Football: Mustangs ready for district opener.
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THE IOLA REGISTER Locally owned since 1867
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Thursday, October 13, 2016
LUNCH HEROES
LaHarpe tries again for electric upgrade grant By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
LAHARPE — The LaHarpe City Council signed off on its second attempt to procure grant funding to help pay for electric upgrades throughout the city. The Council voted, 4-0, to apply for a $400,000 Community Development Block Grant as part of a citywide electric conversion to a new three-phase system. About half of the city remains under an old “delta” electric system, prone to partial outages, brown-outs and electric surges. Aging utility poles and other issues are growing worse as well. Mayor Mae Crowell re-
counted at least three times in recent months when a loose screw has been the culprit of power lines connecting with something they shouldn’t, causing short-term outages. For now, the city’s primary focus is on trimming trees away from power lines, one of the primary culprits for recent outages, Crowell said. The city has hired a professional trimmer, although residents are being allowed to trim their own trees if they wish, Crowell said. However, those doing their own tree trimming have only about six more weeks before the city will do it for them, she said. A 2015 estimate pegged a
Guardsmen with the 891st Engineer Battalion and Iola firefighters were special guests Wednesday at Iola Middle School as part of a “Heroes Lunch” campaign. The visit coincides with National Hot Lunch Week. Above, guardsmen Austin Sigg, left, and Steve Cope visit with Triniti Loveall. At lower left, firefighters Randy Holtz, left, and Gary Kimball serve up trays of food for the students. At lower right, firefighter Ryan Sell mans a checkout counter. This week also is National Fire Prevention Week. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN
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Registration deadline nears Those hoping to vote in the upcoming presidential and other elections Nov. 8 must be registered to do so by Tuesday. There are several locations in which to register: the county clerk’s office in the Allen County Courthouse; at city halls in Iola, Humboldt, Moran, Gas or LaHarpe; the Driver’s License Department, the Southeast Kansas Mental Health Deaprtment office in Humboldt; and other locations. (A full list of registration sites is available online
at www.allencounty.org/voter_registration.html. A voter must register if he has changed residence outside of his previous vot-
ing district boundary, or if a voter has failed to vote in two consecutive state general elections. Advance voting can begin Wednesday. Voters can either stop by the county clerk’s office in the courthouse to cast their votes, or they can request one be sent via mail. People can apply up until the Friday before Election Day. Those voting by mail should do so promptly. The ballots must be returned to See VOTING | Page A2
U.S. warships strike at Yemeni sites WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S.-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles destroyed three coastal radar sites in Houthi-controlled territory on Yemen’s Red Sea Coast early today, officials said, a retaliatory action that followed two incidents this week in which missiles were fired at U.S. Navy ships. The strikes marked the first U.S. strikes targeting the Houthis in Yemen’s long-running civil war. The U.S. previously only provided logistical support and refueling to the Saudi-led coalition battling Yemen’s Shiite rebels known as Houthis and their allies, including supporters of Yemen’s former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh. While the U.S. military
has been focused on al-Qaida in Yemen, the Houthis had not been a primary target of American forces until the missile launches from Houthi-controlled territory this week.
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No information on casualties from the U.S. missiles was provided by American officials. The three radar sites were in remote areas, where there was little risk of civilian casualties or collateral damage, said a military official who was not authorized to be named and spoke on condition of anonymity. The destroyer USS Nitze See YEMEN | Page A5
Readmission rates challenge hospitals By MEG WINGERTER KHI News Service
Sometimes, keeping patients out of the hospital means sending health care into their homes. Regina Borthwick, director of clinical care coordination at Hays Medical Center, said home visits and follow-up calls are important parts of efforts to keep patients from being readmitted to the hospital. For example, doctors were puzzled when a patient’s blood sugar kept spiking despite their best efforts to control his diabetes. But a home health worker quickly found the problem: The patient was using the wrong size of needle, so he wasn’t getting the right insulin dose, she said. “We would have never known that in the clinic setting,” she said. Hospitals have had a strong incentive to reduce readmissions since 2012, when a provision of the Affordable Care Act took effect that requires most hospitals to track readmissions within 30 days after a Medicare patient was discharged. Hospitals with higher-than-expected rates are penalized. Some people have raised concerns, however, that hospitals are being punished for taking low-income and
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Regina Borthwick seriously ill patients, who typically have higher readmission rates. Borthwick said the Hays hospital was able to reduce its readmissions by calling to follow up with patients, connecting them with health care resources and educating patients about their conditions in everyday terms. They also figured out how many of their patients were at a high risk of returning based on how long they were in the hospital, their ages, their number of conditions and whether they were admitted through the emergency room, she said. “We expected maybe 40 percent of our patients would be at a high risk, but See HOSPITALS | Page A3
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