Thursday, September 17, 2020
Locally owned since 1867
Royals defeat Tigers
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State stops disclosing virus cluster sites PAGE A2
Court considers ‘wrongful birth’ PAGE A3
Movie theater still shuttered By The Register Staff
While a small number of moviehouses have begun reopening in recent weeks, including Chanute’s Roxy 4 Cinema, others such as Sterling Six Cinemas in Iola will remain closed because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. “At this time we do not have a date to announce for the reopening,” reported Dan VanOrden, circuit general manager at B&B Theatres, which owns Sterling Six. B&B operates 50 theaters across the country. The motion picture industry remains one of the most adversely affected businesses because of the COVID-19 threat, with several highly anticipated movies delayed until later this fall, or pushed back to 2021. A small number of films have been released, precipitating some cinemas to reopen their doors to limited crowds.
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Family escapes home during kitchen fire By VICKIE MOSS The Iola Register
Caressa Vaughn woke up coughing a little after midnight Wednesday morning to find her house filled with smoke. She realized the problem immediately. She had fallen asleep while food had been left cooking on the stovetop. She made her way through the smoke to the kitchen, where she saw a small fire on top of the stove and a bigger fire on the floor next to it. She tried to douse the fire from water in the sink, but the fire on the floor was too big and the smoke was overwhelming. She then rushed to the bedroom where her 3-year-old daughter, Pexleigh Lowell,
Caressa Vaughn with daughter, Pexleigh Lowell, managed to escape their home as a kitchen fire raged. REGISTER/VICKIE MOSS was sleeping. The girl started coughing as they left the house and ran next door. “My kitchen is on fire. Can
you help?” Vaughn asked the neighbor. “Have you called 911?” he asked.
She hadn’t. “I wasn’t thinking straight,” Vaughn recalled hours later, as she tried to figure out her next steps. The kitchen was badly damaged, with smoke damage to the ceiling of other rooms in the house. Vaughn has been renting the house. The property owner has contacted the insurance company to see if the damage can be repaired. Meanwhile, Vaughn and her daughter are staying with family. She has been in touch with the American Red Cross for assistance. She’s not yet sure what can be salvaged from the home. She knows the oven and miSee FIRE | Page A5
Empathizing with rural struggles By TREVOR HOAG The Iola Register
From the moment she arrived in Yates Center, Michelle De Le Isla — mayor of Topeka and now running for Congress — was asking questions, trying to get a sense of the place and the challenges faced by its people. That means empathizing ... a lot. “I’m dying for this virus to be done,” she said, while touring the downtown square with residents. “I’m looking forward to the day I don’t have to wear a mask and I’m able to talk to people at a human level.” Her remarks drew laughs of agreement, but launched an afternoon-long conversation about how residents were coping in the midst of the pandemic, as well as addressing the challenges faced by rural Americans more generally. DELANA Jeffery, who’s been in business at Hairbenders Salon for 47 years, talked to De La Isla about the diffi-
Bill Steiner, who owns a barbershop on the Yates Center square, shows Michelle De La Isla some tonsorial memorabilia from the past. REGISTER/TREVOR HOAG culty of having to shut down during the pandemic, and the seven weeks of uncertainty that accompanied it. “Everything is good now?”
asked De La Isla. Thanks to tenacity and help from a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), Jeffery said things were at
least looking better. Bill Steiner, who’s operated a local barber shop for 56 See CANDIDATE | Page A6
Weights coach teaches lifetime fitness COVID-19 danger continues to drive joblessness in US By VICKIE MOSS The Iola Register
Jarrett Roy knows he looks like one of his high school students. He doesn’t mind the comparison. He earned a degree in NEW physical education from TEACHERS Emporia State University this past May. He’s not much older than the students at Iola High School. And he’s just about as excited as a kid, anyway, to teach weight training and conditioning at IHS so soon after graduating from college. “I kind of got lucky. First year teaching, I got a weights position, which is extremely
Vol. 122, No. 236 Iola, KS 75 Cents
By PAUL WISEMAN The Associated Press
Jarrett Roy is the new weights training teacher at Iola High School. REGISTER/VICKIE MOSS hard,” he said. “I think being so young helps me connect with the kids. I was just in their place. I know exactly what they’re going through.”
True, he has to set boundaries. He’s the teacher now. And all of his classes are elective, so the students want See WEIGHTS | Page A3
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell last week to 860,000, a historically high figure that reflects economic damage from the coronavirus outbreak. Before the pandemic hit the economy, the number signing up for jobless aid had never exceeded 700,000 in a week, even during the depths of the 20072009 Great Recession. Now they’ve topped 700,000 for 26 straight weeks. The Labor Department said today that U.S. jobless
claims fell by 33,000 from the previous week and that 12.6 million are collecting traditional unemployment benefits, compared with just 1.7 million a year ago. The pandemic has delivered a colossal shock to the economy. Until the pandemic upended the operations of American companies, from factories to family diners, weekly jobless aid applications had never exceeded 700,000 in the U.S. The overall economy, as measured by the gross domestic product, collapsed at an annual rate of 31.7% from April through June, by far the worst three months on See JOBS | Page A6
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