The Iola Register, June 27, 2023

Bronco bustin’

Humboldt grad earns prizes for bareback bronc riding skills

By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register

HUMBOLDT — While his football teammates would often rest up on Saturdays after their bruising Friday night tilts, Dakota Slocum took the opposite approach.

He’d be riding a bucking bronco.

“It wasn’t too bad,” Slocum said. “I’d take it pretty easy in the morning, get to the rodeo and stretch and get warmed up.”

Then he’d do his darnedest to stay aboard for the full 8 seconds.

“I could usually tell by the horse’s second hop,” whether he’d be successful, Slocum said. “If I could stay level and keep my feet where they’re supposed to be, then I’d be OK.”

He’s been more than OK.

Slocum, who graduated from Humboldt High in May, recently earned a couple of nifty prizes for his bareback bronc riding skills.

He was the go-around champion in the Missouri High School State Finals held in Carthage, and was named reserve champion of the year at the high school level. (Slocum frequently competes in Missouri be-

cause those competitions are closer to home than those in western Kansas.)

“I’ll go about anywhere and everywhere,” Slocum said, usually with the United Rodeo Association or Missouri Cowboy Association series.

He’s in the midst of a busy rodeo schedule. On Friday, Slocum took second overall

See RODEO | Page A3

Wagner leader issues defiant statement

By The Associated Press

The leader of the Wagner mercenary group defended his short-lived insurrection in a boastful audio statement Monday, but uncertainty still swirled about his fate, as well as that of senior Russian military leaders, the impact on the war in Ukraine, and even the political future of President Vladimir Putin.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu made his first public appearance since the uprising that demanded his ouster, in a video aimed at projecting a sense of order after the country’s most serious political crisis in decades.

In an 11-minute audio statement, Yevgeny Prigozhin said he acted “to prevent the destruction of the Wagner private military company” and said he acted in response to an attack on a Wagner camp that killed some 30 of his fighters.

“We started our march because of an injustice,” Prigozhin said in the recording that gave no details about where he is or what his future plans are.

A feud between the Wagner Group leader and Russia’s military brass that has festered throughout the war erupted into a mutiny that saw the mercenaries leave Ukraine to seize a military

How to start paying back your student loans

By CORA LEWIS and ADRIANA MORGA Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — A threeyear pause on federal student loan payments will soon end regardless of how the Supreme Court rules this week on a White House plan to forgive billions of dollars in student loan debt.

The conservative-leaning court seems poised to strike down President Joe Biden’s plan, which would erase $10,000 in federal student loan debt for those with incomes below $125,000 a year or households that earn less than $250,000. He also wants to cancel an additional $10,000 for those who received federal Pell Grants to attend college.

Payments that were paused because of COVID will resume

in the fall no matter what, but an estimated 43 million borrowers could see their balances decreased or erased altogether if the court decides the plan can go ahead. Student loan interest will start accruing on September 1 and payments will re-start in October.

Here’s what to know to get ready to start paying back loans:

HOW SHOULD I PREPARE FOR STUDENT LOAN PAYMENTS TO RESTART?

Betsy Mayotte, President of the Institute of Student Loan Advisors, encourages people not to make any payments until the pause has ended.

Instead, she says, put what you would have paid into a

See LOANS | Page A6

headquarters in a southern Russian city and roll seemingly unopposed for hundreds of miles toward Moscow, before turning around after less than 24 hours on Saturday.

The Kremlin said it had made a deal for Prigozhin to move to Belarus and receive amnesty, along with his soldiers. There was no confirmation of his whereabouts Monday, although a popular Russian news channel on Telegram reported he was seen at a hotel in the Belarusian capital, Minsk.

In his statement, Prigozhin taunted the Russian

See WAGNER | Page A3

LaHarpe Days delight

Throngs of festival-goers were treated to a food, games and plenty of fun Saturday for the annual LaHarpe Days celebration. At top, FunService of KC, LLC provided an assortment of carnival rides, including The Revenge, which drew raves from the youngsters who rode in the kiddie carnival. At top left, Sharlyn Thompson, the parade’s grand marshal, rides in the parade with husband Floyd. At bottom left, Brantley Culbertson takes his time in an egg race. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN

Ready to roll

Ben Alexander, left, talks to bicyclists before the start of a 50-mile gravel bike racing course on Saturday morning in downtown Humboldt. The inaugural Octagon Gravel Race offered three distances, including 100-miles and 25-miles. About 70 racers participated, with about half competing in the middle-distance race. The group battled an early thunderstorm followed by warm temperatures. REGISTER/VICKIE MOSS

Dakota Slocum, a recent graduate of Humboldt High School, competes in a bareback bronco riding event. COURTESY PHOTO

LaHarpe High School alumni gather

LAHARPE — It was a hot Kansas day, with temps outside in the mid-90s, greeting attendees at Saturday’s LaHarpe High School Alumni dinner. Several former students, family and friends attended.

Ware Catering served meals to 54. Sharon Utley opened the meeting with a prayer. Bob Watson led the flag salute.

Since the high school’s closure in 1966, members have offered scholarships to Allen County students. This year, four $500 scholarships were awarded.

Three went to Marmaton Valley High School students, Dylan Drake, Kaitlyn Drake and Jef-

ferson Stpillman; the other to Humboldt High’s Karley Wools.

The students shared their thanks, and their future goals, at Saturday’s meeting.

Officers were elected for the upcoming year; Sharon Utley, president; Linda Call, vice president; William Watson, treasurer; and Ruth Caudell, secretary.

The oldest member attending was Glen Cox, from the class of 1950.

Ruth Manbeck Caudell, William Watson and wife Linda celebrated their 60-year reunion.

OTHERS attending: Riley Beaman, Darrell

Hawk, Kim Swearingen, Mary Manbeck Clay, Pat Ansell Heinz, Sharon Chandler Clay, Cheryl Link, Stella Smoot Higinbotham, Sharon Kincheloe Sigg, Karley Wools and Virginia Wools, all from Iola; Gene Vincent and Beth Manbeck Prock, Colony;. Sandy Morrison Ellis, Humboldt; Steve and Shirley Utley, Linda Hengar Sweany and Harry and Joyce Hay Lee, LaHarpe; Linda Chandler Call, Emporia; Dale Houghton, Rose Hill; Cecil and Sandra Colgin Beaman, Belle Plaine; Sharon McVey Malloy, Beverly McVey Shepard, Vickie Jackson Hunziker and Jamie Jackson Minard, Wichita; Jack Croghan and Judy Ut-

Couples wed in ‘holy minimony’

By MARISA GERBER Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES — As

Obituary

Barbara Scott

ley Johnson, Gas; Phil and Ida Manbeck Andruss, Topeka; Larry and Janice Smart, Osage City; Elaine Hawk Jackman, Wayne and Nancy Chandler, Lindsey Drake, Kaitlyn Drake, Dylan Drake, Jefferson Spillman and Jenny Spillman, Moran; Alan Mauk, Chanute; Terry and Julia Mauk Marvin, Edwardsville; Brenda Jackson Rhodes, Piedmont, Okla.; Rocky Ansell, Arkansas; Lynn Vincent Huffman, Weatherford, Texas; Gary Mauk, Jacksonville, Fla; Clinton and Jackie Hawk, Holt, Mo. The group meets again June 22, 2024.

clients to get Beers, image of a Sweet and thrifted not legalthere was a and how, slowly whose associated with decorated April, did a ceremony work.” who died planned to recommitment rent for chapel.” were the mirror. The asked them excitement,

the couple sauntered down the aisle, an instrumental hip-hop version of the wedding classic Canon in D oozed from a boombox, and a small crowd, most of them perfect strangers, danced and cheered in celebration.

The bride wore a sundress and a veil she picked out moments earlier and the groom a black button-down with a fresh haircut from his family’s salon down the street.

The ceremony itself took less than 10 minutes — affordable, memorable and intimate, exactly what Ana Soriano and Luis Moreno had wanted.

“It was just us,” she told him moments after their nuptials. “You and me.”

Both in their early 30s, the couple met on Myspace 13 years ago and got engaged at a cathedral in Italy a few months before the pandemic shutdowns.

Moreno, a studio engineer, lost his income overnight, and wedding planning moved to the back burner.

The couple knew some relatives had

Police reports

spent close to $50,000 on weddings, but they wanted to prioritize saving for a down payment on a home. And being inclined to avoid the spotlight, they liked the prospect of skipping the pressure of a big gathering.

They had settled on a backyard ceremony until the groom’s sister saw something on Facebook about the Old Brown House, a wedding chapel in Highland Park recently opened by a couple who, for years, officiated free weddings at Burning Man. Before the pandemic reorganized their lives and priorities, Soriano said, she felt some pressure to have a larger, more traditional wedding — but this had been so much better.

“Plan B is now Plan A for a lot of people,” said Connie Jones-Steward, an L.A.-based wedding officiant, who said the demand for small ceremonies has remained high since restrictions were lifted.

Largely gone are the days of Zoom weddings and socially distanced outdoor ceremonies, but some of the other pareddown celebrations that were once a pandemic

necessity are now increasingly a top choice.

Some of the lexicon popularized during the shutdowns — “micro-wedding” and “minimony,” the portmanteau of mini and ceremony — still dominates the bridal blogosphere, and hundreds of companies have cropped up to cater to tiny gatherings.

Google searches for “elopement” — a term whose definition has evolved in recent years, to suggest a small, destination wedding more than something furtive — are even higher now than during the first wave of pandemic shutdowns. A survey conducted by a diamond company a few months before the pandemic found that more than 90% of millennials said they would consider eloping. Their top reason? Saving money.

Jones-Steward — who offers a beach elopement package starting at $399 — keeps in touch with many of the couples who eloped during the pandemic and learned that some who originally planned to have another big cer-

See MINIMONY | Page A4

Barbara Irene (Bobby) Scott, age 85, of Humboldt, died Saturday, June 24, 2023, at Washington Regional Hospital, Fayetteville, Ark.

Bobby was born Oct. 28, 1937, in Iola.

Bobby and Jack Scott were married Feb. 12, 1956, in Iola

Bobby was preceded in death by her husband, Jack Scott; her infant son, Craig; and her daughter, Cindy Miller, on May 8, 2014.

