That’s been David Hopkins’s philosophy throughout his 46-year career as owner of Hopkins Photography.
“My goal when I started was to make people happy with what they were seeing, and to treat everyone fairly. That’s important to me, that people leave feeling like they got a good deal and they were happy,” Hopkins said. “I’m blessed I got to do something I enjoyed for so long.”
Hopkins closed up shop and retired at the end of the year, bidding farewell to the studio at 201 S. Jefferson Ave.
Owning his own business — especially a business where he controlled how he scheduled his time — also mattered. Certain months of the year were busier than others, and he wanted to make sure not to give the impression that he was always working.
“If any of my buddies read this, they’re going to say, ‘Why didn’t he tell her he would take off three days a week to
ACC event to welcome incoming president
By VICKIE MOSS
The Iola Register
Allen Community College will introduce its new president, Dr. Lyvier Leffler, at a community reception Thursday, Jan. 30. The informal meetand-greet is from 5 to 7 p.m. at ACC’s Stadler Room.
Leffler’s first day on the job is Jan. 21.
Becky Nilges, chair of the college’s board of trustees, said she hopes members of the community will attend the informal introduction.
“The college is an important part of the community. Over the past two years, we have heard concerns from our patrons about a lack of community involvement,” Nilges said. “We want to start on the right foot with Dr. Leffler. I think she’ll be great.”
Nilges said Leffler likely will speak to groups and organizations after she settles into her new role. Leffler previously told
See ACC | Page A7
go fishing in the spring?” he said, laughing. Work hard, play hard. He expects that strategy will ease the transition into retirement. He’s always made time for hobbies and activities such as spending time with his grandchildren, traveling, camping, hunting and fishing. Now, he’ll have even more opportunities.
PHOTOGRAPHY has changed a lot since Hopkins first started.
There are the obvious technical changes: The days of film are mostly gone. Everything is digital. The cell phone in your pocket takes higher quality photos than the first digital camera Hopkins ever bought, decades ago.
And because of that, not
PSI expands
By SARAH HANEY
Volume. That’s what makes a successful business, says Loren Korte. As the owner of Personal Service Insurance (PSI) for nearly 40 years, he must be onto something.
“No matter what you’re selling, it’s about volume,” said Korte. “You’ve gotta get big, or you’re out.”
With the recent purchase of Iola Insurance, Inc., his company’s volume has ex-
Round 2
Days after a polar vortex hit the area with an icy mix of precipitation, another winter storm dumped 3 inches of snow across the county Thursday night into Friday morning, forcing businesses to find someone to shovel sidewalks in the early morning hours. Above, Diego Castro, manager at El Charro, removes snow in front of the restaurant. At right, Jordan Swart with All In One shovels snow near Emprise Bank. REGISTER/VICKIE MOSS
panded even more. Korte has owned PSI since 1986. Before that, it was known as Houk Insurance Agency and had operated out of Moran since 1926. “This business has been in only two families in the last 100 years,” Korte said proudly.
Over the years, PSI has picked up additional clientele. It operates offices out of Iola, Moran, Humboldt, Mound City, and Fulton, as well as a drop-off location
No jail time or fines for Trump in hush money case
By ASHLEY MURRAY Kansas Reflector
WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump was sentenced Friday in his New York hush money case just days before his inauguration, making him the only past and future U.S. president with a criminal record.
Trump has faced four criminal prosecutions but the New York state case was the sole one that went to trial. A jury
convicted him in May on 34 felonies for falsifying invoices, checks and ledger entries that amounted to a $130,000 reimbursement to his lawyer for paying off a porn star ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
New York Justice Juan Merchan sentenced the president-elect to an “unconditional discharge,” handing down no jail time or fines but cementing a mark on Trump’s record 10 days before he takes
the oath of office to become the 47th president.
Speaking during the virtual proceeding from his Mar-aLago residence, Trump said he was “totally innocent” and defended the description of his payments to his lawyer in business records as “legal expenses.” As he has in the past, he accused the federal government of being involved in the New York state case.
“It’s been a political witch hunt that was done to dam-
age my reputation so that I’d lose the election, and obviously that didn’t work. And the people of our country got to see first hand because they watched the case in your courtroom,” the president-elect said, according to audio published by C-SPAN. Cameras were not allowed in the courtroom during the trial or sentencing.
Merchan called the case “extraordinary” but said “The
See TRUMP | Page A8
David Hopkins has closed shop at Hopkins Photography after 46 years taking professional portraits for thousands of families across the area. REGISTER/VICKIE MOSS
Personal Service Insurance (PSI) recently purchased Iola Insurance, Inc. and is eager to provide services to its new clients. Owner Loren Korte and employee Rosan Williams are pictured in front of the Iola office, 211 South St. REGISTER/SARAH HANEY
The Iola Register
See HOPKINS | Page A7
See PSI | Page A7
Lyvier Leffler
Iola Reads Ranger in Time Basket Winners
Iola Elementary School’s Lucas Stauffer-Rodriguez, left, and Hadley Thompson were the winners of the Ranger in Time baskets. Students who read 10 or more Ranger in Time chapter books were entered into a drawing for a gift basket of items that were included in the books. All first- through fifth-grade students were treated to a virtual visit with the author Kate Messner. PHOTOS
COURTESY OF TAMMY PRATHER
Trump says meeting with Putin is being arranged
By STEPHANIE LAI Bloomberg News/TNS
WASHINGTON —
President-elect Donald Trump said a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin is being set up.
At a meeting with Republican governors at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club, the incoming president told a reporter that Putin “wants to meet” and added, “we’re gonna — we’re setting it up.” Any such meet-
ing, were it to happen, would come after he’s inaugurated as president, Trump said.
TRUMP HAS SAID he wants to bring about an end to Russia’s war on Ukraine even before he takes office for his second presidential term on Jan. 20, and his rhetoric has raised fears an armistice would be favorable to Russia. Putin last month said he’s ready to talk to Trump.
When asked about the prospect of Putin or Chinese President Xi Jinping joining Trump at Mar-a-Lago, the Republican said, “to be de-
termined, but President Putin wants to meet. He’s said that even publicly, and we have to get that war over with. That’s a bloody mess.”
Firefighters battle to protect NASA jet lab
By GRACE TOOHEY LA Times/TNS
LOS ANGELES — Officials said they are making progress in protecting two key institutions from the Eaton fire.
Don Fregulia, an operations section chief for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, which has joined in the Eaton fire response, said that efforts to protect Mt. Wilson had proved successful and he expected that to remain the case.
