops doesn't mean others will.

• Caution kids about the risk of distracted walking, including text messaging, talking on or looking at their phone phone and listening to music.

each of you can decide to live your own way and let the other one deal with it. I.e., she keeps blabbing, you keep guarding, and you both keep getting annoyed with each other. Or various other permutations.

Once you’ve both decided where to draw your own lines, then you see whether you can function as a non-miserable couple within them. If so, yay. If not, then you either break up, argue recurrently about this stuff till the end of time, or decide the other person’s company is worth it to you to warrant moving your lines.

Because she’s not budging and you haven’t broken up and want me to tell you you’re right, it appears you’ve both chosen the “have this recurring argument till the end of time” path. Which you’re welcome to do, though I hope you’ll spare others from having to listen to it, and definitely not have kids. You might be happier, though, if you accept neither of you is budging and move on to open discussion of Plan B, whatever that may be.

ZITS

by Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman

BEETLE BAILEY

by Mort Walker

HAGAR THE HORRIBLE by

Chris Browne

BLONDIE

by Young and Drake

by Patrick McDonell

by Tom Armstrong

by Chance Browne

MUTTS

MARVIN

Magic Johnson chides Commanders in Thursday loss

LANDOVER, Md. (AP)

— Washington Commanders part-owner Magic Johnson criticized coach Ron Rivera’s team for playing with “no intensity or fire” in a 40-20 loss Thursday night to the Chicago Bears, a club that hadn’t won a game in nearly a full year.

The latest poor showing for the Commanders, in front of a national primetime audience, to boot, also was too much for some of the home fans to take, apparently, and so it came, appropriately, with a soundtrack of boos. In the fourth quarter, a chant of the team’s old nickname — “Let’s go, Redskins!” — broke out.

Their defense — supposedly a strength under Rivera, a former Chicago linebacker, and coordinator Jack Del Rio — was unable to do a thing to slow, let alone stop, Justin Fields and DJ Moore, and the Commanders (2-3) fell into a 24-point halftime hole along the way to dropping their third game in a row.

“It starts at the top,” Rivera said. “That’s on me.”

Johnson, part of the new ownership group that took over the club from Dan Snyder, wrote on social media after the game that Washington “played with no intensity or fire” and “didn’t compete in the first half.”

Asked about those comments, Commanders receiver Terry McLaurin called it “a pretty fair assessment.”

“It doesn’t matter what your intentions are. It’s what you put out there on the field. I know we don’t have a lazy bunch. I know we don’t have a non-intense group of guys,” McLaurin said. “That showing is not reflective of us, but that’s who we are — we put that on tape.”

This followed a 3431 overtime loss at the

Mets’ Eppler resigns

NEW YORK (AP) —

Billy Eppler resigned as New York Mets general manager Thursday, and a person familiar with the probe said he is under investigation by Major League Baseball.

The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation.

first president of baseball operations. Eppler spent the past two seasons running baseball operations for New York in his role as GM.

The Mets said they could not comment because it’s an ongoing investigation.

Philadelphia Eagles, seen by some as a positive step forward, and a 37-3 loss against the visiting Buffalo Bills after trailing 16-0 at the break the game before.

Washington has allowed at least 33 points in each of its last four games.

“Just missed plays. Missed tackles. Just things that we’ve got to correct. Mental mistakes,” Commanders safety Darrick Forrest said.

How lopsided was this one at the get-go?

In the first quarter alone, Chicago produced three plays longer than any they’d had all season: throws of 58 and 39 yards from Fields to Moore, and a 34-yard run by Khalil Herbert. Washington, in contrast, had two three-and-outs in that period.

Fields also connected with Moore for a 56-yard TD toss in the fourth quarter, sending spectators to the exits.

And how did Washington’s offense do? By the time Sam Howell led the hosts to their initial first down, nearly 2½ minutes into the second quarter, Chicago (1-4) was already ahead 17-0.

At halftime, the tally was 27-3, and the Bears had outgained the Commanders 307-84 in total yards.

As the two-minute warning approached in the second quarter, a message reading “Make

Rivalry: Ryder Cup

Continued from B2

the crowd and one of our guys shouts out, ‘You can keep your hat on!’ Suddenly that turns into a ‘You can keep your hat on’ routine.”

The group has become more organized, with Teams meetings and WhatsApp video calls to practice the songs. They are recognized by the European players — Justin Rose is known to be a fan, for example — and are regularly stopped for photos as they roam the course, as they were on a hot day at the Marco Simone club on Thursday.

together like it does at the Ryder Cup?”

