Inside: drawing winner named
Football: Cowboys fall short of playoffs
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THE IOLA REGISTER Monday, December 30, 2013
Crisis response exercise at NCC
Neosho Community College will host a training exercise coordinated by the Neosho County Emergency Management, Chanute Police and Fire Department, as well as other area law enforcement, healthcare and emergency response agencies. This exercise will simulate an active shooter on the NCCC Chanute campus and emergency response to that event at 10 a.m. on Jan. 7. There will be minimal students and staff on campus during this time and the entire campus, parking lots and adjacent streets may be impacted. This exercise will test the effectiveness of emergency and crisis response plans. There will be no live ammunition on campus, however, blanks may be used to simulate the shooter scenario. No visitors will be allowed on campus during the exercise and everyone on campus must remain inside the buildings. This exercise is expected to be done within three to four hours. Any questions will be answered by emailing or contacting bsmith@neosho. edu or calling 620-431-2820 ext. 621.
Kiwanis, MOMs edge closer to goal
STATE
Tax debate on hold for 2014 By JOHN MILBURN Associated Press
“Quarters for a Cause” jars, such as this one held by Lesley Skahan, have been put up to raise money for playground equipment for special needs kids. REGISTER/BOB JOHNSON
NEARLY THERE...
By BOB JOHNSON The Iola Register
Moms of Miracles (MOMs) have watched a miracle unfold in Iola the past few months. Today the group has in hand $132,000, with a goal $153,000 in sight for its campaign to erect playground equipment in Riverside Park for special needs kids. “I knew the community would help, but this is beyond any expectations we have had,” said Lesley Skahan, on behalf of MOMs. Skahan also is quick to give credit to Mike and Nancy Ford, as well the Iola Kiwanis Club.
“We couldn’t have accomplished what we have without them,” she added. “Mike and Nancy have helped so much with marketing and grant writing.” MOMs was organized in 2011 so mothers of children with special needs could share concerns and triumphs, as well as have time to themselves. Lesley and Matt Skahan’s son, Mason, 4, is one of the special needs kids who will benefit immensely with accessible playground equipment. He suffers from a rare genetic disorder, Pitt-Hopkins syndrome, which has confined See PLAYGROUND | Page A4
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — After two years of making wholesale changes in the Kansas income tax code, Republican state officials will sit back in 2014 and see whether the economic growth they envisioned takes hold. With the help of the GOPcontrolled Legislature, Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback pushed through tax cuts for nearly 200,000 businesses and individual income taxpayers during the 2012 and 2013 sessions. His goal was to set the state on a path toward eliminating income taxes over time and attracting new residents and businesses. “It’s been a weak (national) recovery. But I’m very encouraged by the data that we have right now and I’m encouraged that our revenues to the state have held so strong. Things are working,” Brownback said, noting it was too early to deem the cuts a success but pointing to “nice gains” in the Kansas portion of the Kansas City metropolitan area, southeast Kansas and northwest Kansas. House Taxation Committee Chairman Richard See TAXES | Page A2
STATE
Medicaid expansion still hot topic
By JOHN HANNA Associated Press
Heading back to the North Pole Santa Claus, aka Roray Kam, rides the waves off of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. MIKE STOCKER/SUN SENTINEL/MCT
Quote of the day Vol. 116, No. 44
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Pressure is likely to build next year in Kansas to expand Medicaid to cover thousands of uninsured residents, despite the Republican-dominated Legislature’s displeasure with the federal health care overhaul. Advocates for the needy and consumers are promising to push for an expansion once lawmakers convene their annual session Jan. 13. The nonpartisan Kansas Health Institute estimates an expansion would cover more than 85,000 people, almost a quarter of the state’s uninsured residents. Supporters face Republicans’ strong opposition to the 2010 health care law championed by President Barack Obama, a Democrat, and GOP skepticism that the federal government will keep promises to finance most of the cost. The rocky rollout of the federally run online health insurance marketplace also toughened some Republicans’ resolve. But for Floydie Oliver, 52, a recently unemployed Pittsburg resident, the key question is whether legislators consider the struggles of uninsured Kansans like her. She and her 66-year-old husband are living on his retirement and Social Security benefits as she looks for a new job, relying on a community health clinic for care and dealing with chronic back pain. “I can’t afford to go to specialists or things of that nature,” she said. “It’s all about not having enough money to afford things.” The federal law requires most Americans to obtain health coverage or face tax penalties starting next year, and it imposes
minimum-coverage mandates for insurers. The law provides subsidies for millions of Americans living above the poverty level and contemplates states expanding their Medicaid programs to cover people living at or below the poverty level, or $23,550 for a family of four. But in its 2012 ruling upholding most of the health care law, the U.S. Supreme Court said the federal government couldn’t compel states to expand Medicaid. Kansas legislators added a provision to budget legislation this year blocking an expansion through June 2015. “Kansans are very clear. We don’t want to expand Obamacare,” said Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer, a reconstructive plastic surgeon who often is the Brownback administration’s chief spokesman on health issues. “That’s the long and the short of it.” Brownback is critical of the federal health overhaul, and he allowed the Medicaid-expansion ban to stand when he signed this year’s budget legislation — instead of using his power to veto individual items. But during an interview earlier this month, he said he’s still watching the Obama administration’s implementation of the federal law because “they still make more changes.” “That’s why I’ve not declared, you know, either we’re going to do it or we’re not going to do it,” he said of a Medicaid expansion. Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, a Topeka Democrat, said Brownback has “dropped the ball” on the expansion because his leadership could combat “the whole notion that you would be looked at
“There is a wisdom of the head, and a wisdom of the heart.” — Charles Dickens 75 Cents
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