The Iola Register, Dec. 8, 2022

Hilarious

By VICKIE MOSS The Iola Register

Some of the best Christ mas tales are spooky stories. Think: “A Christmas Carol” or “The Nightmare Before Christmas.”

You can add “The Colbern County Radio Broadcast In terruption: A Modern Ghost Story” to that list. It’s a ter rifically terrifying twist on a haunted Christmas, written and directed by Piqua resi dent Nic Olson.

The Iola Community The atre Warehouse troupe offers performances at 7 tonight through Saturday at the ICT Theatre, 203 S. Jefferson Ave.

The play is a modern take on a classic radio show, “but I wanted something weirder,” Olson said.

Olson initially conceived part of the idea as a poten tial podcast. He’s written plays before, when he was a student at Allen Community College. When another ICT board member asked him to

Zelenskyy named Time person of year

(AP)

its person of the year, award ing him the accolade “for proving that courage can be as conta gious as fear.”

It’s a

haunted: A Christmas play

Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal said the choice of Zelenskyy — alongside “the spirit of Ukraine” — was “the most clear-cut in mem ory.”

“Whether the battle for Ukraine fills one with hope or with fear, the world marched to Volodymyr Zel ensky’s beat in 2022,” he said.

A comedian-turned-politi cian who was elected to lead Ukraine in 2019, Zelenskyy has worked ceaselessly since Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24 to inspire his country’s resis tance and marshal interna tional support for Ukraine.

Felsenthal said Zelen skyy’s decision when the war started “not to flee Kyiv but to stay and rally support was fateful.”

“For proving that cour age can be as contagious as fear, for stirring people and nations to come together in defense of freedom, for re minding the world of the fra gility of democracy — and of peace — Volodymyr Zelen sky and the spirit of Ukraine are TIME’s 2022 Person of the Year,” he added.

The magazine also high lighted people said to em body the spirit of Ukraine.

Rockin’ the holidays

Warnock wins Georgia runoff against Walker

ATLANTA (AP) — Dem ocratic Sen. Raphael War nock defeated Republican challenger Herschel Walker in a Georgia runoff election Tuesday, ensuring Demo crats an outright majority in the Senate for the rest of President Joe Biden’s cur rent term and capping an underwhelming midterm cycle for the GOP in the last major vote of the year.

With Warnock’s second runoff victory in as many years, Democrats will have a 51-49 Senate majority, gain ing a seat from the current 50-50 split with John Fetter man’s victory in Pennsylva nia. There will be divided

government, however, with Republicans having narrow ly flipped House control.

“After a hard-fought cam paign — or, should I say, campaigns — it is my honor to utter the four most pow erful words ever spoken in a democracy: The people have spoken,” Warnock, 53, told jubilant supporters who packed a downtown Atlanta hotel ballroom.

“I often say that a vote is a kind of prayer for the world we desire for ourselves and for our children,” declared Warnock, a Baptist pastor and his state’s first Black senator. “Georgia, you have

take charge of a performance, he combined the podcast idea with a short story.

story of light and

sound. Most actors appear as shadows, hidden behind three lighted panels. When an actor appears, a white light

silhouettes their character. When no actor is in the panel, it displays whatever color fits

Rhiannon Jordan and Ben Olson play radio DJs navigating twists and turns of a caller trapped in a haunted house in “The Colbern County Radio Broadcast Interruption: A Ghost Story,” performed tonight through Saturday at the ICT Warehouse Theater. The play was written by Piqua’s Nic Olson.

REGISTER/VICKIE MOSS

A rollicking good time filled the Bowlus Fine Arts Center on Tuesday evening as Iola Elementary School’s kindergarten and firstgrade classes presented their winter program under the direction of music instructor Kate Vernon. Here, kindergarteners sing “Jingle Bell Rock.” REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN

LONDON

— Time Magazine on Wednesday named Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Georgia Democratic Senate candidate U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Georgia) celebrates his election runoff win. (WIN MCNAMEE/GETTY IMAGES/TNS)

Busy week ahead at Iola Public Library

Iola Public Library programs this week fo cus on family fun and keeping healthy.

Tuesday offers one of each. At 1 p.m.

Clara Wicoff, South wind Extension, hosts a program on Everyday Mindfulness.

The term “mindful ness” is everywhere these days. She will ex plain what it is and how

you can incorporate it in everyday life to con trol stress.

At 6:30 p.m. lights dim for a free family movie starring Will Ferrell.

There’s no fee, but pre-registration is re quired for a ticket. Refreshments will be served.

Register by calling 365-3262.

Wednesday Santa

arrives at 10:30 a.m. to read “The Night Before Christmas” for Library Littles storytime.

Then at 6 p.m., Casey Godinez, healthy-heart specialist from Thrive, will help those with hy pertension celebrate the season and keep on track. She will discuss healthy snacks and offer tips for healthy choices while dining away from

home. Healthy Cooking for the Holidays is sched uled in the meeting room Friday at 2 p.m. Wicoff will return to explain how to reduce the large amounts of fat and sugar usually found in holiday recipes.

She will show how a little planning and a few simple changes can re sult in tasty but health

ier dishes.

lso at 2 p.m., in the lounge area of the main library, Elle Dominquez will read Christmas stories for children, from her collection of vintage Little Golden Books.

Regular Monday night programs contin ue. Chess Club meets at 6 o’clock; In Stitches crochet meets at 6:30.

Poll: Most want Biden to keep promise on JFK records release

By REBEKAH ALVEY Dallas Morning News

WASHINGTON – Al most three-quarters of of voters want President Joe Biden to comply with a Dec. 15 deadline to release the full re cords on the assassina tion of former President John F. Kennedy, accord ing to a recent poll.

Nearly 60 years af ter Kennedy was killed while on a political trip to Dallas, nearly 16,000 records related to the assassination have yet to be released due to pandemic delays and requests from involved agencies.

The remaining re cords were initially scheduled to be released in 2017 in accordance with the President John F. Kennedy Assassina tion Records Collection Act of 1992.

However, former Pres ident Donald Trump first delayed the records release in 2017 after lobbying from involved agencies.

Between July 2017 to April 2018 the National Archives released over 53,000 records that main ly related to organized crime probes with no clear ties to the Kennedy assassination. Trump then set a new deadline for the remaining par tially released files to be released in 2021, which Biden later delayed due to the pandemic.

The Mary Ferrell Foundation, an online resource of JFK assas sination records, sued

Biden in October to dis close the records after the 2021 delay. Represen tatives from the group discussed the desire among Americans for transparency during a presentation at the Na tional Press Club Tues day.

Jefferson Morley, au thor and vice president of the foundation, said there are 44 records that demonstrate the CIA approved a covert operation involving Lee Harvey Oswald in the

months before the Ken nedy assassination.

“This is an extraor dinarily serious claim, and it has profound im plications for the offi cial story,” Morley said. “The CIA knew far more about the lone gunman than they are admitting even today.”

The poll, conducted by Florida based re search firm Bendixen & Amandi International, surveyed 2,000 U.S. vot ers on the records and beliefs relating to the

JFK assassination. The majority of respondents from both major U.S. parties – 71% overall –supported the release of the records while 10% felt it should be post poned.

The results also show that 50% of respondents believe other people in a possible conspiracy played a role in the as sassination while 38% said they believe Oswald acted alone.

This is generally con sistent with nearly 60

of Gallup polling, which shows the high est belief in a lone gun man theory during the 1960′s shortly after the incident. Between 1975 and 2000, the belief in a greater conspiracy fluc tuated between 74 and 81%.

While there was bi partisan approval for releasing all the records and a greater conspira cy theory, more young people and Republicans signaled support in the poll.

Details emerge of polygamous leader’s 20 wives

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — The leader of a small polygamous group near the Arizona-Utah border had taken at least 20 wives, most of them minors, and punished followers who did not treat him as a prophet, newly filed federal court documents allege.

Samuel Bateman was a former member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Lat ter-Day Saints, or FLDS, until he left to start his own small offshoot group. He was support ed financially by male followers who also gave up their own wives and children to be Bateman’s

wives, according to an FBI affidavit.

The document filed Friday provides new insight into what inves tigators have found in a case that first became public in August. It ac companied charges of kidnapping and imped ing a foreseeable pros ecution against three of Bateman’s wives — Naomi Bistline, Donnae Barlow and Moretta Rose Johnson.

Bistline and Barlow are scheduled to appear in federal magistrate court in Flagstaff on Wednesday. Johnson is awaiting extradition from Washington state.

The women are ac cused of seizing eight of Bateman’s children from Arizona state custody and fleeing with them. The children were found last week hundreds of miles away in Spokane, Washington.

Bateman was arrested in August when some one spotted small fingers in the gap of a trailer he was hauling through Flagstaff. He posted

bond but was arrested again and charged with obstructing justice in a federal investigation into whether children were being transported across state lines for sex ual activity.

Court records allege that Bateman, 46, en gaged in child sex traf ficking and polygamy, but none of his current charges relate to those allegations. Polygamy

is illegal in Arizona but was decriminalized in Utah in 2020.

Arizona Department of Child Services spokes man Darren DaRonco and FBI spokesman Kevin Smith declined to comment on the case Tuesday.

Prairie Rose 4-H gathers

The regular monthly meeting of the Prairie Rose 4-H Club was called to order by President Sophia Heim at 4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 13.

There were 16 members, four clo verbuds, two leaders and two guests pres ent.

The club held its annual canned food drive for Moran Thrive Food Distri bution.

