Sports: Ducks Unlimited banquet See A4
2017 1867
Sports: Wrestlers wrap up state action See B1
THE IOLA REGISTER Locally owned since 1867
Monday, February 27, 2017
www.iolaregister.com
Roberts: Downturn complicates Farm Bill By ROXANA HEGEMAN The Associated Press
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — As the elder statesman from an agricultural state, U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts has worked on crafting seven farm bills. But it is with some trepidation that the work begins to draft new legislation amid daunting challenges confronting farmers in the era of Presi-
dent Donald Trump. Roberts, chairman of the Senate agriculture committee, was in Kansas on Thursday Pat Roberts for group’s first field hearing in Manhattan for the 2018 Farm Bill. He and U.S. Rep. Roger Mar-
shall, a fellow Republican who recently regained for the state a seat on the House agricultural committee, talked to constituents a day earlier about worries over the farm economy. “We are ... trying to prevent what could be a farm crisis on our hands,” Roberts told supporters in Wichita. The 2014 Farm Bill was written when commodity
prices were high. They are now at a 60-year low, farm credit is tightening and the trade outlook is uncertain, particularly due to some of the positions taken by the Trump Administration, Roberts said. “I’ve been talking to some people that are at the White House dealing with trade and they are all wrapped up around ideology,” he said,
noting the administration has trade policy requirements that it wants to include in every deal, such as forcing other countries to adhere to U.S. environmental and labor laws. “That is just not going to happen,” Roberts said. Another contentious issue is a proposed tax on imports, See FARMS | Page A4
Humboldt downtown in focus
Photo finish Iola Cub Scouts, from left, Milo Franklin, Jackson Young, Ethan Hunt and Brox Elbrader watch intently as their small wooden racecars approach the finish line Sunday during the scouts’ annual Pinewood Derby. The cars, using only gravity, reached speeds in excess of 180 mph. At bottom left, Scout leader Barney Divine carefully places the cars on the aluminum track. Aside from meeting length and weight standards, the cars’ designs were left entirely up to the children’s imaginations, as shown at lower right. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN
Whirlwind week marks Legislature’s move to center By JOHN HANNA The Associated Press
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas has seen its onceconservative Legislature lurch closer to the center with the flowering of a bipartisan coalition bent on erasing much of Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s tax-cutting legacy and ready to bedevil other GOP leaders. In a week’s time, the state House approved a huge increase in personal income taxes, voted to override Brownback’s allbut-inevitable veto and approved an expansion of the state’s Medicaid program that he vigorously opposes. Supporters of the tax bill
couldn’t override the veto in the Senate, but they had a solid majority for undoing the past Brownbackinspired cuts in personal income taxes. And it wasn’t just Brownback in the sights of Democrats and GOP moderates. When a House committee’s chairman wouldn’t take up a bill restoring guaranteed See CENTER | Page A2
Quote of the day Vol. 119, No. 85
HUMBOLDT — A reinvigorated downtown area was cited by Humboldt residents as one of their long-term goals at a recent countywide community conversation. While there have been signs of progress, including two new restaurants in the works and other buildings being remodeled, Thrive Allen County is eager to see what other ways the heart of Humboldt can be resuscitated. The “Re-Imagine Humboldt” downtown summit is at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at 806 Bridge St. Property owners, business owners and anyone else concerned about downtown Humboldt is encouraged to attend. Aspiring business owners, who for one reason or another have not taken the plunge as entrepreneurs, also are invited. A brief look at Humboldt’s past will precede an in-depth discussion about downtown’s strengths and challenges. A similar event in Iola earlier this month drew a standing-room-only crowd to the courthouse assembly room. Dinner will be served.
Sanders ‘berns’ Trump at Topeka rally By SHELLIE SMITLEY The Iola Register
TOPEKA — Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., rallied a group of more than 3,000 spectators Saturday evening during the 2017 Washington Days Convention at Topeka High School’s gymnasium. As the keynote speaker for the Kansas Democratic Party’s annual event, Sanders called on President Donald Trump — famous for using tweets as his favored style of communication — to “send out one more tweet,” and “in that tweet tell the American people you are going to keep your word, that you are not going to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.” In reference to Tom Price, Secretary of Health and Human Services, and Mick Mul-
Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks at a rally Saturday in Topeka. REG-
STER/SHELLIE SMITLEY
vaney, Secretary of the Office of Management and Budget, Sanders said Trump’s nominations for cabinet positions have spent their entire careers advocating for the same cuts Trump said he was
“Science is organized knowledge; wisdom is organized life.” — Immanuel Kant,
against during the presidential campaign. He referred to the appointment of Gary Cohn as chief economic advisor as an “unusual way to See SANDERS | Page A4
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