Bobby is survived by her brother, Wayne Culberston; three grandsons, Nicholas (Elana) Mille, Fayetteville, Ark., Charlee and Presley “Scottie”; Nathan (Samantha) Miller, Fayetteville; Neal Miller, Chanute; three great-grandchildren and other relatives.

A graveside service and burial will be at 10:30 a.m., Wednesday, June 28, in Mount Hope Cemetery, Humboldt.

Memorials are suggested to Wings of Warriors, and may be left with Feuerborn Family Funeral Service, 1883 U.S. 54, Iola.

Condolences may be left at www.feuerbornfuneral.com.

Storms blast Midwest

SHOALS, Ind. (AP)

— A tornado struck a home, killing one occupant and injuring another as severe weather hit parts of Indiana, Tennessee and other states, an official said.

The tornado that struck the home Sunday evening was part of a storm system that pushed through Martin County, Indiana, WXIN-TV reported. A tornado also touched down Sunday afternoon in Johnson County, south of Indianapolis, damaging at least at least 75 homes, authorities said.

Martin County Emergency Management Agency Director Cameron Wolf confirmed the death and injury, according to WXIN, which reported that the home was in a rural area where multiple trees were brought down by high winds.

Martin County emergency management officials did not immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press seeking additional information about the casualties and the extent of storm damage.

The town of Shoals, the Martin County seat, is about 85 miles (140 kilometers) southwest of Indianapolis and 80 miles (130 kilometers) northwest of Louisville, Kentucky.

A tornado also touched down Sunday afternoon in Johnson County, south of Indianapolis, causing damage in communities including Greenwood and Bargersville, officials said.

Michael Pruitt, deputy fire chief of Bargersville, Indiana,

RECYCLE

told the Indianapolis Star a search and rescue operation did not find any deaths or injuries after the fire department responded to a 4:15 p.m. report of a structure collapse resulting from the Johnson County tornado, which he said was on the ground for about 15 minutes.

Bargersville Fire

Chief Erik Funkhouser said in a news conference Sunday that at least 75 homes suffered moderate to severe damage in a 3-mile (4.8-kilometer) area as the tornado crossed Indiana State Road 135 in the vicinity of Interstate 69.

“Obviously, this is a very dangerous scene for the area,” Funkhouser said. “We have power lines that are down all throughout that 3-mile area.”

Pruitt said affected homes could be without electricity for days.

Jessyca Copas, her

wife and father-in-law watched the funnel cloud as it moved behind a home across the street, the Indianapolis Star reported.

“It was starting to come back down, and there was like a buzzard caught in it,” Copas said. “I was like, ‘That bird’s not getting out.’”

A tree would fall into their home where Copas said the family, including her 20-monthold daughter, hunkered down in a bathroom for safety.

Kimber Olson, 42, told her 8-year-old son to sit in the bathtub while she stood outside and filmed what looked like two cyclones circling toward her apartment in Bargersville “The sound is deafening,” Olson said. “You’ll never forget the sound. Your ears pop in such a strange way. You get a ring in your ear.”

Carlyle news

Carlyle Presbyterian Church

Pastor Steve Traw’s message Sunday was “Steadfast Love” taken from Psalm 86:1-10.

Myrna Wildschuetz played “The Next Time He Comes” for the prelude and “Someone to Care” for the offertory.

An impromptu trio of Phyllis Loomis, Richard and Cheryl Klingensmith sang “I’ve Anchored in Jesus.”

The Carlyle Presbyterian Church, the oldest church in Allen County, was 164 years old on Sunday, June 25. The church is the oldest continuously

Joanne McIntyre

Carlyle News

active church this side of the Mississippi River. Linda Bartholomew and Jim Wildschuetz will celebrate their birthdays on Tuesday, June 27.

Bible Study with Pastor Traw is at 3 p.m. Tuesdays, on the New Testament Book of Matthew.

Ana Soriano and Luis Moreno kiss after they are married at the Old Brown House, a wedding chapel in Highland Park, Calif., which offered free ceremonies. LOS ANGELES TIMES/DANIA MAXWELL/TNS

Rodeo: Slocum rides to success

Continued from A1

at a rodeo in Holden, Mo.

SLOCUM has always harbored a love of riding. He’d help father Randy rope and work cows on their family farm.

It was a chance conversation during a visit to the Allen County Fair Rodeo while Slocum was in middle school that led to his roughand-tumble hobby.

“We were good friends with the rodeo’s contractor, and they had some small bucket horses there, and they needed them to be used for high school rodeos,” Slocum recalled. “They asked me if I would help.”

He started slowly, picked up some pointers from more experienced bronc riders, and soon developed a hankering for bareback riding.

Weekends were the busiest, particularly last fall.

Organizers at one rodeo event allowed Slocum to push back his opening ride because he had a scheduling conflict: The Cubs were scheduled to play in a regional playoff football game in Osage City.

“They helped me out, and allowed me to ride twice on Saturday,” he said.

There have been a

Daily pill may work as well as Wegovy shots to treat obesity

By JONEL ALECCIA The Associated Press

What if treating obesity could be as easy as popping an effective pill?

That’s a notion that has long fueled hope for many of the more than 40% of Americans who are considered obese — and fueled criticism by those who advocate for wider weight acceptance. Soon, it may be a reality.

at Denver Health, who treats patients with obesity but was not involved in the new research.

That’s assuming, Bessesen said, that both ways to take the medications are equally effective, available and affordable. “Those are the most important factors for people,” he said.

at how doses of oral semaglutide as high as 25 milligrams and 50 milligrams worked to reduce weight and improve blood sugar and other health markers.

few bumps and bruises along the way.

He tore a calf muscle last August when a horse stepped on his leg. Then, earlier this spring, he fell on his neck, injuring his back and giving him a concussion.

“I’m doing a lot better,” he said. “No pain or anything.”

WHERE SLOCUM, son of Randy and Angela Slocum, goes from here remains up in the air.

He enjoys riding, but

his prizes.

knows it rarely leads to a career.

Slocum, who works at Lang Diesel Chanute and at the Allen County Livestock Sale Barn in Gas, has options.

He could follow in the footsteps of his father and three of his older brothers and join the military.

Or, he could attend farrier school.

“There aren’t many places around here like that,” he said. “I’ve just always enjoyed working horses, trail riding, doing stuff like that.”

High-dose oral versions of the medication in the weight-loss drug Wegovy may work as well as the popular injections when it comes to paring pounds and improving health, according to final results of two studies released Sunday night. The potent tablets also appear to work for people with diabetes, who notoriously struggle to lose weight.

Drugmaker Novo Nordisk plans to ask the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to approve the pills later this year.

“If you ask people a random question, ‘Would you rather take a pill or an injection?’

People overwhelmingly prefer a pill,” said Dr. Daniel Bessesen, chief of endocrinology

There have been other weight-loss pills on the market, but none that achieve the substantial reductions seen with injected drugs like Wegovy. People with obesity will be “thrilled” to have an oral option that’s as effective, said Dr. Katherine Saunders, clinical professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Health and co-founder of Intellihealth, a company that focuses on obesity treatment.

Novo Nordisk already sells Rybelsus, which is approved to treat diabetes and is an oral version of semaglutide, the same medication used in the diabetes drug Ozempic and Wegovy. It comes in doses up to 14 milligrams.

But results of two gold-standard trials released at the American Diabetes Association’s annual meeting looked

A 16-month study of about 1,600 people who were overweight or had obesity and were already being treated for Type 2 diabetes found the highdose daily pills lowered blood sugar significantly better than the standard dose of Rybelsus. From a baseline weight of 212 pounds, the higher doses also resulted in weight loss of between 15 and 20 pounds, compared to about 10 pounds on the lower dose.

Another 16-month study of more than 660 adults who had obesity or were overweight with at least one related disease — but not diabetes — found the 50-milligram daily pill helped people lose an average of about 15% of their body weight, or about 35 pounds, versus about 6 pounds with a dummy pill, or placebo.

That’s “notably consistent” with the weight loss spurred by weekly shots of the highest dose of Wegovy, the study authors said.

Wagner: Uncertainy swirls after mercenary leader’s march

Continued from A1

military, calling his march a “master class” on how it should have carried out the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. He also mocked the Russian military for failing to protect the country, pointing out security breaches that allowed Wagner to march 780 kilometers (500 miles) without facing resistance and block all military units on its way.

The bullish statement made no clearer what would ultimately happen to Prigozhin and his forces under the deal purportedly brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

Though his mutiny was brief, it was not bloodless. Russian media reported that several military helicopters and a military communications plane were shot down by Wagner forces, killing at least 15. Prigozhin expressed regret

for downing the aircraft but said they were bombing his convoys.

Russia’s Defense Ministry has denied attacking Wagner’s camp, and the U.S. had intelligence that Prigozhin had been building up his forces near the border with Russia for some time, suggesting the revolt was planned.

Russia’s RIA Novosti state news agency cited unidentified sources in the Prosecutor General’s office as saying the criminal case against Prigozhin hasn’t been closed, despite earlier Kremlin statements. The Interfax news agency carried a similar report.

Should the case continue, Prigozhin’s presence in Belarus — a staunch Kremlin ally — would offer little protection against arrest and extradition.

Some Russian lawmakers called for his head.

Andrei Gurulev, a retired general and current lawmaker who has rowed with the mercenary leader, said Prigozhin and his right-hand man Dmitry Utkin, a former military officer who runs Wagner, deserve “a bullet in the head.”

“I firmly believe that traitors in wartime must be executed,” he said.

It was unclear what resources Prigozhin has to draw on, and how much of his substantial wealth he can access.

Police searching his St. Petersburg office on the day of the rebellion found 4 billion rubles ($48 million) in trucks outside the building, according to Russian media reports confirmed by the Wagner boss. He claimed the money was intended to pay his soldiers’ families.

Russian media reported that Wagner offices in several Russian cities had reopened on

Monday and the company had resumed enlisting recruits.

In a return to at least superficial normality, Moscow’s mayor announced an end to the “counterterrorism regime” imposed on the capital Saturday, when troops and armored vehicles set up checkpoints on the outskirts and authorities tore up roads leading into the city.

The Defense Ministry video of Shoigu came as Russian media specu-

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lated that he and other military leaders have lost Putin’s confidence and could be replaced.

