Monday, December 20, 2021
Locally owned since 1867
JV wrestlers compete
Library rec program inspires learning By SUSAN LYNN The Iola Register
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State speeds aid to address evictions
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Deadly typhoon slams Philippines PAGE A4
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Playing with a child is an involved process — you just don’t realize it. But peel back the layers and you see the building blocks for emotional stability being laid and verbal and motor skills being expanded. Add reading into the mix and the learning opportunities grow. Put this all together into a safe place like a public library, and the potential for it becoming a movement starts to happen. All this is behind Iola Public Library’s new initiative, “Early Literacy Can’t Wait,” which launched last month. The program has two main goals: To help prevent child
abuse and neglect by providing resources and activities that support families; and to help toddlers develop into well-rounded individuals eager to learn. The program is the brainchild of Sharon Moreland, the library’s new director, and Tammie Benham, the youth services consultant for the Southeast Kansas Library System. Benham, who is based in Pittsburg, wrote the grant to fund the program for one year. Instead, the program received three years of funding, it was so well received. “That was a nice surprise,” Benham said Wednesday. “They gave us three years See LIBRARY | Page A3
Lesa Cole, left, children’s librarian at Iola Public Library, and Tammie Benham, youth services consultant for the Southeast Kansas Library System, team up on a new program.
Help pours in for Town Hall By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
YATES CENTER — There aren’t many buildings that have their own lazy river as one of its hidden features. Of course, there aren’t many buildings like Yates Center’s Town Hall. And now, armed with a $50,000 grant, the lazy river — source of flooded basements aplenty through the years — should be a thing of the past. The non-profit community center, owned by local residents Michael McCullough and his wife, Janet Brilke, will undergo an ambitious waterproofing endeavor, courtesy of a $50,000 grant from T-Mobile. McCullough and Brilke learned earlier this month their grant application was successful. McCullough, a technology teacher at Yates Center High School, is eager to get started on the work. “We’ve really had the support of the entire town,” he said. THE TOWN HALL, site of Yates Center’s former Christian Church at 201 S. Main St., became a community center in 2017, when McCullough and Brilke stepped forward to take over the building in order to save it from being de-
Republicans refuse to say Biden won By THOMAS BEAUMONT The Associated Press
molished. And while the basement meeting area is available for meetings, parties and other get-togethers, its primary focus is its business wing. A series of rooms have become prime incubator spots for entrepreneurs hoping to
They are just three little words, but they have become nearly impossible for many Republicans to say: “Joe Biden won." Eleven months after the Democrat’s inauguration, Republican lawmakers and candidates across the country are squirming and stumbling rather than acknowledging the fact of Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election. In debates and interviews, they offer circular statements or vague answers when asked whether they believe Biden won. Yes or no? In Minnesota this week, five GOP candidates for governor came up with 1,400 other words when asked by conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt for an answer. On NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, GOP Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas would only concede: “Joe Biden was sworn into office.” The hazy statements are one measure of election denialism within the Republican Party. Former President Donald Trump’s lies about a
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Michael McCullough at the Yates Center Town Hall. The facility, shown at right, received a $50,000 grant to address flooding issues in the basement. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN
Inflation squeezes holiday budgets for low-income shoppers NEW YORK (AP) — Emarilis Velazquez is paying higher prices on everything from food to clothing. Her monthly grocery bill has ballooned from $650 to almost $850 in recent months. To save money, she looks for less expensive cuts of meat and has switched to a cheaper detergent. She also clips coupons and shops for her kids’ clothing at thrift stores insted of Children’s Place.
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For the holidays, she’s scaling back on gifts. She plans to spend $600 on her three young children instead of $1,000, and she won’t be buying any gifts for relatives.
“It’s stressful,” said the 33-year-old stay-at-home mother from Boardman, Ohio, whose husband earns $30,000 a year making pallets for stores. “You want to give it all to your kids, even though (Christmas) is about family. They still expect things. It is hard that you can’t give them what they ask for.” Retailers may be forecasting record-breaking sales for the holiday shopping season,
but low-income customers are struggling as they bear the brunt of the highest inflation in 39 years. The government’s report last week that consumer prices jumped 6.8% over the past year showed that some of the largest cost spikes have been for such necessities as food, energy, housing, autos and clothing. Overall, rising prices are changing shopping habits
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for many Americans. For some, they’re a mere inconvenience, pushing them to delay building a deck on their house amid higher lumber prices. But for lower-income households with little or no cash cushions, they’re making harder choices such as whether they can put food on the table or if they’ll have to drastically scale back on holiday presents for their chilSee SHOPPING | Page A3
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