“We’re actively engaged there, and so far, no loss to any values at risk at Mt. Wilson,” Fregulia said. “We’re feeling good about what we have to do up
there tonight to keep that site secure.”
He said the fire had also spread close to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, but he said that’s a priority and crews were “making good progress there as well.”
“We get the aircraft up and we get them flying, and then it’s just too dangerous for the pilots and they have to come back down,” he said. “So it’s a constant evaluation, … we’re being successful when we’re able to fly them.”
The Eaton Fire has burned 13,690 acres and roughly 5,000 structures in Altadena and Pasadena. Additional evacuation orders were mandated Thursday afternoon.
Moran’s aviation history
By KURTIS RUSSELL AC Historical Society
Wichita is the largest city in Kansas and is known as the “Air Capital of the World.” But in this writer’s humble opinion, Moran has a much better aviation story than Wichita’s.
A flight from the East Coast to the West Coast takes just a few hours today. We can hop on a plane on one side of the continental United States and fly over the entire country, seeing mountains like Mt. Sunflower and its 4,039’ elevation as well as Pikes Peak and other “14ers” along the way.
This wasn’t the case in 1911, when the Vin Fiz became a special airplane in aviation history. Piloted by Galbraith Perry Rogers, it was the first aircraft to complete a trans-continental flight. It took just over 82 hours to do so.
Yes, you read that right: over three days of flying time to go from New York to California. Keep in mind this is 1911, and the route taken was not a direct one at all. The high peaks of the Rocky Mountains — and most likely Mount Sunflower in Kansas, too — were something that planes of this era were not able to conquer.
Because of this, a more creative route was necessary. The plane followed railroad lines, as there were no aerial markers at this time either, arriving in Kansas City, Mo. on October 11. After three days of repair work, the plane took off and made its flight into Kansas, with two stops originally scheduled.
Kincaid and Parsons were to be the Kansas stops for the Vin Fiz, but Rogers missed Kincaid and landed in a field just outside Moran. Rogers skipped landing in Parsons, instead conducting a low-level
Attacker shot at police
NEW ORLEANS (AP)
— The attacker who killed 14 people in a truck rampage on New Year’s Day in New Orleans shot at police from inside his truck before officers fatally shot him, police bodycam footage released Friday shows.
The footage shows Shamsud-Din Jabbar shooting from behind an airbag as several officers surround his truck after it crashed into a crowd of revelers on the city’s famed Bourbon Street. Three officers discharged weapons, police officials said at a news conference.
An article from The Iola Register detailed Perry Rogers’ stop in Allen County. REGISTER ARCHIVES
fly over for the town before landing in Vinita, Okla. Moran wasn’t just the only Kansas stop; the flight from Kansas City to Moran also happened to be the longest time in the air for the entire trip. In total, the Vin Fiz was in the air for 2 hours and 40 minutes between Kansas City and Moran.
Today, the Vin Fiz is on display at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. It flew 4,231 miles from one coast to the other. Wichita may be the “Air Capital of the World,” but of the 76 towns where the Vin Fiz stopped, you won’t find Wichita on the list. Instead, it’s the small town of Moran that’s featured.
Britain Prime Minister to visit Ukraine
Bloomberg News/TNS
Keir Starmer will travel to Ukraine in the coming weeks to discuss the possibility of deploying an international peacekeeping force there after the conflict with Russia has ended, his first visit to the war-torn nation since becoming U.K. prime minister half a year ago.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the plan following a meeting with allies at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany, without saying when Starmer would visit. The U.K. premier is planning to go to Kyiv in the coming weeks as Europe ramps up preparation for U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House, a person familiar with the matter said. Starmer’s office declined to comment. “This initiative was started by Emmanuel Macron. The British look at it positively, but I will talk in detail with the prime minister about it at our meeting, it will take place,” Zelenskyy told reporters late Thursday. “He will be visiting Ukraine, he will have a visit to Ukraine, and we will talk.”
EUROPEAN LEAD-
ERS have in recent weeks discussed the possibility of sending troops for a peacekeeping mission to Ukraine once a ceasefire is reached, ahead of Trump’s inauguration later this month. He’s promised to deliver a swift resolution to the conflict via a negotiated settlement.
Zelenskyy’s remarks Thursday evening came as Macron and Starmer met for dinner at the U.K. premier’s Chequers countryside retreat. The two men “reiterated their unwavering support” for
Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer visits the City of London Police headquarters on Jan. 9, 2025, in London. PAUL GROVER/WPA POOL/GETTY IMAGES/TNS
Ukraine and discussed the importance of ensuring the country is
“in the strongest possible position in 2025,” according to a readout
from Starmer’s office.
The pair also discussed the potential for a joint peacekeeping force in Ukraine, according to a person familiar with the matter. Such a proposal would depend on a negotiated peace deal between Ukraine and Russia, which President Vladimir Putin has so far shown no willingness to discuss.
A possible peacekeeping mission would come at a later stage of negotiation, once a cease-fire is achieved, to avoid any risk of escalation.
DISTRICT COURT OF ALLEN COUNTY, KANSAS THIRTY-FIRST JUDICIAL DISTRICT OF KANSAS PROBATE DIVISION
In the Matter of the Estate of MARY J. WILES, a/k/a MARY JANE WILES, deceased Case No. AL-2023-PR-300004
Pursuant to Chapters 59 & 60 of the Kansas Statutes Annotated NOTICE OF HEARING ON PETITION FOR FINAL SETTLEMENT OF ESTATE THE STATE OF KANSAS TO ALL
PERSONS CONCERNED: You are hereby notified that a Petition has been filed in this Court praying for final settlement of the Estate of MARY J. WILES a/k/a MARY JANE WILES, deceased, approving the acts, accounts and proceedings of the Special Administrator and Executor of the said estate, and allowance of attorney fees and other costs and expenses, if any, and determination of the heirs, legatees and devisees entitled to the estate and assignment of the decedent’s assets and property to them in accordance with the Last Will and Testament of the above-named decedent.
You are hereby required to file your written defenses thereto on or before the 4th day of February, 2025 at 1:30 o’clock P.M.,
of said day in the District Court of Allen County, Kansas, Allen County Courthouse, Magistrate Courtroom, 1 North Washington, Iola, Kansas 66749 at which time and place the cause will be heard. Should you fail therein, judgment and decree will be entered in due course upon said Petition.
