The Iola Register, Aug. 24, 2023

Locally owned since 1867

Taxpayers give county an earful

By VICKIE MOSS The Iola Register

Nine locals engaged in a vigorous debate over taxes, property values and legislation at a budget hearing with Allen County commissioners on Tuesday.

Several of those were Allen County farmers and business owners upset over a significant increase to their property taxes, despite commissioners’ efforts to lower the tax rate by about a half of a mill.

The residents talked of the challenges they face with ever-increasing tax bills. One man said he feels as if he’s “renting” his property from the county because his tax bill is so high. Another said he has to choose whether to pay his taxes or buy life-saving insulin.

Commissioners said they had trimmed next year’s budget as much as they could without reducing services or personnel.

Much of the increase was beyond their control, commissioners argued, pointing to legislative requirements, inflation and

increased costs for equipment and contracted services.

MUCH OF the discussion centered on assessed property values, something commissioners do not control.

The county appraiser uses a

formula dictated by the state, with little room for adjustments.

Steve Suchy spoke first.

He’s a diabetic who is retired and lives on a fixed income. His property value and his tax bill have increased

Feds roll out new student loan plan

By ARIANA FIGUEROA Kansas Reflector

WASHINGTON — Following the Supreme Court’s summer ruling against 40 million federal student loan borrowers who would have qualified for debt relief, the Biden administration crafted a year-long delay in repayments.

The policy, known as an on-ramp, is set to begin next month.

Additionally, hours after the Supreme Court’s decision, the Department of Education unveiled a new repayment plan for those with federal student loans, known as Saving on a Valuable Education, or SAVE. The new income-driven repayment plan calculates payments based on a bor-

The Biden administration estimates more than 20 million student loan borrowers will benefit from a new income-driven repayment plan.

rower’s income and family size and forgives balances after a set number of years. It’s estimated by the administration that more than

20 million borrowers will benefit. Borrowers can apply here. A campaign is be-

See LOANS | Page A6

year after year, even though he owns an older home and hasn’t made improvements. Suchy said he can’t afford the property taxes on his home.

“That check took my whole

Busting myths at ACARF

By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register

LAHARPE — Julie Payne has found herself increasingly in the role of busting myths.

Yes, the Allen County Animal Rescue Facility continues to scrape by, even with a budget besieged by ever-increasing costs to house up to 50 dogs and 25 cats.

“It shocks people to see how much our monthly expenses are,” said Payne, ACARF treasurer.

She estimated the organization brings in roughly $5,000 a month through individual donations, while expenses cost about $20,000 monthly.

“It’s expensive,” she said, to cover vet bills, medicine, food, supplies, property in-

surance and utilities, much less hire staffers to handle some of the shelter’s more

Lawmakers urge Court to keep domestic violence gun law

By MICHAEL MACAGNONE CQ-Roll Call (TNS)

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court could undermine decades of congressional efforts to prevent gun violence if they agree with a lower court decision that struck down a nearly 30-year-old gun control law, two groups of lawmakers told the justices.

The members of Congress filed briefs Monday in a case now at the high court that is seen as a test on the limits of a 2022 decision, New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, that expanded

Second Amendment rights.

That decision kicked off a flood of litigation over firearms restrictions, changed the way federal judges evaluate the constitutionality of gun control laws. In some cases judges have struck them down. That includes a decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit that tossed a federal restriction on firearm possession for people subject to domestic violence restraining orders.

The three-judge 5th Circuit panel wrote that the Bruen

Steve Suchy, left, and Ray Maloney talk to Allen County commissioners Tuesday about their concerns over the 2024 budget and increasing property valuations. REGISTER/VICKIE MOSS

Sen. Amy Klobuchar speaks with Senate Judiciary Chair Richard J. Durbin at a committee hearing titled “Protecting America’s Children From Gun Violence” in June 2022. Both have signed on to briefs filed Monday in a gun law case now at the Supreme Court. CQ ROLL CALL/TIM WILLIAMS/ ZUMA PRESS/TNS

GETTY IMAGES/KANSAS REFLECTOR

Lawmakers press state’s child advocate for foster care solutions

By RACHEL MIPRO Kansas Reflector

TOPEKA — With increased rates of children in the foster care system sleeping in offices and social workers spending their time “shuttling kids” from place to place, advocates say lawmakers and government officials need to step up before the state faces another lawsuit.

Lawmakers at a Tuesday child welfare system oversight meeting shifted the pressure to the state’s child advocate.

Sen. Molly Baumgardner, R-Louisburg, grilled Kerrie Lonard on solutions for Kansas’ failure to improve the foster care system in key areas. “What recommendations do you have, so that this doesn’t go back to the courts?” Baumgardner queried. “Because I see that as happening.”

The second legally mandated foster care system report, released Aug. 14, examines all of the foster care system data available for the 2022 calendar year. Data from the report shows the state has failed to meet several key targets, such as ending the practice of one-night placements and the practice of housing children in offices or other inappropriate settings.

The yearly assessment is one condition of the state’s settlement of a class action federal

lawsuit with Kansas Appleseed and other entities, which was settled in January 2021 after the state agreed to work toward system improvements.

Lonard was selected in December 2021 by Gov. Laura Kelly as leader of the Division of the Child Advocate. Lonard’s division was created to allow independent investigations into the foster care system and to help the state improve the system.

The division was created as part of Kelly’s administration after lawmakers on both sides of the aisle failed to reach a compromise on oversight plans. The move stirred anger among Republicans in the Legislature who didn’t want the position under Kelly’s purview.

Lonard’s department holds public and private

entities accountable by reviewing practices, educating children in the system about their rights and receiving complaints on behalf of children, among other duties.

Lonard told Baumgardner there isn’t an easy fix to issues such as the increased movement and the scattered data system.

“If there was a quick, easy answer, I think we would have it,” Lonard said. “I think it’s very complicated, and I think it’s going to take very strategic steps at the front end, all the way to our youth who are —”

Baumgardner interrupted Lonard, commanding her to be specific.

The senator said children and youths were “forced to just take it,” in terms of being moved around repeatedly, or

India lands spacecraft near moon’s south pole, a first for the world

NEW DELHI (AP)

— India became the first country to land a spacecraft near the moon’s south pole on Wednesday — a historic voyage to uncharted territory that scientists believe could hold vital reserves of frozen water, and a technological triumph for the world’s most populous nation.

A lander with a rover inside touched down on the lunar surface at 6:04 p.m. local time, sparking celebrations around India, including in the southern Indian city of Bengaluru, where space scientists watching the landing erupted in cheers and applause. After a failed attempt in 2019, India now joins the United States, the Soviet Union and China in reaching this milestone.

The successful moon mission showcases India’s rising standing as a technology and space powerhouse and dovetails with the image of the country that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is trying to project: an ascendant country asserting its place among the global elite.

“India is now on the moon. India has reached the south pole of the moon — no other country has achieved that. We are witnessing history,” Modi said as he waved the Indian tri-colored flag while watching the historic landing from South Africa, where he is participating in the BRICS nations summit.

The lunar rover will slide down a flap from the lander within hours or a day and conduct experiments, including

an analysis of the mineral composition of the lunar surface, said S. Somnath, chairman of the state-run Indian Space Research Organization.

Somnath said the mission is expected to last two weeks, and that India would next attempt a manned lunar mission.

Nuclear-armed India grew to become the world’s fifth-largest economy last year, and the success of the lunar mission will likely help Modi’s popularity ahead of a crucial general election next year.

India’s successful landing comes just days after Russia’s Luna-25, which was aiming for the same lunar region, spun into an uncontrolled orbit and crashed. It would have been the first successful Russian lunar landing after a gap of 47 years. Russia’s head of the state-controlled space corporation Roscosmos attributed the failure to the lack of expertise due to the long break in lunar research that followed the last Soviet mission to the

spending nights in foster care offices. She said solutions needed to be forthcoming, especially since the Legislature had been blamed.

“We need to know as legislators because we repeatedly get blamed. … We need to know as a legislature what exactly each of these contractors are going to be doing to make the changes so we’re not going to end up in court,” Baumgardner said.

“Quite frankly, I’m not afraid of going to court,” she added. “But what concerns me most is the reason for perhaps going to court is because we made an agreement. And the contractors have known upfront what that agreement was. And we haven’t abided by the agreement, and that means we have not done what many have said is best for children.”

Child welfare advocates who sued the state in 2018 over failures to adequately provide for children and youths within the foster care system voiced the same concerns. Several groups held an Aug. 15 news conference to discuss ongoing foster care failures.

“Last year, we were trending in the right direction and unfortunately this year, we really went off the rails with that number,” said Leecia Welch, deputy legal director at Children’s Rights.

Teresa Woody, litigation director for Kansas Appleseed, said the organization wasn’t eager to take legal action, but she said it remains an option if the state continues to struggle.

“Ultimately, if the state can’t make those improvements, then the plaintiffs do have the ability to go back to the court and seek the court’s enforcement,” Woody said. “That’s something that is a possibility. But obviously everybody would like to spend the resources in a more positive way that directly impacts the children.”

Welch said moving children around so much hurt both children and social workers who have been underused because of systemic flaws.

In 2021, children on average moved 5.84 times per 1,000 days in care. In 2022, the av-

erage was six moves per 1,000 days in care. Eighty-five foster children had spent 257 nights in offices in 2022, up from 2021 numbers, which found that 53 foster children slept in offices 167 times.