There were over 50 items collected to do nate to the cause. It was also Game Night and Bring A Friend Night. In new busi ness the club voted to help lay wreaths at the Fort Scott National Cemetery and to participate in Club 4-H Days in February by doing a model meeting.

Talks were giv en by Kyron Keg ler over the Amer ican Revolution and Raveyn Kegler about dog facts. The Keglers were the host family for the evening.

The next meeting of the Prairie Rose 4-H club will be at 4 p.m. Sunday at the Moran United Meth odist Church.

— Kason Botts, reporter

Peru leader dissolves Congress

LIMA, Peru (AP) — Peruvian Presi dent Pedro Castillo has dissolved the nation’s Congress and called for new legislative elections, beating lawmakers to the punch as they prepared to debate a third attempt to re move him from office.

Castillo also in stalled a new emer gency government, and called in a tele vised address for the next round of law makers to develop a new constitution for the Andean nation.

Meanwhile, he said he would rule by decree, and or dered a nightly curfew starting Wednesday night.

years

John F. Kennedy, 35th president of the United States, and first lady Jacqueline Kennedy travel in the presi dential motorcade at Dallas, shortly before his assassination, Nov. 22, 1963. KEYSTONE/HUTTON ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES/TNS

Justices take up elections case that could reshape voting

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is taking up a case with the potential to fun damentally reshape elections for Congress and the presi dency.

The justices are hearing ar guments Wednesday over the power of state courts to strike down congressional districts drawn by the legislature be cause they violate state con stitutions.

Republicans from North Carolina who are bringing the case to the high court argue that a provision of the U.S. Constitution known as the elections clause gives state lawmakers virtually total control over the “times, plac es and manner” of congres sional elections, including redistricting, and cuts state courts out of the process.

The Republicans are ad vancing a concept called the independent legislature the ory, never before adopted by the Supreme Court but cited approvingly by four conserva tive justices.

A broad ruling could threat en hundreds of election laws, require separate rules for fed eral and state elections on the same ballot and lead to new efforts to redraw congressio nal districts to maximize par tisan advantage.

The court’s decision in the North Carolina case also might suggest how the jus tices would deal with anoth er part of the Constitution — not at issue in the current

case — that gives legislatures the authority to decide how presidential electors are ap pointed. That provision, the electors clause, was central to efforts to try to overturn the outcome of the 2020 presiden tial election in several closely contested states.

The North Carolina state Supreme Court struck down districts drawn by Republi cans who control the legis lature because they heavily favored Republicans in the highly competitive state. The court-drawn map used in last

month’s elections for Con gress produced a 7-7 split be tween Democrats and Repub licans.

North Carolina is among six states in recent years in which state courts have ruled that overly partisan redis tricting for Congress violated their state constitutions. The others are Florida, Maryland, New York, Ohio and Pennsyl vania.

State courts have become the only legal forum for chal lenging partisan congressio nal maps since the Supreme

Court ruled in 2019 that those lawsuits cannot be brought in federal court.

Chief Justice John Rob erts, writing for the court and joined by four other con servative justices, noted that state courts remained open. “Provisions in state stat utes and state constitutions can provide standards and guidance for state courts to apply,” Roberts wrote, in an opinion joined by Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Clar ence Thomas.

But Alito, Gorsuch and Thomas wrote in March that they would have allowed the Republican-drawn map to be used this year. Alito wrote for the three justices that “there must be some limit on the authority of state courts to countermand actions taken by state legislatures when they are prescribing rules for the conduct of federal elec tions. I think it is likely that the applicants would succeed in showing that the North Carolina Supreme Court ex ceeded those limits.”

Kavanaugh has separate ly written about the need for federal courts to police the actions of state courts when it comes to federal elections, citing an opinion by three conservatives in the Bush v. Gore case that settled the 2000 presidential election. Thomas was one of the three justices on that 22-year-old opinion, but the court decided the case on other grounds.

In North Carolina, Republi can lawmakers won’t have to wait for the court’s decision to produce a new congressional map that is expected to have more Republican districts.

Even as Democrats won half the state’s 14 congressio nal seats, Republicans seized control of the state Supreme Court. Two newly elected Re publican justices give them a 5-2 edge that makes it more likely than not that the court would uphold a map with more Republican districts.

As supply chains unclog, consumers enjoy (tentative) relief

By TOM KRISHER and PAUL WISEMAN The Associated Press

Back in January, 109 container ships wait ed off the California coast to unload cargo in Los Angeles and Long Beach, the nation’s two largest ports. Consum ers, stuck at home amid the pandemic, had un leashed an avalanche of orders for goods that overwhelmed factories and ports.

Importers were pay ing $20,000 to send a sin gle container from Chi na to the United States — sometimes more than the goods inside were worth. Businesses had to backorder everything from bedroom furniture to kitchen fryers, if they could get them at all.

These days? No freighters are lingering off the Southern Cali fornia coast. Containers from China go for just $2,000. Restaurants can order fryers and have them delivered in a cou ple of weeks.

The supply backlogs of the past two years — and the delays, short ages and outrageous prices that came with them — have improved dramatically since sum mer. The web of facto ries, railroads, ports, warehouses and freight yards that link goods to customers have nearly regained their pre-pan demic levels.

“We are in a very dif ferent place than we were,’’ said Phil Levy, chief economist at the supply chain consultan cy Flexport. “If you ask, how long does it take to move stuff, there has been notable improve ment. If you measure it by how long would it take to get a cargo from Asia to a destination port, dramatically bet ter.”

The easing of supply bottlenecks has begun to provide some relief from the inflation that this year reached a

four-decade peak, pum meling consumers and businesses. The prog ress has been modest and so far short-lived. Yet it’s still provided a glimmer of good news in the holiday shopping season: Gift items are much likelier to be in stock, perhaps at low er prices. The govern ment’s latest inflation report showed that pric es of toys, jewelry and girls’ apparel all fell in October.

“Overall, the shelves are full,” said Zvi Sch reiber, CEO of Freightos Group, a digital platform that books internation al shipping. “We’re not seeing significant short ages of items.”

“Supply chains are really not the problem anymore,’’ agreed Tim othy Fiore, who leads the Institute for Supply Management’s manu facturing survey and is chief procurement officer at the transpor tation firm Ryder Sys tem. “We’ve had four or five months of supplies looking better. Prices have dropped, too.’’

The main factor be hind the improvement has been diminished demand for manufac tured goods. Spending on goods has fallen for three straight quarters, according to the Com merce Department.

Higher borrowing rates, engineered by the Feder al Reserve to try to tame inflation, have reduced Americans’ willingness to buy more physical things. Inflation itself has sapped their spend ing power.

And having splurged on everything from lawn furniture and sporting goods to appliances and electronic gear during the COVID shutdowns, consumers have in creasingly shown a de sire to venture out and spend on experiences rather than goods. De mand has shifted to ward services — restau rant dinners and plane

tickets, hotel rooms and entertainment. As or ders for manufactured goods have slowed, so have the price pressures surrounding them.

At the sprawling Southern California ports, the shipping backup has eased, in part because companies have sent cargo to Gulf Coast and Atlantic ports to avoid delays. Port Houston says its cargo volume is up 18% from this time last year.

An index that mea sures demand for freight shipments had hit a high of 115 earlier this year; now, it’s below the five-year average of 53.

“We’re returning to the mean and the trend lines that existed preCOVID,” said Chris Ad derton, senior vice pres ident for the Council of Supply Chain Manage ment Professionals.

In addition to the re duced demand that has lightened the strain on supply chains, ports have become more effi cient. Additional ships have increased the transportation options.

And in some indus tries, new producers stepped in once estab lished manufactur ers became too over whelmed to deliver. The enhanced competition reduced shortages and helped moderate prices.

In the market for kitchen equipment, for instance, “new manu facturers were able to break into the business — unheard-of manufac turers,’’ said Kirby Mal lon, president of Phil adelphia-based Elmer Schultz Services, which maintains kitchen equipment for restau rants and cafeterias.

When inflation first began surging last year, economists had mostly blamed the snarled sup ply chains. Fed Chair Jerome Powell, echoing the views of many an alysts, predicted that soaring prices would prove “transitory’’ and

would ease once it be came easier and cheaper to ship products.

Things didn’t prove so simple — especial ly after Russia invaded Ukraine in February, disrupting trade in en ergy and grains and sending oil, gas and food prices soaring around the world.

Other problems re main, too. A chronic shortage of computer chips, for example, will likely hamper auto pro duction into 2024, Kris tin Dziczek, an auto poli cy adviser at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chica go, wrote in a recent pa per. Though the short age has eased slightly, factories remain slowed by a lack of chips.

The average price of a new vehicle is still near a record high, nearly $46,000, and isn’t expect ed to fall much, if at all, anytime soon. Used-ve hicle prices, by contrast, have dropped since late summer. Analysts ex pect them to fall further, though not to pre-pan demic lows

Automakers are still

struggling to acquire enough chips, largely because the number of semiconductors re quired per vehicle has multiplied. That is a consequence of more so phisticated auto equip ment, from automated safety systems and in ternet connections to infotainment, Dziczek wrote.

What’s more, comput er chips used for vehicle production are harder to manufacture than chips for consumer electron ics because they must be built to withstand heat,

cold and vibration. The coronavirus lock downs in China, along with the scattered pub lic protests against them, may still disrupt global production and shipping. The consul tancy Resilinc has iden tified 13,800 Chinese sites — from factories to warehouses to test ing facilities — that are at risk from protests, rising COVID cases and lockdowns. Potential problem spots exist in such key cities as Bei jing, Chengdu, Nanjing and Shanghai.