As for their U.S. equivalents, the American Marshals — a group of guys from Minneapolis — were originally labeled the “Minnesota Vikings” at their first Ryder Cup, also in 2010. There’s 13 of them because they like to see themselves as the 13th man of the U.S. team.

— Cary Curtis, member of the Guardians

U.S. players Max Homa and Scottie Scheffler stopped putting on the practice green on Thursday afternoon to take photos of the Marshals as they serenaded the golfers with songs. Homa threw them a signed cap.

“It’s great to see thousands and thousands of people coming together from across Europe to support the team,” said Cary Curtis, another member of the Guardians. “When does a continent come

some noise” on the scoreboard went mostly unheeded.

Soon after, a chant of “Let’s go, Bears!” could be heard. And as the Commanders headed to the locker room for the half, full-throated boos came from the stands, along with some middle fingers and thumb’s-down gestures.

By game’s end, Fields was 15 for 29 for 282 yards and four TD passes, while Moore had eight catches for 230 yards with three scores. Howell, meanwhile, had two touchdown passes and one interception, while getting sacked five times to raise his total this season to a league-high 29.

Washington finally showed a hint of competence by opening the third quarter with a five-play, 75-yard touchdown drive capped by Howell’s 2-yard throw to tight end Logan Thomas. Howell ran in the 2-point conversion to get to 27-11.

Afterward, the Commanders forced the Bears to punt for the first time all evening.

A comeback in the works? Not out of the question, especially given that Chicago blew a 21-point lead in what became a 31-28 loss to the Denver Broncos on Sunday, the 14th defeat in a row under coach Matt Eberflus.

The person did not disclose the nature of the probe, but the New York Post was first to report Thursday that Eppler is being investigated by MLB for improper use of the injured list.

His surprising resignation came three days after David Stearns was hired above Eppler as the Mets’

Eppler’s decision to step down continues an overhaul that followed a fourth-place NL East finish for a team with playoff expectations and World Series aspirations.

Mets owner Steve Cohen fired manager Buck Showalter on Sunday, saying Stearns deserved to bring in his own manager.

“I wanted David to have a clean slate and that meant me stepping down,” Eppler said in a statement released by the team.

Cohen had long talked about hiring a president of baseball operations above Eppler and had said baseball operations leadership had become too large a job for one person. Eppler attended the Monday news conference at Citi Field to introduce Stearns, who discussed working in tandem with Eppler.

“Billy and I have had I think a really nice relationship going back years as competitors. Talking to each other, whether it’s about transactions or just about industry events,” said Stearns, the former Milwaukee Brewers boss who also held front-office positions in Houston and Cleveland. “I have a lot

See METS | Page B7

“We’re all friends living in Minnesota,” said Bill Rouse, 67. “We play golf together, we are family friends, everything. You’ll hear us on the first tee tomorrow.

Loud and proud.”

Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields (1) loads up a 20-yard touchdown pass to DJ Moore. BRIAN

CASSELLA/CHICAGO TRIBUNE/TNS

Tuesday: Volleyball @ home, 4:30 p.m.

Thursday: Cross country @ Wellsville, 4 p.m.

Friday: Tennis@state; Football v. Prairie View

Tuesday: Volleyball @ home, 5 p.m.

Thursday: Cross country @ League - Fredonia

Friday: Football v. Cherryvale, 7 p.m.

Saturday: Volleyball @ Neodesha, 9 a.m.

Tuesday: Volleyball v. Pleasanton, 5 p.m.

Friday: Cross country @ Southeast, 4 p.m.; Football @ Lebo, 7 p.m.

Tuesday: Volleyball @ Yates Center, 5 p.m.

Thursday: Cross country @ SE Cherokee, 4 p.m.

Friday: Football v MdCV, 7 p.m.

Tuesday: Volleyball @ home, 5 p.m.

Thursday: Cross county @ SEK League, 4 p.m.

Friday: Football v. Flint Hills, 7 p.m.

Monday: Volleyball @ Ottawa JV, 7 p.m.

Wednesday: M/W Soccer v. Central, 1/3 p.m.; Volleyball v. Highland, 6:30 p.m.

Saturday: M/W Soccer v. Neosho, 2/4 p.m.; Volleyball v. Northeastern Oklahoma A&M, 6 p.m.

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First time NHL coaches getting opportunities

By STEPHEN WHYNO The Associated Press

Troy Terry and new Anaheim coach Greg Cronin were sitting in a Colorado Starbucks when the coffee cups became stand-ins for players. Cronin moved them around the table to explain how he wants the Ducks to play.

