Tuesday, October 20, 2020
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ELECTION 2020
Candidates sound off on pandemic Rep. Ken Collins ready to cut state budget as part of virus response
Lynn Grant considers Kansas ‘a fluid state’ in regard to COVID-19
By SUSAN LYNN The Iola Register
By SUSAN LYNN The Iola Register
In his bid for re-election, state Rep. Ken Collins, R-Mulberry, said he’s prepared to cut the state budget in an effort to make up for revenue losses incurred by the COVID-19 pandemic. “We’ll have to make some cuts,” he said Monday. “Of course, everybody thinks it should come from somebody else’s budget.” Collins owns a convenience store in Mulberry, a town of about 500 that straddles the
In a perfect world, Lynn Grant probably wouldn’t be running for public office. After all, she’s already served multiple terms on the city councils of both Frontenac and Cherokee, as well as had leadership roles in multiple civic organizations. But because “there are still things that need to be done,” Grant felt obligated to throw her hat in the ring especially when Ken Collins, the Republican incumbent for the 2nd House District, faced no oppo-
Ken Collins Kansas-Missouri line in eastern Crawford County. He’s had the store for only about one-and-a-half years. When the legislature is in sesSee A3 | Page A3
Lynn Grant nent in the Nov. 3 election. “People need a choice on the ballot,” the Democrat said. Grant is the widow of Bob See GRANT | Page A3
Virus outbreak kills 10 at Kansas nursing home By JOHN HANNA The Associated Press
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A coronavirus outbreak has killed 10 residents in a nursing home in a northwestern Kansas county that proportionally already had the nation’s largest increase in cases over two weeks. The health department in Norton County reported Monday night that all 62 residents and an unspecified number of employees at the Andbe Home in Norton had tested positive
A nursing home in Norton has been identified as a cluster site for COVID-19. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
for the novel coronavirus. The agency also said one Andbe Home resident was hospitalized, while the remaining
Kansas had 2,113 new confirmed and probable coronavirus cases since Friday, an increase of 3% that brought the pandemic total to 72,968. 51 were being treated at the home. “Steps are being taken to prevent any further outbreak, including quarantining residents in their rooms and
not allowing outside visitors into the facility,” the county health department said in a statement Monday evening. The outbreak at the nursing home came after the state Department of Health and Environment last week reported more than 100 cases at the state’s prison in Norton over the two weeks ending Wednesday. Kansas is seeing an average of more than 700 new confirmed and probable coronavirus cases a day, its largest numbers since the pandem-
ic reached the state in early March. But northwestern Kansas has been hit hard by coronavirus in recent weeks, and Norton County had the largest number of new cases per 100,000 residents of any county in the U.S. for the two weeks ending Sunday, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University. The Kansas health department said that cases in Norton County rose from 46 two See STATE | Page A6
Display violated city’s sign ordinance Deadline looms, but relief deal still far off
By VICKIE MOSS The Iola Register
A political display on U.S. 54/Madison Avenue got a lot of attention this past week. Too much, actually. The display, composed of four large round hay bales and painted to represent a larger-than-life version of President Donald Trump, exceeded the city’s limits on political signs. It was an unusual type of sign, though, and an unusual situation, Codes Enforcement Office Greg Hutton said. “That was a first,” he said. The sign was displayed at a rental property owned by Matt Kerr and occupied by Dwayne Martin. Both are Trump supporters and erected the hay bales to represent the president wearing patriotic sunglasses with “20” on each shoulder and the word “Trump” in the area that would be his lips. The display violated the city’s limitations on the size of political signs, which cannot exceed a total of 6 square feet. Hutton informed Kerr of See SIGNS | Page A6
Vol. 122, No. 249 Iola, KS 75 Cents
By ANDREW TAYLOR The Associated Press
This hay bale display, originally painted in support of President Donald Trump’s campaign, violated the city’s political sign ordinance and had to be changed, as shown below with property resident Dwayne Martin.
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reported some progress in advance of a Tuesday deadline for reaching a pre-election deal with President Donald Trump on a new coronavirus relief package, but the same core problems bedeviling the effort remain in place despite optimistic talk from the president and his team. Pelosi negotiated for nearly an hour Monday with Trump’s top emissary, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, and her office said they are continuing to narrow their differences. “Finally, they have come to the table and we’re going to try to get something done,” Pelosi said on MSNBC Monday evening. She said the two sides would take stock on Tuesday, which she has staked out as the deadline if a deal is to be reached before the election. “Let’s make a judgment.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. We may not like this, we may not like that but let’s see on balance if we can go forward,” Pelosi said. But with time nearly up for Congress and the White House to deliver aid to Americans before the election, the question remains: If not now, when? It’s a key consideration for Trump, who has talked up the prospect of another package as he asks voters for a second term, and for Democrats hopeful that their nominee, Joe Biden, is on the cusp of winning the White House in November. “Nancy Pelosi at this moment does not want to do anything that’s going to afSee RELIEF | Page A6