Shoigu was shown in a helicopter and then meeting with officers at a military headquarters in Ukraine in video broadcast on Russian media, including state-controlled television. It was unclear when it was shot.

General Staff chief Gen. Valery Gerasimov, also a main target of Prigozhin’s ire, has not appeared in public.

Before the uprising, Prigozhin had blasted Shoigu and Gerasimov with expletive-ridden insults for months, attacking them for failing to provide his troops with enough ammunition during the fight for the Ukrainian town of Bakhmut, the war’s longest and bloodiest battle.

Prigozhin’s rift with the military dates back years, to Russia’s intervention in Syria, where Wagner forces also were active.

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Dakota Slocum with some of

COURTESY

PHOTO

Get your kids in the kitchen this summer

The month of June has been a blur with hosting youth cooking classes throughout the Southwind Extension District.

The district covers Allen, Bourbon, Neosho, and Woodson Counties. These classes provide an excellent hands-on opportunity for youth to build their confidence in the kitchen.

The summer is a great time for you to invite kids into the kitchen to cook healthy meals together at home.

The benefits of cooking together include building children’s self-esteem, helping

Clara Wicoff Extension Agent for Health, Wellness and Nutrition

them develop small muscle skills as they complete kitchen tasks, and creating time for bonding with your children. Cooking together also helps children practice math and reading skills as they read and interpret recipes, work with fractions, and measure ingredients. Research also sug-

gests that youth who cook have healthier dietary habits.

So, how can you get your kids in the kitchen this summer to experience some of these same benefits?

Keep these tips in mind:

• Remember that meals will likely take longer to prepare. Do not try to cook together when you are in a hurry.

• Teach children about handwashing. Before cooking, you should always wash your hands with clean water and soap for at least 20 seconds.

• Have children com-

plete age-appropriate tasks. For example, tasks for 2-4 year old children could include using measuring spoons, pouring liquids, mixing ingredients with a spoon or with their hands and rolling, shaping and cutting dough. Tasks for 8-11 year old children could include using a vegetable peeler, whisking ingredients together, cracking eggs, using a small knife, mashing soft foods and peeling oranges. For more information, please contact me at clarawicoff@ksu.edu or 620-365-2242.

Minimony: Cost-conscious couples tie knot on a budget

Continued from A2

emony down the road ultimately decided against it, realizing they were grateful to have avoided the stress and cost. These days, she said, many of her Gen Z and younger millennial clients prioritize saving for travel and a down payment.

“They’d rather have this quickie ceremony,” she said, “and spend the money on a world cruise for a honeymoon.”

And if marital longevity is your goal, there’s evidence that’s a good call.

A pair of economists surveyed more than 3,000 people who were or had been married and found that those who spent $1,000 or less on their wedding were significantly less likely to get divorced than many couples who had spent more. Going on a honeymoon, however, correlated with a longer marriage duration.

One of the study’s authors, Hugo Mialon, an Emory University economics professor, said he was inspired to conduct the study, in part, by ads he’d seen on TV as a child from De Beers, the company that introduced the slogan “A diamond is forever” in an attempt to boost sales after the Great Depression.

The expensive-crystals-equal-everlasting-love messaging proved wildly successful for the company, which, in another advertising campaign decades later, used an image of a beautiful, pouty woman to help shape cultural expectations around how much suitors should spend on a ring.

“You can’t look at Jane and tell me she’s not worth 2 months’ salary,” it read. “I mean just look at her.”

The Old Brown House, which looks just like it sounds, sits on a fairly quiet stretch of York Boulevard, across the street from a cannabis dispensary that was once a Pizza Hut.

Decorated on the inside with vintage furniture and a pump organ, the chapel held its grand opening on the second Saturday in June — the brain- and love child of owners Tess Sweet and Dan Gambelin.

The couple met at Burning Man in 2009 and returned several years after that to perform free wedding ceremonies to honor the festival’s tradition of giving. They loaned out thrifted gowns, gifted rubber rings and devised a Mad Libs-style format so people could quickly write personalized vows. They married more than 300 couples in ceremonies that, although not legally binding, were often profound.

Sweet, 51, and Gambelin, 54, both faced career crossroads early in the pandemic, and as they reflected on the intense joy packed into that week at the festival, they wondered if there was a way to sprinkle that throughout the year.

“We both retired from worlds that broke our hearts,” Sweet said. “This is a new chapter.” For more than 20 years, Sweet worked to establish herself as a filmmaker, but she grew increasingly discouraged by the industry and how so much hinges on whom you know — and how, as soon as you’ve finished one project, people immediately ask what’s next.

At the end of 2020, Gambelin retired early with post-traumatic stress disorder after more than two decades as a firefighter and paramedic in San Mateo, a job he loved but one that slowly ate away at him. He began to disassociate, stamping down devastating images seared into his mind — body parts in a field at the scene of a car accident, the terror in the eyes of a child whose little brother died of sudden infant death syndrome. He had been there for the worst days of so many people’s lives. It gnawed at him that,

even though they surely didn’t remember him, his presence, his face, had been associated with deep fear and despair.

Officiating weddings, he realized, offered the exact opposite; now he was the stranger playing a small part in one of the happiest days of their lives.

Using money they’d saved from selling their home in the Santa Cruz Mountains several years earlier, the couple bought the chapel in 2021. It was painted white at the time and decorated with signs that the previous owners used to advertise their tax and notary services, as well as weddings and divorces.

Sweet and Gambelin — who both got ordained online through the Universal Life Church to perform weddings — spent two years renovating the place themselves and, in April, did a test run of sorts officiating the wedding of Hattie Brown, one of Sweet’s relatives.

She and her now-husband, Daniel Saavedra, who works as a chef at a restaurant downtown, got engaged a few months before the pandemic and knew they wanted a simple ceremony — something affordable, lighthearted and poignant to honor the relationship they’d built since meeting a decade ago while working at Yosemite National Park.

“I didn’t want the whole bells and whistles wedding,” said Brown, who stays home to care for the couple’s 6-month-old daughter. “That’s a lot of money that we don’t have and a lot of work.”

On a bright Saturday in April, about 20 of their family members gathered at the Old Brown House. Before they walked down the

aisle, everyone took a shot of tequila.

Two of Saavedra’s brothers, who initially had scheduling conflicts, surprised them by showing up, and Brown carried a bouquet that included a small picture of her father, who died last year. During the ceremony, Saavedra recalled looking over at Brown and then up at the strings of lights lining the ceiling of the chapel.

“Almost like I was in a fairy tale,” he said.

At the grand opening, the chapel offered free ceremonies all day and the event stretched until after dark.

Of the twelve couples who had ceremonies, which were split between the indoor chapel and outdoors, some had brought their marriage license paperwork and others either planned to get their official license later or had the ceremony as a symbolic union but didn’t intend to file paperwork with the state. A few other couples, including the owners, had recommitment ceremonies.

Sweet and Gambelin are still nailing down specifics on pricing but plan to offer weddings for around $600 — less than the price of a new iPhone and less than a third of the average rent for a studio apartment in L.A. The couple added that they intend to never turn someone away because of cost, describing it as a “nontraditional, nonconformist, sliding-scale wedding chap-

el.”

To keep some of the pop-up energy of the weddings at Burning Man, they’ve decided not to book things out more than a month or two in advance.

“It’s like going to Vegas,” Sweet said. “Elope to Highland Park.”

Early in the event, people began to huddle near a table decorated with wildflowers in a mason jar and a yellow legal pad. Soriano and Moreno, the couple who met on Myspace, were the first names on the list.

Sweet welcomed them and tugged Soriano into a shed filled with loaner dresses and other accessories. Soriano clipped a layered veil into her hair, tearing up when she looked in the mirror. The officiant, Kaibrina Sky Buck, one of Sweet’s longtime friends, popped in to introduce herself and asked what descriptors to use to refer to the couple.

“Husband and wife is good,” Soriano said.

“OK, cool!” Buck said.

“Let’s do this!”

An hour later, another

couple, Jen Ballera and William Ascencio, who live two doors down from the event space, had their ceremony in the indoor chapel. Gambelin, who officiated, asked them to read from the Mad Libs-style vows they’d filled out 10 minutes earlier.

“My dearest Jen,” the groom said, “together with you, my life is amazing, fun and damn near perfect.”

“My dearest Will,” she told him, “together with you, my life is full of music and joy and love.”

After they kissed, Crazy Town’s iconic track spilled out of the boombox — “Come my lady, come, come my lady. You’re my butterfly, sugar, baby” — and Ballera lifted her eyebrows in excitement, bursting into laughter. The song had been popular when they were growing up and always had a way of following them.

“Did you ask them to play this?” she asked. Ascencio shook his head.

Sweet had picked it out — a staple on her playlist of favorite celebration songs.

Southwind Extension Agent Clara Wicoff, left, watches a youngster take part in a cooking class in Humboldt earlier this month. SOUTHWIND EXTENSION DISTRICT

Jen Ballera and William Ascencio have their photo taken before their wedding ceremony. LOS ANGELES TIMES/DANIA MAXWELL/TNS

Russia’s internal rebellion exposed

Putin survives, but mercenaries’ revolt reveals cracks

The unsuccessful rebellion Saturday by Yevgeny Prigozhin and his Wagner Group of mercenaries will leave Vladimir Putin in power. But it underscores how much Mr. Putin’s failed attempt to conquer Ukraine has weakened Russia and sapped its military strength.

Sixteen months ago as he invaded Ukraine, Mr. Putin spoke confidently that Russia was embarking on a nationalist endeavor to protect itself from a Western threat that didn’t exist. He thought he could take Kyiv in days. On Saturday the not-so-strongman had to beseech his weakened military to protect the Kremlin from a home-grown challenge that he called “treason.” There were unconfirmed reports that his plane had fled Moscow.

Mr. Prigozhin later called off his troops from marching to Moscow after clashes that were likely to become bloody. In a deal brokered by the Belarus dictator and Putin ally, Alexander Lukashenko, Mr. Prigozhin will live in exile in Belarus. His Wagner Group’s forces won’t be prosecuted and those who didn’t take up arms against Moscow will be integrated into the military. Mr. Prigozhin began his rise to power as Mr. Putin’s caterer, and he will need a food taster in Minsk.