Cronin is one of a handful of first-time NHL head coaches getting an opportunity this season after nearly four decades in various other roles, and the Ducks see it as a refreshing new start. For Terry, who had played for only one other coach as a professional, the coffee cup demonstration was a revelation.

“He’s the right guy for the job,” Terry said.

“It is exciting to have a first-time head coach. I know he’ll be motivated, energized and we’ve got a young group of players that are trying to establish themselves and establish a team identity.”

Also among the firsttime head coaches this season are Washington’s Sapencer Carbery, Calgary’s Ryan Huska and Columbus’s Pascal Vincent, who was a last-minute replacement when veteran Mike Babcock was forced to resign days before training camp opened. Peter Laviolette with the New York Rangers is the only new coach with prior experience running a team at the NHL level, and he brings with him a Stanley Cup-winning resume.

SPENCER CARBERY

The Capitals, after three seasons of varying success with Laviolette, moved on to Carbery,

Mets: GM Eppler under investigation

Continued from B6

of respect for the experience he has in this game, the experience he has in New York, and I’m looking forward to working with him.”

But just a few days later, Eppler is out.

“He decided it is in everyone’s best interest to fully hand over the leadership of baseball operations to David Stearns,” Cohen said in a statement.

The 48-year-old Ep-

pler worked in scouting and player development for the Colorado Rockies from 2000-04, then joined the New York Yankees. He was director of professional scouting from 200611 and an assistant GM under Brian Cashman from 2012-14.

Eppler became GM of the Los Angeles Angels from 2015-20, then was fired after five losing seasons. The Mets gave him a four-year contract in November 2021

to become their fifth head of baseball operations in 13 months.

He signed ace Max Scherzer and outfielder Starling Marte among his first moves, and the Mets went 10161 in 2022 — the second-most wins in franchise history. But after leading the NL East for all but six days, they were caught at the finish by Atlanta and then lost to the San Diego Padres in their NL Wild Card Series.

who they envisioned as his eventual successor. Carbery previously coached their top minor league affiliate, the American Hockey League’s Hershey Bears, went to Toronto for two season as an assistant with the Maple Leafs and was in demand around the NHL before Washington hired him.

“All the guys loved him,” Leafs forward Matthew Knies said. “Obviously a really good hockey mind. ... Really deserving of it.”

Carbery at 41 is the league’s youngest coach. He is less than four years older than star forward Alex Ovechkin.

“He’s just going to bring in a new philosophy for us,” center Nicklas Backstrom said. “A lot of things are going to change systematically, I think, and I just think that hopefully that’s going to fit us a little bit better.”

GREG CRONIN

This chance has been a long time coming for Cronin, 60, after stints in college, the minors and as an NHL assistant for the Leafs and New York Islanders. He spent the past five seasons coaching the American Hockey League’s Colorado Eagles, guiding them to the playoffs four times. Cronin now takes over a young team in Anaheim hoping to move on from a

pitiful four-year stretch under Dallas Eakins and take another step in the rebuilding process.

“He’s someone that is hard but fair and he’ll be holding players accountable,” said Terry, a two-time All-Star who recently signed a $49 million, seven-year extension. “Having a young team, I think we need that.”

PASCAL VINCENT

Vincent got his first NHL head coaching gig with the Blue Jackets in one of the most unusual ways possible when he was elevated from assistant in the wake of Babcock’s resignation. He was a finalist for the job when Babcock was hired and in 2021 when Brad Larsen got the job; Vincent spent the past two seasons on Larsen’s staff.

“He was the perfect choice,” general manager Jarmo Kekalainen said at Vincent’s introductory news conference. “He was very close to our first choice anyway.”

Vincent believes his advantage is knowing most of the players already. But don’t expect that to mean the Blue Jackets will look the same as they did under Larsen, or even Babcock.

“It’s going to look different,” Vincent said. “We’re going to tweak quite a few things.”

RYAN HUSKA

Huska, a play-

er-friendly coach, replaces hard-nosed Darryl Sutter, whose dealings with players were often harsh and led to tension around the locker room.

Huska, like Vincent, was an assistant under Sutter and predecessors Geoff Ward and Bill Peters, so he too has familiarity with Flames players. Unlike Vincent and Cronin, Huska will be expected to help Calgary contend immediately.

“I love his vision for the team,” center Nazem Kadri said.

“He wants to win now, which is something I can appreciate. I think he’s kind of in that newschool genre where he wants to listen to everybody’s input and ideas and kind of bring it all together.”