The sun rises behind U.S. Supreme Court building on August 27, 2021 in Washington, DC. (ANNA MONEYMAKER/GETTY IMAGES/TNS)

China eases anti-COVID measures

BEIJING (AP) — Chi na rolled back rules on isolating people with COVID-19 and dropped virus test requirements for some public places Wednesday in a dramat ic change to a strategy that confined millions of people to their homes and sparked protests and demands for Pres ident Xi Jinping to re sign.

The move adds to earlier easing that fu eled hopes Beijing was scrapping its “zero COVID” strategy, which is disrupting manufac turing and global trade. Experts warn, however, that restrictions can’t be lifted completely until at least mid-2023 because millions of elderly peo ple still must be vacci nated and the health care system strength ened.

China is the last ma jor country still trying to stamp out transmis sion of the virus while many nations switch to trying to live with it. As they lift restrictions, Chinese officials have also shifted to talking about the virus as less threatening — a possible effort to prepare people for a similar switch.

People with mild cas es will be allowed for the first time to isolate at home, the Nation al Health Commission announced, instead of going to sometimes overcrowded or unsani tary quarantine centers. That addresses a major irritation that helped to drive protests that erupt ed Nov. 25 in Shanghai and other cities.

Public facilities ex cept for “special plac es,” such as schools, hospitals and nursing homes, will no longer require visitors to pro duce a “health code” on a smartphone app that tracks their virus tests and whether they have

been to areas deemed at high risk of infection.

Local officials must “take strict and detailed measures to protect people’s life, safety and health” but at the same time “minimize the im pact of the epidemic on economic and social development,” the state ment said.

China’s restrictions have helped to keep case numbers low, but that means few people have developed natural immunity, a factor that might set back reopen ing plans if cases surge and authorities feel compelled to reimpose restrictions.

Still, after three years spent warning the pub lic about COVID-19’s dangers, Chinese offi cials have begun to paint it as less threatening.

People with mild cas es “can recover by them selves without special medical care,” said Wu Zunyou, chief epide miologist of the China Centers for Disease Con trol, on his social media account.

“The good news is that the data show the

proportion of severe cases is low,” said Wu.

The latest changes are “small steps” in a grad ual process aimed at ending restrictions, said Liang Wannian, a mem ber of an expert group advising the National Health Commission, at a news conference.

The government’s goal is “to return to the state before the epidem ic, but the realization of the goal must have condi tions,” said Liang, one of China’s most prominent anti-epidemic experts.

Dr. Yanzhong Huang, an expert on public health in China, also emphasized the gradual nature of the announce ment.

The new measures are a shift away from “zero COVID” — but “not a roadmap to reopening,” said Huang, director of the Center for Global Health Studies at Seton Hall University.

“When implement ed, these measures may generate dynamics that fuel the rapid spread of the virus even though China is not ready for such a dramatic shift,”

he said.

The government an nounced a campaign last week to vaccinate the el derly that health experts say must be done before China can end restric tions on visitors coming from abroad. They say the ruling Communist Party also needs to build up China’s hospital sys tem to cope with a possi ble rise in cases.

But public frustration is rising now, as millions of people are repeatedly confined at home for un certain periods, schools close abruptly and eco nomic growth falls.

The changes have been rolled out despite a re newed spike in infections started in October. On Wednesday, the govern ment reported 25,231 new cases, including 20,912 without symptoms.

Xi’s government has held up “zero COVID” as proof of the superi ority of China’s system compared with the Unit ed States and Western countries. China’s of ficial death toll is 5,235 since the start of the pandemic versus a U.S. count of 1.1 million.

Africa forum hails ‘circular economy’ solutions for climate

MOMBASA, Kenya (AP) — Reducing waste while boosting recycling and reuse, known as the ‘circular economy,’ will be vital for halting the loss of nature by meet ing growing demand with fewer resources and will make commu nities more resilient to climate change by encouraging more sus tainable practices on the African continent, orga nizers of the World Cir cular Economy Forum said Wednesday.

The conference,

which brings together climate and economic experts as well business es and think tanks, is be ing held in the Rwandan capital Kigali — the first ever in the global south.

“It is much easier to adapt now than the costs that we will incur if we wait,” said Wanji ra Maathai of the World Resources Institute at the forum. As climate change makes weather more extreme, the costs incurred from the dam ages are increasing. “It is time we look at it

(circular economy) as a driver of Africa’s devel opment.”

The three-day forum, which ends Thursday, encourages a shift to an economic model that promotes less material consumption and pro motes what’s known as regenerative agri culture practices like rotating crops or using fewer chemical fertil izers or pesticides. The talks will also push na ture-based solutions to boost natural resources such as rewilding.

Many on the conti nent are already explor ing how to use waste in new ways.

At the opening cere mony Tuesday, Rwan dan environment min ister Jeanne d’Arc Mujawamariya said the continent should gal vanize local knowledge from its youth, innova tors and entrepreneurs to fast track the con tinent’s development progress “without re peating the same mis takes made by the indus trialized nations.”

St. Marys renews lease for library

By RACHEL MIPRO Kansas Reflector

ST. MARYS — The Pottawatomie Wa baunsee Regional Li brary’s lease is safe for another year, follow ing community uproar and legal pressure from the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas.

The Saint Marys City Commission vot ed to extend the lease, without restrictions, during a meeting Tuesday night. The lease renewal was up for debate because the library had refused to accept a renewal clause asking for the removal of all LGBTQ and socially divi sive books from the shelves.

Judith Cremer, the library director, said she was relieved by the renewal, though she didn’t understand some of the claims made by commission ers at earlier meet ings, referencing their claims that many par ents were angry at the library. Cremer said community response to the library has al ways been positive.

“They don’t know us, so they need to come and visit and we need to get to know each other, because we’re both in the same job, we’re doing the same job. So hopefully we can get them to un derstand this a little better,” Cremer said.

The commissioners have been discussing whether to renew the lease — which ends Dec. 31 — for the past few months.

A lease proposed by Commissioner Matthew Childs stip ulated the library not “supply, distribute, loan, encourage, or coerce acceptance of or approval of explicit sexual or racially or socially divisive ma terial, or events (such as ‘drag queen story hours’) that support the LGBTQ+ or criti cal theory ideology or practice.”

Commissioners said the outpouring of pub lic support for the li brary informed their decision to extend the lease by one year. The four members who were present for Tues day’s meeting all voted in favor of the oneyear renewal.

Childs, who was

elected mayor by the other commissioners at Tuesday’s meeting, said the issue now was discussing how to keep the library in line with community standards, though he didn’t clar ify what these stan dards would look like, and refused to give clarification or com ments on the situation to the Kansas Reflector.

“It was very clear from that meeting that citizens want the li brary to remain open,” Childs said. “Every one agreed on that. So there’s really no ques tion about that. The question is, how do we assure the safety of the community and that the community is get ting what they want in the library? And that’s kind of up to the com munity.”

All members of the commission are mem bers of Society of St. Pius X, or SSPX, an extreme Catholic reli gious sect. At a previ ous commission meet ing, Commissioner Richard Binsfeld said their religion had an impact on their views of the library.

“We do go to the church, yes, all five of us,” Binsfeld said. “I think it has an influ ence on our decisions because we make deci sions on our faith and morals, so certainly we’re going to be influ enced by that. It’s defi nitely going to have a bearing on that cer tainly, without ques tion.”

Gerard Kleinsmith was elected to the po sition of vice mayor at the meeting, replacing Francis Awerkamp, a Republican who serves in the Kansas House.

Kleinsmith said he didn’t want his tax dol lars paying for books he didn’t approve of, saying the library didn’t reflect the inter ests of people in the county.

“If you do a search of the Potawatomi library and look for actual books on their shelves, there are six books authored by Secretary Clinton on the shelves in Pot tawattamie County Library,” Kleinsmith said. “There are none authored by President Trump. Not even ‘The Art of the Deal,’ that he wrote long before he was President. That’s just one example.”

A man carries a bag as he walks by epidemic control workers wearing PPE to protect against the spread of COVID-19 as he leaves after being released from a government quarantine facility on Wednesday in Beijing. TNS

Holiday program teaches Iola’s youngest valuable lessons

Tuesday night’s performance was part magic, glee and glitter.

Almost 200 kindergarten and first-graders performed “Rockin’ the Holidays,” before three times as many family members and friends at the Bowlus Fine Arts Center.

Successfully corralling that many five- and sixyear-olds requires special talents, no doubt, but even

more impressive was their enthusiasm. They sang their hearts out.

How soon we adults forget the magic of not only the season, but also of performing and its inherent joy. The children swayed, clapped, whooped and hollered in their unbridled glee.

But that’s not to say they were undisciplined.

Directed to wear their holiday finest, the girls

were aglitter with bows in their hair, sparkly dresses, tartan skirts, and patent leather shoes. For the boys, many wore suits and ties and festive sweaters. Their hair was smartly parted.

Mr. Creitz, the Bowlus’ first executive director, and whose crisp appearance personified professionalism, would have been proud.

FORMER IOLAN Jackie Talkington Chase once shared that as a youth she was instructed to dress in a manner that honors the Bowlus — Iola’s “crown jewel.”

Her mother, Donna Talkington, also knew that one’s attire influences one’s comportment.

True enough, Tuesday evening’s Little Lord Fauntleroys were down-

right angelic.

By our example, we teach our children how to respect each other, traditions and institutions.

Hats off to Kate Vernon, K-2nd grade music instructor at Iola Elementary School, for holding her students to that expectation and for bringing the community a delightful program.