The 24-hour rebellion and retreat suggest Mr. Prigozhin lacked the broader support in the military or political class he hoped to inspire. This presumably ends his challenge to Mr. Putin’s 23-year rule. But it doesn’t end the larger frustration in Russia over a war the country hasn’t been able to win but Mr. Putin isn’t able to extricate from except at the cost of admitting defeat.

The rebellion was an irony of Mr. Putin’s own creation. The Kremlin promoted the Wagner Group as a brutal extension of Russian foreign policy. Its forces have acted as Mr. Putin’s ruthless agents in Syria and Africa in particular. They were among the fiercest fighters in Ukraine, taking horrific casualties in cities like Bakhmut.

But Mr. Prigozhin has openly expressed his frustration for weeks about those casualties and the Russian military’s failures in Ukraine, and he may have sensed that Mr. Putin would act against him and his troops. He acted first, and the impact of his retreat in the near term will be a blow to Mr. Putin’s abil-

ity to use the Wagner troops to project power abroad and meddle in other countries. For Russia, the failed rebellion exposes the cracks in the facade of unity that Mr. Putin’s censorship has created. The extent of unhappiness among the elite, or siloviki, is hard for outsiders to see. But it has to exist as they watch Russia’s military power be squandered, its economy decline, and its global isolation grow. After his initial failure to take Kyiv, Mr. Putin’s bet has been that he can out-wait Western support for Ukraine in a grinding battle of attrition. He still has the advantage in manpower, and the ability to throw green recruits into the meat-grinder. But the battle of attrition works both ways, even if the West can’t easily judge its impact inside Russia.

The moment would seem ripe for Ukraine to accelerate its summer offensive and retake more of its territory from the invaders. If the U.S. had provided more advanced weapons sooner, Ukraine would be better positioned to do so. President Biden conferred on Saturday with leaders of the G-7 and reiterated steadfast support for Ukraine.

This is the right message, but F-16 jets and other assets are still weeks or more from deployment. Congress would be undermining Ukraine at the worst moment if it refuses more military aid later this summer.

THE FAILED COUP also offers portents of trouble for the stability of Russia as the war grinds on. Mr. Putin’s goal in Ukraine has been to revive the Greater Russian empire, but instead he has pushed the Ukrainian people closer to the West. Kyiv may end the war as a near-member of NATO, as no less than Henry Kissinger now advises. And who knows if Mr. Putin can hold Russia itself together with its disparate ethnic groups and frustration at the casualties and sacrifice of war.

The goal of Western policy isn’t to break up what has always been an artificial empire. But the U.S. can’t control what happens, and there should be no effort to keep the Russian Federation together. The best result from this costly, tragic war would be a stronger Western alliance free of the post-Cold War illusions that Russia and China pose no threat and the welfare state can replace the will and money required for national defense.

— The Wall Street Journal

A look back in t me. A look back in t me.

70 Years Ago

June 1958

HUMBOLDT — Charles L.

Fussman has been named superintendent of Monarch Cement Co., succeeding Harris Fegely, announced company president, Walter H. Wulf. Fussman has been employed by Monarch since 1948, when he started as a summer laborer while attending college. *****

The John Redmond Dam, for which the House of Representatives has authorized an initial $400,000, is the key structure in the Army Engineer’s plan for controlling floods and providing a more

Looking for the nature of joy

By MARGARET RENKL Guest opinion for The New York Times

NASHVILLE — Thanks to a Covid infection early in the pandemic, my blood pressure goes haywire when the temperature and dew point are both very high, and I have trouble breathing when the air quality is poor, too, so I stay indoors much of the summer now. But last Sunday I woke early to the most beautiful day in the history of the world, as my brother calls every day of his life. All around my yard, the world was renewing itself.

I’d turned the sprinkler on my pollinator garden the day before, and sometime during the night our newly resident armadillo had taken advantage of the damp soil nearby to dig a number of small holes in the mowed part of our front yard. I don’t mind the holes. As with the loose soil turned up by moles, the pocked ground that armadillos leave behind makes a perfect landing place for wildflower seeds carried on the wind.

During dry times, worms move deep below the surface, but they move up again when the soil is damp. Waking up to moist, newly turned soil is a gift to ground-feeding birds, and all around the yard robins were monitoring the armadillo holes. One bird would cock an invisible ear toward the ground, and then another would do the same at a hole a few feet away — a concatenation of robins listening and then plunging their yellow bills into the loose dirt, pulling out something juicy to feed their babies.

out of the mesh bag where we store our clothespins. Carolina wrens are famous for building nests in peculiar places, often in proximity to human beings, so I hurried Rascal back inside and stood at the door to watch the wren couple bringing leaves and pine straw to the mesh bag. Sometimes they took turns. Sometimes they climbed in together, so busy the whole clothesline bounced up and down.

Once the day warmed up, our resident broadhead skink returned from wherever she had been guarding her eggs and reclaimed her spot on the front stoop. Years ago, for his father’s sake, my husband built a ramp up to our front door and covered it with old roofing shingles. We could safely remove the ramp now — my father-inlaw died two years ago — but those shingles absorb heat in a way that is greatly appealing to lizards, and I love watching the lizards.

nest next to our backyard brush pile. I have seen no other survivor from that litter, and their mother is still the lone adult rabbit in the yard. By now she has surely hidden another litter somewhere nearby, though I haven’t stumbled upon it. I may never see those kits at all, just as I may never see any baby Carolina wrens. Most of the young in this yard do not live to see adulthood, for this yard, like the great world, is full of predators and other dangers.

Joy is not a given in the natural world. ... Most of the young in this yard do not live to see adulthood, for this yard, like the great world, is full of predators and other dangers.

Our longtime broadhead is often joined now by a juvenile five-lined skink. Both skinks have a scar that marks the place where they once lost a tail in escaping from a predator. The fivelined skink looks to have regrown more than one tail. Its scars are overlapping.

I can’t tell you how much delight I take in watching a young animal’s deep pleasure in existence, enjoying the power of its beautiful young body in a beautiful old world.

The Virginia opossum who has taken to sleeping beneath our family room may likewise have only one surviving baby, but the one we have seen seems to be having a grand time figuring things out. On our trail camera, we see it climbing onto our back deck from time to time. My husband, who likes to sit out in the dark backyard and look at the moon, once heard something stirring at his feet. When he opened the flashlight app on his phone, the young opossum was sniffing a box of crackers that my husband had set on the ground.

stable flow of water on the Neosho River. The reservoir will have a total capacity of 387,000 acre feet of water. The dam will be about 41,400 feet long with a maximum height of 79 feet above the stream bed. The estimated cost of the dam is $28,400,000, plus rights of way and planning. *****

Saddle clubbers from about a dozen local towns will assemble here for the SEK association shodeo of the Iola Buckbrush Buckaroos. The show will be held on the Buckbrush grounds at the Phil Woodward farm north of town on Highways 59 and 169.

While I was watching the robins from our living-room window, a tiny cottontail emerged from the depths of the pollinator garden. The wee rabbit would take a bite of clover and then leap straight up. It would take a bite of violet and then dash madly around the circumference of the pollinator bed, leaping and twisting in midair.

I can’t tell you how much delight I take in watching a young animal’s deep pleasure in existence, enjoying the power of its beautiful young body in a beautiful old world.

When I opened the door to let the dog out to pee in the small part of our yard that is fenced, a Carolina wren shot

If you could watch skinks taking the afternoon sun, you would have no trouble understanding that wild creatures take great pleasure in the world.

I stand at my storm door as they stretch out on the dark shingles, their eyes closed, their miniature arms and legs spread out behind them the way a toddler does in sleep. When the skinks see me peering at them through the storm door, they merely watch me watching them. If I open the door, or if the dog joins me to look at them through the door, they’ll both scoot under the ramp. They appear to trust me in a provisional way. They do not trust Rascal, even through the glass.

Joy is not a given in the natural world. The baby rabbit I watched cavorting in the pollinator garden was almost certainly born in the

I’m not anthropomorphizing here. To understand that we all exist in a magnificent, fragile body, beautiful and vulnerable at once, is not to ascribe human feelings to nonhuman animals. It is only to recognize kinship. We belong here, possum and person alike, robin and wren and rabbit, lizard and mole and armadillo. We all belong here, and what we share as mortal beings is often more than we want to let ourselves understand. We all have overlapping scars.

I think the ever-present threat my wild neighbors live with must tell us something about the nature of joy. The fallen world — peopled by predators and disease and the relentlessness of time, shot through with every kind of suffering — is not the only world. We also dwell in Eden, and every morning the world is trying to renew itself again. Why should we not glory in it, too?

About the author: Margaret Renkl is a contributing Opinion writer to the New York Times and is the author of the books “Graceland, at Last” and “Late Migrations.” Her next book, “The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year,” will be published in October.

By CASEY QUINLAN Kansas Reflector

Economists have been predicting a recession for months, but the labor market has remained resilient, wage growth is higher than before the pandemic, and inflation continues to drop, now at 4% compared to 9.1% in June of last year. Despite this good news, consumers don’t feel confident about the future, according to the consumer confidence index, which is at a six-month low.

The consumer confidence index fell to 102.3 in May from 103.7 in April. The present situation index, which shows how consumers feel about current conditions in business and labor, dropped to 148.6 from 151.8, and the expectations index inched down to 71.5 from 71.7. According to the Conference Board, an economic research

and business membership organization that releases the index, an expectations index below 80 is associated with a recession within the next year. People aged 55 or older were especially pessimistic about the economy. The next consumer confidence survey results come out on June 27.

“The technical term for the type of economy that we’re in now is weird,” said William Hauk, associate professor of economics at the University of South Carolina. “On the one hand, there’s a lot of very good news. We have a very low unemployment rate, really almost historically low

at this point. The job market is doing well. At first, coming out of the pandemic, some people were concerned that the low unemployment rate was driven in part by low labor force participation. But that’s really kind of caught up to where it was in pre-pandemic terms.”

Although inflation is easing up, consumers are still paying more at the store than they’re used to paying in recent history, Hauk said. A lack of affordable housing, the Federal Reserve’s raising of interest rates before the survey ended, and news about bank failures and policymakers’ discussions over the debt ceiling may have all contributed to a gloomier outlook, economic experts said.

