Thursday, February 10, 2022
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ACC targets outreach, speeding Cases since 12/22 ...99 Total cases* ...........3,869 Deaths ..................45
Allen baseball swept by Pratt
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By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
Allen Community College is looking at ways to bolster its outreach facility in Burlingame. College administrators John Masterson and Jon Marshall briefed ACC trustees Tuesday on their plans to meet with school superintendents in Osage County to discuss the outreach campus in Burlingame. Masterson, ACC president, noted the Burlingame campus has seen a precipitous drop in enrollment over the past decade. Some of that was to be expected as Allen bumped up its online courses and concurrent enrollment programs at area high schools. Still, Masterson noted it would be good to visit with public school administrators there to gather their input.
Allen Community College trustees and staff are concerned about speeding in the parking lot at the Iola campus. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN “We’ll be there to listen to their suggestions as to how we can do better,” Masterson said, noting Allen there
are several new faces in the school districts there. “It’s good to start asking questions outside of our own tent to see
how we can improve.” Marshall said superintendents from Burlingame, LynSee ACC | Page A4
Families get insurance options Megaproject incentive
package heads to Kelly
By VICKIE MOSS The Iola Register
Low-income families can now apply for health insurance at any time of the year through the federal Marketplace. A change in the Affordable Care Act offers special enrollment for those households that fall below 150% of the federal poverty level. “This is to reach more of the underserved and under-insured, low-income families to give them an opportunity to have health insurance without being limited to a certain timeframe,” Rhonda Culp, director of care coordination for Thrive Allen County, said. The federal health insurance Marketplace is part of the Affordable Care Act, that offers health insurance to those who don’t have coverage through their employer. Subsidies, typically based on income, lower the monthly premium cost. For most, the health insurance exchange offers open enrollment in November and December, but this year it was
By NOAH TABORDA Kansas Reflector
Thrive Allen County’s Casey Godinez, care coordinator, left, and Rhonda Culp, director of care coordination, are among those available to help low-income families apply for health insurance after a change in the law allows for extended enrollment. REGISTER/VICKIE MOSS
extended to Jan. 15. Special enrollment is available to those who have a major life change, such as getting married, changing jobs, having a baby or other situations. Opening enrollment at any time for those with lower incomes will give them more options, Culp said. Sometimes, a person enrolls in a health insurance
plan but finds their health provider doesn’t accept that particular plan. They must look for a different provider who takes their insurance, and may have to travel to do so. That can be difficult for those with lower incomes. Now, if a plan doesn’t meet their needs, someone with a lower income can switch See HEALTH | Page A3
TOPEKA — After concurring with a House proposal, Kansas senators sent a bill providing an incentive package to a secret company expected to invest billions of dollars in the state to the governor for final approval. Gov. Laura Kelly is expected to sign the Attracting Powerful Economic Expansion Act, or APEX, which looks to provide the state an advantage over the competition in Oklahoma for the site of a production plant into which the unnamed company plans to invest $4 billion. The bill provides a refundable tax credit of up to 15% to be paid back over 10 years, payroll reimbursement of up to 7.5% and a relocation incentive fund. Estimates from nonpartisan legislative staff indicate the package would cost well over $1 billion, but an
analysis by Wichita State U n ive r s i t y indicated the measure could eventually generate $2.5 billion Gov. Laura annually in Kelly new economic activity. “We need something. We need a tool in the toolbox that can attract new industry and grow our economy,” said Sen. Jeff Pittman, D-Leavenworth. “We’re looking at competing not only in the United States but globally with this bill.” Despite some concern that the bill modified by the House did not reflect the desire of the Senate, lawmakers voted 31 to 9 to concur with their counterparts across the rotunda. The final iteration modifies the proposal from the governor and Senate to include additional See PROJECT | Page A3
GOP undoes veto of redistricting map; courts next By JOHN HANNA The Associated Press
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Republican legislators in Kansas on Wednesday overrode the Democratic governor’s veto of a redistricting plan that politically hurts the state’s only Democrat in Congress, likely plunging Kansas into a national legal brawl amid the contest for control of the U.S. House. Prominent Democratic attorney Marc Elias, who has pursued lawsuits in states including Georgia, North CaroVol. 124, No. 92 Iola, KS 75 Cents
lina and Ohio, tweeted: “Kansas will be sued.” The 85-37 vote in the Kansas House overturned Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of a map that splits the state’s side of the Kansas City area between two districts, making it harder for U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids to win reelection this year. Davids is the state’s first openly gay and Native American woman in Congress. The GOP map also moves the liberal northeast Kansas enclave of Lawrence — home to the main University See VETO | Page A6
The Kansas House joined with the Kansas Senate to override Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of a congressional redistricting map for use in the 2022 election cycle. In the House, the partisan work on redistricting is led by Republican Rep. Chris Croft, right, and Democratic Rep. Tom Burroughs. (TIM CARPENTER/KANSAS REFLECTOR)
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