— Susan Lynn

Ceremony’s ‘awkward’ moment

By NIELS LESNIEWSKI CQ Roll-Call/TNS

WASHINGTON — A Congressional Gold Medal ceremony Tuesday honoring Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police officers who defended the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was not without awkwardness.

Honorees visibly avoided handshakes with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy during a receiving line, after exchanging warm greetings with Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer.

McCarthy, R-Calif., who is expected to be the next speaker of the House, praised the actions of law enforcement on Jan. 6. “These brave men and women are heroes, heroes who protected so many from harm on that day,” he said. “Days like today force us to realize how much we owe that thin blue line.”

Gladys Sicknick, mother of the late Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, was among those to decline to shake hands with the top House and Senate Republicans.

“I’m just tired of them standing there and saying how wonderful the Capitol Police is and then they turn around and ... go down to Mar-a-Lago and kiss his ring,” Sicknick told CNN, referring to former President Donald Trump.

McCarthy and McConnell, R-Ky., have taken different approaches to Trump, and the former president has en-

dorsed McCarthy for speaker while seeking for McConnell to be replaced.

The event came just as Rep. Bennie Thompson, the Mississippi Democrat who has chaired the committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection (including Trump’s role) was confirming to reporters that “we’ve made decisions that we will make referrals” to the Justice Department related to the investigation.

“We have not made a decision as to who, but we have made decisions that criminal referrals will happen,”

Thompson said Tuesday.

McCarthy and the incoming House GOP majority are expected to disband the committee, with the committee members working to finish their

work before the end of the current Congress on Jan. 3.

During the Gold Medal ceremony, Schumer thanked his own Capitol Police security detail for protecting him, his family and his staff.

“The dome of this Capitol is kept lit by day and night as an enduring symbol of our precious democracy,” Schumer said. “It is a message to the entire world that here in America, self-rule must forever serve as our bedrock.”

“On Jan. 6, that light flickered for a brief, harrowing moment, but it was rekindled anew thanks to the bravery of our Capitol Police, the D.C. Metropolitan Police, and all our public servants who dedicate themselves to protecting this Capitol,” Schumer said.

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

50 Years Ago December 1972

Steve Strickler of Iola, a student at Kansas State University in Manhattan, is head of the planning committee for this year’s Little American Royal contest in which K-State students are judged on their ability to groom, train and show K-State-owned livestock. *****

One of Iola’s newest industries, FEEM, Inc., has enjoyed success here and indications are that the company, which specializes in aluminum die-casting, will continue to move ahead. The company now has dies for 20 parts, such as automotive alternators, lawnmower axles and garden tiller axle housings, and the prospects for increasing the product line are attractive. The company now has a work force of 45. It is being managed by owners Wally Edwards and Pat Embree. It is located in buildings that were part of the Lehigh plant here and are now owned by Iola Industries, Inc.

The Iola Senior Citizens Center is a busy place. The elderly citizens that meet at the old fire barn at 117 W. Madison are sponsored by the Southeast Kansas Community Action Program. The volunteer-managed center is used for group

meetings and also serves as a place for the members to sell their crafts. The money received is important to their incomes, Mrs. Rose Brown remarked. Mrs. Brown is a volunteer at the center. The group also sells used clothing that has been donated. The city of Iola doesn’t charge for the use of the building and SEK-CAP pays the utility bills. Mrs. Brown and several of the other volunteers help deliver meals to shut-ins. *****

The works of Mrs. Leslie Meredith of rural Iola are being shown in the Cherokee Strip Museum in Arkansas City from now until Feb. 24. She is a native of Arkansas City and attended the junior college there before attending Kansas State Teachers College in Emporia. Mrs. Meredith has shown her work in exhibits at Emporia, Douglas, Iola, Vermillion, South Dakota and at the Woodson and Allen County fairs. *****

Orville Kretzmeier and Duane McCammon announced that as of the first of the year, Kretzmeier and Associates, local accounting firm, will be known as Kretzmeier and McCammon. McCammon has been with the firm, which recently moved into new quarters on North State Street, since 1959.

Iola Elementary School kindergartners and rst-graders perform a Christmas program at the Bowlus Fine Arts Center Tuesday evening. They were, of course, adorable. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky), second from right, holds out his hand for a handshake with Charles Sicknick, left, the father of Capitol Police o cer Brian Sicknick, who died after the events of Jan. 6, 2021, during a Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony for U.S. Capitol Police and D.C. Metropolitan Police o cers on Tuesday. ANNA MONEYMAKER/GETTY IMAGES/TNS

the mood of the scene.

When things are calm, it’s green. When things go awry, well, that’s when it gets weird.

Just two actors are seen in person, with a brief appearance from a third near the end of the show. Rhiannon Jordan and Ben Olson portray radio DJs, ready to relax by allowing callers to phone in with the hot test gossip and rumors about the latest sighting of Big Foot — “They pre fer Big Folk.”

The snarky banter be tween Jordan and Ben Olson is perfect for the classic odd-couple pair ing, “Jamie” and “Mike.” She’s frantic, skeptical and exasperated. He ca sually tosses one-liners and is a staunch Big Foot supporter.

Jordan also serves as assistant director and has been integral in pulling the show togeth er, Nic Olson said.

Ben is Nic’s brother. Initially, Nic didn’t plan to cast his brother, but when he asked Ben to read the script with oth er characters, he soon realized Ben was perfect in the role. It was the right move.

THE RADIO call-in night is interrupted by a bizarre call from “Kel ly,” played with the right touch of sweet innocence and desperation by Mor gan Lea. She’s haunted by her failure as an EMT

and discovers a mysteri ous door in her kitchen.

When she walks through the door she enters a mystery filled with more doors and hidden rooms that take her through different time periods as she’s chased by an un seen force.

The radio hosts are tasked with gathering information phone call by phone call and sort ing it all out for their lis teners through a maze of twists and turns.

It seems the house holds secrets of the dis appearance of a couple

from two years earlier.

Nosy neighbor Helen — delightfully portrayed by ICT newcomer Diana Dashnaw whose silhou ette shows the outline of a bathrobe and ciga rette — calls into the ra dio show to describe the scene in graphic detail.

Alison Fees plays a serious deputy who may have an illicit tie to a certain radio personal ity.

The radio show also has a series of wacky callers played by Wayne Stephens, Cole Moyer, River Hess and Tiffany

Hooper.

Three children — Mat Olson, Winston Jordan and Lanie Mileham — play the shadows of younger versions of characters who share their own creepy stories.

AFTER intermission, the radio show returns for a Christmas Eve spe cial. It’s 10 days after Kelly’s disappearance, and the whole town is obsessed with the mys tery.

Up on a rooftop, Moyer kicks off the second half with a rocket-launcher

and a provocative so cial commentary, both aimed at “that red-suit ed tyrant shaming chil dren for generations.”

Merry Christmas.

Another fascinat ing section comes via a “news break” with a reporter played by Con nie Brown, who recaps the events surrounding Kelly’s disappearance.

If it sounds like Brown has the perfect — and familiar — radio voice, that’s because she spent decades working as an actual DJ, including a popular morning news program in Kansas City. For those of us from a certain era in the Mid west, it’s a fun bit of nostalgia.

Jenna and Tom Mor ris appear as part of the news break.

No spoilers, but the show ends with a sur prise twist by ICT vet eran Mandy Moyer, who has secret connections of her own.

The play offers gen uine spooky moments that make your skin crawl, while also mak ing you laugh out loud. The cast rises to the challenge of playing only in shadows, mak ing the most of their voices and body move ments.

TICKETS are $10 for adults and $5 for stu dents, and can be pur chased online at iola communitytheatre.org or at the door.

Election: Democrats get 51-49 majority in Senate

Continued from A1

been praying with your lips and your legs, your hands and your feet, your heads and your hearts. You have put in the hard work, and here we are standing together.”

In last month’s elec tion, Warnock led Walk er by 37,000 votes out of almost 4 million cast, but fell short of the 50% threshold needed to avoid a runoff. The sena tor appeared to be head ed for a wider final mar gin in Tuesday’s runoff, with Walker, a football legend at the Universi ty of Georgia and in the NFL, unable to overcome a bevy of damaging al legations, including claims that he paid for two former girlfriends’ abortions despite sup porting a national ban on the procedure.

“The numbers look like they’re not going to add up,” Walker, an ally and friend of for mer President Donald Trump, told support ers late Tuesday at the College Football Hall of Fame in downtown Atlanta. “There’s no excuses in life, and I’m not going to make any excuses now because we put up one heck of a fight.”

Democrats’ Georgia victory solidifies the state’s place as a Deep South battleground two years after Warnock and fellow Georgia Democrat Jon Ossoff won 2021 runoffs that gave the party Senate control just months af ter Biden became the first Democratic presi dential candidate in 30 years to win Georgia.

Voters returned War nock to the Senate in the same cycle they re elected Republican Gov. Brian Kemp by a com fortable margin and chose an all-GOP slate of statewide constitu

tional officers.

Walker’s defeat book ends the GOP’s struggles this year to win with flawed candidates cast from Trump’s mold, a blow to the former pres ident as he builds his third White House bid ahead of 2024.

Democrats’ new out right majority in the Senate means the party will no longer have to ne gotiate a power-sharing deal with Republicans and won’t have to rely on Vice President Kamala Harris to break as many tie votes.

National Democrats celebrated Tuesday, with Biden tweeting a photo of his congratulatory phone call to the senator.

“Georgia voters stood up for our democracy, rejected Ultra MAGA ism, and ... sent a good man back to the Senate,”

Biden tweeted, refer encing Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.

About 1.9 million runoff votes were cast in Georgia by mail and during early voting. A robust Election Day turnout added about 1.4 million more, slightly more than the Election Day totals in November and in 2020.