“Since the late ’80s to the ’90s, and 2000s, really, up until the last couple of years, we got used to having an inflation somewhere between

0% to 2% a year,” Hauk said. “So 4%, even though that’s certainly better than 8% or 9%, that’s higher than people are used to. I think it makes people feel kind of grumpy when they’re going to the grocery store, filling up their cars with gas and a lot of the other, you know, day-to-day purchases that they make, so I think that’s a big thing that’s dragging down consumer confidence.”

Why does the consumer confidence index matter?

Economists and other economic experts say it’s a useful, if imperfect measure because it can provide information about future consumer behavior, which affects the economy. About 70% of the GDP is consumer spending.

“If consumers are nervous, that can mean less spending on the part of households and as a result that would make a recession more likely,” Hauk said.

Loans: Recommendations when student loan payments resume

Continued from A1

savings account.

“Then you’ve maintained the habit of making the payment, but (you’re) earning a little bit of interest as well,” she said. “There’s no reason to send that money to the student loans until the last minute of the 0% interest rate.”

Mayotte recommends borrowers use the loan-simulator tool at StudentAid.gov or the one on TISLA’s website to find a payment plan that best fits their needs. The calculators tell you what your monthly payment would be under each available plan, as well as your long-term costs.

“I really want to emphasize the long-term,” Mayotte said.

Sometimes, when borrowers are in a financial bind, they’ll choose the option with the lowest monthly payment, which can cost more over the life of the loan, Mayotte said. Rather than “setting it and forgetting it,” she encourages borrowers to reevaluate when their financial situation improves.

WHAT’S AN INCOME-DRIVEN REPAYMENT PLAN?

An income-driven repayment plan sets your monthly student loan payment at an amount that is intended to be affordable based on your income and family size. It takes into account different expenses in your budget, and most federal student loans are eligible for at least one of these types of plans.

Generally, your payment amount under an income-driven repayment plan is a percentage of your discretionary income. If your income is low enough, your payment could be as low as $0 per month.

If you’d like to repay your federal student loans under an income-driven plan, the first step is to fill out an application through the Federal Student Aid website.

TALK TO AN ADVISER

Fran Gonzales, 27, who is based in Texas, works as a supervisor for a financial institution. She holds $32,000 in public student loans and $40,000 in private student loans. During the payment pause on her public loans, Gon-

zales said she was able to pay off her credit card debt, buy a new car, and pay down two years’ worth of private loans while saving money. Her private student loan payment has been $500 a month, and her public student loan payment will be $350 per month when it restarts.

Gonzales recommends that anyone with student loans speak with a mentor or financial advisor to educate themselves about their options, as well as making sure they’re in an income-driven repayment plan.

The Federal Student Aid website can help direct you to counselors, as well as organizations like the Student Borrower Protection Center and the Institute of Student Loan Advisors.

“I was the first in my family to go to college, and I could have saved money with grants and scholarships had I known someone who knew about college,” she said. “I could have gone to community college or lived in cheaper housing … It’s a huge financial decision.”

Gonzales received her degree in business marketing and says she was “horrible with finances” until she began working as a loan officer herself.

Gonzales’s mother works in retail and her father for the airport, she said, and both encouraged her to pursue higher education. For her part, Gonzales now tries to inform others with student loans about what they’re taking on and what their choices are.

“Anyone young I cross paths with, I try to educate them.”

CAN I SET UP A PAYMENT PLAN FOR MY STUDENT LOANS?

Yes — payment plans are always available.

Even so, some advocates encourage borrowers to wait for now, since there’s no financial penalty for nonpayment during the pause on payments and interest accrual.

Katherine Welbeck of the Student Borrower Protection Center recommends logging on to your account and making sure you know the name of your servicer, your due date and whether you’re enrolled in the best income-driven repayment plan.

WHAT IF I CAN’T PAY?

If your budget doesn’t allow you to resume payments, it’s important to know how to navigate the possibility of default and delinquency on a student loan. Both can hurt your credit rating, which would make you ineligible for additional aid.

If you’re in a shortterm financial bind, according to Mayotte, you may qualify for deferment or forbearance — allowing you to temporarily suspend payment.

To determine whether deferment or forbearance are good options for you, you can contact your loan servicer. One thing to note: interest still accrues during deferment or forbearance. Both can also impact potential loan forgiveness options. Depending on the conditions of your deferment or forbearance, it may make sense to continue paying the interest during the payment suspension.

HOW CAN I REDUCE COSTS WHEN PAYING OFF MY STUDENT LOANS?

— If you sign up for automatic payments, the servicer takes a quarter of a percent off your interest rate, according to Mayotte.

— Income-driven repayment plans aren’t right for everyone. That said, if you know you will eventually qualify for forgiveness under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, it makes sense to make the lowest monthly payments possible, as the remainder of your debt will be cancelled once that decade of payments is complete.

— Reevaluate your monthly student loan repayment during tax season, when you already have all your financial information in front of you. “Can you afford to increase it? Or do you need to decrease it?” Mayotte said.

— Break up payments into whatever ways work best for you. You could consider two installments per month, instead of one large monthly sum.

ARE STUDENT LOANS FORGIVEN AFTER 10 YEARS?

If you’ve worked for a government agency or a nonprofit, the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program offers cancellation after 10

years of regular payments, and some income-driven repayment plans cancel the remainder of a borrower’s debt after 20 to 25 years.

Borrowers should

make sure they’re signed up for the best possible income-driven repayment plan to qualify for these programs.

Borrowers who have been defrauded by

for-profit colleges may also apply for borrower defense and receive relief.

These programs won’t be affected by the Supreme Court ruling.

TUESDAY, July

Why so worried? Wage growth is high, jobs are steady, inflation is falling

Inflation continues to drop but lingering high prices, particularly for groceries, have left consumers grumpy, says one economist. (BRANDON BELL/GETTY IMAGES)

Iola native goes the distance

By QUINN BURKITT The Iola Register

KANSAS CITY — Iola native Noah Schowengerdt is getting set to compete at the track and field AAU Junior Olympics nationals meet next month in Des Moines, Iowa.

Schowengerdt, 15, was raised in Iola until his freshman year, when he and his family moved to Kansas City. Schowengerdt attends St. James Academy.

While in Iola, Schowengerdt broke a 37-year-old Iola Middle School record in the 1600-meter run and was also a standout in the 800 meters.

Then an eighth-grader, Schowengerdt ran the 1600 meters in 5 minutes, .55 seconds and the 800 meters in 2:13.

Schowengerdt’s 1600-meter mark broke current Burlington High athletic director Charlie Whitworth’s mark from 1985.

“There appears to be a thought that small town kids have trouble competing against bigger city kids,” said Daniel Schowengerdt, Noah’s father. “There’s so many kids in Allen County that can compete at high levels. Noah’s a testament of that.”

To qualify for the Amateur Athletic Union Junior Olym-

pics, Schowengerdt finished first in the 800- and 1600-meter races at the AAU district competition in Hillsboro, Mo., and first in the 800 meters at the AAU regional competition in St. Louis.

“The goal is to win the Junior Olympics. I’m going to try my hardest every day just for that,” Schowengerdt said.

“There’s no specific time in my head, it’s just about win-

CASA golf tourney assists

local

children

By QUINN BURKITT The Iola Register

The 17th annual CASA Father’s Day Charitable Golf Tournament was hosted by District Court Judge David Rogers at the Allen County Country Club on Saturday.

Nineteen teams consisting of 77 golfers participated. The action included three flights ranging from very skilled, skilled and slightly less skilled golfers as well as individual contests.

In the A Flight of very skilled golfers, Southern Star Central No. 2 came in first place and consisted of team members Kortney McGraw, Johnnie Riley and Bob and Kaden Macha.

In second place was Twin Motors Ford — Mike Koehn, Ethan Harris, Blake Appling, Jeremy and Xander Sellman.

In the B Flight of skilled players, Iola Insurance Associates came in first place — Ken Taiclet, Travis Larson, Steven Lucke and Bruce Faulhaver.

Second place went to Ash Grove Cement’s team of Joe Relph, Jessie Holtzman, Trent Zartman and Jesse Morris.

In the C Flight of the slightly less skilled golfers, the Porter Family No. 2 team took first place — Brianne and Nathaniel Porter, Eric Bambick and Rusty Wright. In second place was the Bank

See CASA Page B3

ning it. Going against tougher competition helps with everything, even the way I practice.”

At St. James, Schowengerdt set the freshman records in the 200-, 400- and 800-meter runs and was instrumental in helping set new school records in the 4x400 and 4x800 meter relays.

Schowengerdt also helped St. James Academy to win its

first ever Class 5A state championship title in track and field.

To put Schowengerdt’s achievements in perspective, in the last year he has shaved off 14 seconds in his time in the 800 meters. For most athletes, cutting anywhere from one to four seconds from year to year is deemed a success.

“The coaches take running really seriously,” he said. “I

dedicate my success to them. They just really put their time into you and that helped me a lot. It’s really competitive. I run every day and I’m starting to swim and jump rope every day. Lifting weights is also a big part of my routine.”

Though Schowengerdt also competed on the swim and soccer teams when he lived in Iola, his focus has since been solely on track and field.

“It’s a sport that I love a lot more than any other sport I’ve done,” he said. “Falling in love with the process of running track has been key. If you love a sport you’re going to perform better.”

Noah and his family have appreciated the support they’ve received from the Iola community, even after moving away.

“Support of the community (Iola) has been pretty incredible,” said Daniel Schowengerdt, an attorney with Johnson & Schowengerdt.

“When Noah was in Iola he had so much support and that support has continued. We still get calls and texts from parents of kids he played sports with. Members of the community have really been invested and continue to encourage him.”

Schowengerdt also is a standout student, earning straight A’s his freshman year.

Friday night lights

A&W’s

Iola native and current St. James Academy track and field standout Noah Schowengerdt poses with his medals after the AAU Junior Olympics regional meet in St. Louis, Mo. COURTESY PHOTO

The Flight A Second Place team of Twin Motors Ford. From left are Ethan Harris, Jeremy Sellman, Mike Koehn, Blake Appling and Xander Sellman. COURTESY PHOTO

Zerel Howard swings the bat on field 5, top, while Sigg Tire’s Myer Mulsow throws a ball to first base. REGISTER/QUINN BURKITT

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Sealed bids will be accepted at the Code Services office no later than 10 a.m. on ,July 5, 2023. No contracts shall be awarded until final evaluation of bids has been conducted and approval is granted by the City Council. The City of Iola reserves the right to reject any and all bids, waive technicalities, and make awards deemed to be in the best interest of the City of Iola.