“When social workers have to spend all their time shuttling kids from one night to night placement to the office, back to another night to night placement, they’re transport workers, they’re not actually getting to do their job,” Welch said. “That is a very depressing thing for a social worker who goes into the profession with all the right ideas about helping children to kind of come to grips with.” One avenue for change would be through the foster care contract renewals, which come up for rebidding in December. The Department for Children and Families determines contract renewal and could implement stricter oversight measures.

Mike Fonkert, deputy director of Kansas Appleseed, said DCF should use the process to tighten accountability.

“Before the ink is dry on new contracts, we should all be encouraging DCF to use the leverage that they really do have to build strong contracts that allow them the ability to have that robust oversight,” Fonkert said.

SC court upholds abortion ban

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP)

— South Carolina’s new all-male Supreme Court reversed course on abortion on Wednesday, upholding a ban on most such procedures after about six weeks of pregnancy.

The 4-1 ruling departs from the court’s own decision earlier this year to strike down a similar law.

The continued erosion of legal abortion access across the U.S. South comes after Republican state lawmakers replaced the lone female on the court, Justice Kaye Hearn.

struck by the legislature was unreasonable as a matter of law, we must uphold the Act,” Kittredge wrote. It was Hearn who wrote the majority’s lead opinion in January striking down the ban. The court ruled then that the law violated

the state constitution’s right to privacy.

Hearn then reached the court’s mandatory retirement age, enabling the Republican-dominated legislature to put Gary Hill on what is now the nation’s only state Supreme Court with an entirely male bench.

moon in 1976.

Excited and anxious, people across India, home to the world’s largest population, crowded around televisions in offices, shops, restaurants and homes. Thousands prayed Tuesday for the success of the mission with oil lamps on the river banks, temples and religious places, including the holy city of Varanasi in northern India.

Writing for the new majority, Justice John Kittredge acknowledged that the 2023 law infringes on “a woman’s right of privacy and bodily autonomy,” but said the state legislature reasonably determined this time around that those interests don’t outweigh “the interest of the unborn child to live.”

“As a Court, unless we can say that the balance

Kansas Sen. Molly Baumgardner, R-Louisburg, urges solutions to foster care system failures following the release of a second annual state report. (SHERMAN SMITH/KANSAS REFLECTOR)

People wave Indian flags as an Indian Space Research Organisation rocket carrying the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft lifts off. (PR.SATISH BABU/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES/TNS)

Exiled Russian mercenary leader believed in jet crash

MOSCOW (AP) — A private jet crashed over Russia on Wednesday, killing all 10 people on board, emergency officials said.

Mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was on the passenger list, but it wasn’t immediately clear if he was on board.

Unconfirmed media reports said the jet belonged to Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner private military company.

Russia’s state news agency Tass cited emergency officials as saying that the plane carried three pilots and seven passengers. It was not clear if Prigozhin was among those on board, though Russia’s civilian aviation regulator, Rosaviatsia, said he was on

the passenger list.

The plane was en route from Moscow to St. Petersburg and went down in the Tver region, more than 60 miles north of the capital. Authorities are investigating.

Flight tracking data reviewed by The Associated Press shows a private jet registered to Wagner that Prigozhin had used previously took off from Moscow on Wednesday evening and its transponder signal disappeared minutes later.

The signal was lost in a rural region where there are no nearby airfields where the jet could have landed safely.

Prigozhin, whose private military force Wagner fought alongside Russia’s regular army

in Ukraine, mounted a short-lived armed mutiny against Russia’s military leadership in late June. The Kremlin said he would be exiled to Belarus, and his fighters would either retire, follow him there, or join the Russian military.

Shortly after that, Wagner fighters set up camp in Belarus, but Prigozhin’s plane, according to media reports, was flying back and forth between Belarus and Russia.

This week, Prigozhin posted his first recruitment video since the mutiny, saying that Wagner is conducting reconnaissance and search activities, and “making Russia even greater on all continents, and Africa even more free.”

County: Taxpayers sound off on property values, budget

Continued from A1

Social Security payment and I couldn’t buy insulin for a month,” he said of his most recent statement. “This is messing with my life. These are my golden years and I’m stuck at home in a chair, watching TV and hoping I don’t die.”

Appraiser Jamie Clark encouraged Suchy to meet with her later to discuss programs that could help.

Ray Maloney, owner of Ray’s Metal Depot, said he’s fine with having his property valued at a higher rate, but he thinks the county should keep its spending the same as last year.

“Tough decisions have to be made,” Maloney said. “When times got hard for me, I let people go.”

Randy Misenhelter, director of operations at Precision International, agreed with Maloney, encouraging commissioners to cut expenses, even if that means a reduction in workforce.

“I know it’s a tough deal and sometimes those decisions need to be made,” Misenhelter said. “Every year my taxes go up. The cost of living goes up all the time too. But if I can’t buy groceries, the grocery store isn’t going to come and take my house.”

Commission Chairman David Lee said difficult decisions were made.

“We didn’t set a lot of money aside to do some of the projects I would like to see us do. We were not able to give some of the raises I think we probably should have,” Lee said.

“We paid expenses. The cost of fuel went up. The cost of repairs went up. A lot of things that went up in your business, went up in ours. All three of us want to be good stewards of everyone’s money.”

Lee said if commissioners were to reduce the workforce, they’d also need to reduce services. He asked the crowd which services they were willing to sacrifice. Which roads do they want to fall into disrepair? Which hours would they close the courthouse? Which hours would they reduce at the landfill?

“I’d like to see the

Dick Works, standing, asks Allen County commissioners why the 2024 budget needed to increase by 4.4% when national inflation rates are going down. In front is

landfill open seven days a week,” Maloney said.

“Do you want the service or not?” Lee said. “That’s the reality of it. Just like in your business, it takes X many people to produce the product.”

Steve Green, a resident, disagreed with Lee’s assertion. Improvements in technology make workers more efficient, he said.

“Your expenditures are going to be half-amillion dollars more. You lowered the mill levy but you’re spending more,” Green said. “Instead of looking at how much more you want to spend, look at where you would cut.”

THE DISCUSSION started during a public hearing on the “revenue neutral rate.” That’s the amount of taxes that need to be raised based on the previous year’s spending.

Allen County’s assessed property valuation increased by more than $9 million, up to

$172.2 million from $163.7 million last year.

Last year, the mill levy was 61.355. If commissioners spent the same amount of money as they had last year, the increase in valuation would translate to a tax rate of 58.383 mills — the revenue neutral rate. The county set a 2024 mill levy at 60.954. That tax rate is expected to generate about $451,000 more than last year, an increase of roughly 4.4%.

Dick Works, a former county commissioner, said he understood costs have increased, but inflation rates are going down. Nationally, the inflation rate in July was 3.2%. Works questioned why the county’s budget increase is higher than the inflation rate.

“Our budget is above that,” Commissioner Bruce Symes acknowledged. “When I go into the budget process, there’s an expectation that department heads are going to do the best they can and the cost of

doing business is going to go up. I need to find the area where we can be as responsible and cost-efficient as possible.”

Symes also shared his opinion that the “revenue neutral rate” (RNR) was a cumbersome legislative mandate. Taxing entities must notify the public if a budget exceeds the RNR; most do.

In 2021, Kansas lawmakers removed a controversial “tax lid” and replaced it with the revenue neutral rate in an effort to provide more transparency for taxpayers.

Prior to that, Symes noted, very few constituents attended budget hearings.

He and other commissioners also pointed out they do not have total control. Although the county serves as the collection point for taxes, numerous other entities levy their own taxes including individual cities, school districts, the community college, fire districts, sewer districts

and the Extension district.

Plus, Symes noted, the county has to pay certain costs such as for holding elections.

“I agree and I fully recognize our budget this year is generating more tax dollars than it did last year. And we worked hard to keep it at just a $450,000 increase,” Symes said.

“I hear from constituents throughout the year about road conditions and the importance of good EMS services.”

Commissioner Jerry Daniels added, “Since you brought it up… There’s $300,000 we have to pay the City of Iola for a new EMS contract. And each percentage we give as a raise costs us $48,000. We gave 3% raises, so that’s just under $150,000.

Just those two things — EMS and raises — and you’ve got the $450,000 budget increase.” That doesn’t include various increased expenses such as fuel, oil, equipment repairs and insurance, Daniels noted. “We’re absorbing all of those costs.”

IN THE END, Symes

encouraged those who attended to contact their representatives, Rep. Fred Gardner of Garnett and Sen. Caryn Tyson of Parker, and share their concerns.

He told them to ask those representatives to follow the law regarding Local Ad Valorem Tax Reduction fund or LAVTR. A 1965 state law says 3.63% of sales tax and local share of cigarette stamp taxes and cereal malt beverage taxes should be returned to city and county governments to lower property tax levies. Last year, that would have brought $522,000 to Allen County.

But lawmakers have not done that for the past 20 years.

Commissioners assured those who attended Tuesday’s meeting that although they were approving this year’s budget, the concerns of taxpayers would be taken to heart.

“It’s been a good discussion and I appreciate you coming in,” Lee said. “It’s not an easy discussion but we learn and gain from it. Your comments will not fall on deaf ears.”

