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THE IOLA REGISTER Locally owned since 1867
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Tuesday, March 22, 2016
DEATH TOLL RISES IN BRUSSELS ATTACKS By LORN COOK and JOHN-THOR DAHLBURG The Associated Press
BRUSSELS (AP) — Bombs struck the Brussels airport and one of the city’s metro stations today, killing at least 31 people and wounding dozens, as a European capital was again locked down amid heightened security threats. The two airport blasts, at least one of which was blamed on a suicide bomber, left behind a chaotic scene of splattered blood in the departure lounge as windows were blown out, ceilings collapsed and travelers streamed out of the smoky building. About an hour later, another bomb exploded on a rush-hour subway train near the European Union headquarters. Terrified passengers had to evacuate through darkened tunnels to safety. “What we feared has happened,” Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel told reporters. “In this time of tragedy, this black moment for our country, I appeal to everyone to remain calm but also to show solidarity.” Belgium raised its terror alert to the highest level, diverting planes and trains and ordering people to stay where they were. Airports across Europe immediately tightened security. “We are at war,” French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said after a crisis meeting called by the French president. “We have been subjected for the last few months in Europe to acts of war.”
Victims receive first aid and medical emergency assistance in the area surrounding Maelbeek metro station in Brussels, Belgium today. At least 26 people have been killed on the same day in a new series of terror attacks that rocked Brussels and left more than 130 people injured. DANNY GYS/REPORTERS/ABACAPRESS.COM European security officials have been bracing for a major attack for weeks, and warned that the Islamic State group was actively preparing to strike. The arrest Friday of a key suspect in the November attacks in Paris heightened those fears, as investigators said many more people were involved than originally thought, and that some are still on the loose.
Iola City Council OKs street projects By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
Iola officials will take advantage of low oil prices while they can and do a bit more street work in 2016 than originally planned. City Council members, in a special meeting Monday, approved more than $383,000 worth of milland-overlay projects this spring. Crews will resurface South Kentucky and South State streets as well as portions of Kansas Drive, Willow Drive, East Carpenter Street and the streets along Melody Acres in northeast Iola. The Melody Acres portion was added, Street and Alley Superintendent Dan Leslie said, because costs are substantially lower than originally expected. Council members approved a contract with SEKan Asphalt Services for $313,34.20, which was the lower of two bids by a significant margin. Leslie said
the competing bid from APAC-Kansas, Inc., of Emporia was higher by about $119,000 because APAC likely would transport in asphalt from elsewhere. Adding the Melody Acres portion tacks on another $70,375 to the project, Leslie explained. When planners mapped out Iola’s mill and overlay projects in advance, they estimated the cost at more than $497,000. In addition to the city funds, Iola will utilize more than $147,000 from a federal funds exchange program through the Kansas Department of Transportation. Along with the mill and overlay work, Leslie said crews likely will target potholes and other damaged roads with “hot mix” patching along other streets. City crews will likely work alongside, Leslie said. Depending on when SEKan does the work — Leslie See STREETS | Page A6
Quote of the day Vol. 118, No. 101
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for today’s attacks, and Michel said there was no immediate evidence linking key Paris suspect Salah Abdeslam to them. After his arrest Friday, Abdeslam told authorities he had created a new network and was planning new attacks. At Brussels’ Zaventem airport, the two explosions hit
the departures area during the busy morning rush. Belgian Health Minister Maggie de Block told Belgian media that 11 people were killed and 81 injured. Zach Mouzoun, who arrived on a flight from Geneva about 10 minutes before the first blast, told BFM television that the second, louder explosion brought down ceilings and ruptured pipes, mix-
ing water with victims’ blood. “It was atrocious. The ceilings collapsed,” he said. “There was blood everywhere, injured people, bags everywhere.” “We were walking in the debris. It was a war scene,” he said. Anthony Deloos, an airport worker for Swissport, which See BRUSSELS | Page A6
House advances judicial impeachment bill By JOHN HANNA and MELISSA HELLMANN The Associated Press
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas legislators advanced a bill Monday declaring that state Supreme Court justices could be impeached for interfering too much in the Legislature’s business. Republicans who pushed the impeachment measure to first-round approval in the Senate argued that they’re providing greater guidance
on the grounds for impeaching the court’s members and removing them from office. But it’s the latest initiative from GOP conservatives in recent years putting Kansas at
the center of a national effort to remake state courts. Senators also rejected a proposal to encourage the state to provide long-acting birth control to poor residents. The decision came after a GOP member compared the proposal to the discredited eugenics movement of the 20th century that sought to control who could have children in the name of improving the human race. Here is a look at legislative See STATE | Page A2
Debate continues on midwives oversight By JIM MCLEAN KHI News Service
The Kansas House on Monday tentatively approved a bill that would provide certified nurse midwives with limited authority to establish independent practices. Supporters hailed it as a breakthrough in the long-running battle between doctors and advanced practice registered nurses seeking authority to practice independently.
But certified nurse midwives, who recently split with APRNs to push for their own independent practice legislation, objected to the bill because it would require them to obtain a separate license from the Kansas Board of Healing Arts, the state agency that regulates the practice of medicine. During a hearing on the bill, Cathy Gordon, a certified nurse midwife and partner in a company that operates birth
“To disbelieve is easy; to scoff is simple; to have faith is harder.” — Louis L’Amour 75 Cents
centers in Johnson and Wyandotte counties, said requiring midwives to obtain separate licenses from the board of healing arts and the Kansas State Board of Nursing would be unworkable. “To us it looks like we would be serving two masters,” Gordon said. “No state does it this way.” In addition, Gordon said, the bill would continue to proSee MIDWIVES | Page A3
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