PETER LAVIOLETTE

Exit Gerard Gallant, enter Laviolette in the Big Apple in a switch of experienced coaches with plenty of experience behind the bench. Gallant was such a grinding figure on players that Laviolette, who has mellowed and adjusted a bit in his years in the NHL, could be a breath of fresh air. Laviolette is no teddy bear, and the early days of Rangers camp were full of his trademark skating drills. After a first-round playoff exit, captain Jacob Trouba expects and welcomes a

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Greg Cronin speaks to reporters during a press conference announcing him as the new head coach of the Anaheim Ducks in Anaheim, Calif. AP PHOTO/ASHLEY LANDIS

NHL

Continued from B7

different approach with Laviolette, who won the Cup in 2006 with Carolina and has taken two other teams to the final.

“His track record kind of speaks for itself,” Trouba said.

“He’s coached for a long time in the league, and he’s had success in the league. I think he’s big on the unity and cohesiveness of the team from the conversations I’ve had with him, and I think that’s going to be great for us.”

WNBA Finals between Aces, Liberty begins Sunday

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Las Vegas Aces and New York Liberty are poised to tip off their highly anticipated WNBA Finals showdown, a matchup of the preseason favorites projected to battle for the title.

Both teams feature lineups comprised of MVPs, All-Stars and future Hall-of-Famers that dominated the regular season. With the title on the line, games are expected to be more competitive than the regular season blowouts — the closest out-

come was nine points when they met.

“This is kind of like our March Madness and anything goes,” Las Vegas forward A’ja Wilson said. “I don’t think you’ll see a lot of lopsided games because both teams are great and we’re playing at the right time. When we saw each other, some (players) were revving up, some were getting close to it, some were figuring it out. But I think now we’re all on the same page of where we are as a team.”

History will be made

no matter which team wins.

The reigning champion Aces could become the first team to repeat since the Los Angeles Sparks did it 21 years ago. A championship also would further validate one of the top regular seasons in league history, putting them record books along with those Sparks teams, the Houston Comets who won four titles in a row and the Detroit Shock who won three times in six years. Las Vegas set an WNBA record with 34 regular-season victo-

RACING THIS WEEK

YELLAWOOD 500 AT TALLADEGA

Ryan Blaney’s third win at Talladega punched his ticket to the next round of the Cup Series Playoffs after being points away from elimination.

High-banks Blaney nabs Playoff win at Talladega

TALLADEGA, Ala. – Ryan Blaney’s No. 12 Team Penske Ford crossed the finish line about a foot ahead of Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick to claim victory in a thrilling final 10-lap push to the YellaWood 500 checkered flag at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday.

With the crucial Playoff win – Blaney’s third on the famed 2.66-mile high-banks – the driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford punched his ticket to the next round of the Cup Series Playoffs after being points away from elimination at the Talladega green flag three hours earlier.

Blaney led eight laps on the day but was out front the final two laps to secure the win by a slight .012-second – about the length of a tire – over former series champion, Harvick, who is retiring at the end of the season. It’s the 29-year old Blaney’s second trophy of the season and ninth of his career.

“I don’t really know, pretty wild last restart, let alone last couple laps,’’ said a smiling Blaney, who admitted he wasn’t sure if he won until his spotter confirmed. “Kinda lost momentum, then getting it back, got clear to the bottom to kind get to the front row and drag race it out with Kevin [Harvick]. It’s so cool to win here three times at Talladega.”

Kevin Harvick’s No. 4 Ford failed post-race inspection, resulting in a disqualification. As a result, he was moved to last place in the running order. Playoff drivers Byron, who drives the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, and Denny Hamlin, who drives the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota finished second and third. Spire Motorsports’ Corey Lajoie was fourth – his third career Top-5 finish – just ahead of a multi-car accident just before the finish line.

Blaney’s Penske teammate Austin Cindric, Hendrick’s Chase Elliott, Kaulig Racing’s Justin Haley, Harvick’s teammate Ryan Preece and Front Row Racing’s Riley Herbst –making only his fourth career Cup Series start – rounded out the Top-10.

It was a typical action-packed ‘Dega day with 70 lead changes among 24 drivers. Blaney’s teammate Joey Logano led the most laps (24) but finished 25th.

Seven drivers led double-digit laps, but only one – Byron –was a Playoff driver.

Hamlin’s fourth place final effort was especially impressive considering he was issued a pit road penalty mid-race and had to recover from being a lap down.

Blaney joins last week’s Texas winner Byron with victories in this three-race Playoff round to earn a position in the next eight-driver round. Hamlin’s rally – after running outside the Top-20 for much of the middle of the race – keeps his position atop the Playoff standings (50 points) among those 12 drivers still Playoff eligible.

