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Wednesday, June 23, 2021
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County ends disaster declaration
Allen County COVID-19 Case Count
Current cases ................. 3 Total cases* ................... 1,253 Deaths........................... 20 *Since the start of the pandemic Sources: Southeast Kansas Multi-County Health Departments, Kansas Department of Health and Environment
Area youth play ball for Rec league
By TREVOR HOAG The Iola Register
Allen County’s COVID-19 disaster declaration has ended. The decision came after emergency manager Jason Trego spoke with commissioners about ending the declaration to follow suit with the state. Commissioners then voted in favor of ending the declaration specific to Allen County. The purpose of the declaration on the county level was to help recoup costs incurred during the COVID-19 pandemic and facilitate extra emergency measures. Trego also spoke with commissioners about plans to procure storm shelters for unincorporated/small communities throughout the county. Trego, along with Thrive See COUNTY | Page A5
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The Allen County house and grounds crew was busy Tuesday morning planting marigolds and other summer flowers. REGISTER/TREVOR HOAG
Making a Quality change By VICKIE MOSS The Iola Register
John “Punk” and Alzina Kress always knew they wanted to sell their business, Quality Automotive, Inc., to longtime employee Bob Cook. That ownership change is now official, but it came with a John ‘Punk’ b i t t e r s w e e t Kress twist. John Kress died April 21 after a battle with cancer. “Before he passed away, he started talking to Bob about getting the money together,” Alzina Kress said. “We wanted to give him every opportunity to own this business, because he helped build it.” John and Alzina opened the auto repair business in Gas in 2008. John did the repairs, and Alzina handles the administrative side. Cook came along about a year after that. He’d worked See AUTO | Page A5
Quality Auto in Gas is now Quality Automotive Repair, as longtime employee Bob Cook purchased the business from the late John “Punk” and Alzina Kress. From left, employee Bill Cook, Alzina Kress, Bob Cook and employee Terry Johnson. REGISTER/ VICKIE MOSS
- Since 1871 -
AT THE BANDSTAND
JAKE ARD, DIRECTOR
THURSDAY, JUNE 24, 2021 - 8 P.M. PROGRAM Star Spangled Banner ................................... John Philip Sousa Carmina Burna.................................................................. Carl Orff Visalia..............................................................................J.J. Richards Valdres ............................................................... Johannes Hanssen Highlights from “Porgy and Bess” ............ George Gershwin Syncopated Clock................................................ Leroy Anderson Repasz Band .............................................................. Harry Lincoln It’s The Gospel........................................................... Harry Lincoln Minnesota March ......................................... John Philip Sousaa
SEE YOU THERE!
GOP filibuster blocks Dems’ voting rights bill WASHINGTON (AP) — The Democrats’ sweeping attempt to rewrite U.S. election and voting law suffered a major setback in the Senate Tuesday, blocked by a filibuster wall of Republican opposition to what would be the largest overhaul President Joe of the elec- Biden toral system in a generation. The vote leaves the Democrats with no clear path forward, though President Joe Biden declared, “This fight is far from over.” The bill, known as the For the People Act, would touch on virtually every aspect of how elections are conducted, striking down hurdles to voting that advocates view as the Civil Rights fight of the era, while also curbing the influence of money in
politics and limiting partisan influence over the drawing of congressional districts. But many in the GOP say the measure represents instead a breathtaking federal infringement on states’ authority to conduct their own elections without fraud — and is meant to ultimately benefit Democrats. It failed on a 50-50 vote after Republicans, some of whom derided the bill as the “Screw the People Act,” denied Democrats the 60 votes needed to begin debate under Senate rules. Vice President Kamala Harris, the first Black woman to hold her office, presided over the chamber as the bill failed to break past that filibuster barrier. Biden praised Senate Democrats for standing together “against the ongoing assault of voter suppression that represents a Jim Crow See VOTING | Page A6
Docs: COVID variant warrants scrutiny By TIM CARPENTER Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — More than 100 cases of the COVID-19 variant first identified in India and given the shorthand name Delta have been diagnosed in Kansas, prompting public anxiety this variety could cause more severe illness or a higher degree of fatalities. Lee Norman, secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, said in an interview Monday genomic sequencing on samples drawn from Kansans had identified 47 mutated versions of coronavirus in the state. In
all, KDHE said 1,460 people scattered among 60 Kansas counties have contracted an alternative to the original coronavirus. Nearly 700 of those cases were concentrated in Sedgwick County followed by 165 in Johnson County, 148 in Shawnee County and 44 in Douglas County. Lab work has identified 20 to 35 cases each in Finney, Cowley, Wyandotte, Labette, Crawford and Geary counties, KDHE said. Norman said the 110 confirmed cases of Delta — recently labeled “coronavirus on steroids” by a former White House adviser —
amounted to 7.5% of Kansas’ variant cases. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention more sedately refers to Delta as a “variant of concern,” given the variety has been identified in at least 80 countries. “We cannot ease up on our effort,” said Norman, who has continued to urge people to be vaccinated. “We just cannot let up.” The Delta incarnation of coronavirus has shown up in KDHE laboratories at a higher rate since the start of June. he said. It was identified in late 2020 in India, but the See VARIANT | Page A5
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