Public Works director Mitch Garner. In back is Steve Green. REGISTER/ VICKIE MOSS

This picture taken on July 4, 2017 shows Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin prior to a meeting with business leaders held by Russian and Chinese presidents at the Kremlin in Moscow. The former Wagner mercenary leader was believed on board a private jet that crashed in Russia Wednesday. POOL/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES/SERGIE LINITSKY/TNS

Tropical Storm Franklin hits Haiti

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — Tropical Storm Franklin made landfall Wednesday on the island of Hispaniola shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti, dumping heavy rains that are expected to bring flooding and possible landslides in both countries.

Giuliani faces Georgia charges

ATLANTA (AP) —

Rudy Giuliani surrendered to authorities in Georgia on Wednesday on charges alleging he acted as former President Donald Trump’s chief co-conspirator in a plot to subvert the 2020 election.

The former New York City mayor, celebrated as “America’s mayor” for his leadership after 9/11, is charged with Trump and 17 other people under Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. His bond has been set at $150,000, second only to Trump’s $200,000

Jail records showed he was booked Wednesday afternoon.

Giuliani, 79, is accused of spearheading Trump’s efforts to compel state lawmakers in Georgia and other closely contested states to ignore the will of voters and illegally appoint electoral college electors favorable to Trump.

Georgia was one of several key states Trump lost by slim margins, prompting the Republican and his allies to proclaim, without evidence, that the elec-

tion was rigged in favor of his Democratic rival Joe Biden.

Giuliani is charged with making false statements and soliciting false testimony, conspiring to create phony paperwork and asking state lawmakers to violate their oath of office to appoint an alternate slate of pro-Trump electors.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has said that, if convicted, Giuliani will be sentenced to prison.

Giuliani has denied wrongdoing, arguing he had a right to raise questions about what he believed to be election fraud. He has called the indictment “an affront to American democracy” and an “out and out assault on the First Amendment.”

“I’m feeling very, very good about it because I feel like I am defending the rights of all Americans, as I did so many times as a United States attorney,” Giuliani told reporters as he left his apartment in New York on Wednesday, adding that he is “fighting for justice” and has been since he first started representing Trump.

Franklin was expected to swirl above the island for most of the day, with forecasters warning the storm could drop up to 12 inches of rain in the Dominican Republic, with a maximum of 16 inches for the country’s western and central regions. Meanwhile, up

to 4 inches of rain are forecast for Haiti, with nearly 8 inches for the country’s eastern regions.

“The population of the Dominican Republic must all be right now, without exception, in their homes,

the homes of friends and family, or in shelters,” said Juan Manuel Méndez, emergency operations director.

More than 200 people were in shelters in the Dominican Republic, where emergency operations of-

ficials said they were looking for a 54-yearold man with mental health problems who went missing after he jumped into a creek late Tuesday. Another 280 people were evacuated from their homes to safer ground, with at least three communities cut off by heavy rains, officials said.

The storm also downed several trees and at least one light post, with dozens of homes affected by floods that turned streets into rushing rivers. Authorities said the roof of at least one home in San Cristobal collapsed, as did walls of various buildings around the country.

Attorney: Kidnap plotters wanted civil war

BELLAIRE, Mich.

(AP) — Three men accused of aiding a plot to kidnap Michigan

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer were anarchists who considered themselves “the new founding fathers” and were preparing for bloodshed, a prosecutor told jurors Wednesday.

“They didn’t like the U.S. government. They didn’t like the state government. They all desired to start a civil war, if you can believe it,” William Rollstin of the state attorney general’s office said in his opening trial statement.

“For the average person, it’s almost impossible to fathom how brazen, how bold, how dangerous these individuals were,” he said.

Eric Molitor and twin brothers William

Null and Michael Null are charged in Antrim County Circuit Court with providing material support for terrorist acts — punishable by up to 20 years in prison — and illegally possessing firearms. They have pleaded not guilty.

Defense attorneys were scheduled to make opening statements later Wednes-

day. The defendants were among 14 men arrested weeks before the November 2020 election. Nine have been convicted in state or federal court, including four who pleaded guilty, while two were acquitted.

Investigators described them as members of paramilitary groups angered by

Whitmer’s COVID-19 policies, which shut down schools and restricted the economy.

Eleven women and seven men were selected as jurors in the Republican-leaning county, a rural area popular with tourists. Whitmer has a vacation home in the Lake Michigan village of Elk Rapids.

Rollstin told jurors the three defendants supported a plan hatched by ringleaders Adam Fox and Barry Croft to abduct the twoterm Democratic governor there and blow up a bridge to prevent law enforcement officers from aiding her. Informants and undercover FBI agents were inside the group for months, leading to arrests. Whitmer was not physically harmed.

Guns: Lawmakers talk about rules for domestic abusers

Continued from A1

decision meant the court had to find specific historical laws to justify modern firearm restrictions — and no colonial-era law dealt with firearms of domestic abusers.

A brief from Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., and Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., told the justices that upholding the 5th Circuit decision wipes out an effective tool to prevent domestic violence and “jeopardizes decades of bipartisan efforts to protect some of our country’s most vulnerable citizens.”

“The Court must not stymie further work by Congress in this crucial area of law and policy. It should reverse,” that brief states. Congress has gathered evidence that shows survivors of domestic violence “are safer when abusers subject to restraining orders do not have unfettered access to deadly weapons,” the brief states. “This is, frankly, common sense. And nothing in the text or history of the Second Amendment says or requires otherwise.”

Another brief from Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, California Rep. Mike

Thompson and 169 other Democrats in Congress argued that the 5th Circuit’s approach to evaluating gun laws would “unduly shackle Congress to the past, rendering it unable to develop innovative solutions for the benefit of the public.” The Democrats also argued that the 5th Circuit approach would let judges toss any gun law they thought didn’t have a specific enough analogue from the founding era and “allow courts to substitute their policy judgments for those of Congress.”

If the justices do not reverse the 5th Circuit, then the “already over-

burdened” courts will be flooded with challenges to federal gun laws, the Democrats’ brief argues.

“That deluge has already begun. This Court must stem the tide if it does not want courts to relitigate Bruen for years to come,” the brief states.

Those briefs, along with three dozen others filed Monday, backed the Biden administration’s position to preserve the federal ban on firearm possession. The Biden administration made a similar argument in its brief filed last week, saying the justices “emphatically rejected demands for an exact his-

torical match” that the 5th Circuit sought.

Congress should be able to ban firearm possession for people found by a court to be a danger to themselves and others, which has existed in firearm law since the founding, the Biden administration argued.

The justices instead should adopt an approach that looks to broad principles of Congress’ power to regulate firearms, rather than the specific examples

sought by the 5th Circuit, the Biden administration argued.

The Biden administration brief pointed out that the 5th Circuit’s approach could “wreak havoc” on federal firearm laws and has already pushed the court to invalidate a federal ban on firearm possession for users of illegal drugs.

Court decisions on gun laws after the Bruen decision sparked numerous congressional hearings and calls

among Democrats to tighten firearm restrictions, but those efforts have so far not attracted much Republican support.

The man who challenged the federal law, Zackey Rahimi, and any groups arguing in his favor are scheduled to file their briefs by next month. The justices likely will hear the case in the next term starting in October and issue a decision before the end of June.

Tropical Storm Franklin was making landfall in the Dominican Republic Wednesday morning. NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER/TNS

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. TNS

Rudy Giuliani TNS

~ Journalism that makes a difference

Americans’ differences are blurring, not hardening

By JESSE NATHAN Guest essay for The New York Times

From birth to age 10, I grew up on blackberries and the marine layer in the flatlands of Berkeley, Calif. We rooted for baseball’s Bash Brothers and Rickey Henderson, rode BART and flew kites at a bayside park built over a former dump. Then my parents moved their four children to rural south-central Kansas, back to my mother’s Mennonite community. Some of their California friends thought they’d lost their minds. My father was an East Coast Jew; they were both busy labor lawyers. But they wanted us to be near extended family and so, just before I entered fifth grade, we arrived in a place where people measure rainfall in hundredths of an inch.

Nearly 20 years ago, Barack Obama insisted that we are one people. In the Pledge of Allegiance — which I found myself reciting for the first time in my life every morning before class in Kansas — we say we are one nation. But lately it can seem the red and blue are not only two different worlds but also doomed to an ever-warming cultural war.

These days, I travel several times a year between the Bay Area — where I’m raising a family of my own — and Kansas, sometimes spending a month or more on my parents’ farm, surrounded by wheat, soybeans, alfalfa and corn. And I’m here to tell you our divisions are not so much hardening as blurring — rural and urban America are not as divided as many

people think.

The possibility of this country, the promise, is based on a union mutually beneficial even as it contains multitudes of difference. What we might think of as blue-state values (environmentalism, support for L.G.B.T.Q. communities, internationalism, racial and cultural diversity) are also valued by people living in red states. And some of these values (conservation, land stewardship, growing your own food) were originally also red-state values that blue areas of the country tend to forget they didn’t invent.

When I arrived on the Kansas farm that would shape my childhood, I did not miss California as much as I loved the land — the creeks, the prairies, the smell of the air and earth. I was also a misfit.

On my block in Oakland, neighbors have turned their front yards into vegetable plots. A few doors down, chickens hunt and peck. Some of my neighbors long to do what my parents did — “blow up the TV,” as John Prine sang, “go to the country,” “plant a little garden” and find a slower pace nearer the land.