DAVID J. BIDEAU, Executor BIDEAU LAW OFFICES, LLC David J. Bideau #11285 Kenna B. Bideau-Kepley # 28097 P. O. Box 945 18 North Forest Avenue Chanute, Kansas 66720-0945 djb@bideaulaw.com (Email) (620)
ANDERSON COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE IS ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR
DETENTION OFFICERS
We are looking to hire full-time detention o cers. The starting wage is $18.66 an hour, a possible increase for experience. You must have a high school diploma, or its equivalent, a valid driver’s license, and be able to pass drug screening, criminal background check, and general knowledge test. We work 12-hour shifts and o er health benefits, paid vacation and sick days.
Call 785-448-5678 for the application or stop by 135 E. 5th Ave., Garnett, KS 66032. ANCOSO is an equal opportunity employer and follows veteran’s preference laws.
Utley’s Auto Body, Inc. is seeking a reliable and organized full-time office assistant to join our team. Key responsibilities include:
Answering phones and greeting customers
Scheduling appointments in Google Calendar and creating Work Orders
• Sending estimates to insurance companies Running errands and occasionally providing customer transportation Maintaining cleanliness of office areas
• Making bank deposits and handling monthly bill payments
Assisting the owner with various tasks and errands as needed
Ideal candidates will have prior office experience and have some knowledge of working with insurance companies and the claims process. Pay will be based on previous experience. E-mail resume to:
equipment. Experience in jail operations is a plus. Normal hours are 84 every two weeks M-F, subject to call out. Starting pay is $19.97/hour, with a possible increase based on experience.
Call 785-448-5678 for the application or stop by 135 E. 5th Ave., Garnett, KS 66032. ANCOSO is an equal opportunity employer and follows veterans’ preferences laws.
of 120+/- acres and 200+/- acres and then in combination as Tract 3 for the entire half section with the property selling in whichever format garners the most proceeds. Properties with this large percentage of usable cropland are few and far between. If you are looking for a cropland tract to expand your farming operation or add to your investment portfolio, you won’t find many that are this efficient!
Tract 1: 120 +/- Acres
Tract 2: 200 +/- Acres
Tract 3: 320 +/- Acres
500th & Georgia Rd., Colony, KS
This property is being offered via online auction beginning at Noon on 1/20/2025 with a dynamic closing to start at Noon on 1/22/2025 For more information, please visit our website or call Cameron Roth at 785-917-0867.
Vaughn-Roth Land Brokers is proud to present these Anderson County, Ks properties to the public on behalf of our clients Scott and Debra Hobert and Larry West. Desirably located on 58 Hwy between LeRoy and Colony, these are neighboring parcels which will fit diverse buyer interests. Whether you’re looking for an existing home in the country, expanding your farm operation with additional cropland, desire a recreational escape to relax or an excellent building site with pavement and utilities nearby, you’ll find plenty to like here!
Online Land Auction to begin on 1/21/2025 at 12:00 p.m. with a dynamic closing starting at 10:00 a.m. on 1/23/2025 For more information, please visit our website or call Cameron Roth at 785-917-0867.
SELLER: Hobert/West Family
Yesterday’s Cryptoquote: Don’t ever make decisions based on fear. Make decisions based on hope and possibility. -- Michelle Obama
MARVIN by Tom Armstrong
HI AND LOIS
by Chance Browne
ZITS by Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman
BEETLE BAILEY by Mort Walker
HAGAR THE HORRIBLE by Chris Browne
BLONDIE by Young and Drake MUTTS by Patrick McDonell
CURTIS by Ray Billingsley
BETWEEN
by Sandra Bell-Lundy
We’re trying out some new comics! Take a look at “Shortcuts”, “Curtis” and “Between Friends.” Like them? Not so much? Give us a call and let us know your thoughts at 620-365-2111.
Saturday, January 11, 2024
The Iola Register
~ Journalism that makes a difference
Zuckerberg eases oversight to avoid Trump’s wrath
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has decided that as owner of the social networking sites Facebook and Instagram, he is tired of being responsible for their accuracy.
Instead, Zuckerberg announced Tuesday, he’s dropping his companies’ fact-checkers in favor of “Community Notes,” a program where users volunteer to oversee content as well as offer their own opinions about matters. And if enough fact-checkers agree with a proposed “different perspective,” then it’s affixed to the original post.
Sometimes that works to the advantage of truth, but oftentimes not.
Because of the “squeaky wheel” algorithmic design of Meta’s software, the more opinions posted about a certain topic, the bigger its presence, whether based on fact or not.
Zuckerberg calls this a move toward “free speech,” confusing it with truthfulness.
Susan Lynn Register Editor
of Amazon and owner of The Washington Post, are trying to get on the good side of President-elect Donald Trump even if it means sacrificing their companies’ reputations.
It’s working.
With the guardrails down, Zuckerberg acknowledges there’s a ‘trade-off.’ It means that we’re going to catch less bad stuff.’
Zuckerberg said his decision to loosen the reins is a return to his “roots.”
Closer to the truth is that Zuckerberg, like Jeff Bezos
Leading up to last fall’s election, the Post’s editorial board nixed the paper’s endorsement of Democrat Vice President Kamala Harris, and most recently pulled an editorial cartoon by Anne Telnaes that depicted media and tech titans, including Bezos and Zuckerberg, kneeling before President-elect Donald Trump. Telnaes, who has been awarded a Pulitzer Prize for her insightful work, subsequently resigned.
As for Zuckerberg, he admitted Trump’s winning the 2024 election weighed in on his decision, saying, “The
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of social media giant Meta, slashed its content moderation policies, including ending its fact-checking program, in a major shift that conforms with the priorities of incoming president Donald Trump. (PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY DREW ANGERER/AFP/GETTY IMAGES/TNS)
recent elections also feel like a cultural tipping point towards once again prioritizing speech.”
Along with allowing a more “free flow” of information, Zuckerberg is donating $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund and has appointed Trump supporter Dana White, a professional boxing CEO, to his board of directors. Zuckerberg now asserts
that his initial goal of hiring third-party fact-checkers to filter out false claims by bad actors, including conspiracy theories concerning election security, immigrants and vaccines, were overkill.
“What started as a movement to be more inclusive has increasingly been used to shut down opinions and shut out people with different ideas, and it’s gone too far.”
With the guardrails down, Zuckerberg acknowledges there’s a “trade-off.”
“It means that we’re going to catch less bad stuff,” he said, resulting in more hate speech and falsehoods being posted.
But, oh well. On Tuesday, Trump said Zuckerberg has “come a long way,” and is headed in the right direction. Time will tell.
With this cancer vaccine my wife could’ve avoided hell
By PAUL THORNTON Los Angeles Times/TNS
Just five months after giving birth to our third (and final) child in 2015, my wife experienced something odd: Her smile became crooked.
Appearance didn’t matter, of course. This was just different enough to be noticeable and concerning, like that new mole you should probably have checked out.
