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THE IOLA REGISTER Locally owned since 1867
www.iolaregister.com
Wednesday, April 19, 2017
Accident kills Bronson man
Allen County commissioners agreed to give $2,000 to help purchase “flower towers” like the ones shown above and other flower pots to be placed around the courthouse square. COURTESY PHOTO
A flowery outlook By BOB JOHNSON The Iola Register
A gold star to members of Iola’s City Involvement Task Force. Represented by Shilo Eggers, the CITF updated Allen County commissioners of their plan to make downtown Iola more inviting by placing 26 planters and six flower trees along three blocks of Madison Avenue and around the courthouse square. “Our goal is to beautify the downtown area “ Eggers said. Project cost is $9,000, of which CITF will provide $5,000. The remainder will come from a $2,000 grant, approved on a two-to-one vote Tuesday -— Commissioner Jim Talkington opposed — See FLOWERS | Page A6
MORAN — Rolland D. Guder, 65, Bronson, was killed Tuesday morning and his passenger critically injured in a traffic accident east of Moran. The Kansas Highway Patrol reported Guder was westbound on U.S. 54 when he lost control of his 1989 Chevy pickup. The pickup crossed the centerline, entering the south ditch before re-entering the highway and rolling. Both Guder and his passenger, Shawn W. Pulliam, 50, Yates Center, were ejected from the pickup. Neither was wearing a seat belt.
Rolland Guder, 65, Bronson, was killed and his passenger critically injured Tuesday when the pickup he was driving crashed east of Moran. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN Guder was declared dead at the scene. Pulliam was airlifted to Overland Park Regional
Medical Center. The highway east of Moran was closed for several hours
Iola Council to look further at downsizing By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
Iola City Council members gathered Tuesday, figuring they’d take an indepth look at Iola’s financial stability, economic development Aaron Franklin and infrastructure. And they did. But first, they held a brief but spirited discussion on whether the eight-member council should be downsized. The council size issue kick-started Tuesday’s stra-
tegic planning session. Four Council members — Aaron Franklin, Jon Wells, Nancy Ford and Don Becker — attended the planning session. Council members Bob Shaughnessy, Sandy Zornes and Beverly Franklin were absent, as was Mayor Joel Wicoff. Having so many members missing was not lost on Aaron Franklin, who said chronic absenteeism at other meetings provided further evidence an eight-member city council was too big for a town Iola’s size. Wells suggested getting the public involved in council size discussions.
It was the public that voted twice, in 2009 and 2010, to reject charter ordinances that set up three- and fivemember city commissions, respectively. Eradicating those charter ordinances left Iola with a default eight-member council, which was seated in 2011. Aaron Franklin said he had heard from several in the community who said it’s time to rethink the council size. And while the residents who have spoken with Franklin have favored keeping representatives from each of Iola’s four voting wards, he favored all at-large members.
Hospital struggles fuel Medicaid expansion effort By JIM MCLEAN Kansas News Service
Renewed attention to the financial struggles of several Kansas hospitals is giving supporters of Medicaid expansion a potentially powerful argument as they work to build a veto-proof majority for a new bill. “The conversation became much more real with the renewed talk about hospital closures,” said David Jordan, director of the Alliance for a Healthy Kansas, a pro-expansion coalition. “I think legislators are seeing how motivated their constituents are and maybe rethinking their votes.” Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s rejection of expansion was a factor in the 2015 closure of Mercy Hospital in Independence. Now, numerous sources say St. Francis Health in Topeka could be on the brink of shutting its doors after more than 100 years of operation. Officials from the hospital’s parent organization, Denver-based SCL Health, said Tuesday they expected to give up ownership within the next few months, and it’s uncertain whether anybody can prevent the hospital from closing. Hospitals in Wellington and Fort Scott are also in dire financial straits. Expansion opponents argue there are many reasons for the increasing financial pressure on Kansas hospi-
while emergency crews investigated the accident and cleared the wreckage.
City Administrator Sid Fleming said he would put council size on the agenda for a future meeting — perhaps in May — to further examine the issue. The rest of Tuesday’s gettogether — the second of a two-night planning session — focused on the aforementioned financial stability, economic development and infrastructure. AMONG the highlights: l Councilman Don Becker and Assistant City Administrator Corey Schinstock suggested the city draft a master See COUNCIL | Page A3
Lectures aplenty occupy schedule By SHELLIE SMITLEY The Iola Register
This is part four of a 14part series following Nina Froggatte’s journey through police training at the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center, Hutchinson.
ditional hospital closings to build a veto-proof majority by convincing a handful of lawmakers to switch their votes. They hope to force another vote soon after they return May 1 for the wrap-up portion of the 2017 session. “I do think there’s a good chance of us flipping those votes,” Ward said, adding that conversations with some lawmakers who opposed the override attempt lead him to believe “there is some buyer’s remorse.” Because of the failure of
HUMBOLDT — The week ending April 14 was a long week for Nina Froggatte, because she spent most of it engulfed in classroom lectures. It was not until the end of the Nina Froggatte week that the coursework took her outside the classroom to work on crime scene investigation. “We did not do a full crime scene, just some of the basic steps on how to get started on crime scenes,” she said. The procedure included drawing diagrams of the room, learning how to secure a crime scene and collecting evidence. Since draw-
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See NINA | Page A4
The financial struggles of several Kansas hospitals, including St. Francis Health in Topeka, may increase support for a bill to expand Medicaid eligibility. KANSAS NEWS SERVICE FILE PHOTO tals. Expanding KanCare, the state’s privatized Medicaid program, would not generate enough additional federal revenue to save many of them, opponents say. However, House Minority Leader Jim Ward, a Wichita Democrat, said information provided by the Kansas Hospital Association has convinced him that expansion would be a “lifeline” to many of the state’s struggling hospitals. “Knowing that help was on the way would allow many of them to hang on until that money got to them,” Ward
Quote of the day Vol. 119, No. 122
said. “More hospitals will close if we don’t take action.” Chance To Flip Votes?
The rejection of expansion has cost Kansas health care providers more than $1.8 billion in additional federal funding, according to the hospital association. Brownback recently vetoed an expansion bill that the House and Senate passed by wide margins. An override attempt in the House fell three votes short of the twothirds majority needed. Expansion supporters are now using the threat of ad-
“Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.” — Melody Beattie, author 75 Cents
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