MY MOTHER hails from generations of farmers; she left to study law at the University of California, Berkeley, and met my father, who had been educated at Columbia Law School, when they worked as attorneys representing the United Farm Workers union. When I arrived on the Kansas farm that would shape my childhood, I did not miss California as

much as I loved the land — the creeks, the prairies, the smell of the air and the earth. I was also, I discovered, a misfit. I had long hair and wore colorful Berkeley clothes. Our farmhouse was full of books by people like George Eliot, Rosa Luxemburg and Abraham Joshua Heschel, with posters on the wall of Angela Davis and Pete Seeger. We canned our own tomatoes and turned ice cream by hand but also traveled to the East Coast for b’nai mitzvah. I fished the creeks but still followed the Oakland A’s. Had I not had one foot in the door by way of my mother’s family roots, I don’t know if I’d have survived Kansas. It was not an easy place to be a half-Jewish boy with an odd haircut.

While Kansas and rural areas across the country supply the cities with things like wheat to make bread and energy to fuel all that hustle and bustle, the cities produce ideas and values that increasingly infuse rural communities, much more so than when I was in grade school in the 1990s.

If I had to pinpoint the moment I thought something was shifting, it might be when my rural Mennonite college staged a play about Matthew Shepard’s murder. That was in 2002. This summer a little town of a few thousand near my family’s farm held a Pride parade —

for the fourth time. I see more and more electric vehicles on those country roads. A short drive from the farm there’s a new School for Rural Culture and Creativity, a gathering place for prairie-based artists that has also helped revive an almost abandoned village. There’s even a small queer community at the little high school I attended. I know from lonely experience this did not exist when I was coming up.

The fact that people like Kansas’ attorney general, Kris Kobach, are trying so hard to curtail advances like trans rights betrays how much change is afoot. There are 509,000 registered Democrats in Kansas and 546,000 people who registered and refused to affiliate with any party. That’s at least a third of the state’s population. In the past two decades, voters have picked two women in favor of abortion rights for governor. And it’s not as though all these people in Kansas, Texas, Ohio or anywhere else in the heartland can afford, or even want, to pick up and move to California or New York. These so-called red states are their home, and many of them will raise families there. And so their values are part of the state’s future. Kansas was, after all, the first state to reject — resoundingly — an effort to roll back abortion access after Roe was struck down.

fear — how real the change is.

I know several farmers in the immediate vicinity of my parents’ place who vote Democrat, support abortion rights, support queer and trans rights, and are as adept with computerized combines as they are castrating cattle. Some have gone organic. Others are phasing out the plow entirely.

Scientists at the Land Institute, co-founded by my friend Wes Jackson, are developing perennial grains that can produce food while leaving the soil undisturbed. This reduces the amount of soil carbon released into the air, in addition to greatly reducing erosion and the need for industrial chemicals.

Wes once told me his definitions of urban and rural: Rural places turn raw resources into goods, and urban places consume those goods. It’s a crude definition, but I like how it lays bare the symbiosis between city and country, revealing them to be two parts of one whole.

Rural places turn raw resources into goods, and urban places consume those goods, lays bare the symbiosis between city and country, revealing them to be two parts of one whole.

The common assumption is that the line between red states and blue states is a wall. But maybe relentlessly repeating this binary assumption puts too much emphasis on the differences and not enough on a shared humanity. As Pete Seeger used to sing in the old labor song, “Here’s the city and country together — we shall not be moved.”

It’s certainly true that a white guy like me can pretty seamlessly integrate into these different worlds, while for others the division is palpable and getting worse.

It can be hard at times to see just how much change is happening in its seeping, inexorable way. In 2016, my parents received a swastika in their mailbox on Christmas Day. Until then, in the two decades since they’d left California, nothing like that had happened. I’ve heard many examples of the growing population of brown and Black people being profiled by local cops. There are plenty of Confederate flags around Kansas towns, and there continue to be at least a couple of dots in the state on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s annual hate-group map.

Still, I argue that Mr. Kobach and his ilk see — and

The problems this nation faces — revanchist racism, misogyny, antisemitism, homophobia, climate change, economic injustice, the destruction of small-scale farm culture, too many assault rifles — are enormous, and the gap between worldviews out there is mind-boggling. But the truth is not, as Gertrude Stein wrote, only that “the difference is spreading,” but also that difference is spreading. While our enclaves seem more polarized than ever online, in these United States we may actually be more and more intermixed, more and more differently human together, than we’ve been led to believe. Put another way, we may feel more polarized than we actually are.

About the author: Nathan is a poet and teaches literature at the University of California, Berkeley.

Rural and urban America are not as divided as many people think, maintains essayist Jesse Nathan, whose youth was divided between living in Berkeley, Calif., and south-central Kansas. PHOTO BY JAN WEWERS/UNSPLASH

Across the country, urbanites such as Andrew Taurosa of Newark, NJ, are becoming avid gardeners in their quest to become more self-sufficient. TNS PHOTO

Loans: What you need to know about student debt plan

Continued from A1

ing launched to publicize the new program, by the Department of Education in collaboration with groups like the Student Debt Crisis Center, UnidosUS and the NAACP.

“This plan is a game changer for millions of Americans, many of whom are putting off having children, buying their first home, or even starting a business because they can’t get out from under their student loans,” said White House Domestic Policy Advisor Neera Tanden on a call with reporters on Monday. “Student loans will be manageable.”

Last year, the Biden administration rolled out a debt forgiveness plan for borrowers with federal student loans that would have been a one-time cancellation of up to $10,000. Borrowers who had received Pell Grants — federal aid to help low-income students pay for higher education — could qualify for an additional $10,000 in forgiveness.

The conservative bloc of the Supreme Court on June 30 ruled that the Biden administration did not have the legal authority to enact that one-time student debt relief program. The case was filed by Republican attorneys general of Nebraska, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, and South Carolina, and they argued the Biden administration overstepped its reach.

Following that decision from the court, the Biden administration initiated rulemaking through the Higher Ed-

ucation Act to try again to enact debt relief, and finalized a rule for the new repayment plan known as SAVE.

Here are some questions and answers about the on-ramp policy and SAVE plan.

When does the on-ramp program start?

Federal student loan repayments are set to resume in October, but while borrowers have a year of leniency to begin repayments, interest will continue to accrue starting in September.

The on-ramp program starts Oct. 1 and will extend until Sept. 30 of next year.

“Financially vulnerable borrowers who miss monthly payments during this period are not considered delinquent, reported to credit bureaus, placed in default, or referred to debt

collection agencies,” according to a fact sheet released by the White House.

The Department of Education did not respond to questions from States Newsroom asking how the agency would prevent loan servicers from reporting borrowers to credit bureau or debt collectors.

How is the on-ramp policy different from the pause on federal student loan repayments?

The pause on federal student loan repayments was first put in place by the Trump administration in 2020 at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, and has been extended several times.

The pause meant those with federal student loans did not have to repay, and no interest

accrued. With this new policy, interest will still accrue, but borrowers have a year before having to start paying back their loans.

What does a final rule for the SAVE plan mean?

This is an income-driven repayment plan that the Department of Education said will cut borrowers’ monthly payments in half. The official launch of the application was Tuesday.

“This is a giant step forward in decreasing the burden of crushing debt that rests on so many borrowers’ shoulders,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement. “Low-income students, whose burdens will be cut in half, and most other students, who will never pay more than 5% of their income, will

ACARF: Shelter in need of funds

Continued from A1

unseemly duties.

“People say we should bring in more volunteers,” Payne said. “Well, people aren’t going to volunteer to scoop up poop in 95-degree weather. The volunteers are the ones who want to come out and play with the animals.

“And the reality is, you’re not going to get many people willing to do this for $7 an hour,” Payne continued. “They have to be paid well.”

ACARF is hosting its next fundraiser from 5 to 7 p.m. Sept. 8 at Iola’s New Community Building at Riverside Park. Chicken Annie’s of Girard is catering the meal.

People say we should bring in more volunteers. Well, people aren’t going to volunteer to scoop up poop in 95-degree weather. The volunteers are the ones who want to come out and play with the animals.

Pre-orders are being accepted through Sept. 1, to ensure organizers have enough food on hand.

To take part, call (620) 496-2228 or (620) 3650600.

As for the myth-busting, Payne said she has heard from multiple sources that they’ve

Attention Allen County Residents & Businesses

As of September 1, 2023, the Allen County Landfill will only accept cut tires that meet KDHE approved requirements as per Bureau of Waste Management Policy 2011-P2.

If you have any questions, please call Allen County Public Works at 620-365-1422

been hesitant to donate to ACARF because of a recent trust set up in the name of Herschel and Barbara Perry that covers spaying and neutering costs for Allen County pet owners seeking to have their animals fixed.

ACARF serves as an administrator for the

Perry Trust Fund, doling out funds for Allen Countians taking advantage of the service, Payne said, “but we don’t see a dime of it.”

In fact, ACARF is prohibited from even using Perry Trust funds to spay or neuter animals it takes in.

The money is available only to Allen County residents. “We just hand out the checks. People hear about the Perry Trust and think we have tons of money lying around. We don’t. We desperately need operating money.”

ACARF is open from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

breathe a sigh of relief across every corner of America.

“While there will be those that will challenge this in court, the administration has carefully crossed the legal t’s and dotted the legal i’s. The fight to cancel student debt is far from over, but this is a massive step in the right direction. President Biden deserves accolades and support for this action.”

A borrower could save more than $1,000 per year on payments, compared to other income-driven repayment plans. And, depending on income levels, it will allow more than 1 million additional borrowers to make $0 monthly payments without their interest accruing, the Department of Education estimates.