Over the next few months, well-meaning doctors treated the bump on her right jaw as anything but cancer, because it’s always something else for a nonsmoker in her 30s.
That changed when a head-and-neck surgeon put on a glove, poked the back of my wife’s throat and said one of her tonsils felt concerningly hard.
It was almost certainly tonsil cancer, she said, and the growth on my wife’s jaw indicated it had spread. Biopsies, a surgery and scans confirmed the doctor’s suspicion.
We also learned something else: If a new vaccine had been available when my wife was younger, everything she was about to go through — daily radiation therapy, hospital stays, chemotherapy infusions, infections, starvation and constant pain, without assurance that any of this would work — could have been avoided.
MY WIFE’S CANCER was caused by the human papillomavirus, which nearly every person will contract at some point in their lives, because nearly every person is sexually active at some point in their lives. The vast majority of us never know we have HPV; however, each
A girl receives a dose of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine on Oct. 9, 2023. The HPV vaccine is recommended to be given to girls and boys between 9 and 14. (DAMIEN MEYER/AFP/ GETTY IMAGES/TNS)
year about 47,000 of us in this country develop cervical, throat and other forms of cancer associated with the virus. My wife was one of those people. It just happened to be her and not me or anyone else lucky enough to never know they had HPV. I’m sharing this story now, more than eight years after her diagnosis, because a notorious vaccine skeptic may soon lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for that job, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has previously sued the maker of the HPV vaccine Gardasil, calling it “dangerous and defective” and saying it had caused “se-
vere and life-changing injuries.”
Plenty of scientists and other journalists have factchecked the widely circulated claims against Gardasil
If a new vaccine had been available when my wife was younger, everything she was about to go through — radiation, chemotherapy, infections and constant pain — could have been avoided.
and found them to be exaggerated or outright false; I won’t duplicate their work here. What I do want to convey is some of the “severe and life-changing injuries” from treating one kind of HPV cancer that vaccination can prevent. My wife was diagnosed in June 2016. Our twins had recently turned 4, and our
youngest was 9 months old. Though survival rates for HPV-related throat cancer are relatively high, hearing your children’s mother has a roughly 1 in 7 chance of dying within five years focuses you on one thing at the expense of all others: survival.
Doctors warned my wife that her treatment would be brutal: Her five weekly radiation doses over two months would burn her skin, probably make swallowing food and water intolerable and potentially damage her salivary glands for years or even the rest of her life. All of this turned out to be true. My wife desperately wanted to eat and drink, but sores in her mouth and throat made it impossible.
Imagine that: Starving even though food is easily available, you want to eat that food, and everyone is begging you to eat that food, as if it’s a matter of will power and not the constant burning sensation in your mouth and throat.
She’s healthy now, but every sore throat or enlarged gland — both features of colds and COVID-19 — sparks worry of the Big C’s return.
She lives checkup-to-checkup, alternating between relief from the most recent “all clear” to bubbling anxiety as the next appointment approaches. She lives with constant dry mouth and all-too-frequent (and frightening) choking spells.
FINANCIAL consequences also lingered. Our health insurance worked as intended, but cancer put my wife’s plan for returning to work after maternity leave on hold. Going without an income for twice as long as we intended put us in a deep, years-long hole. By most outward appearances, we’re back to normal now. For that, we have the blunt instruments of chemotherapy and radiation — and my wife’s enduring determination — to thank.
But generations of children growing into adulthood could have a far better tool to thank, one that may allow them never to know my wife’s reality. The shots known as the HPV vaccine really should be called a cancer vaccine. And yes, for what it’s worth, my three children will be getting their cancer vaccine.
About the author: Paul Thornton is the Los Angeles Times’ letters editor.
Hopkins: Closes photography studio
Continued from A1
everyone hires a professional photographer. A friend with a high-quality camera or phone, in the right setting, can take senior photos or capture an adorable baby picture.
They may not approach the job with the same degree of experience and understanding that someone such as Hopkins does, though.
“Most professional photographers are going to make sure that exposures are correct, lighting is correct, the color is correct. Hopefully, they have some understanding about posing,” he said. The right pose and appropriate lighting can transform the way someone looks.
“The whole trick is to pose somebody but make it look natural, not posed. And to pay attention to fingers sticking out, not cutting people’s legs and arms off at joints. Make sure there’s not a sign post coming out of somebody’s head. Different things like that. It seems now people don’t pay attention to that,” he said.
“But it cost me money every time I took a photograph, so I tried to make it something that someone would want to buy.”
HOPKINS bought his first camera, using 35 mm film, in 1974 and took a photography class at Kansas State University.
“The only reason I got into that class was because I had a camera. It was all black-and-white photography. Learning how to process film and make prints, exposure, depth of field, stuff like that.”
He did not earn a degree in the industry but instead asked a professional photographer in Olathe to teach him the tricks of the trade, promising not to compete for business. The man agreed, so Hopkins upgraded his camera equipment and began to practice. “I’d show him proofs and he’d give me ideas.”
Hopkins moved to Iola in 1978 and faced a decision. Did he want to make a go of it as a photographer, or work at a factory?
“So I said, ‘I’m a photographer.’ That’s where I started, in my house.”
Soon, he took advantage of an opportunity to share space with a bridal shop on the downtown square. It was an ideal location for a photography studio.
“I was right there when customers started looking at wedding dresses. So I did a lot of weddings,” Hopkins said. “Back then, I didn’t have a lot of money for advertising and there wasn’t the internet and Facebook and all that. The bridal shop brought a lot of business my way.”
When the bridal shop moved in 1980 and didn’t have room for him, Hopkins opened the studio at 201 S. Jefferson. That same year, he got married. His wife, Nancy, always supported his business — and more important-
ly, his hobbies. “I tell this to people all the time. The thing I noticed the most after I got married was I didn’t have to eat soup anymore because my wife had a good job and was nice enough to keep working,” he said. “And fortunately I found a wife that didn’t complain about me hunting or fishing and enjoyed eating the things I brought home.”
Soon after the COVID pandemic, Nancy retired after 20 years working at B&W Trailer Hitches. They have two children, Megan King who lives in Olathe and has two daughters, and Luke Hopkins who lives in Ottawa.
TO BUILD his business, Hopkins spent a lot of time at area schools. He got to know his children’s friends and their parents. He encouraged them to come to him for senior pictures.
And when they got their senior pictures taken, he reminded them to contact him again when they got married so he could take wedding photos. And later, when they had children and wanted family photos.
