CHIEFS: Kansas City seeks to replace valued linebacker.
See B1
THE IOLA REGISTER Locally owned since 1867
e
e e
Thursday, December 15, 2016
Helping others who grieve
e e e e
e e e
By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
e
e Fun run Saturday The 19th Annual Jingle Bell Jog, where area walkers and runners wear bells on their shoes (optional) in celebration of not only Christmas but also a healthy lifestyle, is set for Saturday. This year’s JBJ starts from the bandstand on the Iola square, weather permitting. Activities for children begin at 10 a.m. with a race to catch a life-sized cookie as well as a holiday costume contest. Iola High School track team members are coordinat-
ing this year’s event. The 5K run/walk begins at 10:30 a.m. The course leads from downtown over to the Southwind Rail Trail. Cost is $8 or $15 to include a T-shirt. Registration is up to the time of the race at eventbrite.com. Organizers said they will decide by Saturday morning whether threatening weather will force the even to be canceled. If so, announcements will be posted via Facebook and email.
David and Laura Tidd know all too well the pain many go through during the holidays after having lost a loved one. The Tidds, both of whom were widowed at young ages, were married in 2013, and knew eventually they’d wanted to establish a grief share support group. “But we were so busy, I just figured we’d wait until I retired,” David said. “But as I read the obituaries in the paper and see people on my route (he’s a mail carrier for the Iola post office) I realized there are people who really need something like this now.” The Tidds have planned a “Surviving the Holidays” grief support meeting at 4 p.m. Sunday at Iola’s First Baptist Church, along with First Baptist Pastor Randy Johnson. The non-denominational event is open to anybody, young or old, who has lost a loved one, “or if they know of somebody who is coping with loss,” David said. The discussion will include a DVD presentation about coping with loss. The Tidds will use the
Brownback eyes plan for teachers TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Republican Gov. Sam Brownback outlined a plan Wednesday for a scholarship program to attract new teachers to rural Kansas schools and suggested GOP legislators aren’t being constructive in their criticism of how he’s handled the state’s budget woes. Budget proposals in January will include the new teacher scholarship program — called “TeachersKan” — and initiatives to attract doctors and dental services to underserved rural areas, Brownback said. As for financing them, he said he’ll find the money despite a projected shortfall of more than $345 million in the state’s current budget and gaps in funding for existing programs totaling $1.1 billion
Quote of the day Vol. 119, No. 26
event to gauge interest in a regular grief share support group gathering after that. As they note, both David and Laura benefited from attending such sessions after having lost their spouses. David’s wife died in May 2012; Laura’s husband in June 2011.
LAHARPE — Ongoing efforts by the LaHarpe PRIDE Committee to improve the city park and other areas around town have drawn notice by the state. Kansas PRIDE, Inc., which oversees PRIDE groups across the state, has designated LaHarpe a “Community of Excellence.” The designation runs from 2017 through 2019. “This designation recognizes your PRIDE community as a community that is operating at a high level of expertise related to community development including assessment, planning, action and evaluation.” Chiefly among the benefits is that LaHarpe is eligible to apply for the Kansas PRIDE Partners in PRIDE competi-
Sam Brownback
through June 2019. The governor also rejected criticism for not imposing budget cuts ahead of the legislative session, which starts in January. Senate President Susan Wagle, a Wichita Republican, said earlier this week that lawmakers are concerned Brownback is “looking for a ticket to D.C.,” or a position in Presidentelect Donald Trump’s administration. “It’d be more constructive if whoever in the Legislature proposes ideas to deal with the budget problems and starts working on it,” Brownback told The Associated Press. Kansas has struggled to balance its budget since Republican legislators slashed personal income taxes in 2012 and 2013 at Brownback’s urging in an effort to stimulate the economy. Brownback continues to blame slumps in
David and Laura Tidd As fate would have it, both had been a part of different grief support groups when they met via a social networking site for Christians. “It wasn’t how we originally met, but it was a draw we were both involved in,” See GRIEF | Page A5
LaHarpe recognized as ‘Community of Excellence’
Answering his critics
By JOHN HANNA The Associated Press
www.iolaregister.com
tive grant program. LaHarpe also is eligible to apply for a mini project grant of up to $2,000. The announcement came at Wednesday’s LaHarpe City Council meeting. An ongoing playground inSee LAHARPE | Page A5
Yahoo data breach helps usher in age of hacker anxiety
agriculture and energy production for the state’s current budget problems. Brownback, who won reelection in 2014 and is termlimited, said he wants “to take the long view” and focus on major problems. He didn’t provide many details about the initiatives aimed at helping rural Kansas, other than to say the teacher scholarship program would be similar to one covering tuition and living expenses for University of Kansas medical students who agree to practice as doctors in underserved areas. “Budgets are matters of priority and prioritizing,” Brownback said. “It’s a high priority.” Mark Desetti, a lobbyist for the Kansas National Education Association, said it has long supported such a
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Yahoo has become the worstcase example of an unnerving but increasingly common phenomenon — massive hacks that steal secrets and other potentially revealing information from our personal digital accounts, or from big organizations that hold sensitive data on our behalf. On Wednesday, Yahoo disclosed a gargantuan breach affecting more than a billion user accounts, the largest such attack in history. The company said that attack happened in August 2013, although Yahoo only discovered it recently. Worse, the company’s announcement followed a similar announcement last September of a 2014
See GOVERNOR | Page A5
“Be polite to all, but intimate with few.”
— Thomas Jefferson 75 Cents
hack — one Yahoo ascribed to an unnamed foreign government — that affected 500 million accounts. Neither Yahoo breach has yet been linked to online fraud or any specific repercussions for Yahoo users. But their disclosure closely follows U.S. intelligence concerns about Russian hacking of Democratic emails during the presidential campaign — not to mention other recent attacks on a major health insurer, a medical lab-test comSee YAHOO | Page A5
Hi: 32 Lo: 19 Iola, KS