How does the SAVE plan work?

Borrowers with undergraduate loans will pay 5% of their discretionary income, rather than the 10% required under previous income repayment plans. Borrowers with undergraduate and graduate loans will pay a weighted average between 5% and 10% of their in-

comes. The White House said a borrower’s monthly payment will be based on their discretionary income, defined in the plan as the difference between their adjusted gross income and 225% of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services poverty guideline amount for the family size. Borrowers who earn a minimum wage of $15 an hour will not have to make a monthly payment.

According to the Department of Education, that means borrowers will not owe loan payments if they are a single person earning $32,800 or less or a family of four earning $67,500 or less, though the amounts are higher in Alaska and Hawaii.

The plan also forgives loan balances after as little as 10 years of payment, rather than 20 years under previous income repayment plans. The plan also does not charge borrowers with unpaid monthly interest, as long as those borrowers are making their monthly payments.

Who qualifies for the SAVE student loan repayment plan?

Most federal student loan borrowers are going to qualify for this plan. However, those with Direct PLUS loans to parents and certain other loans will not qualify for it; the list can be found here.

Borrowers signed up for the current Revised Pay as You Earn (REPAYE) plan will automatically be enrolled in SAVE.

How is SAVE different from previous federal student loan repayment plans?

With this plan, if your calculated payment ends up to be less than the amount of interest that accrues every month, that remaining interest will be forgiven. The previous plan did not have that element, so borrowers were continuing to see their balances grow.

President Joe Biden is joined by Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, left, June 30 as he announces new actions to protect borrowers after the Supreme Court struck down his student loan forgiveness plan. GETTY IMAGES/CHIP SOMODEVILLA/TNS

— Julie Payne, treasurer, Allen County Animal Rescue Facility

Thursday, August 24, 2023

Sports Daily B

Allen volleyball debuts at Garden City

By QUINN BURKITT The Iola Register

The Allen volleyball team opened its season on the road last weekend, finishing 1-3 at the Garden City Tournament.

The Lady Red Devils beat Ranger College of Ranger, Texas, but then fell to Northeast Community College, Norfolk, Neb., Eastern Wyoming College, Torrington, Wyo., and Garden City Community College.

Allen v. Ranger College

Allen took down Ranger College in five sets, 3-2.

Ranger College won the first two sets, 25-19 and 2511, before Allen successfully rebounded with wins of 2521, 30-28 and 15-7.

Lexi Deweese and Veronica Agostini each had a teamhigh 15 kills while Nadia Gallegos went for eight kills and Abby Altic had seven kills.

Isabella Simione recorded a team-high 46 aces.

Defensively, Payton Zimmerman collected a teamhigh 19 digs while Simione and Vargas each had 16 digs. Altic went for 11 digs while Agostini had 10 digs. Gallegos had a team-high three blocks while Deweese had two blocks. Agostini and Deweese each had a team-high 18.5 points apiece while Gallegos collected 12.5 points and Altic had 10 points.

Allen v. Northeast Community College

Allen lost to Northeast Community College, 3-1.

The Lady Red Devils were able to pull out a second-set victory, 28-26, but fell in the three other sets by scores of 25-11, 25-23 and 27-17.

On the attack, Katy Harris and Agostini each had a team-high 12 kills. At the serving line, Simione came up with a team-high 34 aces.

Agostini had a team-high 17 points while Harris had 14 points and Deweese had 8.5

College football empires strike back for playoff push

By RALPH D. RUSSO The Associated Press

During the final season of the College Football Playoff’s four-team format, the empires will strike back. Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State and Oklahoma have made more CFP appearances than any other schools through the nine years of the postseason system, but only two combined in the past two seasons. The Crimson Tide, Tigers, Buckeyes and Sooners are no longer the safe bets to win their conferences like they were through a good chunk of the last decade.

No. 1 Georgia has bullied its way past fourth-ranked ‘Bama to the top of the Southeastern Conference and the sport.

In the Atlantic Coast Conference, No. 9 Clemson has gone two seasons without making the playoff and now faces a legitimate threat in No. 8 Florida State.

No. 2 Michigan has displaced No. 3 Ohio Stat e atop the Big Ten.

No. 20 Oklahoma is coming off its worst season in more than two decades, slipping into the crowded pack of Big 12 hopefuls after being

Alcaraz, Djokovic symbolize transition

By HOWARD FENDRICH The Associated Press

Based on the reactions on social media, it seems everyone in the world of tennis was riveted by Novak Djokovic’s victory over Carlos Alcaraz in the final of the last tournament for both ahead of the U.S. Open.

It was a titanic, 3½-hour-plus showdown between the two titans of the men’s game at the moment — the third time they’ve played each other in Djokovic’s past three events, each on a different surface — and set the stage for what will be an expected meeting to determine the champion at Flushing Meadows, where play begins Monday and finishes on Sept. 10.

a clear favorite for years.

In this last season before the playoff expands from four to 12 teams, Georgia is an overwhelming favorite to win a third straight national title, according FanDuel Sportsbook and AP Top 25 voters.

To predict a national championship for anyone other than the Bulldogs, who have both the best roster and an accommodating schedule, feels like just trying to be different. That said, no team has ever won three straight national championships and still with only four teams making the CFP, the margin for error in the regular season (including conference title games) is thin.

This column has always taken the position that it’s more fun to be different than right. And besides, how often do you get the chance to take Alabama and have it be a bold choice?

And is it, really?

Reminder: The Crimson Tide has not gone more than two seasons without a national title since Nick Saban took over in 2007.

OVER/UNDERACHIEVERS

Three teams that start the season ranked but will finish

See CFB | Page B3

points.

Defensively, Agostini had a team-high 20 digs while Vargas had 16 digs and Simione collected 13 digs. Gallegos had a team-high two blocks.

Allen v. Eastern Wyoming College Allen made it difficult on Eastern Wyoming College, forcing five sets in a 3-2 loss.

The Lady Red Devils won

the first match, 25-21, before falling in set two, 25-15, and then claiming the third set victory, 27-25. Eastern Wyoming forced a fifth set when they won the fourth, 27-25, before taking the fifth set over Allen, 15-10.

On the attack for Allen, Agostini had a team-high 21 kills while Altic went for 18 kills and Gallegos had 11 kills. Simione led the way

Small but mighty Curacao back in position at LLWS

SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. (AP) — Coming back to the Little League World Series after losing last year’s title game, Curacao doesn’t just want to be good for its size.

The team from Willemstad’s Pabao Little League on the Caribbean island of about 150,000 people is aiming for bigger things, and with five players and its whole coaching staff back for a second straight year, it needs just two wins to return to the tournament championship undefeated.

“Those guys that were here last year, I tell them to just keep focus and keep

talking with the other guys to do their job,” manager Zaino Everett said Monday after his club beat Venezuela 2-1 — the team’s second win following another victory by the same score against Australia.

Jay-Dlynn Wiel, D’Shawn Winklaar, Shemar Sophia Jacobus, Alexander Provacia Roach and Joshua Acosta Fernandez know what it’s like to come up just short of the tournament title and don’t want a repeat of 2022.

The team also may be a little less star struck than most, having so many play-

See CURACAO | Page B6

Last weekend’s contest at the hard-court Cincinnati Masters, in which Djokovic, who is 36, saved a championship point in the second set and Alcaraz, who is 20, saved four in the third before succumbing 5-7, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (4), also served to symbolize the state of change the sport currently finds itself in, a year removed from Serena Williams’ farewell match in New York and Roger Federer’s retirement announcement soon thereafter.

Alcaraz is The Next Big Thing, the winner of the 2022 U.S. Open who grabbed his second Grand Slam title last month at Wimbledon by beating — yes, that’s

See TENNIS | Page B4

US women start strong at championships

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Sha’Carri Richardson and Noah Lyles each kicked off their quest for a second medal at the 2023 World Track and Field Championships Wednesday by easily winning their heats in the 200-meter preliminaries.

Richardson finished in 22.16 seconds and Lyles in 20.05 in a pair of no-drama returns to the track after they gave the United States the first sweep of the 100 meters at a worlds since 2017, when Justin Gatlin and Tori Bowie won in London.

Three women who have run faster than

See RUNNING | Page B3

Allen’s Katherine Harris, No. 5, sets up a shot last season. REGISTER FILE PHOTO

See RED DEVILS | Page B3

Curacao’s Nasir El-Ossais (13) is greeted at home plate after his two-run home run off of Venezuela. AP PHOTO/TOM PUS-

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Did BTK strike elsewhere?

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Authorities in Oklahoma and Missouri are investigating whether the BTK serial killer was responsible for other homicides, with their search leading them this week to dig near his former Kansas property.

Osage County, Oklahoma, Undersheriff Gary Upston told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the investigation into whether Dennis Rader was responsible for additional crimes started with the re-examination last year of the 1976 disappearance of Cynthia Kinney in Pawhuska.

The case, which was investigated on and off over the years, was reopened in December.

From there, he said it “spiraled out from there into other unsolved murders and missing persons in a larger than our state area.”

Royals unveil proposed ballpark and entertainment plans

KANSAS CITY, Mo.

(AP) — The Kansas City Royals unveiled plans for two dramatically different locations for a replacement to the aging Kauffman Stadium on Tuesday, calling them on equal footing even as the team-issued date for a decision looms next month.