When asked how many high school seniors he has photographed, Hopkins couldn’t begin to estimate. Hundreds, definitely. Thousands, probably. He typically scheduled about 400 sessions a year, for all kinds of portraits. Multiply that by 46 years and it comes to 18,400 — and that’s just sessions, not people. He once took a reunion photograph with more than 150 people on the Neosho River dike at Riverside Park.
“Through the years I photographed everything from boa constrictors, iguanas, rabbits to babies and 70-year wedding anniversaries,” Hopkins recalled. “That’s how you’ve got to do it in a small town.”
IN THE EARLY years, all photography was on film.
After taking photos in the studio, Hopkins would turn the film over to his staff — including his daughter — who would take care of issues such as filing and sending it off for processing. The film would be turned into proofs for clients to review and pick the photos they
wanted made into a print.
The process took time and “you had to know what you were doing. It wasn’t like you could take 500 shots and say, ‘I don’t like any of them, let’s go do another 500.’”
Eventually, Hopkins invested in a computer and scanner. It was his first foray into digital photography. He continued to take film photos, then scanned the negatives so he could digitally manipulate the photos. He also copied old photos into an archive.
The first year using digital consumed much more of his time. He became more hands-on at all stages, rather than relying on staff for help.
“When digital came along, I could not trust someone else to not punch the wrong button and erase everything I did all day. I’d load the files, go through the images and do all the retouching and the cropping. Then I had to burn all that onto a CD to send to be processed for proofs,” he said.
It would be years before digital photography advanced to a comparable level of quality as film. He’s now on his third digital camera.
“Getting into the digital stuff was a learning curve, no question about that,” he said. “A digital camera now is basically a computer.”
And that old scanner? It wasn’t long before the technology advanced past its effectiveness. He used it as a paperweight.
HOPKINS said his first inkling it was time to retire was a few years ago when he realized he wasn’t thrilled at the idea of an upcoming wedding photo session.
“I wasn’t having fun. And if I’m not having fun, I’m working.”
So, he quit doing weddings.
After that, the idea of retiring altogether became more appealing.
“There wasn’t one single thing that made me think I needed to retire. This is just a continuation of all that I love to do, except I’m not going to the studio.”
PSI: Buys business
Continued from A1
in Yates Center. Most recently, PSI bought Iola Insurance, Inc. from Rick and Shelley Lauber.
“I’ve known Rick and Shelley for years,” said Korte. “I’d see Rick around sometimes and say, ‘Hey — when you get ready to sell out, call me.’”
In November, he called.
“He said they wanted to do something different, so we made a deal,” explained Korte. “It was very quick. We found out in November, made the deal in December, and closed on Jan.1.”
Employee Rosan Williams added that the sale of the business does not include any real estate or storefront property.
“We only purchased their book of business.”
Being proactive in the transfer of ownership, PSI and Iola Insurance sent a joint letter to all the clientele notifying them of the purchase. “I already know some of the customers,” added Williams. “We have their auto insurance, while Iola Insurance had their home insurance, or vice versa. So, some of them were already regular customers.”
Williams noted customers have been receptive about the transition. “Most of them are not even going to have to change policies or anything,” she added.
BUYING another insurance company’s book of business isn’t
new to PSI. It has accumulated clientele over the years from various purchases. During this time, Korte has seen many changes — primarily in technology. “I don't like computers at all,” he said. “I tell the girls, ‘You print it off, give me a phone number, I'll take care of it.’”
Despite this, Korte acknowledges that evolving with the times is necessary. Years ago, most of the insurance work was done via paper applications and mailing forms. “Some of the companies didn’t even really have claim adjusters,” he said. “The agents did that. I did it a lot — climbed up on roofs.”
In its 40 years, PSI has been a community player, including donating food to surrounding food pantries, buying livestock at the county fairs, donating sports drinks to athletes at sporting events, and giving candy canes and treats to students during the holidays. “If your kid needs something, we’re right on that,” said Korte.
Korte says he loves that insurance is a “feel good” business. “If something happens in someone's life, the first person they're going to call is their insurance agent,” he said. “That's true whether it is damage from a fire, a car wreck, or maybe a family member has passed away. We can help them out and give them some money and keep them going. That’s a feel good thing.”
ACC: President
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the Register she and her husband, Richard Rayburn, are excited to move to Iola and plan to be involved in the community. She is a native of rural Iowa and most recently has been on faculty with the Lone Star College system in Texas. Her
credentials include a bachelor of science in psychology and a minor in sociology from Iowa State University, a master of science in counseling from the University of Houston-Clear Lake, and a Ph.D. in educational leadership and policy studies from Iowa State University.
David Hopkins at his studio, which he opened in 1980. COURTESY PHOTO
Trump: Judge sentences president-elect to ‘unconditional discharge’
same burden of proof was applied and a jury made up of ordinary citizens delivered a verdict.”
After Merchan explained the sentence, he told Trump, “Sir, I wish you Godspeed as you pursue your second term in office.”
Trump was represented Friday morning, and
at trial, by his personal lawyer Todd Blanche, whom he’s chosen to be the nation’s next deputy attorney general, the No. 2 position at the U.S. Justice Department.
Following months of delays, the sentencing went forth despite Trump’s eleventh-hour request that the U.S. Supreme Court halt the pro-
ceeding. The justices denied Trump’s application late Thursday, though the order noted that Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh would have granted it.
ABC News reported Thursday that Trump had spoken with Alito by phone just hours before submitting the applica-
tion to the court’s emergency docket. Alito told the network that the two did not speak about the application.
The sentencing, lasting less than 30 minutes, was a brief disruption in Trump’s barreling preparations for his second presidency. The president-elect was set to host members of the House
Freedom Caucus, a contingent of far-right House Republicans, at his Florida property later on Friday. Trump huddled with Senate Republicans on Capitol Hill Wednesday and with Republican governors on Thursday.
Trump slammed his sentence on his Truth Social platform as a “scam,” “hoax” and “despicable
charade” that he will appeal.
Trump had challenged his New York conviction on the grounds that last summer the Supreme Court ruled that former presidents enjoy criminal immunity for official acts while in office, and presumptive immunity for acts on the perimeter of their formal duties.
Sports Daily
Saturday, January 11, 2025
Hesse doubles up on success
By RICHARD LUKEN
The Iola Register
While still just a sophomore at Iola High School, Zoie Hesse has taken part in scores of wrestling matches already.
Heck, she even won a state title while competing for the Iola Kids Wrestling Club.
But even with years of experience, Hesse admitted feeling a case of the nerves when the 2024-25 season opened with a mixer at Santa Fe Trail High School Dec. 4.
Hesse’s competition included a match against Marley Gilliland of Holton, the second-ranked 190-pound wrestler in Class 4A.
