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THE IOLA REGISTER Locally owned since 1867
www.iolaregister.com
Thursday, January 8 , 2015
Proposed bill would raise minimum wage Wichita Rep. wants $3 jump over three years By BRYAN LOWRY Wichita Eagle
Ben Converse paints trim inside the new Daylight Donuts shop in Iola. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN
Sweet shop sees proverbial light
a stormwater drainage ditch along Tennessee Street on the east side of the property. Once that’s complete, weather must remain warm enough so a new concrete parking lot can be poured. “We need the drainage fixed first, so we can tie into it with the parking lot,” said David Greathouse, general contractor in charge of the renovations. The parking lot is a neces-
Medicaid rates reduced for primary care docs By DAVE RANNEY KHI News Service
TOPEKA — Starting this month Kansas primary care physicians will be paid less for seeing Medicaid patients. The expiration of a federal incentive program in the Affordable Care Act is responsible for the reduction. Nationally, the average fee reduction is expected to be about 43 percent, according to a recent report from the Health Policy Center of the Urban Institute. However, in Kansas, the cut in payments likely will be much less, closer to 25 percent. The change is expected to affect about 2,500 primary care physicians in the state. “The reductions vary from state to state,” said Stephen Zuckerman, a co-director and senior fellow at the Urban Institute. The reductions rescind a
See WAGE | Page A2
Who will blink first: McConnell or Obama?
By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
An opening date for the new Daylight Donuts shop in east Iola remains up in the air because of a handful of issues that have slowed renovations to the property. Sam Chit, Fort Scott, acquired the building at 1319 East St. in 2014 with his wife, Many. The building formerly served as Wayne Barnett’s nursery/garden center, and prior to that, as a gas station. Their plans were to have the building renovated, along with exterior improvements, in order to open by the end of December. But, Chit noted, a number of significant hurdles stand in the way. The biggest impediment now is weather, which has prevented crews from improving
A Wichita Democrat wants the state to raise the minimum wage by $3 over the next three years. The Kansas Working Families Pay Raise Act, sponsored by Rep. Jim Ward, D-Wichita, would raise the state’s minimum wage to $8.25 an hour, from $7.25 an hour, on July 1. That’s an increase of 13.8 percent. The minimum wage would increase again by $1 an hour the next two years in July,
hitting $10.25 in 2017. A full-time worker at the state’s current minimum wage earns just over $15,000 a year, slightly above the federal poverty line for a family of two people, according to a news release from House Democrats. “The jobs that are coming back (since the recession) are much lower wages than before and that’s why the minimum wage is so important,” Ward said in a phone call. “It is fundamentally wrong for people who go to work full time to live at the poverty level … that defeats the purpose of work.” Kansas last raised its minimum wage in 2009. Twenty-nine states have a higher minimum wage. Ward said Democrats have
two-year incentive package that accompanied enactment of the Affordable Care Act. The package’s pay provisions expired Dec. 31. “Kansas’ Medicaid fees, two years ago, weren’t as low as they were in other states,” Zuckerman said. “So the payment incentives that were built in the Affordable Care Act weren’t as much for Kansas as they were for other states. “Now that those incentives are going away,” he said, “the decrease won’t be as much either.”
A temporary change
The increases were meant to encourage primary care physicians to take on more Medicaid patients — children, frail elders, and people with disabilities, primarily — in anticipation of more people being eligible for government-funded health care. States that used federal See MEDICAID | Page A5
Quote of the day Vol. 117, No. 50
sity because of potential soil contamination, Chit said, stemming from the building’s proximity to the old zinc smelters in operation in the early days of the 20th century. “It’s been difficult,” Chit told the Register in a telephone interview. “We spent a lot of time looking for a building so we can open, and now we’ve had other problems.” Also a necessity — removSee DAYLIGHT | Page A5
WASHINGTON (AP) — Not wasting any time, new Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and President Barack Obama are setting course for showdowns over health care, a big oil pipeline, immigration policy and financing of the agency that tries to protect the U.S. from terrorists. At the same time, both insist they are eager for compromise — if only the other side would give in. “It seems with every new day, we have a new veto threat from the president,” McConnell, R-Ky., complained
Wednesday, his second day as Senate leader. Republicans won control of the chamber in the November elections, and strengthened their hold on the House. With the 114th Congress just getting underway, the White House already has announced that Obama stands ready to veto three bills that Republicans hope to rush through. One would allow construction of the Keystone XL pipeline to bring oil from Canada. Another weakens Obama’s signature health care law, by increasing the See CONGRESS | Page A2
Don’t let winter woes ruin workouts By KAYLA BANZET The Iola Register
Don’t let negative wind chills and snowy forecasts freeze your motivation to keep your health-minded New Year’s Resolutions. Iola fitness gurus are here to tell you your health goals are within reach. “It’s the little things that can change your life,” said Roger Campbell, a fitness instructor and former owner of Gett Fitt fitness center. Campbell has been active in the health world for more than 20 years. He said many have the misconception that intensity in a workout is the most important attribute, but it’s really consistency. Some might resist going to a gym to workout. Instead, doing little things around the house like cleaning can burn a lot of calories, Campbell said. Instead of traditional weights, place canned vegetables in a plastic sack to create onepound dumbbells. Also, buying a $10 exercise band can
Jacob Browning, left, owner of Adrenaline Fitness, works with Drake Sell Wednesday afternoon at the fitness center. REGISTER/KAYLA BANZET
help with complete strength training. “You don’t have to be lifting heavy weights, it’s the consistency that is the key,” Campbell said. One of his tricks at home is to not watch commercials. When they come on, Campbell gets up and moves around. Jayme Browning, co-owner
“There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact.” — Arthur Conan Doyle 75 Cents
of Adrenaline Fitness, also said gallon jugs of water can be used as weights. For those who avoid the gym, she suggested doing body weight training by doing squats, push-ups, and abdominal crunches. Browning and her husSee WORKOUTS | Page A5
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