The first location, called the East Village, would consist of a ballpark anchoring a 27acre development just blocks away from the thriving Power & Light District, where T-Mobile Center already exists. The second location is a 90-acre tract across the Missouri River in Clay County, where the Royals would have more ability to develop commercial and residential properties.

Both plans were produced by Populous, the Kansas City-based sports architecture giant, which has been responsible for renovation or construction of more than 20 stadiums currently in use across Major League Baseball.

“We knew we were

engaged in a generational decision. The K has been the home to the Royals for 50-plus years — been a great home — but it’s time for a new one,” said Brooks Sherman, the Royals’ president of business operations. “It’s actually incredible that we have these two locations to even consider as a future home and sustain ourselves as a Major League city.”

The Royals an-

nounced plans to leave Kauffman Stadium about two years ago. But progress has been slow in deciding on a path forward, given the myriad factors involved in the proposed $2 billion-plus ballpark and entertainment district.

The Royals have long shared with the Kansas City Chiefs sales tax revenue from Jackson County for the upkeep of Kauffman and Arrowhead stadiums, both of

which reside in the Truman Sports Complex. But while the Royals intend to build elsewhere, the preference of Chiefs owner Clark Hunt is to remain at Arrowhead Stadium and renovate the existing NFL venue.

Further complicating matters is the fact that the Royals and Chiefs are both tied to a lease with Jackson County that does not expire until 2031. If the Royals decide on the downtown

Red Devils: Get back on court in Garden City

Continued from B1

at the serving line where she collected a team-high 57 aces.

Agostini also had a team-high 21.5 points and Altic went for 19.5 points.

Defensively, Agostini had a team-high 29 digs and Jolianys Roman had 27 digs. Simione had 20 digs and

Vargas had 17 digs. Gallegos had a teamhigh two blocks.

Allen @ Garden City Community College

Allen lost in three straight sets to Garden City, 25-21, 25-20 and 25-15.

Offensively, Altic had a team-high seven kills and Deweese had

six kills. Agostini also collected five kills. Simione again led at the serving line, picking up 24 aces. Altic went for a team-high 11.5 points while Agostini had nine points and Deweese had eight points.

Allen was led defensively by Simione’s team-high nine digs,

Roman and Agostini’s eight digs apiece and Ashanti Morales, Harris and Vargas each had five digs.

Allen hosted Neosho Community College in their home season opener on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. Results were not available at the time of publication.

CFB: Quest for playoff spots is on

Continued from B1

unranked:

— No. 14 Utah. The Utes start the season with uncertainty at quarterback as Cam Rising recovers from knee surgery with his backup also ailing. Not an ideal way to head into a September schedule that features Florida, Baylor, UCLA and Oregon State.

— No. 16 Kansas State. In 2021, Baylor beat Oklahoma State in a thrilling Big 12 title game between two surprising participants. Both started 2022 ranked. Neither finished that way. Can TCU and K-State avoid similar regression after being last season’s surprising success stories?

Pencil the Wildcats in for a big step back.

— No. 21 North Carolina. QB Drake Maye won’t be able to cover the Tar Heels’ deficiencies as well as he did last season.

Three teams that start the season unranked but will finish ranked:

— UCLA. Five-star freshman quarterback Dante Moore behind a good offensive line in a Chip Kelly offense: Promising.

— Kentucky. If the Wildcats’ rebuilt offensive line can protect North Carolina State transfer Devin Leary, this could be the second-best team in the SEC East.

— Boise State. The Broncos have a brutal early schedule (at No. 10 Washington, UCF,

at San Diego State, at Memphis), which presents both a challenge and opportunity to assert themselves as the best team outside the Power Five.

CONFERENCE CHAMPION PREDICTIONS

American Athletic Conferenc e — SMU over UTSA. The Mustangs win their first league title since 1984 in the Southwest Conference.

Atlantic Coast Conference — Clemson over Florida State. New coordinator Garrett Riley brings the juice back to the Tigers’ offense and sends Clemson back to the CFP.

Big 12 — Oklahoma over Texas. Will the Big 12 even paint the logo on the field for a title game with their SECbound heavyweights?

Big Ten — Ohio State over Iowa. The Buckeyes fix their Michigan problem and then dispatch the Hawkeyes in the final East vs. West Big Ten title game.

Conference USA

— Western Kentucky over Liberty. WKU QB Austin Reed passed on opportunities to transfer to bigger schools to stay and lead the Hilltoppers to a title.

Mid-American Conference — Ohio over Eastern Michigan. If in doubt, pick the team with the best quarterback. In the MAC, that’s Kurtis Rourke.

Mountain West —

Boise State over Air Force. Broncos win their first league championship since 2019.

Pac-12 — USC over Oregon. Nothing sums up the Pac-12’s recent fortunes better than USC finally getting its act together in football after it triggers the demise of the conference.

Southeastern Conference — Alabama over Georgia. In a stunning upset, the Crimson Tide snaps its one-game losing streak against the Bulldogs.

Sun Belt — Marshall over South Alabama.

Thundering Herd’s Charles Huff could be the next Sun Belt coach to make a big jump.

COACHING CAROUSEL

Early firings were all the rage last season. The hot spot that could pop before October this year is in West Virginia. Neal Brown drew a bad September schedule (No. 7 Penn

location, they would remain in Jackson County and the teams could seek to extend the lease; if they move to Clay County, some tricky politicking and negotiation would be necessary.

Regardless of the site, Sherman reiterated that the Royals are prepared to spend about $1 billion in private funds on the project, and they intend to move into their new stadium for opening day of the 2028 season.

“That’s part of the equation is to ensure we’re negotiating properly and having the proper back and forth with each set of governing bodies — the elected leaders — and we’re doing that with both Clay County and Jackson County,” Sherman said.

The downtown site, which has long been viewed as the frontrunner, would lean into commercial and business possibilities to help drive the revenue that MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has said is necessary for a small-market club to compete.

The proposed stadium, which Populous founder Earl Santee warned is not a final design, features swooping roof lines that are reminiscent of Kauffman Stadium. There is a homage to the foun-

tains for which the existing park is known in right-center field and what Santee called “one of the most intimate seating bowls in all of baseball.”

Yet the stadium comes with drawbacks. Ingress and egress is already a challenge in the downtown corridor, and parking could be difficult, particularly for day games when existing parking is already taken up by those working in the area.

The location in North Kansas City would continue the revitalization of what was once a rundown industrial neighborhood.

The ballpark is meant to feel more “gritty,” Santee said, to better fit within the existing area. But a large number of buildings would be razed to make room for hotels and conference centers, residential buildings and parking pavilions, and a large park and lake that could serve as a year-round gathering space. There is even a proposed 4,000-seat performance venue.

Imran Aukhil with the economic advisory firm HR&A said both projects would have about a $320 million impact on the region, not including the construction itself, which would spur at least 20,000 jobs and $2.8 billion in total eco-

See ROYALS | Page B4

Running: World titles

Continued from B1

Richardson in the 200 this year — Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson, St. Lucia’s Julien Alfred and the United States’ Gabby Thomas — also qualified easily.

State, Pitt, Texas Tech, No. 17 TCU) for a coach in need of a fast start.

Who could replace Brown? As mentioned, maybe Charles Huff of Marshall. James Madison head coach Curt Cignetti and North Carolina State defensive coordinator Tony Gibson, a former DC at WVU, could also get a look, depending on how 2023 plays out.

NEW YEAR’S SIX BOWL PICKS Just can’t quit the Aggies.

Cotton Bowl — Texas vs. USC.

Orange Bowl — Florida State vs. Penn State.

Fiesta Bowl — Oklahoma vs. Boise State.

Peach Bowl — Texas A&M vs. Michigan.

PLAYOFF

Rose Bowl — Ohio State vs. Georgia.

Sugar Bowl — Alabama vs. Clemson.

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

Alabama over Ohio State.

Defending 800-meter Olympic and world champion Athing Mu, who wavered on running at the worlds through much of the summer, showed up and won her opening heat.

Heats for the women’s 5,000 meters, where Faith Kipyegon opens her quest for a second medal after winning the 1,500 on Tuesday, were moved to the evening session because of the heat. The temperature in Budapest reached 32 degrees Celsius at noon, with the 55% humidity making it

feel like 34.

There were four medals on the line in the evening session of Day 5 at the worlds: in women’s pole vault, the men’s 1,500 meters, the women’s 400 and the men’s 400 hurdles.

The hurdles race will feature two-time world champion Karsten Warholm of Norway, defending champion Alison Dos Santos of Brazil and Rai Benjamin of the United States, who has finished second at the last two worlds and the Tokyo Olympics.

In Tokyo, Benjamin’s 46.17 was the second-fastest time ever but he finished behind Warholm, whose 45.94 in that race remains the world record.

Kansas City’s Kauffman Stadium in 2020. JAMIE SQUIRE/GETTY IMAGES/TNS

Basketball World Cup ’23: How to watch, who’s playing

The Associated Press

The Basketball World Cup — FIBA’s biggest tournament — starts Friday, spread out across three countries for the first two rounds before all the biggest games get played in Manila to decide which nation will go home with gold medals and the Naismith Trophy on Sept. 10.

Spain is the defending champion, having won in China four years ago. The U.S. was only seventh in that tournament, its worst finish ever in a major international event. But the Americans have high hopes, and enter as the tournament favorites.