“I was a little scared because she was bigger and stronger than me,” Hesse
MV’s Granere tapped as athlete of the month
By RICHARD LUKEN
The Iola Register
MORAN — Marmaton Valley High’s basketball team notched its place in school history last spring when the Wildcats qualified for the state tournament.
It marked the first time the Wildcats had advanced that far in 23 years, and only the second time in school history.
That was then, Wildcat senior Jaedon Granere noted.
Fast forward to this winter, where the Wildcats (4-2) have a new host of challengers to make a repeat trip to state.
“We’ve moved up a division,” Granere noted, from Class 1A-II to Class 1A-I, which seems insignificant at first blush.
But it means an entirely
new set of substate opponents, likely from bigger schools.
Granere suspects Marmaton Valley’s success will hinge on the team’s mental approach.
The speedy guard and teammates like fellow senior Brayden Lawson, and other teammates like Dominic Smith, Tyler Lord, Todd Stevenson and Garrett Morrison can compete with just about anyone MV’s size when it comes to athleticism, he explained.
“We have better communication, knowing what our teammates will do and trusting them with the ball, we can be successful,” he said.
Despite a loss at Oswego
Snow means no-go
Local basketball and wrestling teams keep trying to resume their respective schedules.
Mother Nature keeps saying no.
Another round of basketball games — for Iola, Humboldt, Marmaton Valley, Crest, Yates Center and Southern Coffey County high schools — was called off Friday because of late Thursday’s beautiful snowfall.
Additionally, Humboldt’s wrestlers were set to compete at Erie Friday, but that, too, was called off after classes at HHS were canceled.
The weather is scheduled to be a bit more amenable in the coming days, with clear to partly cloudy conditions expected through next week, with high temps in the 40-degree range.
As of press time, plans were still a go for Iola and Humboldt wrestlers to compete at a meet Saturday in Burlington.
The IHS basketball teams will return to the court Friday at home against Wellsville.
Humboldt is slated to host Fredonia in basketball Tuesday, the same night Marmaton Valley hosts Altoona-Midway, Crest hosts Pleasanton and Yates Center travels to Southern Coffey County.
Iola Middle School basketball teams open season at Burlington
BURLINGTON — Iola Middle School was able to dodge the snowflakes Thursday and get in a round of games to open the 2025 season at Burlington. Alas, the Mustangs came up short in both the seventh- and eighth-grade A and B team contests.
In seventh-grade action, Burlington emerged with a 33-27 victory in the A team game.
Milo Franklin paced the Mustangs with eight points, followed by Jaxen Mueller with six, Corbin Coffield and
Iola Middle School boys basketball
coach Chris Weide, kneeling, addresses his players Thursday at Burlington.
Marmaton Valley High’s Jaedon Granere (5) goes up for a shot in a game earlier this season. PHOTO BY HALIE LUKEN/MVHS
Iola High’s Zoie Hesse has made an impact both on the basketball court and on the wrestling mat this winter. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN
recalled. “But as soon as the match started, I realized it wasn’t much different than some of the other girls I’ve wrestled.”
It didn’t take long for Hesse to get an early takedown, and within 36 seconds, she had pinned her powerful opponent for arguably the biggest win of her high school career.
Others took notice, with Hesse now ranked second among 190-pound wrestlers in Class 4A, and fifth among all wrestlers, regardless of classification.
Register readers also took note, and voted Hesse as the Iola Register’s December Female Athlete of the Month. For the honor — the third such time Hesse has been recognized by Register readers — she receives a free specialty pizza from Rookies in Iola.
Also up for consideration were Humboldt’s Karingten Hall and Crest’s Cursten Allen.
SINCE HER BIG win to start the season, Hesse has maintained an unblemished record on the mat. She’s also a key contributor for the Iola Mustangs girls basketball team, averaging nearly 10 points a game.
That means usually doubling up on practices at the end of each school day. Hesse spends about three hours each afternoon playing basketball and/or wrestling.
“It’s gone a bit smoother for me over last year,” Hesse said.
“I don’t think I planned it out as well as I could have last year.”
This year, with the support of her coaches in both sports, Hesse is better able to coordinate her practices. On some days, she’ll practice for an hour or so on the mats before switching to the hardwood for another twohour session.
“My coaches have been great, but I feel kind of bad for Addie when I have to leave early,” Hesse said of her wrestling partner, Addillyn Wacker. “I feel like I’m abandon-
IMS: Basketball
Continued from B1
Ty Thomas with four apiece, Cade Curry with three and Austin Cambpell with two.
The Mustangs’ seventh-grade B team fell, 24-8, but led 8-7 after one quarter. Kaiden Jones scored four for IMS; Weston Folk and Coffield had two each.
THE eighth-grade A team game went Burlington’s way, 47-18. Robert McLaugh-
ing her sometimes.”
Hesse also credits Iola wrestling coach John Taylor for entering Hesse in meets that don’t conflict with basketball games.
“Last year, I got to see a girl get her 100th win, and that’s something I’d like to try for,” she said. “He said he’d schedule to get me to more meets.”
There was one unavoidable conflict, however, during the first week of the regular season. Hesse missed a meet in Caney because the basketball team was opening its season that night.
The schedule conflict meant missing an opportunity to wrestle against Winfield’s Abby Brenn, the top-ranked
4A wrestler at 190 pounds.
“I really want to wrestle her,” Hesse said. “It should be a good match.”
HESSE is equally complimentary of her basketball teammates. Seniors Reese Curry and Alana Mader — post players like Hesse — are quick to offer support and encouragement in practice and in games. Hesse remains bullish on Iola’s hopes for a successful season.
“If we play together like we’re supposed to, we’re pretty good,” she said. “We always talk about family, and approach each game like it’s our last. We want to play as hard as we can for everyone, not just ourselves. I like playing with my team.”
Hesse’s inner drive is a plus both as a teammate, such as when she’s on the basketball court, or when she’s alone on the mat.
“I like both,” she said. “If we keep our confidence and our attitudes are up, we’ll be successful.”
As for wrestling, Hesse’s top goal is to qualify for state in February. “I’d really like to get in the top four,” she said. “But my main goal is just to get there.”
ON TOP OF her dual sports for IHS, Hesse also plays club volleyball on Sundays.
She embraces the activity.
“I feel like I’m pretty good at keeping things on track,” she said.
lin’s six points led Iola. Konner Morrison scored five. Braylon Keithly and Rudra Desai notched two apiece, while Broden Emerson hit a free throw.
The Burlington eighth-grade B team took home a 40-9 win.