Published in the Iola Register June 21 and 27 and July 1, 2023

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Court unfreezes La. redistricting maps

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday lifted its hold on a Louisiana political remap case, increasing the likelihood that the Republican-dominated state will have to redraw boundary lines to create a second mostly Black congressional district.

The development revived Black Louisianans’ optimism of creating a second majority-Black district in the Deep South state. For more than a year there has been a legal battle over the GOPdrawn political boundaries, with opponents arguing that the map is unfair and discriminates against Black voters. The map, which was used in Louisiana’s November congressional election, has white majorities in five of six districts — despite Black people accounting for one-third of the state’s population.

White Republicans hold each of the five mostly white districts. A mostly Black district could deliver another

congressional seat to Democrats.

“I’m super excited,” Ashley Shelton, head of the Power Coalition for Equity and Justice, one of the groups challenging the maps, said following Monday’s news. “What this does is it puts us back on track to realize a second majority-minority district.”

The order follows the court’s rejection earlier in June of a congressional redistricting map in Alabama and unfreezes the Louisiana case, which had been on hold pending the decision in Alabama.

In both states, Black voters are a majority in just one congressional district. Lower courts had ruled that the maps raised concerns that Black voting power had been diluted, in violation of the landmark federal Voting Rights Act.

The justices had allowed the state’s challenged map to be used in last year’s elections while they considered the Alabama case.

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Florida sets CWS record for runs with 24-4 win over LSU

OMAHA, Neb. (AP)

— Florida had been involved in more close games than any other team at the College World Series this year.

That changed in a big way Sunday, when the Gators unleashed an offensive barrage of historic proportions.

Florida scored the most runs in a CWS game and came up one short of the record for largest margin of victory in a 24-4 rout of LSU that forced a deciding Game 3 of the finals.

The Gators (54-16) hit six home runs on a windy day at Charles Schwab Field and pounded LSU (53-17) pitching for a CWS record-tying 23 hits a day after Ty Floyd struck out 17 in the Tigers’ 4-3, 11-inning win in Game 1.

“We did exactly what we said we were going to do — flush last night and come in today ready to play,” outfielder Wyatt Langford said. “The balls were falling for us today. And that’s just kind of how it went.”

The teams play the final game of the College World Series on Monday night, with the winner earning the national championship.

“Obviously we can’t take any of these runs into tomorrow,” Gators coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “We’ll have to reset, reboot. But awfully proud of the way they responded from last night’s tough loss.”

LSU coach Jay Johnson said he and his players must quickly forget what happened Sunday.

“So we’re going to stick to how we prepare and roll it out tomorrow and give it everything we have,” Johnson said. “One game for the national championship. I think coach O’Sullivan probably feels great about his team, as he should with the players they have.

“I feel great with my

team, with the players we have.”

Two-way star Jac Caglianone will pitch for the Gators. Johnson didn’t announce a starter or comment on the availability of ace Paul Skenes, who has thrown 15 2/3 innings over two CWS starts and would be coming off three days’ rest if he were to pitch.

Florida came into Sunday having played in four of the CWS record-tying eight onerun games. The Gators had totaled 17 runs in those games before the offense broke loose.

Ty Evans and Caglianone each homered twice, with Evans’ grand slam breaking things open early. Langford and BT Riopelle also went deep.

Florida’s 24 runs broke Notre Dame’s CWS record, set in a 23-2 win over Northern Colorado in 1957. The 20-run win over the Tigers ranks second to that game for largest margin.

The Gators hadn’t

Keegan Bradley wins Travelers Championship; breaks record

CROMWELL, Conn (AP) — Growing up in New England, Keegan Bradley says he wasn’t invited to the big junior events that youngsters from Florida got to play.

That made it all the more special for the Vermont native to win in front of a New England crowd.

Despite a shaky finish, which he said came from the nerves of wanting so badly to win, the 37-year-old broke the tournament record at the Travelers Championship on Sunday for his sixth tour victory.

Bradley closed with a 2-under 68 to finish three shots ahead of Zac Blair, who shot 62, and Brian Harman, who closed with a 64.

Bradley birdied the par-4 12th hole to move for 5 under for the day and take a sixshot lead. But he sliced his tee shot into the water on the next hole, leading to bogey. He also bogeyed the 14th and 16th holes. He settled down with a par on the 17th to all but guarantee himself a triumphant walk up the last hole.

“I played great until the last like five or six holes and luckily I had a big enough lead to coast home,” Bradley said.

He became the first New Englander to win the title since Connecticut’s J.J. Henry in 2006.

Blair had his best finish on tour. The 32-year-old from Utah has been playing on a major medical exemption after missing almost two full years with a torn labrum.

“Basically, I went from playing 18 or 36 holes every day for the last seven, eight years to not touching a club for five, six, seven months,” he said. “It was cool, though. Got to hang out with my family and build a golf course and do a lot of other fun stuff. But, it’s obviously cooler to shoot 62 on Sunday.”

CASA: Tourney was hit

Continued from B1

of Commerce with Jerry Bowman, Kraig Folmer, Mike Boaz and Brad Davis.

For the individual contest winners, Jeremy Sellman won the

scored so many runs since a 28-5 win over Winthrop on March 3, 2019.

LSU hadn’t given up so many in any of its 245 NCAA Tournament games or in any game since a 28-2 loss to Alabama in 1997. The Tigers committed a season-high five errors that led to six unearned runs.

Asked if there was a point he felt the game was slipping away, LSU star Dylan Crews said, “Not really. I guess you could say when it got up to about 20 runs. But we felt like we were in it the whole time, honestly. We made some pretty remarkable comebacks in our career.”

Langford was 5 for 5 with six RBIs with two doubles and his homer.

Evans’ shot down the left-field line off Nate Ackenhausen (3-1) tied it 1 in the second. His grand slam off Gavin Guidry in the third was a high fly that looked to be headed foul, but the

See CWS | Page B4

“This is for all the kids, like me, that grew up in winters and can’t play and would watch the kids from Florida, down South get better, compete, and get invited to the biggest tournaments in the country that I was never invited to,” he said. “I hope that they know that they can come from this area ... and still make it in golf.”

Bradley, who went 62-63-64 in the first three rounds, finished at 23-under 257 at TPC River Highlands, a shot better than Kenny Perry’s previous record from 2009.

With fans chanting his name, the 37-yearold walked up to his ball on the 18th green, sank a 2-foot par putt and threw his arms into the air and let out a yell.

“I can’t even describe what that felt like,” Bradley said. “I dreamt my whole life of playing in Fenway Park, Gillette Stadium, and to feel pretty close to what that would feel like. I had a bunch of people say they never heard the 18th hole sound like that.”

Bradley had only made one bogey for the week before dropping three shots in his final six holes as the nerves seemed to get to him. This was the first PGA Tour event he attended, and the one he said he most wanted to win, other than the majors. This was his second victory this season; he won the Zozo Championship in Japan in October.

Bradley moved to seventh in the U.S. Ryder Cup standings; the top six qualify for the team, with captain Zach Johnson getting six picks. He said that was the first thing he mentioned to his wife as they were walking off the course.

“I still have a lot to show the captain and I would love to go to Rome and be a part of the team,” he said.

Bradley takes home $3.6 million from an elevated $20 million purse as the tournament became one of 17 designated events on tour this season, attracting a world-class field including world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm. Bradley’s earnings this season have topped $8.5 million.

Blair had back-toback bogeys on Nos. 4 and 5, then went on a tear with six birdies and an eagle on the par-5 13th, where he hit his approach from 253 yards inside 5 feet.

Harman shot his second straight 64.

Patrick Cantlay, who shot 61 on Saturday to get within five strokes of the leaders, made a run at Bradley with three straight birdies from Nos. 13-15. But he overshot the 16th green, leading to bogey, and lipped out his birdie try on the 17th.

He shot 67 to finish four shots back alongside Scheffler (65) and 2019 champion Chez Reavie (71), who began the day one shot behind Bradley but did not make a birdie until the 14th hole.

McIlroy shot 64 and finished at 18 under after making an early

See TRAVELERS | Page B4

Gas

longest drive for the men while Patti Timmens took it for the women. The longest putt belonged to Mike Heffern and the closest to the pin was Denny Creitz.

The funds raised from the tournament will go to the 31st Judicial District including Allen, Neosho, Woodson and Wilson counties to help serve children in the court system.

The Flight A first place team of Southern Star Central

Pipeline. Pictured are Kortney McGraw, Johnnie Riley, Bob and Kaden Macha.

Florida catcher Luke Heyman screams in celebration during the 2023 NCAA Super Regional baseball game. STEPHEN M. DOWELL/ORLANDO SENTINEL

NBA Draft: KSU’s Johnson joins Thunder

By TIM REYNOLDS The Associated Press

It’s the easiest call of the NBA draft: The San Antonio Spurs won.

That’s not to say other teams didn’t do very well on Thursday, when 58 players were selected as the league’s newest members. But the Spurs being able to take generational French talent Victor Wembanyama puts them at the head of the class.

Some of the teams that also did well: NBA champion Denver, Golden State, Toronto — even with just one pick — and Orlando, which might now be closer to returning to the postseason mix.

A breakdown of which teams had Excellent drafts, those that had Good drafts and others that will have to Wait and See:

EXCELLENT

DALLAS MAVERICKS

Picks: Dereck Lively II (12, via trade); Olivier-Maxence Prosper (24, via trade).

Dallas got the big man it wanted and created opportunity by moving Davis Bertans. Hard to argue that it wasn’t a good night. And now free agency awaits. Prosper is another player with big potential and was extremely hard to guard at Marquette.

DENVER NUGGETS

Picks: Julian Strawther (29), Jalen Pickett (32, will be acquired via trade), Hunter Tyson (37), Pickett should have gone in the first round. He’s that good, and the NBA champions just got another do-it-all guy who will also serve as insurance should Bruce Brown leave in free agency.

DETROIT PISTONS

Picks: Ausar Thompson (5), Marcus Sasser (25, via trade), James Nnaji (31) No matter what, the Pistons were going to get better and deeper on Thursday night. Thompson is incredibly athletic (even by NBA standards) and plays defense with a

CWS:

ton of energy.

GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS

Picks: Brandin Podziemski (19), Trayce Jackson-Davis (57, via trade) Play to your strength, and the Warriors got another shooter to add to the mix with Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. Podziemski could add something right away, and came to Golden State on the same day that the Warriors swung a deal for Chris Paul by sending Jordan Poole to Washington.

HOUSTON ROCKETS

Picks: Amen Thompson (4), Cam Whitmore (20) Thompson is a great move and gives Detroit another great option as it builds. If Whitmore is healthy, then Houston got an absolute steal by getting the Villanova forward at No. 20.

OKLAHOMA CITY

THUNDER

Picks: Cason Wallace (10, via trade), Keyontae Johnson (50)

Wallace was great for Kentucky in his lone college season and played perhaps his best game in the Wildcats’ finale in the NCAA tournament. He can score; he didn’t look to score quite often enough at times in college.

ORLANDO MAGIC

Picks: Anthony Black (6), Jett Howard (11) Paolo Banchero got a couple more shooters to help him out,

and the young and talented Magic got more young talent. An excellent night again and it’s time to start thinking about Orlando as a team that should make a run at the play-in — at minimum.

SAN ANTONIO SPURS

Picks: Victor Wembanyama (1), Sidy Cissoko (44).

Their grade was secured at the very moment that the last pingpong ball appeared at the lottery last month. Wembanyama was a no-brainer, and now it’s up to the Spurs to start the real work — get him into the gym, see how he fits, and figure out what the plan is going forward.

TORONTO RAPTORS

Pick: Gradey Dick (13)

Dick showed up to the draft in a red-andblack jacket — a nod to Dorothy from “The Wizard of Oz” and his Kansas roots. The color scheme will work in Toronto as well. Dick is a pure shooter, and no team can have too many of those. The jury’s still out on what the Raptors will be this coming season, but this kid will be a rotation piece.

UTAH JAZZ

Picks: Taylor Hendricks (9), Keyonte George (16), Brice Sensabaugh (28) Hendricks is what an NBA big pretty much is now; a power forward who can also defend centers. George was the Big 12 rookie of the year

Headed to game three final

Continued from B3

20-mph wind blowing left to right pushed it inside the left-field foul pole.

The Tigers should have been out of the third before Evans came to bat, but shortstop Jordan Thompson’s fielding error cost them a chance at a double play and kept going what became a six-run inning.

Langford connected in the fifth, and Cagli-

anone followed with his nation-leading 32nd and 33rd homers.

Florida starter Hurston Waldrep, who had allowed two earned runs in 21 innings in the NCAA Tournament, went just 2 1/3. He walked six, hit two batters and allowed four hits in his shortest appearance of the season, not counting a start against Vanderbilt when he didn’t return after one inning because of a rain delay.

LSU did next to nothing against Florida relievers Blake Purnell (20) and Nick Ficarrotta. They combined to pitch 6 1/3 innings of threehit relief. “They don’t need a rah-rah speech tomorrow,” O’Sullivan said. “We’re playing a very good LSU team and the winner is going to have the opportunity to be national champion. Enjoy it tonight and wake up tomorrow and stay in our routine.”

Travelers: Local wins championship

Continued from B3

charge. He birdied five of his first seven holes in front of galleries that were four or five fans deep.

But he gave a shot back on the ninth after his 352-yard drive settled next to a boundary fence in deep rough. He then missed an

8-foot birdie putt on No. 12.

The TPC River Highlands gave up eight rounds of 62 or better this week.

“I don’t particularly like when a tournament is like this,” McIlroy said. “Unfortunately, technology has passed this course

at Baylor and is a proven scorer. He’s good from the line, has 3-point potential and can get to the rim. There’s some work to do, but he’s a serious prospect.

GOOD BROOKLYN NETS

Picks: Noah Clowney (21), Dariq Whitehead (22), Jalen Wilson (51) Clowney is an athletic big from Alabama whose game is still a bit unfinished. Whitehead has enormous potential and was highly recruited by Duke, but foot issues are a concern. Wilson was the Big 12 player of the year at Kansas. The Nets likely didn’t choose three elite programs accidentally. Lot to like here.

CHARLOTTE HORNETS

Picks: Brandon Miller (2), Nick Smith Jr. (27), Amari Bailey (41). Miller made sense over Scoot Henderson because the Hornets have a point guard already. But Henderson might be the more NBA-ready player.

INDIANA PACERS

Picks: Jarace Walker

(8, via trade), Ben Sheppard (26), Julian Strawther (29), Mojave King (47, via trade), Isaiah Wong (55) Walker plays hard on both ends, and this is rare to say, but he might play harder on defense than he does on offense. And getting Wong — the ACC player of the year — so late is a steal.

LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS

Picks: Kobe Brown (30), Jordan Miller (48) Brown is a strong player, addicted to rebounding, and probably needs to improve considerably on the offensive end. Miller did a little of everything for the Miami Hurricanes in their run to the Final Four.

LOS ANGELES LAKERS

Picks: Jalen Hood-Schifino (17), Maxwell Lewis (40, via trade).

Hood-Schifino got NBA coaching in college last season; Indiana is coached by Mike Woodson. He’s a winner; his high school teams won, his Indiana team went to the NCAA Tournament and he’ll obviously benefit from time with LeBron James.

MIAMI HEAT Pick: Jaime Jaquez Jr. (18) A four-year college player whose game got more complete each year, Jaquez has a notorious work ethic that should fit in quite well with the Eastern Conference champions.

NEW ORLEANS PELICANS

Pick: Jordan Hawkins (14) Hawkins was a big part of UConn’s team that won the national title last spring, earning his way onto the

All-Tournament team. New Orleans got a winner.

PORTLAND TRAIL

BLAZERS

Picks: Scoot Henderson (3), Kris Murray (23), Rayan Rupert (43).

Henderson has shown that he’s NBAready. The Blazers drafted well. But really, the only question now is whether Damian Lillard is happy or not. Murray is the twin brother of Sacramento’s Keegan Murray and had a big season for Iowa — averaging just over 20 points per game.

WASHINGTON WIZARDS

Picks: Bilal Coulibaly (7, via trade), Tristan Vukcevic (42)

The Wizards are starting over, and on the day they also agreed to acquire Jordan Poole from Golden State they just happened to get a French player. (No, not that one.) But Coulibaly is highly touted by No. 1 pick Victor Wembanyama, and that’s enough of an endorsement for us.

WAIT AND SEE

ATLANTA HAWKS

Picks: Kobe Bufkin (15), Mouhamed Gueye (39, via trade), Seth Lundy (46) Bufkin had a great second half of the season at Michigan, and left-handers always provide defenses with an extra challenge. The best way to describe his game is this: He doesn’t do much wrong. Very solid, can help the Hawks in a lot of ways.

BOSTON CELTICS

Picks: James Njaji (31, via trade), Jordan Walsh (38, via trade)

Still only 18, Njaji started playing the game about seven years

See NBA Draft | Page B6

by, right? It sort of has made it obsolete, especially as soft as it has been with a little bit of rain that we had.”

U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark, who beat McIlroy by a shot last week at Los Angeles Country Club, shot 66 and finished in a tie for 29th at 12 under.

For military veteran caregivers, caregiving often starts earlier in life and lasts longer. To better care for your loved one, you must also care for yourself.

Kansas State’s Keyontae Johnson celebrates a three-pointer during the second half of the East Regional Final against Florida Atlantic at Madison Square Garden. TRAVIS HEYING/THE WICHITA EAGLE

Parents-to-be can’t agree on a name for themselves

Adapted from an online discussion.

Dear Carolyn: My partner and I are expecting our first child in a few months. We are on the same page about most of the big aspects of child rearing but have a couple of minor disagreements. One that’s not so minor is about what the child will call us. My partner calls his parents by their first names, which was a decision made decades ago in the spirit of egalitarianism. I call my parents Mom and Dad. I understand the philosophy that went into my in-laws’ choice, but I don’t especially agree with it and don’t really want to continue that custom. This seems like an area where it won’t work for each of us to do it our own way, i.e., calling us “Mom and Ben” (seems more confusing than anything else). So what do we do?

— “Mom and Ben”

“Mom and Ben”: I

actually like Mom and Ben. Why not? Seems to me that if “confusing” is an issue, then we’re all living in the wrong millennium.

Plus, like so many of these parental things you decide in advance, reality will come in with its vote, which has a way of wiping out certainties that you can only hope someday to laugh about. Reality’s changes are often upgrades, too, because they’re collaborative in ways that preconceived notions can never be.

Not to say you’re wrong to talk about it — that part’s good, especially if this is the tip of a major-philosophicaldisagreementberg. In fact, the more I think about it, the more urgent it feels that authoritative-you and

laid-back Ben work out a general approach for when your parenting styles clash.

Just understand that any parenting plans you make ahead of time are more like an opening gambit with life than a last word. And kids can roll happily along with parents of different styles, but not when the parents themselves can’t.

READERS’ thoughts:

∙ Our oldest insisted on calling me “Ben” for the first four years of his life, including saying things like, “my Ben told me to come home now,” etc. My wife hated this, but she did not interfere. By 5, he decided to call me “Dad.” You may think you’re deciding this, but like many other things in life, your kids are the ones who make the decisions.

∙ When my niece and nephew were in elementary school, they tried to call me by my first name, no “Aunt.” I quietly told them they

Nightclub shooter gets life sentence

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — A suspect who killed five people at a Colorado Springs nightclub in 2022 was sentenced to life in prison for murder on Monday, after victims called the defendant a “monster” who hunted down LGBTQ+ patrons in a calculated attack.

Anderson Lee Aldrich pleaded guilty to five counts of murder and 46 counts of attempted murder – one for each person inside Club Q on the night of the shooting. Aldrich also pleaded no contest to two hate crimes, one a felony and the other a misdemeanor.

“This thing sitting in this court room is not a human, it is a monster,” said Jessica Fierro,

who’s daughter’s boyfriend was killed that night. “The devil awaits with open arms.”

The guilty plea comes just seven months after the shooting and spares victim’s families and survivors a long and potentially painful trial.

People in the courtroom wiped away tears as the judge explained the charges and read out the names of the victims.

