MeDALLION HUNT 2023
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FIND IT HERE! Tuesday, October 17, 2023
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Humboldt’s Mike Myer, an avid astronomer, was in southern Utah Saturday to take this series of partial eclipse photos.
Eclipse turns eyes toward the sky By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
The Iola Public Library offered special glasses to view Saturday’s partial eclipse during a special event with Iolan Stan Grigsby, a retired physicist and instructor. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN
Iolan Stan Grigsby usually has two responses when somebody asks him about astronomy: “Look up, and look it up.” Grigsby, a retired physicist and instructor, spoke to roughly 25 or so Iolans at the Iola Public Library Saturday during an annual, or partial solar eclipse, that crossed the western United States. Overcast skies spoiled much of the sighting opportunities for local skygazers, but a momentary break in the clouds allowed spectators an occasional glimpse of the sun blocked by the moon. Grigsby’s presentation was part history, part math. His noted eclipses and oth-
er celestial phenomena often played a part in social changes and scientific advances. The moon is capable of covering most of the sun’s light during a solar eclipse, even though the sun is roughly 400 times larger than the moon, Grigsby explained, because the moon is so much closer to the earth. That’s why they appear the same size from the ground. Saturday’s partial eclipse meant the moon’s path did not completely block out the sun. Locally, about 70% of the sun was covered. HUMBOLDT’S Mike Myer, an avid astronomer, was in southern Utah for Saturday’s eclipse, where more of the sun was blocked by the See ECLIPSE | Page A3
Advance voting starts Wednesday By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
Advance voting begins Wednesday on a number of local races, most notably a countywide vote on whether to approve a $9.95 million renovation to the Allen County Courthouse. There are several city and school board races to be decided in the Nov. 7 general election as well. Allen Countians can request a mail-in ballot through Oct. 31, or they can vote at the Allen County clerk’s office during office hours until noon Nov. 6. On top of the courthouse vote, Iolans will have decisions to make in Ward 3, between incumbent Kim Peterson and challengers Georgia Masterson and Gene Myrick, and Ward 4, between incumbent Joelle Shallah and challenger Darcus Kottwitz. Jon
ELECTION Nov. 7
Wells is on the ballot alongside Paul Porter in Ward 1, although Porter announced he was no longer interested in serving, and supports Wells’s candidacy. MEANWHILE, the Humboldt USD 258 Board of Education has a whopping 10 candidates seeking four seets. Incumbents Drake Tilman, Sandra Whitaker, Tony Works and Josh Wrestler are on the ballot, as are challengers, Chelsie Angleton, Josh Hart, Kevin Heisler, Cindy Jaro and Andrea Newman. Four candidates are seeking three Allen CommuniSee VOTE | Page A6
People walking amid the destruction of houses and streets in Khan Yunis, located in the southern Gaza Strip, amid the devastation caused by Israeli airstrikes, Sunday, Oct. 15. MOHAMED ZAANOUN/MIDDLE EAST IMAGES/AFP/GETTY IMAGES/TNS
Humanitarian aid stuck at border RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hospitals in Gaza faced collapse Monday as water, power and medicine neared depletion, while hundreds of thousands of Palestinians faced dwindling food supplies as Israel maintained punishing airstrikes in retaliation for last week’s
deadly rampage by Hamas. Thousands of patients’ lives were at risk, U.N. officials said, and mediators struggled for a cease-fire to let in aid waiting at the Egyptian border. More than a week after Israel stopped entry of essential supplies, all eyes were on
the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt. Trucks carrying badly needed aid have waited there for days unable to pass through. Israeli airstrikes last week forced the shutdown of Rafah, Gaza’s only connection to Egypt. Egypt’s Foreign Minister See GAZA | Page A6
FBI report: Violent crime decreases, property crime up ST. LOUIS (AP) — Violent crime across the U.S. decreased last year — dropping to about the same level as before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic — but property crimes rose substantially, according to data in the FBI’s annual crime report released Monday. The report comes with an asterisk: Some law enforcement agencies failed to provide data. But a change in collection methods in compiling
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2022 numbers helped, and the FBI said the new data represents 83.3% of all agencies covering 93.5% of the population. By contrast, last year’s numbers were from only
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62.7% of agencies, representing 64.8% of Americans. Violent crime dropped 1.7%, and that included a 6.1% decrease in murder and non-negligent manslaugh-
ter. Rape decreased 5.4% and aggravated assault dropped 1.1%, but robbery increased 1.3%. Violent crime had also decreased slightly in 2021, a big turnaround from 2020, when the murder rate in the U.S. jumped 29% during the pandemic that created huge social disruption and upended support systems. The violent crime rate of 380.7 per 100,000 people was a tick better than 2019 — the See CRIME | Page A3
Once you find me, you’ll need a one track mind. Cause there are steps you must take when my hiding place you find.
Talk about it A discussion on the courthouse bond vote will be at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Humboldt Senior Center.