Iola’s B-teamers were paced by Brox Elbrader with four, Damien Pratt with three and Desai with two.
After narrowly missing out on qualifying for state wrestling as a freshman, Iola HIgh’s Zoie Hesse hopes to make it as a sophomore. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN
Notre Dame headed to title game
By JORDAN MCPHERSON Miami Herald
MIAMI GARDENS,
Fla. — The Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Thursday found themselves in a position they hadn’t been in all season: Trailing by multiple scores.
And in a College Football Playoff semifinal no less.
No matter.
The No. 7 seed Fighting Irish erased a 10-point first-half deficit to rally for a 27-24 win over the No. 6 seed Penn State Nittany Lions in the Orange Bowl to advance to the national championship.
Notre Dame (14-1) won the game on a Mitch Jeter go-ahead 41-yard field goal with seven seconds left, which was set up by a Christian Gray interception at the Penn State 42-yard line with 33 seconds left to play.
The Fighting Irish will play the winner of Friday’s Cotton Bowl between No. 5 seed Texas and No. 8 seed Ohio State in the national championship on Jan. 20 at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium. It will be Notre
Notre Dame’s Mitch Jeter (98) celebrates after kicking a game-winning 41-yard field goal during the fourth quarter against Penn State in the Capital One Orange Bowl at Hard Rock Stadium on Thursday in Miami Gardens, Florida. GETTY IMAGES/RICH STORRY/TNS
Dame’s first appearance in a national championship game since the 2013 BCS national championship to cap the 2012 season, when they lost 42-14 to Alabama. The Fighting Irish are looking to win their first title since 1988. But Notre Dame had to fight back time and again to pull this one out.
Penn State (13-3) went up 10-0 late in the first half after a pair of methodical scoring drives — first 14 plays for 55 yards that ended in a 20-yard field goal; then 15 plays for 90 yards capped by the first of three Nick Singleton touchdown runs.
Notre Dame, playing its final drive without
Granere: Marmaton Valley
earlier this week, the Wildcats have seen plenty of success early, including a win over defending Three Rivers League champion Uniontown the first week of the season.
Granere, who averaged nearly 10 points a game during the pre-Christmas portion of the 2024-25 campaign, was voted by readers as the Iola Register’s Male Athlete of the Month for December.
Granere receives a free specialty pizza from Rookies in Iola for the honor.
Others up for consideration were Iola’s Cortland Carson for his basketball prowess, and Iola wrestler Kale Pratt.
GRANERE has helped Marmaton Valley succeed on the football field as well.
He earned all-league and all-state honors as a senior for his prowess as a receiver, defender and special teams kicker.
The Wildcats football squad won back-to-back league titles his final two seasons, a far cry from when he entered as a freshman in the fall of 2021.
The year prior, the short-handed Wildcats were unable to finish the season because of low numbers.
“But we came in with a good team,” Granere recalled. “We had Brayden at quarterback. It’s been pretty fun getting to team up with him.”
Granere also learned
to lean on older sister Janae for advice.
Janae Granere was a decorated athlete throughout her career at Marmaton Valley, earning league and state honors in volleyball, basketball and track.
She’s now a freshman track athlete at Pittsburg State University.
“There were times I was a little jealous of all the awards she received,” he chuckled.
“I’m pretty competitive.
I don’t like to lose.”
Mostly, the siblings are there to support each other. Jaedon will go to as many of Janae’s meets as he can.
And she was there to root on the Wildcats as they opened the season.
“It’s fun,” Granere said. “I like watching her compete.”
starting quarterback Riley Leonard, responded with a 41yard field goal to end the first half and then scored touchdowns on two of their first three drives of the second half — a 3-yard quarterback keeper by Leonard and a 2-yard run by Jeremiyah Love during which he broke multiple tackles to get into the end zone — to put the Fighting Irish up 17-10 with 14:07 left in the game.
Singleton then scored touchdowns on back-to-back drives, each from 7 yards out, to first tie the game for Penn State and then give the Nittany Lions a 24-17 lead with 7:55 left.
Singleton’s three
rushing touchdowns tied for the Orange Bowl record, done five other times, most recently by both Synjyn Days and Justin Thomas for Georgia Tech in 2014 vs. Mississippi State.
A 54-yard touchdown pass from Leonard to a wide-open Jaden Greathouse then tied the game at 24-24 with 4:38 left to go.
The Notre Dame and Penn State defenses, each ranked among the top 10 in the country entering the game, exchanged stops before Gray recorded Notre Dame’s nation-leading 32nd takeaway of the season with 33 seconds left. Six plays later, Jeter hit the game-winning field goal to send the Fighting Irish to the national championship.
Former coach going to prison
COFFEY COUNTY –
A 32-year-old former Burlington High School teacher and wrestling coach was sentenced Thursday in Coffey County District Court related to the sexual abuse of two teens.
A judge sentenced Michael Vander Linden of Burlington to 36 months in prison and lifetime registration as a registered offender for three counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child.
On Feb. 13, 2024, Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) agents obtained an arrest warrant and took Vander Linden into custody after two former students reported he had engaged in sexual intercourse with them between 2012 and 2013, when both were 15 years old.
Vander Linden pleaded no contest on Oct. 31 to the three counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child as part of a plea deal. The remaining charges were dismissed. Following the hearing, Vander Linden was remanded to the custody of the Coffey County Sheriff’s Office where he will be transferred to the Kansas Department of Corrections to fulfill his sentence.
Coffey County Attorney Wade Bowie prosecuted the case.
Jackson, Allen hope to change playoff narratives
By PETER SBLENDORIO New York Daily News
NEW YORK — Lamar Jackson wasn’t in a mood to celebrate.
Sure, his Baltimore Ravens had just clinched the AFC North with a Week 18 victory over the Cleveland Browns, but Jackson arrived at the postgame podium still in uniform, rather than wearing one of the shirts or hats commemorating the division crown.
“I’m focused on the wild-card game. I’m not going to lie to you,” Jackson said. “I’m cool with what’s going on today. I’m cool, don’t get me wrong, but my mind’s on something else.”
That something else is the only thing missing from Jackson’s otherwise illustrious résumé.
The 28-year-old quarterback is on a Hall of Fame trajectory, having already won two MVP Awards along with numbers never seen before in the NFL.
In 2024, Jackson became the first player to throw for 4,000 yards and rush for 900 yards in the same season. He also became the first player to throw more than 40 touchdown passes and fewer than five interceptions in the same campaign.
He is 70-24 as a starter in his seven regular seasons.
