Sports: Wrestlers pin down 1st, 4th place See B1
THE IOLA REGISTER Locally owned since 1867
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Monday, December 15, 2014
Spending bill clears Congress
Sound the trumpets Zane Griffeth, left, Danae Cartright, Zareona Pulley, Alex Yarnell play in the sixth grade band during the Iola Middle School winter program Friday night. REGISTER/KAYLA BANZET
WASHINGTON (AP) — After drawing opposition from both ends of the political spectrum, the $1.1 trillion spending bill cleared for President Barack Obama’s signature stands as a triumph of divided government. It’s the first of its kind for a while, and may also be the last. “Remember this bill was put together in a bicameral, bipartisan way,” House Speaker John Boehner said. Large numbers of lawmakers on both sides of the political divide would rather forget parts of the bill, as evidenced by relatively close votes, 219-206 in the House and 56-40 in the Senate. The legislation quietly locks in billions of dollars in spending cuts that the tea party-strengthened Republicans extracted from Democrats in recent years in a tumultu-
Red Cross gives free smoke detectors
ous string of battles. Equally without much fuss, it reduces staffing at the agency the GOP dislikes the most, the Environmental Protection Agency, to levels last seen in 1989. Yet it maintains funding for President Barack Obama’s health care program that Republicans loathe so heartily that they shut down the government last year rather than spend any money on it. And it provides additional money for health research that Democrats favor, and most of what the administration sought to
By ANDY MARSO KHI news service
The American Red Cross will give free smoke detectors away to people at the community pantry. no smoke alarm; 20 percent of those had smoke alarms, but had intentionally disabled the devices because of “nuisance” factors. Culver recommends putting smoke alarms on every floor of a house, inside bedrooms
Jingle Bell Jog coming up Saturday The 17th annual Jingle Bell Jog is right around the corner. The running tradition will be at 1 p.m. on Saturday beginning from the bandstand on the Iola square. Registration for the 5k run or the 3k walk is $17, and includes a shirt. New this year is “Catch the Cookie!” Children 10 and under will be encouraged to run to see if they can catch the Gingerbread Man. First place receives a gingerbread house. Children are also encouraged to come in costume. Best-dressed will win a prize. This is for children 10 and under.
— President Barack Obama
Late registration, checkin and the “Catch the Cookie,” race begin at noon on Saturday. The Jingle Bell Jog begins at 1 p.m. on the north side of the Iola square.
Quote of the day Vol. 117, No. 36
combat Ebola. It is stocked with provisions to prevent the use of federal funds to pay for abortions, and with another to block the government from giving endangered species list protection to the sage grouse. More points on the Republican side of the ledger. But it doesn’t tamper with the administration’s proposed greenhouse gas regulation, or allow guns on Army Corps of Engineers land, changes that See BUDGET | Page A4
Legislator eyes gun background checks
By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
Donna Culver wants to make homes a little safer, especially this time of year. Culver, who works for the American Red Cross, said free smoke detectors will be given away to anybody who wants one while food is being distributed twice a week from the Iola Community Pantry. The Community Pantry, at the intersection of Washington and Broadway streets, is open Tuesdays and Thursdays. Culver cited several statistics to prove just how vital the devices are. In 2013, Red Cross chapters in southeast Kansas responded to 116 family fires. Meanwhile, 65 percent of all fire-related deaths are in homes with no functioning smoke alarms, Culver said. Despite this, a recent Red Cross survey found 40 percent of people lived in a home with
I think what the American people very much are looking for is some practical governance and the willingness to compromise and that’s what this bill reflects.
and outdoor sleeping areas. Smoke detectors should be checked monthly by pushing the “test” button. Batteries should be changed regularly; firefighters recommend doing See SMOKE | Page A4
TOPEKA — A former physician now in the Kansas Legislature says she will promote a bill expanding backg round checks for gun sales because she believes gunshot wounds are a public Barbara Bollier health issue. Rep. Barbara Bollier, a moderate Republican from Mission Hills, last week attended the first conference of a newly formed group of state lawmakers committed to curbing gun violence. Bollier joined almost 200 representatives from both parties and all 50 states at the Wash-
ington, D.C., meeting of American State Legislators for Gun Violence Prevention, calling it “a tremendous opportunity for the people’s voice to be heard throughout the country.” “This upcoming session I will support state legislation for background checks,” Bollier said in a statement distributed during the conference. “It is imperative that this public health issue be addressed in Kansas.” Bollier was a practicing anesthesiologist in the Kansas City area for more than a decade, but said via phone that she first recognized the public health implications of gunshot wounds during her residency at Ben Taub General Hospital in Houston. She said Ben Taub had one See CHECKS | Page A4
5 hostages escape from Sydney cafe SYDNEY (AP) — Five people escaped from a Sydney cafe where a gunman took an unknown number of hostages during this morning’s rush hour. Two people inside the cafe earlier held up a flag with an Islamic declaration of faith that has often been used by extremists, raising fears that a terrorist incident was playing out in the heart of Australia’s biggest city. The first three people ran out of the Lindt Chocolat Cafe in downtown Sydney six hours into the hostage crisis, and two women sprinted from a fire exit into the arms of waiting police shortly afterward. Both women were wearing aprons with the Lindt chocolate logo, indicating they were cafe employees. As the siege entered its 12th hour, basic questions
remained unanswered. Police refused to say how many hostages were inside the cafe, what they believed the gunman’s motives might be, whether he had made any demands or whether the hostages who fled the cafe escaped or were released. “I would like to give you as much as I can but right now that is as much as I can,” New South Wales state police Commissioner Andrew Scipione said. “First and foremost, we have to make sure we do nothing that could in any way jeopardize those still in the building.” Police were negotiating with the gunman and said they had no information to suggest anyone had been hurt. Scipione said they had not confirmed whether the siege was related to terrorism.
“Nothing will work unless you do.”
— Maya Angelou
75 Cents
“Our only goal tonight and for as long as this takes is to get those people that are currently caught in that building out of there safely,” he said. Channel 10 news said it received a video in which a hostage inside the cafe had relayed the gunman’s demands. The station said police requested they not broadcast it, and Scipione separately asked all media that might be contacted by the gunman to urge him instead to talk to police. The drama began around 9:45 a.m. in Martin Place, a plaza in the heart of the city’s financial and shopping district that is packed with holiday shoppers this time of year. Many of those inside the cafe would have been taken hostage as they stopped in for See HOSTAGES | Page A4
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