Saturday, November 25, 2023
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Lorie Carpenter and Olivia Kerr peruse Black Friday deals at the local Jock’s Nitch store Friday morning. REGISTER/SARAH HANEY
It’s shopping season Local businesses optimistic despite holiday challenges By SARAH HANEY The Iola Register
As the holiday season unfolds, small businesses in Iola are gearing up for what they hope will be a festive and prosperous time. Business leaders like Jock’s Nitch Manager Amber Wood are expressing optimism about the upcoming weeks. “We’re looking forward to great sales this holiday season and having lots of customers,” Wood confidently shared. In the face of competition from retail giants, small business owners are striving to draw customers away from the allure of big-box stores. Wood, who has managed Jock’s Nitch in the Iola com-
Downtown awaits holiday shoppers on Friday morning. munity for about a year, remains upbeat about the prospects. “We offer special sales regularly that help bring in cus-
tomers, so I don’t think inflation is going to be a huge issue for us,” she noted. “Business has been really good, and we See SHOP | Page A3
Council to review cost increase for 54 rebuild By SARAH HANEY The Iola Register
A significant increase in the overall cost of rebuilding Iola’s main thoroughfare will take precedence at Monday’s Iola Council meeting. In 2022, the council pegged the cost for the U.S. 54 Highway rebuild at approximately $13 million. Just a year later, that cost has ballooned to more than $21 million, according to Burns & McDonnell engineers. The city will be discussing options Monday that could reduce the cost to just shy of $17 million, including the project’s scope. On Nov. 16, city See COUNCIL | Page A5
Hamas frees first batch of hostages under truce RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hamas on Friday released 24 hostages who had been held captive in Gaza for weeks, and Israel freed 39 Palestinians from prison in the first stage of a swap under a fourday cease-fire deal. The freed hostages included 13 Israelis, 10 people from Thailand and one from the Philippines, according to Qatar. The agreement opened the way for sorely needed aid to flow into Gaza for beleaguered residents. It was also a moment of hope for families in Israel and elsewhere worried about loved ones taken captive during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, which triggered the war. With the truce’s start Friday morning, Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians saw quiet for the first time after seven weeks of relentless Israeli bombardment, which has killed thousands, driven three-quarters of the population from their homes and flattened vast swaths of residential areas. Rocket fire from Gaza militants into Israel went silent as well. The freed Israeli hostages included eight women — six
Vol. 125, No. 293 Iola, KS $1.00
of them in their 70s and 80s — and three children. Their release was followed in the evening by the freeing of the Palestinian prisoners — 24 women, including some convicted of attempted murder for attacks on Israeli forces, and 15 teenagers jailed for offenses like throwing stones. But joy at the deal has been tempered — among Israelis by the fact that not all hostages will be freed and among Palestinians by the briefness of the pause. The short truce will leave Gaza mired in humanitarian crisis and under the threat that fighting could soon resume. Israel says the cease-fire could be extended if more hostages are released, but it has vowed to resume its massive offensive once the truce ends. That has clouded hopes that the deal could eventually help wind down the conflict, which has fueled a surge of violence in the occupied West Bank and stirred fears of a wider conflagration across the Middle East. After nightfall Friday, a line of ambulances emerged from Gaza through the Rafah Crossing in Egypt, carrying See HAMAS | Page A7
Sarah Haney joined the staff of the Iola Register on Nov. 13. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN
Register welcomes new reporter By SUSAN LYNN The Iola Register
To give you an inkling as to the caliber of reporter the Iola Register has recently acquired, Sarah Haney was recognized Tuesday evening by Nevada, Mo.’s city council, for her work covering city politics for the Nevada Daily Mail. Haney joined the Register staff Nov. 13. For the past five-plus
years, Haney had been a one-woman show at the Daily Mail, which publishes four days a week. Haney wrote the bulk of its stories, took the photos, laid out the pages, sent them off to be printed and posted the news to its website. “I got tired of seeing only my byline,” Haney said of her decision to leave her hometown paper. “It’s also nice to be a part of a team.” Haney’s great-uncle, Carl
Simpson, was a longtime newspaperman, owning the Nevada News, a weekly publication. Rust Communications of Cape Girardeau purchased both her great-uncle’s publication and the Daily Mail as well as the Fort Scott Tribune in 1997. The purchases eventually sent her great-uncle into retirement, while his daughter, Julie Simpson, See HANEY | Page A7