But Jackson enters Saturday night’s wildcard game against the Pittsburgh Steelers with a 2-4 record in his playoff career. He has thrown six touchdown passes against six interceptions in those games, and his 75.7 postseason passer rat-
ing is 26.3 points lower than his regular-season mark.
He is the only twotime MVP in NFL history who hasn’t won a Super Bowl. He hasn’t even made it to one.
That’s the narrative Jackson is trying to change.
“I’d just be too excited,” Jackson said Tuesday of his past playoff games. “That’s all. Too antsy. I’m seeing things before it happened, like, ‘Oh, I got to calm myself down.’ But just being more experienced, I’ve found a way to balance it out.”
But the pressure Jackson faces is not unique to him.
Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen, too, still seeks his elusive first championship. A
ring would validate the career of Allen, whose 76 wins, 262 total touchdowns and 30,595 total yards are the most ever through seven NFL seasons.
His 28 passing touchdowns and 12 rushing touchdowns in 2024 marked the fifth consecutive season that Allen totaled at least 40 touchdowns.
And while his statistics paled in comparison to Jackson’s, most bookmakers expect Allen to win his first NFL MVP Award this year after leading the Bills to a 13-4 record and an AFC East title despite a lesser supporting cast.
Allen, 28, enters Sunday’s game against the Denver Broncos with a 100.0 passer rating and 21 touchdown passes
Game moved due to LA fires
LOS ANGELES (AP) —
The NFL has moved the Rams’ wild-card playoff game against the Minnesota Vikings to Arizona after days of devastating wildfires in the Los Angeles area.
The game will be played Monday night at State Farm Stadium, the home of the Arizona Cardinals, in suburban Glendale.
The league announced the decision Thursday, a few hours after yet another fire broke out in an area several miles from the Rams’ training complex in the Woodland Hills neighborhood. The Rams canceled the post-practice media availability for their players to allow everyone to get home quickly. In a brief statement, the league said the decision was made “in the interest of public safety.” Los Angeles has been besieged by multiple wildfires all week following two days of extraordinary wind across the vast metropolitan area. The newest fire triggered an evacuation order in West Hills, a suburban neighborhood directly northwest of the Rams’ complex. The Kenneth Fire ballooned in size — charring over a square
mile — within hours of igniting.
More than 10,000 structures burned in the two largest fires, the Palisades Fire in Pacific Palisades and the Eaton Fire near Pasadena.
While none of the fires was burning near SoFi Stadium in Inglewood — which is southwest of downtown Los Angeles — the NFL opted to move the game amid concerns about air quality, the strain put on the
community and the possible demands on police and fire department personnel.
The Rams and the Los Angeles Chargers — who will play a wildcard game at Houston on Saturday — both practiced outdoors this week, but both teams’ coaches were concerned about the air quality, with Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh cutting his players’ normal outdoor time in half.
against four interceptions in 10 playoff appearances.
But Allen is just 5-5 in those games and, like Jackson, has never reached a Super Bowl.
“There’s two things I can control: It’s my attitude and my effort,” Allen said Wednesday. “And what everybody else says, that’s their own prerogative.”
Much in the way Tom Brady’s annual excellence limited Peyton Manning’s postseason upside, Patrick Mahomes‘ dynastic run with the Kansas City Chiefs has proven problematic for the other AFC quarterbacks of his era.
Last year, Jackson completed just 54.1% of his passes in a 17-10 loss to Kansas City in
the AFC championship game.
Allen is 0-3 in the postseason against the Chiefs.
In the last five years, the Chiefs have won three Super Bowls and reached another. The Cincinnati Bengals’ Joe
Burrow is the only AFC quarterback to defeat Mahomes during that stretch, but he went on to lose in Super Bowl LVI and has not been back.
This year’s AFC playoffs again run through Kansas City, where Mahomes is 12-2 in his playoff career. This season, the Chiefs went 15-1 in games started by Mahomes — with the lone loss coming in Buffalo in Week 11 — to clinch the AFC’s No. 1 seed.
Kansas City would not face Baltimore or Buffalo until the AFC championship game, making Mahomes likely the final dragon Jackson or Allen would have to slay to reach the Super Bowl.
Before then, Jackson and Allen stand in each other’s ways. Wins by both this weekend would pit Baltimore against Buffalo in the divisional round — the same round in which Allen’s Bills beat Jackson’s Ravens, 17-3, in 2021 in their first playoff meeting.
“We know what’s at stake,” Jackson said Tuesday. “It’s win or go home.”
RISE & GRIND TUES. & THURS. 5:45 A.M.
6-WEEK SESSION BEGINNING ON TUES., JAN. 14TH
Get up and kickstart the day with this sweat sesh! This class is a quick 30-35 minutes of hard work! We’ll incorporate di erent styles of fitness in each class to keep your body in constant motion and get you ready to tackle the day. We’ll meet twice a week in person and an additional workout will be provided to be done on your own. This class is for all levels of fitness as every movement can be modified!
HEALTHY FOR LIFE MON., WED. & FRI. 9:30 A.M.
As you age, it is more important than ever to stay active. Routine exercise can help improve your overall health and well-being and may even help prevent some age-related health conditions. In this 45-minute class, we’ll focus on strength, cardiovascular endurance, balance, and coordination for a total body workout that conditions the participants for everyday activities.
SIT AND BE FIT MON., WED., & FRI. 10:30 A.M.
This 30-minute class is a safe and e ective way to improve your life through functional fitness. Each participant will have a chair to utilize during the class along with dumbbells, bands, mini bands, medicine balls, and other equipment as needed. Come join the fun and in the process, ease inflammation, improve energy, and promote overall better health.
BODY BLAST MON. 5:30 P.M.
By training with dumbbells, resistance-bands, and body weight this workout will give you an exciting range of strengthening, balance, and core exercises while improving cardiovascular health.
POWER PILATES TUES. 5:30 P.M.
This low-intensity muscle-strengthening workout will focus heavily on building strong core muscles. Using light weights, bands, and Pilates rings, this class promotes strength, flexibility, mobility, and posture.
RUMBLE: PUNCHES, KICKS, & STICKS WED. 5:30 P.M.
This authentic cardio mixed martial arts class is designed for group fitness fun. Using the RUMBLE stick, you’ll create a higher degree of training and is an extension of your body, which enhances spatial awareness and overall movement. No martial arts experience required.
YOGA WED. 6:15 P.M.
Our yoga class is a mix between the slow-paced style of yin restorative yoga and vinyasa flow yoga. This yoga class will put you in poses that apply moderate stress to the connective tissues of the body—the
Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen (17) and Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson (8) embrace after a game at M&T Bank Stadium on Sept. 29 in Baltimore. GETTY IMAGES/GREG FIUME/TNS
