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THE IOLA REGISTER Locally owned since 1867
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Tuesday, February 16, 2016
Lawmakers leave schools out of mix in budget talks By JOHN HANNA The Associated Press
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas legislative negotiators agreed Monday evening on the details of a plan for balancing the next state budget while sidestepping questions about funding for public schools that could undo their fix. The plan drafted by three senators and three House members would eliminate a deficit of nearly $200 million in the state’s $16.1 billion
budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1. It would do so largely by adopting proposals from Republican Gov. Sam Brownback to juggle funds, capture unanticipated savings and sell off the as-
sets of an economic development agency. The negotiators also agreed on a 2.5 percent pay raise for uniformed corrections officers at state prisons. They also included a provision to block the use of bonds backed by state sales tax revenues for an effort to lure the venerable American Royal horse and livestock exhibition in Kansas City from Missouri to Kansas. But their plan contains
Legislators suggest state hospitals mismanaged for privatization push By JOHN HANNA The Associated Press
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Two Kansas legislators from different parties suggested Monday that Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration has mismanaged the state’s two mental hospitals in order to justify turning their operations over to private companies. But Tim Keck, secretary of the Department for Aging and Disability Services, said there’s nothing to the allegations from Republican Rep. Scott Schwab, of Olathe, and Democratic Rep. Jim Ward, of Wichita. Keck said the department is working to improve staffing at both hospitals and to regain the federal certification that one of them lost in December. Keck told the House Health and Human Services Committee that his department
See BUDGET | Page A3
American Royal plans in jeopardy By JOHN HANNA The Associated Press
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A new hotel, children’s museum and 5,000-seat hockey arena could be part of a project designed to lure the annual American Royal horse and livestock exhibition to the Kansas side of the Kansas City metropolitan area from Missouri.
A report prepared by the Kansas Department of Commerce and obtained by The Associated Press said the proposed development in Wyandotte County “is assumed” to include those projects and 12 other elements. The report also describes retail stores, restaurants and outdoor farming exhibits for children. But the project’s future is
uncertain. Kansas legislators have included a provision in budget legislation to block Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration from using a special economic development program to pay for the proposal. Under the program, the department authorizes bonds for such projects, See BONDS | Page A2
LaHarpe regroups after grant rejection By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
LAHARPE — LaHarpe Mayor Mae Crowell remains optimistic the city will eventually receive grant funding to help pay for upgrades to the city’s electric system. Crowell spoke Monday, less than a week after LaHarpe learned its application for a $400,000 Community Development Block Grant was unsuccessful. The rejection came with comments from the Kansas Department of Commerce, which administers the federal funds, as well as a rating system to illustrate just how close the city came to being approved. The ratings con-
Mae Crowell sider everything from total need, whether local municipalities are willing to match the grant funding, and local
efforts to assist with the project in question. LaHarpe’s final score of 72.90 (on a scale of 1 to 100) was 1.88 points shy of the lowest winning score. “We were that close,” Crowell said. But in their comments KDOC officials questioned LaHarpe’s ability to maintain its own electric system. KDOC had a concern that the city is too small to properly operate and maintain the system, Crowell said. “They want assured ... it doesn’t fall into disrepair.” One of KDOC’s pushes is for small towns such as LaHarpe to consider selling their electric system to an outside operator, such as We-
star. The department also noted LaHarpe’ past efforts to address the community’s needs were weak, according to Sandy Votaw of the KDOC. “They want to see that a community has accomplished more projects,” Crowell said. “If these concerns are addressed,” Votaw wrote, “It could be a worthy application.” LaHarpe already has taken steps to answering those questions, Crowell responded, chiefly by the hiring of Kelly Rouse as the city superintendent. Unlike her predecessors, See UPGRADES | Page A3
Brain power Youngsters at SAFE BASE, USD 257’s after-school program have partaken in several activities recently. At left, the students were led by registered nurse Wanda Kneen’s “Mother of Invention...Your Brain!” class. Students were able to examine a pig’s lungs, kidneys, and liver and discuss the various organs’ purposes and how to keep them healthy. Above, students used building blocs to create an assortment of objects because cold weather had kept the youngsters indoors during recess. There is no SAFE BASE this week because of ongoing parent-teacher conferences in USD 257. COURTESY PHOTOS
Quote of the day Vol. 118, No. 75
“The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge.” — Bertrand Russell, Britsh philosopher 75 Cents
has no plans to consider turning over the operations of Larned State Hospital in western Kansas to a private company. But he said the department wants to keep privatization open as an option for Osawatomie State Hospital, about 45 miles southwest of the Kansas City area. The federal government decertified Osawatomie in December, which is costing the state between $500,000 and $1 million a month in federal funds. “We are at a point that we need to have as many options as possible to us to what’s right for the patients,” Keck testified. Dozens of staff positions at each hospital remain open, and KDADS officials have said recruiting is difficult, particularly for nurses, because of both pay and the See HOSPITALS | Page A6
Clean energy plan in limbo By ANDY MARSO KHI News Service
Republican legislators who control energy-related House and Senate committees want to halt work on a plan to comply with federal climate change regulations now that the U.S. Supreme Court has put a temporary stay on the requirements. But some of their colleagues say it would be prudent to keep preparing the plan in case the court ultimately rules against the state. And environmentalists say the state should move to reduce carbon emissions regardless of federal law. Rep. Dennis Hedke, a Republican from Wichita and the chairman of the House Energy and Environment Committee, said during a Monday committee meeting that halting work on a state plan could save $1 million in each of the next two years. He also lauded Jeff Chanay, the state’s chief deputy attorney general, for his work on the litigation that led to the Supreme Court stay. “Thank you for the effort undertaken on behalf of the state of Kansas,” Hedke said. “I think you did a fantastic job.” The regulation imposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency seeks to reduce each state’s aggregate carbon emissions from power plants. Republican See ENERGY | Page A3
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