Total turnout still trailed the 2021 runoff turnout of about 4.5 million. Voting rights groups pointed to chang es made by state lawmak ers after the 2020 election that shortened the peri od for runoffs, from nine weeks to four, as a reason for the decline in early and mail voting.

Warnock empha sized his willingness to work across the aisle and his personal val

ues, buoyed by his sta tus as senior pastor of Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, where civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. once preached.

Walker benefited during the campaign from nearly unmatched name recognition from his football career, yet was dogged by questions about his fitness for of fice.

A multimillionaire businessman, Walker faced questions about his past, including his exaggerations of his business achievements, academic credentials and philanthropic activ ities.

In his personal life, Walker faced new at tention on his ex-wife’s previous accounts of domestic violence, in cluding details that he

once held a gun to her head and threatened to kill her.

Juul reaches settlement in 5,000 cases

By the Associated Press

Juul Labs has reached settlements covering more than 5,000 cases brought by about 10,000 plain tiffs related to its vap ing products.

Financial terms of the settlement were not disclosed, but Juul said that it has secured an equity in vestment to fund it.

Buffeted by law suits, Juul announced hundreds of layoffs last month and bank ruptcy appeared in creasingly likely as it secured financing to continue operations.

The e-cigarette maker faced thou sands of suits brought by individ uals and families of Juul users, school districts and Native American tribes. This week’s settle ment resolves those cases, which had been consolidated in a California federal court pending several bellwether trials.

“These settlements represent a major step toward strength ening Juul Labs’ op erations and securing the company’s path forward,” a company spokeswoman said in a statement.

Juul rocketed to the top of the U.S. vaping market five years ago on the popularity of flavors like mango, mint and creme bru lee. But the startup’s rise was fueled by use among teenagers.

In “The Colbern County Radio Broadcast Interruption,” radio DJs Riannon Jordan and Ben Olson take a call from a frantic Morgan Lea, shown in the background in silhouette.

Humboldt, Crest compete in tournament

By QUINN BURKITT The Iola Register

HUMBOLDT — Crest and Humboldt boys and girls took part in opening games of the Humboldt tournament on Tuesday night.

The Humboldt boys got by Uniontown with ease, 55-22, while the Lady Cubs took down Uniontown be hind some good shooting and tough defense, 38-25.

The Crest boys were shut down on both sides of the ball by Erie in a 49-28 blunder while the Lady Lancers out scored the Erie Tigers, 49-45.

Crest Girls

The Lady Lancers made it a nailbiter until the very end when the team scored 19 points in the fourth quar ter to pull away for the fourpoint, 49-45 victory.

Crest and Erie kept pace with each other throughout the game Kaylee Allen and Kayla Hermreck were instru mental for the Lady Lancers in the first half, scoring six and four points, respectively. The teams were close at the end of the first quarter, 9-8.

After another pair of twopoint baskets from Mia Cole man and Hermreck, Crest was knotted with Erie at half time, 16-16.

Crest owned the second half by ramping up the of fense and scoring 14 points with Allen knocking down a three- a two-pointer. Herm reck scored four points with

a two-pointer and a pair of free throws, making it a 31-30 game.

Senior McKenna Ham mond helped propel the Lady Lancers in the final quarter with her six points, four from the field and two from the free throw line. Allen also chipped in four points for the 49-45 victory.

The Lady Lancers’ defense held Erie to 14 points in the

fourth quarter, seven of those from Skyller Hopper. Crest was able to hold Erie’s leading scorer, Jackson Pow ell, to only two points in the final quarter.

Allen and Hermreck led Crest offensively with 15 and 10 points, respectively with Hammond adding 10 points for those finishing in double digits.

Crest (19-8-12—49)

(FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): H. Beck man 0-0-1-0, Coleman 1-0-0-2, Nilges 2-0-1-4, A. Beckman 2-0-1-4, Hermreck 4-2-2-10, Boots 1-1-3-3, Hammond 4-22-10, Allen 5-2-2-15, Edgerton 0-1-0-1.

Erie (16-4-22—45) (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Olds 0-02-0, Pasquarelli 2-0-5-4, Hodg den 0-0-0-0, Cleaver 2-0-5-4, Daniels 2-0-0-4, Collins 0-0-0-0, Smith, 3-2-2-8, Cosby 0-0-0-0,

Hopper 1/3-1-5-12, Powell 6-12-13

Crest Boys

The Crest High boys suf fered from poor shooting, poor rebounding and too many rebounds in their 49-28 defeat to Erie in a 49-28 defeat to Erie.

The Lancers were out scored 16-8 in the first quar ter which made a statement on the rest of the game. Stetson Setter hit a pair of two-pointers and Miller hit a free throw. Crest allowed Erie’s Duff to get hot from be yond the arc and make a pair of threes as well as a two in the first quarter.

“We’ve got to learn to pass around the defense one way or another,” said Crest head coach Dakota Sporing. “Turnovers killed us. Other than that, I thought we exe cuted well, we just didn’t put the ball in the orange thing. We’ve got to finish plays and finish possessions on the de fensive end, box out a little bit.”

Setter continued in the second quarter to help his Lancers pick up their pace with four points scored while Gentry McGhee was good for three points and Rogan Wier, Ethan Godderz and Jacob Zimmerman each made twopoint baskets.

Crest trailed Erie at half time, 24-20.

Crest then went rogue in the second half. Zimmerman

Yates Center snags win over Hartford

By QUINN BURKITT The Iola Register

YATES CENTER — The Yates Center High boys eked past Hartford Tues day, 47-46, in the first round of its home tournament.

The Wildcats (1-1) re ceived a putback layup from Emmit George in the final three seconds to win the game after Hartford crawled back in the final quarter.

cated, and limited Hartford to one shot each posses sion,” said Huffman. “Fa tigue and lack of experi ence in the fourth caused us to let Hartford back in the game.”

Emmett Britain and George led Yates Center offensively with 17 and 15 points, respectively. George’s biggest basket of the night was his game-win ning shot.

SCC boys still seek first win

LE ROY — The Southern Coffey County High boys are still seeking their first win of the season after a 44-19 sluggish loss to Peabody on Tuesday.

The Titans have only one upperclassmen on the team.

Southern Coffey Coun ty’s Thomas Nickel was the only Titan to hit a shot in the first quarter. Pea body’s Jack Parks hit a trio of three-pointers and Matt Spencer went under for a two-pointer in the opening quarter as well.

AJ DeAnda and Nick el helped Southern Coffey get on the board in the sec ond quarter on a trio of two-pointers which gave the Titans eight total points in

the first half.

Spencer then scored an other couple of two-pointers and Jefferson Glover hit a couple baskets in the second quarter. Parks also went in for a layup to take the 23-8 halftime advantage.

“Our lack of experience does hamper us in a lot of ways because we don’t have a lot of options on defense and offense,” said SCC head coach Brian Rand. “We will keep working at add ing things and improving throughout the year.”

DeAnda found his stroke in the second half when he hit a three-pointer and went for a couple of baskets in the third quarter.

Peabody’s Spencer hit a

few more two-pointers and a free throw for the 30-16 lead heading to the fourth.

DeAnda was the lone scor er for the Titans the remain der of the game.

Peabody’s Glover hit a couple of two-pointers and Spencer and Parks each collected points in the final quarter as the Warriors held off the Titans with a 44-19 fi nal score.

“We played very hard for the entire game,” Rand said. “But we also need to focus on the fundamentals and un derstand the game and situa tions better.”

DeAnda finished in dou ble digits scoring 15 points while Nickel scored four

“Our offense was much improved from our last outing,” said Yates Center head coach Lane Huffman. “I’d love to see us execute a little better and show patience as the year pro gresses, but it was good for the guys to see the ball go through the hoop a little more.”

Yates Center’s comfort able lead was threatened in the fourth quarter when three of its most experi enced players fouled out.

Yates Center played good defense for the first three quarters, holding Hartford to only 18 points at halftime and 24 points at the end of the third quarter. Things changed in the fourth quar ter when fatigue plagued the Wildcats.

“We hustled, communi

Yates Center lost veter ans Cash Cummings, Jay ston Rice and Shane Weber to fouls in the final minutes of the game. The trio pro vided a vocal spark from the bench, which helped propel their team to their first victory of the season.

Weber made a number of steals defensively which led the breakaway layups and a good scoring option for the Wildcats. Cummings finished his night scoring eight points, followed by Weber’s four points and Rice’s three points.

Garret Audiss came off the bench and made an impact for the win. Taylor Camacho and Blake Cuppy also made a difference off the bench.

Yates Center will host Sedan on Thursday at 5 p.m.

Humboldt High’s Trey Sommer (15) drives into the lane against a Uniontown defender on Tues day. REGISTER/QUINN BURKITT

Southern Coffey County’s AJ DeAnda (5) dribbles against Crest. REGISTER/QUINN BURKITT

Know the history behind the use of PSA tests for the prostate

DEAR DR. ROACH: I read your recent column concerning the fellow who was reluctant to go to a doctor regarding his prostate. I’m very curious why the PSA is now considered a legitimate test for prostate problems. I distinctly recall a discussion on the radio with a doctor about 25 or 30 years ago, in which it was carefully explained why the PSA is of little value and is not worth doing. Do you remember that time? I’m wondering if it was the insurance

Dr. Keith Roach

To Your Good Health

companies that were behind that policy. — F.B.