JGR’s Christopher Bell, who finished 15th, remains fourth in the championship standings. Roush Fenway Keselowski

Ryan Blaney, driver of the #12 Menards/Pennzoil Ford, crosses the finish line ahead of Kevin Harvick, driver of the #4 Busch Light Camo Ford, to win the Cup Series YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway Sunday.

(Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)

ries this season. A Liberty championship would be their first, and fulfill the hopes of the several blockbuster offseason moves. New York — which won 32 games — and the Las Vegas split the four regular-season meetings, but the Liberty crushed the Aces 82-63 in the Commissioner’s Cup championship.

“They’re a handful,” Aces coach Becky Hammon said. “You’re not going to stop them with just one person.”

Liberty coach Sandy Brondello said only so

TRUCKS BURNOUT ALERT! Brett Moffitt, driver of the #34 Fr8Auctions Ford, celebrates after winning the Love’s RV Stop 250 at Talladega Saturday. (Sean Gardner/Getty)

much can be gleaned from the regular-season meetings.

“The playoffs go to another level,” Brondello said. “This is for the championship. We’ll have to have a little bit more urgency and little bit more desperation in everything that we do. Every moment matters, and that’s our focus.”

Liberty forward Breanna Stewart agrees with her coach.

“You can feel the weight from the fans and the excitement around the city,” said Stewart.

CUP PLAYOFFS 6TH RACE

BANK OF AMERICA ROVAL 400

Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course

2 p.m. ET Sunday, NBC

• Charlotte Motor Speedway was designed and built in 1959. In 1984 it became the only sports facility in America to offer yearround living accommodations when it built 40 condominiums high above turn one. The lighting system was installed in 1992, allowing it to be the rst modern superspeedway to host night auto racing.

CUP PLAYOFF NOTES

After the fth race of the Cup Series Playoffs, here’s a quick look at the playoff picture. Only the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course Sunday remains before the championship-eligible eld is trimmed to eight.

driver Chris Buescher, who finished 20th at Talladega, is ranked fifth. Hendrick’s Kyle Larson, who finished 16th Sunday, holds a 17-point edge on the eight-driver cut-off line tied with regular season champion Martin Truex Jr., who finished 19th at Talladega.

Brad Keselowski, one of two Playoff drivers to suffer a DNF on Sunday, still holds a slim two-point edge on Tyler Reddick for that eighth and final transfer position going into next week’s race at the Charlotte ROVAL, which will determine which eight drivers advance to the three-race round to set the Championship Four field.

23XI Racing’s Reddick, who finished 17th, is in ninth place – a mere two-points back. Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain who was involved in an early-race accident and suffered his first DNF of the Playoffs dropped below the cutoff line and is now 10th place, nine points back.

Chastain is tied in points with 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace, who finished a frustrating 24th on Sunday. His team co-owner, NBA superstar Michael Jordan met up with Wallace on pit road after the race offering a handshake, pat on the back and some encouraging words.

Two-time series champion Kyle Busch still finds himself in a catch-up role, essentially needing a walk-off victory next week at the ROVAL road course through Charlotte Motor Speedway. He finished 26th and now sits 26 points behind eighth place Keselowski.

Keselowski’s position in the standings – thanks in part to his sixth stage win (stage 2) of the season – is remarkable considering his tough luck day at Talladega. He was among the eight cars collected in Talladega’s “Big One” with 25 laps remaining that brought out a nearly 10-minute red flag for clean-up.

Ryan Blaney scored a dramatic and ultimately clutch victory at Talladega, locking his way into the Round of 8. Blaney, who scored the Stage 1 victory earlier in the contest, now carries an additional six playoff points into the next stanza of the postseason thanks to his Alabama efforts.

WHO’S HOT?

• Denny Hamlin. Hamlin bounced back from an early pit-road speeding penalty after falling off the lead lap and recovered for a fourth-place nish (third place after Harvick’s No. 4 Ford failed post-race inspection and was DQ’d). The result marks Hamlin’s second top- ve result of the round after a fth-place nish last week at Texas.

• Christopher Bell. It was far from pretty, but a 14thplace nish at Talladega marked a day salvaged for the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing team. Bell was involved in a Lap 162 crash and suffered signi cant frontend damage, but the team was able to repair the vehicle enough to keep it in contention and score a reasonable result. Bell leaves Talladega sitting third in the points standings, 22 points above the elimination line..

Christopher Bell was a road course fresh tire warrior last year at Charlotte.

JARED C. TILTON/ GETTY