Thursday, July 9, 2020
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State reports 717 more virus cases TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas’ top health official says most counties are not following Gov. Laura Kelly’s executive order requiring people to wear masks to help contain the spread of COVID-19, even though data is showing that masks work. Allen, Anderson, and Bourbon counties each reported a new positive COVID-19 case Wednesday, SEK Multi-County Health Department director Rebecca Johnson announced. Department of Health and Environment Secretary Dr. Lee Norman said at a news briefing Wednesday that countries with cultural norms or government policies that support public mask wearing have seen nine-fold decreases in mortality. Norman cited the data from a study published in See CASES | Page A3
Iola beats Ottawa
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GOP candidate’s dad donates to PAC PAGE A2
Officer who clashed with Trump retires PAGE A6
iolaregister.com
ACC plans in-person classes for fall Big issue for international students is travel in virus era, not new visa rule
By TREVOR HOAG The Iola Register
Allen Community College plans to hold in-person classes this fall, and looks to operate as normally as possible while still taking COVID-19 safety precautions. One outcome of this plan is that the college should not be affected by a recent decision by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to deny visas to international students who would only be able to take online courses while living on
campuses in the U.S. “Our institutional policy … is that international students have to be in at least 9 hours of classes on ground, if they’re in this country,” said ACC vice president for student affairs Cynthia Jacobson. This is actually the typical policy for ACC and other institutions, she said, but due
to the COVID-19 pandemic, the rule prohibiting international students from taking only online courses had been waived. Institutions like Harvard and MIT had wanted the waiver to remain in place, and so are suing the Trump administration over the DHS/ICE policy, saying it’s a matter of public health, since it’s arguably safer for some students to both remain in the U.S. while also taking all their courses online. On the flipside, Jacobson said “[ACC has] a number of students who aren’t going
By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
There’s a huge difference between dirt and soil, Zach Louk notes. Dirt is what you wipe off your feet when you come home after a long day’s work. Soil is what will sustain farms for future generations. One of Louk’s mandates is to work with producers near and far to help replenish their soil with nutrients. He does so as a salesman for Green Cover Seed, which opened a location in the former Tramec building in Iola earlier this year. Louk and Caleb Berns, site manager, spoke during a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday with the Iola Area Chamber of Commerce, Iola Industries and other local officials. They gave a brief rundown of what the company offers, and how cover crops have become a vital tool for farmers and ranchers to keep their farmland healthy. A cover crop is one that’s grown specifically to prepare the ground rather than
Zach Louk, center, shows Iolan Job Springer, left, and Iola Mayor Jon Wells a number of seeds and sprouts available at Green Cover Seed, which opened its doors in Iola earlier this year. A ribbon-cutting was held at the Iola facility Wednesday. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN growing a specific grain or food and can be clover, green beans, peas, radishes or any combination of the above. Cover crops are grown instead of burning off and disking land once cash crops are
By DAVID KOENIG The Associated Press
Vol. 122, No. 177 Iola, KS 75 Cents
See ACC | Page A3
Seed business sprouts in Iola
harvested. The different seeds offer a number of benefits, from controlling weeds, preventing erosion and building up nutrients, Louk said: all with the goal of generating ecosystems
Lawyer: TSA makes changes after whistleblower’s complaint The Transportation Security Administration has improved coronavirus protection for airport screeners after a TSA official accused the agency of endangering travelers, the whistleblower’s lawyer said Wednesday. The changes include requiring screeners to change or sanitize gloves after every time they pat down a passenger, and to wear face shields around travelers if there aren’t plastic barriers between them and the public. Jay Brainard, the top TSA official in Kansas, complained last month to a federal whistleblower-protection office that TSA didn’t train staff for the virus pandemic
to be able to get out of their country, because they have travel restrictions to the U.S.,” including from Europe. “Our biggest issue with our internationals is their inability to get here.” This is because the European Union and elsewhere have deemed the COVID-19 situation in the U.S. as acutely dangerous. Those students are “either going to start or continue their classes with us online,” said Jacobson, “and hopefully in the spring semester they’re going to be able to travel
TSA workers process passengers at Orlando International Airport. (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel/TNS) and barred supervisors from giving screeners stockpiled N95 respirators in March when facial coverings such as surgical masks were hard
to buy. Brainard said the TSA eventually made changes in response to COVID-19, including requiring screeners
to wear masks, but the measures did not go far enough. A TSA spokesman confirmed that Brainard met last week with TSA Administrator John Pekoske, but he did not directly address whether the agency changed procedures as a result. “We believe whistleblowers provide a valuable service to government,” said TSA spokesman Carter Langston, while adding that “internal feedback comes from many different sources and we listen to all of them.” Langston said the TSA “has adopted a continuous improvement approach throughout the pandemic.” The agency said on its website Wednesday that 997 employees have tested posiSee TSA | Page A3
in the soil. That’s why much of what Louk’s duties incorporate education. The concept of using cover See SEED | Page A5
GOP boosts congressman’s Senate bid By JOHN HANNA The Associated Press
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Establishment Republicans who’d been coy for months about the GOP primary for Kansas’ open Senate seat are increasingly putting their thumbs on the scale, hoping to push Rep. Roger Marshall to victory over polarizing conservative Kris Kobach. A new GOP super-PAC this week launched what it promised will be a $3 million advertising campaign against Kobach with a spot that says he has ties to white supremacists, raising anew an issue See CONGRESS | Page A3