ANSWER: I remember that time very well. The change does not have to do with insurance companies, but through a better understanding of how best to manage low-risk prostate cancer. Most prostate can-

Dozens arrested in suspected German coup plot

BERLIN (AP) — German police seized dozens of people including a self-styled prince, a retired paratrooper and a former judge on Wednesday, accusing the suspects of discussing the violent overthrow of the government but leaving unclear how concrete the plans were.

A German official and a lawmaker said that investigators may have detected real plotting, drunken fantasizing, or both. Regardless, Germany takes any rightwing threat seriously and thousands of police officers carried out predawn raids across much of the country.

“We’re talking about a group that, according to what we know so far, planned to violently abolish our democratic state of law and an armed attack,” on the German parliament building, government spokesman Steffen

Hebestreit said.

Sara Nanni, a lawmaker with the Green party, part of the German government, suggested the group may not have been capable.

“More details keep coming to light that raise doubts about whether these people were even clever enough to plan and carry out such a coup,” Nanni said in a post on the social network Mastodon. “The fact is: no matter how crude their ideas are and how hopeless their plans, even the attempt is dangerous!”

Federal prosecutors said the group is alleged to have believed in a “conglomerate of conspiracy theories consisting of narratives from the so-called Reich Citizens as well as QAnon ideology.”

Adherents of the Reich Citizens movement reject Germany’s postwar constitution

and have called for bringing down the government, while QAnon is a global conspiracy theory with roots in the United States.

The Reich Citizens scene has been under observation by Germany’s domestic intelligence agency since 2016. Authorities estimate that the loose-knit movement has about 21,000 adherents.

Prosecutors said the suspects also believe Germany is ruled by a so-called “deep state.”

One of the alleged ringleaders arrested Wednesday is Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss, a 71-year-old member of the House of Reuss who continues to use the title despite Germany abolishing any formal role for royalty more than a century ago.

Federal prosecutors said Reuss, whom the group planned to install as Germany’s new leader, had contacted

Russian officials with the aim of imposing a new order in the country once the German government was overthrown. There is no indication that the Russians responded positively.

Police also detained Birgit Malsack-Winkemann, a judge and former lawmaker with the far-right Alternative for Germany party.

Alternative for Germany, which is known by its acronym AfD, has increasingly come under scrutiny by security services due to its ties with extremists.

AfD’s co-leaders, Tino Chrupalla and Alice Weidel said they had only learned of the alleged coup plans through the media, and condemned them.

“We have full confidence in the authorities involved and demand a swift and comprehensive investigation,” they said in a statement.

cer found at screening (meaning men with no symptoms) is low-risk.

Many times, both men and their physicians insisted on definitive treatment for even low-risk prostate cancer when it was found through screening. That meant many men getting surgery, with its attendant high risks of sexual dysfunction and urinary incontinence, as well as a small risk of life-threatening complications.

A review of the risks and benefits for prostate cancer screening as a whole found that the risks (including the many men who got complications) outweighed the benefits, and some (but not all) experts recommended against prostate cancer screening. While this prevented many complications from surgery, it also had the effect of preventing many men from being screened and, therefore, coming to medical attention only when the prostate cancer was advanced and no longer curable. We weren’t harming the low-risk men, but we weren’t helping the high-risk men either.

The current recommendation attempts to maximize the beneficial effects of screening while minimizing the harmful outcomes of performing surgery in men in whom it is not really necessary. Currently, men are recommended for a screening through a PSA test. If this is abnormal, a careful evaluation often includes an imaging study of the prostate (such as an MRI scan) and an

imaging-guided biopsy. We have a better way of stratifying risk so that many men can safely defer surgery through the process of active surveillance. If men have low-risk prostate cancer, they undergo regular follow-up evaluations to make sure the cancer is behaving in an indolent fashion; if not, it will be treated aggressively.

Fewer unnecessary surgeries mean less side effects. Surgery and other treatments are reserved for the men who are most likely to benefit, so (hopefully) the majority of men with curable cancer found during screening can get effective treatment, while the much-more-common situation of low-risk prostate cancer will not cause a man to undergo unnecessary risk.

DEAR DR. ROACH: Which brand of glucosamine/chondroitin do you recommend? — R.E.

ANSWER: I don’t recommend glucosamine/ chondroitin, since there is no strong evidence to prove it is better than a placebo, although I have had patients (and many readers) who swear it is effective for them. Since it is safe and not expensive, I do recommend my patients to continue it if it seems to be helping.

I don’t recommend any particular brand names. Whenever possible, I recommend purchasing supplements that have been independently analyzed by a third party, such as USP. I did find glucosamine/ chondroitin supplements available in a major online retail store that are certified.

Allen gets by Metro in final seconds

By QUINN BURKITT The Iola Register

The Allen Commu nity College basketball teams got past Met ropolitan on Tuesday night in Iola.

The Red Devils men’s basketball team (9-5) won on a final second go-ahead three-pointer, 80-78, while the Lady Red Devils (10-3) domi nated Metropolitan on both ends of the court in an 89-32 win.

Men’s Basketball

The Devils just came off a heart-wrenching victory over Central Community College-Co lumbus and couldn’t make it any easier on themselves on Tuesday as they again waited until the final seconds to secure the win.

The Allen men are also receiving votes to be ranked in the NJ CAA polls.

Both teams went back and forth in the first half with neither able to extend their lead past five points. Al len found a bit of an of fensive spark at the end of the first half taking a five-point lead going into the half, 39-34.

ACC’s Donavan Seamster knocked down a three in the opening minutes of the second half to take an eight-point lead. Allen ran into some trouble minutes later when the Metropolitan defense

locked down, forced turnovers and stormed back for the lead.

The Wolves of Met ropolitan staked an 11-point lead halfway through the second half after a swing in momentum put the ball in their favor.

Allen trailed Met ropolitan by 10 points with four minutes left in regulation. The Red Devils were able to bring the deficit with in four points with just over a minute left when Seamster hit another three-pointer and made it a one-point game with 45 seconds on the clock.

The Red Devils forced a tough shot for Metro politan and Brayden Thompson grabbed the rebound with 12 seconds remaining.

Thompson found Chris Dixon open in the cor ner. Dixon nailed the go-ahead three for the 80-78 advantage.

Seamster led offen sively with 23 points and went five-of-10 from three-point dis tance. Ahmed Mahgo ub scored 18 points af ter going six-of-13 from the floor. Dixon scored 15 points including his game-winning three and Thompson netted five points and seven assists.

Allen will tip-off in the Neosho Classic against Bethany Col lege JV in Chanute on Friday and Saturday.

No. 17 Illinois rallies, beats No. 2 Texas in OT

NEW YORK (AP)

— Terrence Shannon Jr. scored 12 of his 16 points in overtime, in cluding the tiebreak ing 3-pointer with 3:34 remaining, and No. 17 Illinois rallied to hand second-ranked Texas its first loss of the season, 85-78 on Tuesday night in the Jimmy V Classic.

Jayden Epps added 11 points, including the final five points of reg ulation — a 3-pointer with 35 seconds left and two tying free throws with 8 seconds remain ing. Epps then blocked Marcus Carr’s jumper in the lane just before the buzzer to force over time in an entertaining showdown at Madison Square Garden.

Matthew Mayer, who faced Texas several times at Baylor, tied a career high with 21 points as he made his first seven shots and fin ished 8 of 10.

Shannon, who missed eight of nine shots in regulation, took over in the extra period to help Illinois (7-2) beat a ranked foe for the sec ond time this season. He opened overtime with a jumper after Carr was called for traveling and then hit an open 3 from the right wing over Brock Cunningham for a 73-70 lead.

“I was telling my teammates way to keep us in it, they were just great,” Shannon said. “I just kept telling them, like praising them, ‘Man, good job, you’re keeping us in it, you’re all playing great. I got you and I’m going to come through for you eventually,’ and that’s what I kept telling them

in overtime.”

Shannon converted a reverse layup and fin ished a three-point play to make it 77-70 with 2:16 left. Carr hit two free throws to get Texas within one with 1:28 re maining.

Jayden Epps made a layup, RJ Melendez sank two free throws to put Illinois ahead by five, and Shannon made two free throws with 27.7 seconds left.

“They were all under control,” Illinois coach Brad Underwood said. “They were all poised.

“Those were plays that weren’t just reck less. Those were plays that were poised, pa tient and he stopped to make the right play. Just really good basketball plays.”

Shannon, who re ceived four stitches un der his right eye during Friday night’s loss at No. 13 Maryland, came through against his for mer coach Chris Beard, for whom he played two seasons at Texas Tech.

“When it came to winning time, he played his best,” Beard said of Shannon.

Timmy Allen scored a season-high 21 points for Texas (6-1), which failed to open 7-0 for the first time since 2014-15.

Tyrese Hunter added 10 points but Carr was held to nine points on 3-of-14 shooting as Tex as had 12 shots blocked and shot 42%.

Texas took its only double-digit lead when Dillon Mitchell hit a layup with 8:28 left. Illi nois cut the lead to 5856 on a 3 by Melendez nearly four minutes later.

Titans fire GM midseason

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee con trolling owner Amy Adams Strunk has very high standards for her Titans.

Combined with the millions she’s invest ing, she also isn’t afraid of making big moves chasing the Lombardi Trophy that eluded her late father.

Strunk fired general manager Jon Robinson on Tuesday in the midst of his seventh season with the Titans off to a 7-5 start and Tennessee second only to the Kan sas City Chiefs for the NFL’s longest active streak of consecutive winning seasons in his tenure.

The Titans an nounced Strunk’s de cision in a statement.

Ryan Cowden, the vice president of player personnel, will handle player personnel for the rest of this season.