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE

The 32 teams were split into eight different groups of four. The top two teams from each group will make the second round. The top eight teams after the second round advance to the quarterfinals.

Here’s a list of all the opening games for all 32 teams:

FRIDAY

Group A (at Manila): Angola vs. Italy, Dominican Republic vs. Philippines Group D (at Manila): Mexico vs. Montenegro, Egypt vs. Lithuania

Group E (at Okinawa): Finland vs. Australia, Germany vs. Japan Group H (at Jakarta): Latvia vs. Lebanon, Canada vs. France

SATURDAY

Group B (at Manila): South Sudan vs. Puerto Rico, Serbia vs. China Group C (at Manila): Jordan vs. Greece, U.S. vs. New Zealand Group F (at Okinawa): Cape Verde vs. Georgia, Slovenia vs. Venezuela Group G (at Jakarta): Iran vs. Brazil, Spain vs. Ivory Coast HOW TO WATCH THE BASKETBALL WORLD CUP

— In the U.S.: The first three U.S. games (Aug. 26, Aug. 28, Aug. 30) will be on ESPN2. Aug. 26 and Aug. 28 games will begin at 9:40 a.m. ; the Aug. 30 game begins at 5:40 a.m. — There are streaming options for other games. WHO ARE THE PLAYERS TO WATCH?

Rosters won’t be finalized until later

Tennis: In transition with Djokovic, Alcaraz

Continued from B1

right — Djokovic. And Djokovic, the owner of 23 major trophies, is the only member of The Big Three competing nowadays, what with Federer (who has 20) done and Rafael Nadal (22) out since January with a hip problem but eyeing a return for one last hurrah in 2024.

“For so many years, the game has been dominated by legends of the sport, but Father Time is undefeated. Everyone has to kind of go on to their next stage and they have to put the rackets down. We’re seeing that unfortunately with Serena, with Roger, with Rafa. There is going to be a bit of a transition period,” said Chris Eubanks, a 27-year-old from Atlanta who reached the Wimbledon men’s quarterfinals. “It leaves a lot of parity and it leaves a lot of opportunities for other players in the men’s and women’s games to kind of make a name for themselves.”

No. 1-ranked Iga Swiatek, who is 22, No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka, 25, and No. 4 Elena Rybakina, 24, appear poised to stay near the top of the women’s game — Swiatek already has won four Slam titles, including the 2022 U.S. Open; the others have one apiece — and No. 6 Coco Gauff, just 19, might be ready to etch her name on one of the four most prestigious trophies in tennis.

Still, none has established herself as a definitive heir to Williams.

“There is a shift,” said France’s Caroline Garcia, who reached the semifinals in New York a year ago. “There are young players coming, like Alcaraz and Iga.” The sport’s leaders hope someone will step forward.

“For those of you who have long wondered about the future of tennis as we transition out of a golden age where you have had some of the best men and women of all-time competing against each other

simultaneously,” said Lew Sheer, the CEO and executive director of the U.S. Tennis Association, the national federation that runs the U.S. Open, “we saw 2022 as a year of emerging stars.”

Perhaps. It’s true there were 10 first-time Masters 1000 champions on the men’s side over the past three seasons, a group that includes Alcaraz, of course, but also another 20-year-old, Holger Rune, and Jannik Sinner, 22.

“We’re starting to see new faces at the Grand Slams and Masters. It’s kind of the last step to dethrone players like Djokovic and Nadal — and it’s coming,” said Felix Auger-Aliassime, a 23-year-old Canadian who was a U.S. Open semifinalist two years ago. “Carlos probably is beginning a bit of a switch of the guard. But Djokovic probably hasn’t said his last word.”

That certainly appeared to be Djokovic’s message in Cincinnati,

where he ripped off his shirt and roared after finally dispatching Alcaraz.

All in all, it was perfect preparation for Djokovic as he returns to the U.S. Open after being unable to travel to the United States last year because he isn’t vaccinated against COVID-19.

Djokovic said facing Alcaraz reminded him of taking on Nadal in their primes — which was quite some time ago.

“Boy, you never give up, man. Jesus Christ,” Djokovic said, drawing a laugh from Alcaraz not long after the Spaniard was crying into a towel.

“I mean, I love that about you, but sometimes I wish that you’d maybe play a few points just like this, you know?” Djokovic continued, waving his right hand without purpose.

Alcaraz offered nice words, too.

“I learned a lot,” he told Djokovic, “from a champion like you.”

this week, but expect at least 20 of the 32 teams to have at least one NBA player on the roster. The U.S. is the only team with all 12 players hailing from the NBA.

Canada has a slew of NBA talent, as would be expected, including Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, RJ Barrett, Kelly Olynyk, Dillon Brooks, Lu Dort, Nickell Alexander-Walker and Dwight Powell.

Among the other big NBA names on non-U.S. rosters: Luka Doncic (Slovenia), Karl-Anthony Towns (Dominican Republic), Jordan Clarkson (Philippines), Kyle Anderson (China), Rudy Gobert (France), Evan Fournier (France), Nicolas Batum (France), Davis Bertans (Latvia), Patty Mills (Australia), Joe Ingles (Australia), Lauri Markkanen (Finland), Josh Giddey (Australia), Josh Green (Australia), Matisse Thybulle (Australia), Dennis Schroder (Toronto), Franz Wagner (Orlando), Moritz Wagner (Orlando), Bogdan Bogdanovic (Serbia) and Nikola Vucevic (Montenegro). RULE DIFFERENCES

Those who are used to the NBA game will find some parts of the FIBA game confusing, particularly what constitutes basket interference or goaltending. In short, once a ball hits the rim, it’s fair game for either the offense or defense to hit it even while it remains in the

cylinder.

The 3-point line is a bit closer, the ball is a bit smaller, players foul out on their fifth personal and the game doesn’t last as long. Quarters are 10 minutes, not 12 like in the NBA.

BETTING GUIDE

The U.S. is the overwhelming favorite to win the World Cup, according to FanDuel Sportsbook, with the Americans’ odds listed at minus-130 (meaning a $130 wager on the Americans would return $230, if they won). Australia and Canada are tied as the second choice, both at plus-750 (a $100 wager would return $750), followed by France at plus1,000. Want some value? Try Slovenia; Luka Doncic’s team has odds of plus-3,000.

WHAT TO KNOW

What you need to know about the Basketball World Cup, and the U.S. road to getting here:

— The basketball-crazed Philippines is about to have a shining moment

— USA Basketball’s coaching staff for the World Cup is an All-Star team

— Getting used to FIBA rule differences is part of the challenge for NBA players

— As World Cup nears, U.S. team says it’ll embrace any doubters — U.S. finishes exhibition season with perfect 5-0 record after rallying to beat Germany

— The U.S. brought some help to finish World Cup preparations

Royals: Unveil new plans

Continued from B3

nomic output.

As the late-September date for a decision nears, the Royals are continuing to negotiate with political and business leaders involved with both proposed locations. They also are soliciting feedback from

fans, many of whom have been lukewarm about the prospect of building a new ballpark for a team that is once again on pace to lose more than 100 games.

“We’ve got work to do on a number of fronts,” Sherman said, “to get to our decision on this.”

news is our business S ll

Tremont Waters (51) of Puerto Rico is guarded by Anthony Edwards (10) and Jaren Jackson Jr. (13) of the United States in the first half of a 2023 FIBA World Cup exhibition game. ETHAN MILLER/GETTY IMAGES/TNS

Buying a house alone feels like giving up on marriage

Adapted from an online discussion.

Dear Carolyn: My 40th birthday is coming up, and I have always wanted to be a homeowner by 40. Of course, I always imagined being happily married long before that, and buying the house together. That hasn’t happened.

I don’t want to put it off longer — I’m in a good position now, and the market near me is good — but I feel deeply unsettled by the idea of buying a house now, alone, with space for me and no one else, almost as if I’m conceding that I’m not going to find someone to spend my life with. Is that completely dumb? How do I get excited about buying a house alone? — Unsettled

Unsettled: Is that such a terrible thing to “concede”?

I suppose if you frame it as, “I’m not going to find someone to spend my life with,” and you want that, then, sure, it will feel terrible. But there are more

Carolyn Hax

accurate labels. You’ve done a pretty common and normal thing by having a set of goals and expectations for your life — but I think everyone who does that reaches a point where goals and expectations become untenable, because they’re not entirely up to you. Is it always “conceding” when things just don’t work the way we envision them for any one of a million typical reasons?

You can get everything you expected but realize it doesn’t feel the way you thought it would.

You can get nothing you expected and love where you are.

You can get half the things, be okay with that, have half of those unravel, and end up on some side journey that bears no resemblance

Public notice

(Published in The Iola Register Aug. 24, 2023)

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF ALLEN COUNTY, KANSAS CIVIL DEPARTMENT

Verified Funding, LLC Plaintiff, vs. Chasity Lynn Craft; Unknown Spouse, if any, of Chasity Lynn Craft, Defendants.

Case No. AL-2023-CV-000030

Court Number: Pursuant to K.S.A. Chapter 60

NOTICE OF SUIT

THE STATE OF KANSAS, to the above-named defendants and the unknown heirs, executors, administrators, devisees, trustees, creditors and assigns of any deceased defendants; the unknown spouses of any defendants; the unknown officers, successors, trustees, creditors and

to anything you had in mind.

You can hit goals in succession and wake up in the middle of it with the epiphany that you charted your life at 18 and you barely resemble that person anymore.

