MLB: Royals rally to beat A’s
2017 1867
See B1
State: Paul Davis kicks off campaign See A2
THE IOLA REGISTER Thursday, August 17, 2017
Locally owned since 1867
www.iolaregister.com
Bannon: No military solution in North Korea
K-State launches mock spaceship
BRIDGEWATER, N.J. (AP) — Contradicting a boss already under pressure to fire him, President Donald Trump’s chief strategist Steve Bannon says there’s no military solution to the threat posed by North Korea and its nuclear ambitions. Just last week, Trump pledged to answer North Korean aggression with “fire and fury.” In an interview with The American Prospect posted online Wednesday, Bannon tells the liberal publication that the U.S. is losing the economic race against China and talks about purging his rivals from the Defense and State departments. Asked about the white supremacist movement, whose march on Charlottesville, Virginia, last weekend led to deadly violence, Bannon dismisses them as “losers,” ‘’a fringe element” and “a collection of clowns.” The White House and a representative for Bannon did not immediately respond to requests for
KIPP (AP) — A mock-up of a spacecraft built in central Kansas is getting ready to take off for Kansas State University. The spaceship will arrive at the university sometime next week from the Douglas Welding & Machine shop in Kipp. A NASA grant is funding research to prepare future astronauts to withstand trips to and from Mars. University professor and cardiovascular physiologist Carl Ade said the Mary and Carl Ice Hall, where the spacecraft will be shipped to, has a Mars obstacle course and equipment that simulates microgravity for use in other NASA research projects. A team of graduate students and university faculty will work on finishing out the inside of the spaceship to make it as close as possible to NASA specifications for the rocket planned to take astronauts to Mars in the 2030s.
See BANNON | Page A5
Russ Baxley, DVM, with Hank
MOBILE VET By RICK DANLEY The Iola Register
There are only a handful of people you can call when one of your cows develops a bacterial infection known as “wooden tongue” or when another of your cows has a prolapsed uterus or when your horse gets hit with an eye problem. Russ Baxley, the owner-operator of the region’s newest
veterinary service, attended to all three animal ailments on a single muggy Tuesday last week, and he didn’t bat an eye. A couple of days before that, he’d put a cast on a horse’s foot and done some work on a diabetes detection dog out in Coffey County. Onion Creek Veterinary, now in its second month, is a mobile service that Baxley operates out of his custom-built Ford F-250 Power Stroke pick-
up, a vehicle designed to function as the nearest thing to a lab. The setup allows Baxley the flexibility and range of movement typically lacking at your average brick-and-mortar vet’s office. Baxley’s roving workstation contains more medical accessories than many rural clinics, most of which find storage in a specially designed alumiSee BAXLEY | Page A5
Hospital ripe for recertification By JIM MCLEAN Kansas News Service
Residents from the Flint Hills traveled to Topeka Wednesday for a Kansas Corporation Commission hearing. CELIA LLOPIS-JEPSEN / KANSAS NEWS SERVICE
Fracking dispute riles the Flint Hills By CELIA LLOPIS-JEPSON Kansas News Service
Residents of the Flint Hills on Wednesday took a fight against an oil company to Kansas energy regulators as part of their broader battle to stem wastewater disposal in the area. They fear that a request from Quail Oil and Gas to jettison up to 5,000 barrels a day of brine near Strong City and the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve brings a risk for earthquakes or contamination of local groundwater — claims that the company disputes. An hours-long hearing in Topeka saw the two sides pit
their lawyers and geologists against each other in hopes of winning over the three members of the Kansas Corporation Commission. The commissioners will likely issue their decision within a couple months. Fossil fuel companies churn up saltwater in the course of oil and gas production and dispose of it in wells by pouring or pumping it downward with pressure. The vast majority of saltwater disposal wells are not linked to earthquakes, but Oklahoma and south-central Kansas have suffered temblors for years that stem from the high volume of saltwaSee FLINT HILLS | Page A5
Quote of the day Vol. 119, No. 205
Kansas officials have cleared an initial hurdle in their effort to regain federal certification for Osawatomie State Hospital. Problems that federal inspectors cited in May have been fixed, making the state’s largest mental health hospital eligible for a full recertification inspection, according to the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services. That inspection must take place within the next 120 days, according to KDADS
Secretary Tim Keck. “We have been waiting for this for a long time,” Keck said in a written stateTim Keck ment. “We’re at third base, now we have to get home.” The decertification order made the hospital ineligible for federal Medicare payments. Their loss has cost the state approximately $20 million. By the spring of this year, state officials believed they had addressed the staffing
and security concerns that prompted the federal order. However, an inspection in May turned up new issues with sanitation and infection control. Inspectors found problems with the main kitchen used by the hospital’s food service contractor. Their report said kitchen workers hadn’t been properly trained and noted garbage, “dead pests” and cobwebs in a food storage area. The report alarmed state lawmakers. “How did conditions in the kitchen get that bad?” See STATE | Page A6
Swing time Paul Beasley, left, works on installing new swings next to the LaHarpe City Hall. Six swings were donated to the city by Brenda Knavel and Cindy Stokes. The swings were dedicated in memory of longtime citizen Violet Lee. REGISTER/CHRISTIAN GIN
“About a month before he died, my grandfather covered his back with lard. After that he went downhill very quickly.” — Milton Jones, British comedian 75 Cents
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