The Titans plan to start searching for a new general manager soon with a full search at the end of the season.

Strunk said her goal since replacing

her brother-in-law as controlling owner in March 2015 has been to raise the standard for every part of the NFL franchise founded by her late father, Bud.

Strunk said she be lieves the Titans have made “significant prog ress” on and off the field.

“This progress in cludes the core of our business, the football team itself, which is regularly evaluated both by results (wins and losses) and team construction/roster building,” Strunk said. “I am proud of what we have accomplished in my eight seasons

of ownership, but I be lieve there is more to be done and higher as pirations to be met.”

Strunk paid to reno vate the Titans’ head quarters, essentially doubling the size of the facility to both update the building and hold all the new employees

Kansas high schools investigate chants

By MARG STAFFORD The Associated Press

Two Kansas high schools are investigat ing an incident after students at one school reportedly yelled racist and offensive taunts at the other school’s bas ketball team.

Topeka High School’s team was sub jected to “racial slurs, threats and disgust ing taunts,” during a game on Saturday with Valley Center High School, Coach Geo Ly ons said in a Change. org petition. He also said Valley Center students used a Black baby doll to taunt his team during the game.

Lyons has started a petition asking that Valley Center High School fans be removed from sporting events.

Lyons did not return a message from The Associated Press on Tuesday. But he told KSN-TV that his son was shooting a free throw when the Valley Center student section

chanted an expletive. He also alleged that ra cial epithets were used and his team was told they were going to be hanged.

“I had a down locker room, I’m talking about tears were flowing in that locker room,” Ly ons said.

Valley Center offi cials issued an apolo gy Monday to Topeka High School for “inap propriate language and behavior” by students during the game.

The district said in a statement that Topeka and Valley Center offi cials spent much of the weekend studying vid eos and interviewing people in attendance.

As of Tuesday, the of ficials had not found evidence of specifically racist taunts but Valley Center acknowledged that students acted in appropriately.

It said students who chanted the expletive at the Topeka student were immediately re moved and Valley Cen ter officials worked

to prevent any other negative interactions when the game ended.

The Black baby doll was part of a class as signment that requires students to “parent” the baby for a few days, the district said. It was not brought to the game intentionally to taunt Topeka High School but “without context, seeing the baby and images of the ‘baby’ caused hurt and con cern to many, and for that we are very sorry,” the statement said.

Valley Center Super intendent Cory Gibson had a “fruitful” conver sation about the inci dent with representa tives of the NAACP on Tuesday, spokeswoman Amy Pavlacka said.

Gibson and Valley Cen ter High School Princi pal Bruce Lolling also visited with patrons from both cities to dis cuss the situation.

“As a district, we sent a letter to all VCHS families and stu dents explaining there would be follow-up

consequences for those students involved, and that we, as a commu nity, should learn and grow from this expe rience,” the statement said.

Topeka schools Su perintendent Tiffany Anderson said in a letter to district pa trons that the incident has been reported to the Kansas State High School Activities Asso ciation.

She said the Topeka district appreciated Valley Center’s apol ogy but they hope the district will take appro priate steps to address what occurred with those involved.

“I am so grateful for our coaches, principal (Rebecca) Morrisey and the mighty Tro jans at Topeka High who modeled the con duct we expect from our students and we hope that it sets the example of what ex cellence looks like for others to learn from moving forward,” An derson wrote.

Philadelphia Eagles DE Brandon Graham (55) sacks Tennessee Titans QB Ryan Tannehill (17) at Lincoln Financial Field, Sunday. TNS

Titans: Fire general manager midseason after loss to Eagles

Continued from B3

hired.

The Titans also are finalizing the last piece of financ ing for a new en closed stadium they want to open for the 2026 season. Strunk and the rest of own ership, with some help from the NFL and the sale of per sonal seat licenses, are expected to con tribute $840 million toward the stadium estimated to cost $2.1 billion.

Strunk fired coach Ken Whisen hunt after a 1-6 start to his second season in November 2015 and a 3-20 record overall. She fired general manager Ruston Webster at

the end of that sea son.

She hired Rob inson, a native of Union City in West Tennessee who grew up cheering for the Titans, in January 2016 after the fran chise went a com bined 5-27 in 2014 and 2015.

When coach Mike Mularkey balked at making changes, Strunk fired him in January 2018 after a loss in the divi sional round of the playoffs and quickly hired Mike Vrabel as his replacement.

The Titans never went worse than 9-7 in Robinson’s ten ure. That includes earning the AFC’s No. 1 seed in 2021 with a 12-5 record

despite setting an NFL record by us ing 91 players in a non-strike season.

That earned coach Vrabel, whom Rob inson helped hire in January 2018, the AP NFL Coach of the Year award.

Both Robinson and Vrabel had their contracts extended in February.

The Titans cur rently sit atop the AFC South with a chance to win the division for a third straight year, some thing that this fran chise hasn’t done since its beginning in the original AFL.

Of their final five games, only one is against a team with a winning record. The Titans host the

Jaguars (4-8) on Sun day.

But they just were routed 35-10 in Philadelphia, a loss that featured a big performance by the wide receiver Robin son traded to the Ea gles during the first round of the NFL draft. A.J. Brown wanted a new con tract and got it from Philadelphia in the deal Tennessee used to draft rookie Trey lon Burks at No. 18.

Vrabel said on a national show be fore the draft that Brown wouldn’t be traded as long as he was the head coach.

Brown had eight catches for 119 yards and two touchdowns against the Titans. He has 61 catches

and ranks seventh in the NFL with 950 yards along with nine touchdowns for the season. Burks leads the Titans with 369 yards receiving despite spending four games on in jured reserve, while veteran Robert Woods has a teamhigh 33 catches.

Running back Dontrell Hilliard leads Tennessee with four TD recep tions on an offense tied for 29th in total yards, 30th in aver aging 171.4 yards passing per game and 26th with 18.3 points scored per game.

The Titans al lowed a season-high six sacks in that loss behind an offensive

line that featured three new starters due to a combina tion of salary cap moves during the offseason and a sea son-ending injury to left tackle Taylor Lewan.

In his first draft, Robinson selected two-time NFL rush ing champ Derrick Henry, the eighth man in league histo ry to run for at least 2,000 yards in a sea son in 2020, and a two-time All-Pro in safety Kevin Byard.

His gamble taking defensive tackle Jef fery Simmons in the first round of the 2019 draft paid off with the lineman be coming a starter as a rookie.

Robinson also had

had several draft and trade mistakes.

SCC: Boys

Continued from B1

for the Titans. South ern Coffey County hosts Marais des Cygnes on Thursday.

Southern Coffey County (8-1-2-19— 19): (FG/3pt): Winn 0-0-1-0, DeAnda 6-2-415, Summers 0-0-0-0, Rolf 0-0-5-0, Boling 0-0-0-0, Newton 0-0-30, Christian 0-0-1-0, Nickel 2-0-5-4.

Peabody (16-95—44): (FG/3pt): Gosser 0-0-1-0, Parks 5-6-2-18, Partridge 0-0-0-0, Strotkamp 0-0-0-0, Spencer 7-2-216, Wortmann 0-0-0-0, Glover 4-1-0-9.

Humboldt: and Crest battle at home tournament

Continued from B1

scored the only two points in the third for Crest while Erie added 14.

In the fourth, God derz hit a three-pointer and Setter hit a trio of free throws for Crest’s total of six points. Erie scored 11 points in the final quarter behind Duff’s five points and went on to secure the victory, 49-28.

“I’m going to put a lot on the seniors, not that they didn’t try, but we’ve got to take it up a notch,” Sporing said. “I’m sure second-chance points, they probably had 10 to 15, and that’s a big chunk of what they scored tonight. If we cut that in half, it’s a differ ent ballgame.”

Setter led Crest offen sively with 11 points, followed by Godderz’s five points and Zimmer man’s four points. Setter was the only Lancer to finish the night in dou ble digits.

Crest (6-13-12—28) (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Mc Glee 0-3-0-3, Miller, 0-3-33, Weir 1-0-0-2, Ramsey 0-0-0-0, Prasko, 0-0-0-0, Godderz 1/1-0-3-5, Zim merman 2-0-3-4, Barker

0-0-0-0, Setter 2-8-3-11 Erie (12/7-4-18—49) FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Dil linger 7-4-2-18, Richen burg 0/1-0-1-3, Duff 2/4-0-0-16, Ewan 1-0-2-2, Seibel 1-0-1-2, Choi 1-0-42, Montee 0/2-0-0-6, Reis sig 0-0-2-0

Humboldt Girls

The Lady Cubs came ready to play as they got a number of players involved in the scoring and rebounded the ball extremely well to create second-chance opportu nities.

Humboldt’s McKen na Jones began the first quarter by hitting a three-pointer and going in for a layup. Kennisyn Hottenstein also hit a two-pointer and a free throw to help the Lady Cubs take a 12-2 advan tage at the end of the first quarter.

“I thought the girls did a much better job of being all over the boards,” said Humboldt head coach Aubrey Jones. “They made that adjustment from last week and I expect them to just keep adjusting to it and keep growing.”

Jones helped Hum boldt outscore Union town again in the sec

ond quarter when she hit a three-pointer and knocked down three free throws. Ricklyn Hillm on also hit a two-pointer and a free throw for the 25-13 halftime lead.

Uniontown got most of their offense in the first half off the fin gers of Reese Gorman who nailed a trio of three-pointers in the second quarter and fin ished the night scoring a team-high 13 points.

Humboldt was shut out in the third quar ter while Uniontown’s Rylee Coulter hit a trio of three-pointers and Gorman hit a two-point er to knot the game at 25-25.