Some marriages suck.

Being “house poor” can limit your funds for the true joys in life you used to take for granted.

It’s possible your problem isn’t that you haven’t met your goals; it’s that you haven’t revised them as you’ve grown and evolved.

This could also be too think-y for where you are right now. Maybe all you need is to see some homes and picture yourself in them and fall in love with the idea of your very own space. It’s pure cheese, but, “Sleeping With the Enemy,” 1991, Julia Roberts, big hair, has a scene that makes one’s all-alone home feel like the most gut-level-satisfying thing on earth. (Ignore that it’s a rental.) I’ve wept through it.

I know I can’t feel

your feelings for you, but from where I sit, buying your very own home as part of living fully, as is, is the opposite of “conceding.” Maybe just start touring homes to see whether you warm to it.

Readers’ thoughts:

• Watch a few episodes of “House Hunters” with the couples completely disagreeing on what they are looking for! I’m reminded that I got to make all of the decisions on my own. No arguing over a place for a giant TV. I got to do something for just me! And if I do eventually meet someone to be with long term, I’ll figure out then what to do about sharing.

• I bought a house alone because I wanted a house, not because I had a goal of being a homeowner. Are you sure you actually want one? Do you like your current living situation?

• What guarantee do you have that you’ll EVER get married? LIVE YOUR LIFE!!

assigns of any defendants that are existing, dissolved or dormant corporations; the unknown executors, administrators, devisees, trustees, creditors, successors and assigns of any defendants that are or were partners or in partnership; the unknown guardians, conservators and trustees of any defendants that are minors or are under any legal disability; and the unknown heirs, executors, administrators, devisees, trustees, creditors and assigns of any person alleged to be deceased, and all other persons who are or may be concerned. You are notified that a Petition has been filed in the District Court of Allen County, Kansas, praying to foreclose a real estate mortgage on the following described real estate: Lot Two (2), Block Seven (7), Moran City, Allen County, Kansas, according to the recorded plat thereof, commonly known as 316 W Church St, Moran, KS 66755 (the “Property”) and all those defendants who have not otherwise been served are required to plead to the Pe -

tition on or before the 4th day of October, 2023, in the District Court of Allen County,Kansas. If you fail to plead, judgment and decree will be entered in due course upon the Petition.

NOTICE Pursuant to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. §1692c(b), no information concerning the collection of this debt may be given without the prior consent of the consumer given directly to the debt collector or the express permission of a court of competent jurisdiction. The debt collector is attempting to collect a debt and any information obtained will be used for that purpose.

Prepared By: SouthLaw, P.C. Shari Ashner (KS # 14498) 13160 Foster Suite 100 Overland Park, KS 66213-2660 (913) 663-7600 (913) 663-7899 (Fax)

Yesterday’s Cryptoquote: Inside my empty bottle

was constructing a lighthouse while all the others were making ships.

ZITS

by Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman

BEETLE BAILEY by Mort Walker

HAGAR THE HORRIBLE by Chris Browne BLONDIE by Young and Drake

MARVIN by Tom Armstrong

HI AND LOIS by Chance Browne

MUTTS by Patrick McDonell

Taiwan looks tough at LLWS

By MAX RALPH The Associated Press

Taiwan’s players put the finishing touches on a 10-0 mercy rule win over Japan, then marched to the oversized Little League World Series bracket between Volunteer and Lamade stadiums.

They stamped their name in the next round, then danced and cheered with family and friends for a good 20 minutes.

Kuei-Shan Little League from Taoyuan, Taiwan, has dominated its first two games of the tournament and it has done so in style.

The team pitched a perfect game and cruised past Canada 6-0 last Thursday and toppled Japan, annually contending for a championship since the late ‘90s, on Monday with a no-hitter. That’s 16 runs for Taiwan and no hits for its opponents.

The Taiwan region, which won 17 Little League World Series titles between 1969 and 1996, could be returning to form. Taiwan has gotten offensive contributions up and down its lineup, and its pitching has completely shut down opposing batters so far.

“Preparing for Japan, we know they are basically the empire for many series. We always prepared to have a very hard competition today,” manager Lee Cheng-Ta said following Monday’s win. “In fact, I prepared three or five pitchers. It just happened that we got lucky that their pitcher got nervous, so we were able to finish early today.”

Taiwan also boasts Fan Chen-Jun, a 12-yearold throwing 80 mph fastballs with a devastating slider. The reaction time required from a Little League hitter on an 80 mph pitch is about the same needed from an MLB hitter to handle a pitch well over 100 mph.

Oh, and he has yet to allow a hit in 6 2/3 innings with 15 strikeouts. He was perfect against Canada and allowed a walk and a hit by pitch to Japan.

And one more thing, he hit a home run against Canada and was

A’ja Wilson scores 53; ties women’s basketball record

COLLEGE PARK, Ga.

(AP) — A’ja Wilson matched the WNBA record for points in a game with 53 as the Las Vegas Aces beat the short-handed Atlanta Dream 112-100 on Tuesday night.

Wilson equaled the record set on July 17, 2018 by Dallas’ Liz Cambage. Riquna Williams was the only other WNBA player to top 50, scoring 51 for Tulsa on Sept. 8, 2013.

throw line.

Wilson, the 2020 league MVP, is averaging 22.3 points this season, third in the league behind Seattle Jewell Loyd and New York’s Breanna Stewart.

Kelsey Plum added 20 points and Chelsea Gray had 16 points, 12 assists and nine rebounds for league-best Las Vegas (29-4), which is seeking a second straight title. The Aces reached 100-plus points for the ninth time this season.

Taiwan starting pitcher Fan Chen-Jun delivers against Japan on Monday, Aug. 21.

intentionally walked against Japan.

Fan has been the unquestioned star of the tournament thus far and drew quick comparisons to MLB’s twoway superstar Shohei Ohtani.

He’s been casual about his performances, saying he didn’t even realize he threw three more no-hit innings against Japan until seeing the final box score.

Lee said he found Fan two years ago and saw more athletic ability than he “had ever seen,” thinking he had potential as a baseball player. That was a safe bet.

“He has the speed, he has the coordination, he has the jumping ability,” Lee said. “I wish him to be safe and not to get injured. He has a lot of future to come in his baseball career.”

Fan threw 51 pitches Monday, meaning he’s not available to pitch again in Wednesday’s matchup against Curacao under pitch limits. That’s OK, says Lee, because he prepared even more pitchers to throw against Japan expecting the game would be much closer.

Lee named Liu YouAn and Hsu Shao-Chieh as the two he would have thrown against Japan, as well as three more unnamed who were “in the pipeline.” Neither one has pitched yet in the tournament.

However, the three pitchers not named Fan used by Taiwan thus far have also combined for 3 1/3 innings of perfect baseball.

Chiu TseWei and Cai Yuan-Ho finished the combined perfect game against Canada, the first one in

Curacao: A force at LLWS

Continued from B1

ers who have done the tournament thing before.

Winning also equals international air time for Curacao and a chance to raise its baseball profile. In addition to winning the LLWS in 2004, Curacao has had more than its share of major leaguers for such a small country, including Boston’s All-Star reliever Kenley Jansen, Atlanta infielder Ozzie Albies and Colorado’s Jurickson Profar.

But still, “last year, people didn’t know about us,” Jay-Dlynn said. “When we came to Williamsport, that’s when people started to (learn) what Curacao is.”

Curacao isn’t the flashiest team and its offense has combined for only four runs

the Little League World Series since 2017.

The game against Curacao is a rematch of 2022’s tournament semifinal, which Curacao won 1-0. The Taiwanese team is different, but Curacao has the same club back in South Williamsport and five returning players from the team that lost in last year’s championship.

Curacao has won a pair of close games, 2-1 wins over Australia and Venezuela, to get here.

The winner moves on to the tournament semifinal while the loser heads to a win-or-gohome game in the elimination bracket.

“We have great respect for the Curacao team, not just as a baseball team, the whole country has great baseball players who even play professional baseball here,” Lee said. “I just want the players to focus one day at a time and to be as they are.”

“My teammates kept giving me the basketball in my spaces and I just wanted to return the favor,” Wilson said in an on-court interview. “They tried so hard to get me the ball, and it’s not easy. I think we just tightened up on the defensive end and it helped our offense flow.”

Wilson had 51 points when was fouled with 51.3 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter and made both free throws. She finished 16 of 23 from the field and 20 of 21 at the free-

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Las Vegas led 56-55 at halftime. Wilson had 22 points and Atlanta guard Rhyne Howard scored 21 before the break. The Aces went 20 of 21 from the freethrow line and the Dream made all 17 attempts in the half. The teams finished with a combined 69 freethrow attempts.

Howard finished with 27 points and Haley Jones added 23 for Atlanta (16-17). Danielle Robinson had 17 points, with 11 coming at the free-throw line.

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through two games. But the team’s sturdy defense and pitching staff has set it apart, offering support to a struggling lineup until it inevitably makes something happen.

The strategy worked Monday, as Nasir El-Ossais hit a two-run homer in the sixth inning to beat Venezuela, which coincidentally is Curcao’s closest — and much bigger — neighbor in South America.

“We emphasized just getting a guy on base to make it a tie game,” Everett said. “But then El-Ossais hit the home run, and gave another W to the Caribbean.

“I just tell them every time, we can’t win a game 0-0. You have to put at least one run on the board to win the game.”

AP PHOTO/TOM E. PUSKAR