“We just had a bad third quarter of bas ketball. They picked up the defense and started playing more intensely. More intense defense always helps the offense get better and it did,” said Jones. “That set the tone for a bit of a lack of confidence and we had to bring that in the fourth.”

The Lady Cubs de fense stepped up in the fourth quarter to shut out the Eagles the rest of the night. Humboldt’s Wools scored seven

points by hitting three shots from the floor and Jones and K. Hotten stein each scored two points.

Jones led the Lady Cubs offensively with 13 points while Wools buck eted nine points. Carson Haviland and K. Hotten stein added six and five points, respectively.

Humboldt (12/28-15-38) (FG/3ptFT-F-TP): Jones 1/25-1-13, Hottenstein 1-0-2-2, K. Hottenstein 2-0-2-5, Shaughnessy 0-0-1-0, Haviland 3-0-3-6, Hillman 1-1-1-2, Wools 4-1-3-9.

Humboldt Boys

Humboldt High’s boys cruised by Uniontown in a 55-22 drubbing. The Cubs got behind the offensive play of Trey Sommer and played a fast and physical game in which they were able to hold the Eagles to only five points in the second half.

Sommer scored seven points from the floor in the first quarter while

Sam Hull and Colden Cook each scored four points. The black and or ange held Uniontown to only nine first-quarter points.

“I feel we are still playing unselfishly and with good chemistry. We missed a lot of opportu nities around the basket though,” said Humboldt head coach David Tay lor. “We do play fast and furious but we were not good at it at times and we didn’t let the trash clear sometimes on the break. We got sloppy in transition due to us wanting so badly to get out and run.”

Hull, Sommer, Asher Hart and Mason Sterling scored two points apiece to take a 25-18 advantage heading to halftime.

Humboldt explod ed for 22 points in the third quarter when Hull and Sommer went un derneath for six points apiece. Jacob Har rington also tacked on four points while the Cub defense held the Ea gles to five points in the

third.

The Cubs were able to put the game away with their defense when they shu tout the Eagles in the fourth quarter and scored eight points be hind Cook’s three points and Mateo Miller and Hull’s two points apiece.

“We played better defense in the second half,” said Taylor. “We played relatively physi cally but I still think we could be more physical, especially in and around the post.”

Sommer led offensive ly with 15 points while Hull registered 14 and Cook scored nine. Cook led on the glass with sev en rebounds while Som mer hauled in three.

Sommer also led with three assists.

Defensively, Hart forced a team-high five turnovers and collected three steals in the pro cess. Harrington creat ed two turnovers while Sommer had three steals and two blocks. Hull also collected four steals and one turnover.

Girlfriend gets left in the cold for the holidays

Adapted from an on line discussion.

Dear Carolyn: I’ve been with my girlfriend a little over a year. Like last year, I plan to spend both Thanksgiving and Christmas with my fam ily, who live about 90 minutes from me.

My girlfriend is upset that I didn’t invite her to join me. In all honesty, it’s because my family would take this as an indication that I plan to marry her, and that would just produce in credible pressure from them. It’s all they think about because I’m the only kid who isn’t mar ried yet. But I’m only 29 and not ready to rush into anything, so I don’t want to even put that idea into my girlfriend’s head.

I have explained this to my girlfriend — ex cluding the part about marriage — but she is still really upset. I can understand why she is disappointed since she wasn’t included last year, either, but she has her own family she could go to (six hours away).

I did say next year there is a good chance she will be invited, when we have a better understanding of where

CRYPTOQUOTES

Carolyn Hax

we are, but that didn’t help her any.

What more can I say or do?

— Not Ready Not Ready: “I told her we couldn’t go because gorillas were running loose downtown — ex cluding the part about the gorillas.”

The whole thing is about marriage! Your unreadiness for it, your family’s preoccupation with it, your status as the only one who doesn’t have one yet.

So what more you can say is everything after “In all honesty,” except for the part that poses a severe tearing-out threat to my hair, that you don’t want to give the little woman any ideas.

So, something like this:

“It’s because my fam ily is on marriage watch and would just put in credible pressure on us. It’s all they think about because I’m the only kid who isn’t married yet, but I’m only 29 and not ready to rush into any

thing.”

This way, you own your feelings, she knows where you stand, she can know where she stands, you can know where she stands, and you can revisit where you stand, so you both can know where you stand together, and no one is playing Hide the Bouquet for fear of catching wedding coo ties.

Or, if you like her, then you can just bring her with you and handle it.

Re: Thanksgiving: Initially, I thought it was flattering to meet boyfriends’ parents, un til I learned I was one in a long assembly line of girlfriends. Relatives would nod and smile and quickly forget my name. One grandma couldn’t keep any of the girlfriends’ names straight so it was, “Hey you,” for three years. I felt the opposite of spe cial.

I put an end to it by asking, “Why?” every time a guy wanted me to meet the parents. I never heard an answer beyond “I don’t know” until I met my husband.

— Hey You Hey You: This is not only a great point, thanks, but also po

tentially backdoor in structive to Not Ready, who needs to get right on with bringing home every single woman he dates, for every holi day — major, minor, Canadian — thereby overwhelming his overinvested family with too many names and possi bilities to keep straight. You’re welcome.

Yesterday’s Cryptoquote: Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you. — Frank Lloyd Wright

ZITS by Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman BEETLE BAILEY by Mort Walker HAGAR THE HORRIBLE by Chris Browne FUNKY WINKERBEAN by Tom Batiuk

BLONDIE by Young and Drake MARVIN by Tom Armstrong HI AND LOIS by Chance Browne

G Y H N

N A Y T D L

Wildcats dispatch NE-Arma

MORAN — Brayden Lawson scored 24 points and Jaedon Granere 14 as Marmaton Valley High opened its preseason tournament in style Tuesday.

The duo helped the Wildcats pull away in the second half to defeat visiting Northeast-Arma, 50-44, to open the round-robin tournament.

Lane Lord chipped in with seven points and Dylan Drake five as Marmaton Valley burst out of the gates quickly, then responded after halftime after Northeast rallied to take the lead.

Marmaton Valley led 17-9 after one quarter and 27-20 at halftime.

The Vikings stayed close, pulling within five after three quarters, 36-31, after three.

Struggles at the line prevented Marmaton Valley from an even more decisive victory.

The Wildcats converted 5 of 13 free throws in the fourth quarter and went 16 of 32 for the game.

Brendan Alters scored 18 to pace the Vikings.

The Wildcats (1-1) are back in action Thursday to take on Madison in the second round of the tournament, which wraps up Friday with a contest against Oswego. Northeast (9-11-11-13—44) FG FT F TP Gaynor 3 3 2 9 Young 2 0 5 4 Sparks 0 1 4 1 Alters 9 0 4 18 Clemons 0 0 3 0 Troth 2 2 4 6 Smith 0 0 1 0 Goodwin 3 0 4 6 Totals 19 6 27 44 MV (17-10-9-14—50)

FG FT F TP Drake 2 1 2 5 Granere 7 0 5 14 Smith 0 0 4 0 Lord 2 3 3 7 Lawson 6 12 3 24 Totals 17 16 17 50

N’Guessan leads KSU past Abilene Christian

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — David N’Guessan scored 23 points to lead Kansas State to an 81-64 victory over Abilene Christian on Tuesday night.

N’Guessan made all nine of his field goals but was 4 of 11 from the line. Markquis Nowell added 15 points and matched a season high with 12 assists for Kansas State (8-1), which shot 31 of 53 (58.5%) from the field but was just 3 of 12 from distance and 16 of 29 (55%) from the line. Keyontae Johnson and Nae’Qwan Tomlin added 12 points apiece.

Nowell underhanded a pass off the backboard and a trailing Johnson slammed it home to cap a 27-15 run to open the second half as K-State built a 62-49 lead. Abilene Christian pulled within 11 points

with 2:20 remaining but didn’t get closer.

Tobias Cameron scored 14 points and Immanuel Allen added 11 for Abilene Christian (5-4).

ACU jumped out to a 14-point lead midway through the first half before Kansas State closed on a 21-6 run for a 35-34 edge at the break.

Kansas State concludes a three-game homestand on Sunday against Incarnate Word before a matchup with Nebraska on Dec. 17 at the Wildcat Classic in Kansas City, Mo.

MV girls fall to Vikings

MORAN — Northeast High’s balanced scoring attack spelled trouble for Marmaton Valley High’s girls Tuesday.

Marmaton Valley saw their visitors from Arma pull away in the second quarter to break open a close contest. By game’s end Northeast had four players score at least seven points in the Vikings’ 37-28 victory.

The loss comes in the first round of Marmaton Valley’s preseason tournament. The Wildcats (11) return to action Thursday against Madison before the tournament concludes Friday with a tilt against Oswego.

Janae Granere’s 12 points led the Wildcats in the defensive affair. Piper Barney chipped in with six, all in the first half.

The game was tightly fought throughout. Marmaton Valley led 8-7 after one quarter before Northeast forged ahead, 21-18, at the break. The Vikings maintained a 26-22 lead after three quarters, then sealed the win with a pair of 3-pointers in the final frame.

(7-14-5-11—37)

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Pets week of the

Marmaton Valley High’s Tayven Sutton drives to the hoop Tuesday against Northeast-Arma. PHOTO BY HALIE LUKEN/MVHS

Marmaton Valley High’s Brayden Lawson, foreground, looks for an opening on o ense against Northeast-Arma Tuesday. Lawson scored 24 in the Wildcats’ 50-44 victory. PHOTO BY HALIE LUKEN/MVHS