“You are targeting a group of people for their simple existence,” said Judge Michael McHenry.

“Like too many other people in our culture, you chose to find a power that day behind the trigger of a gun, your actions reflect the deepest malice of the human heart, and malice is al-

most always born of ignorance and fear,” the judge continued. Relatives and friends of victims were able to give statements in court to remember their loved ones and survivors spoke about how their lives were forever altered just before midnight on Nov. 19 when the suspect walked into Club Q and indiscriminately fired an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle.

The father of a Club Q bartender said Daniel Aston had been in the prime of his life when he was shot and killed. “He was huge light in this world that was snuffed out by a heinous, evil and cowardly act,” Jeff Aston said. “I will never again hear him laugh at my dad jokes.”

were the only people in the world who could call me “Aunt [Name],” and that gave them special powers. They were momentarily stunned and resumed calling me Aunt [Name]. Now in their 30s and parents themselves, they still call me that.

∙ If your real (underlying) concern is what strangers will think when they hear your child call you Mom and Ben, please dig into that, because that’s worth questioning the importance of that in relation to your husband’s preference to be called by his name.

∙ We always referred to ourselves as Mom and Dad, but, for whatever reason, our toddler child started calling us “Mommy Maria” and “Daddy Captain” after watching “The Sound of Music” and then transitioned to our names at some point, “Joe and Jane,” for a couple years, and then switched to “Mom and Dad.” It was weird for me to be “Mom” after all those years.

ZITS by Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman

BEETLE BAILEY by Mort Walker

HAGAR THE HORRIBLE by Chris Browne

MARVIN by Tom Armstrong

HI AND LOIS by Chance Browne

BLONDIE by Young and Drake

MUTTS by Patrick McDonell

Ross Chastain wins at Nashville for 3rd NASCAR Cup Series win

LEBANON, Tenn. (AP)

— Ross Chastain has been criticized as reckless and too aggressive, a driver seen as giving no respect and not deserving any from competitors.

His hard-driving style paid off Sunday night as Chastain held off Martin Truex Jr. to win the Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway, his first win in over a year and the third NASCAR Cup Series victory of his career.

Chastain said everyone has to deal with criticism. His approach? Just keep working.

“I got to tell you, a lot of self-reflection through all this, but I had a group that believed in me and they didn’t let me get down,” Chastain said. “And they bring rocket ships, and I just try to point them to victory lane.”

This was Chastain’s first win since Talladega in April 2022, and he drove his Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet to the team’s first victory this year at its home track. Chastain had started on the pole for the first time in his career.

Trackhouse owner Justin Marks said he talked with Rick Hendrick and Roger Penske for advice on handling a hard-charging driver after Chastain’s late crash off a restart at Darlington took both him and Hendrick star Kyle Larson out of contention as they raced for the lead.

Marks compared Chastain’s learning curve to that of Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick and Tony Stewart — aggressive drivers who had to learn how to compete at the Cup level. Marks called this a “huge win” for Trackhouse and a big moment for Chastain, who went three-wide during a critical fourlap stretch.

“It says we have an opportunity to win so many races and compete and win ... championships in the series and such a bright future ahead of us,” Marks said. “And we’re all just like super motivated and inspired for the future.”

Chastain entered fourth in the season points race and wound

Ruoning Yin wins Women’s PGA Championship; 2nd from China

SPRINGFIELD, N.J. (AP)

— Becoming the second woman from China to win a major championship left Ruoning Yin in awe, even an hour after being handed the Women’s PGA Championship trophy at Baltusrol.

“When I was walking to this tent, I just said: ‘Oh, wow, major winner!’ It’s amazing. It’s just unreal,” Yin said Sunday.

third shot into an ideal spot and curled in the right-to-left breaking putt, pumping her fist after it dropped.

“I actually kind of felt that I was going to make it, and I made it,” said Yin, who hit a tournament-best 66 greens in regulation and 48 of 56 fairways. “It’s a very weird feeling.”

it could have happened any other hole. I think overall I gave myself good chances. It’s still a really good Sunday to have a lot to take away from.”

Lin, also from China, rents a house in Florida to Yin and has joked that she is going to raise the rent.

(DYLAN BUELL/GETTY IMAGES/TNS)

up leading a race-high 100 laps at the 1.33mile, D-shaped concrete oval. That included the final 34 laps as the 30-year-old had to weave by some slower traffic to hold off Truex by 0.789 seconds.

The driver known as “Melon Man” celebrated clinching a playoff berth with a burnout before smashing a watermelon onto the start-finish line. Chastain shared some of the watermelon with fans, keeping a piece on top of his car and bringing it into the media center with him.

Truex led 50 laps as the season points leader tried to string together back-to-back wins. He won at Sonoma going into NASCAR’s lone break in the 38-race season.

“Just that close again,” said Truex, who notched his sixth topfive finish and extended his points lead. “We keep doing that, we’ll be OK.”

Truex finished ahead of Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin, both in Toyotas. Chase Elliott was fourth and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson was fifth. Hamlin led 81 laps and said he thought he had a third-place car with Truex a little better.

“The 1 (Chastain) obviously came on strong there at the end,” Hamlin said. “We gave ourselves a chance, just didn’t have quite a fast enough car to go up and contend.”

Tyler Reddick started beside Chastain on the front row and won the first stage.

As they began the second stage, Truex went three-wide at the

front with Chastain and William Byron for some thrilling racing on a track known for having boring competition for years after opening in 2001.

The Xfinity Series race on Saturday was chaotic, with cautions starting on the opening lap.

The second caution on Sunday didn’t come until lap 138 when Reddick lost his right rear tire as he tried to steer his Toyota onto pit road just after having pitted. His car got loose, and he spun into the grass with the tire coming off at the entrance to pit road.

HOMETOWN WIN

With Trackhouse based in the Nashville area, Chastain’s crew chief Phil Surgen said the team’s failure to win at its “home” track was beginning to creep into everyone’s mind. This win ends that relatively short drought for a team that Marks put together in 2020.

“This is the race that I want to win more than any of the races besides the one they hold in Florida and the one they hold in Arizona,” Marks said. “And so it’s a big day for us.” Chastain now has finished in the top five in all three Cup races at Nashville.

HARD CRASH

The third caution out of four in the race came on lap 146 on the restart on the frontstretch as Ryan Blaney crashed head-on into an interior wall after being tapped from behind by Kyle Busch with Alex Bowman also involved. Blaney walked out of the infield care center after what he called the hardest hit of his life.

NBA: 58 players were drafted

Continued from B4

ago and is not even close to reaching his potential yet. Big prospect.

CHICAGO BULLS

Pick: Julian Phillips

(35, via trade)

The Bulls had to forfeit what would have been their pick because of free-agency violations last summer, and swung a deal with Boston to land the Tennessee wing.

CLEVELAND CAVALIERS

Pick: Emoni Bates

(49) He was touted as a star since basically middle school, had more than his share of promising moments in college, and now has to really prove himself.

MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES

Picks: Gregory Jack-

son II (45), Tarik Biberovic (56) Prospects. They’re not expected to provide any real help anytime soon.

MILWAUKEE BUCKS

Picks: Andre Jackson (36, via trade), Chris Livingston (58) Jackson was a big part of UConn’s national championship. He’s only going to benefit from being around Giannis Antetokounmpo every day.

MINNESOTA TIMBER-

WOLVES

Picks: Leonard Miller (33, via trade), Jaylen Clark (53) Miller had a lot of big moments playing with Scoot Henderson and the G League Ignite this past season. Athleticism is tough to ignore.

Yin made a birdie putt from about 10 feet on the final hole to beat Yuka Saso by one stroke. The 20-year-old closed with a 4-under 67 to finish at 8-under 276 and take a place in Chinese sports history next to Shanshan Feng.

“I would say she’s definitely the goal that I’m chasing,” Yin said. “But I think she is the person who inspired me the most.”

Feng, now national golf coach in China, won 23 events worldwide, including 10 on the LPGA Tour.

Yin wasn’t even playing golf when Feng won this event — then known as the LPGA Championship — in 2012. She was 9 years old and didn’t take up the game for another 18 months. Her main sport was basketball and she idolized Stephen Curry, but her shorter stature led her to turn to golf.

Yin has really turned it on the past two years. She picked up her first LPGA Tour win earlier this year in Los Angeles and now is the third player to win twice this season, joining Lilia Vu and world No. 1 Jin Young Ko. This came with a $1.5 million paycheck.

Yin earned it with her fourth birdie on a bogey-free day.

After Saso made birdie ahead of her on the par-5 18th hole to move into a tie for the lead, Yin found the rough with her tee shot, then hit her

Rose Zhang, who won in her professional debut three weeks ago, also in New Jersey, made a charge with a final-round 67 and finished in a tie for eighth, three shots back.

Saso, the U.S. Women’s Open champion in 2021, shot 66. The championship had a midround delay of nearly two hours because of severe weather, and Yin made three of her birdies after the re-start.

Saso, from Japan, thought she had blown her chance to win when she missed a 10-foot birdie attempt to tie the lead at No. 17. She got upand-down from a greenside bunker to birdie the final hole.

“After missing the birdie on 17, I just wished that I wouldn’t hit my drive in the water on 18,” she said. “But glad I didn’t. Hit a good shot, and second shot hit it in the left bunker. It was not an easy bunker shot, but it was manageable, and I was able to manage it pretty good.”

Xiyu Lin, who either led or shared the lead during most of her back nine, found the water with her drive on the 18th and made bogey to shoot 67 and finish two shots back alongside Carlota Ciganda (64), Anna Nordqvist (65), Megan Khang (67) and Stephanie Meadow (70).

“Unfortunately I didn’t hit a good tee shot on the last hole,” said the 27-year-old Lin, who is winless on the LPGA Tour but came in ranked No. 14 in the world. “But

Yin was asked about it after winning.

“Oh, wow. Actually I’m thinking about buy her house right now,” she said, drawing laughs. “Yeah, just think about it.”

Leona Maguire, who won last week and led after the second and third rounds, shot 74, ending a run of eight straight rounds in the 60s. Seeking to become the first woman from Ireland to win a major, she finished four shots back. Maguire did not speak to the media.

Jenny Shin, who started the final round a shot behind Maguire, had a 72 and finished at 5 under along with Zhang and Ayaka Furue.

Baltusrol yielded only 16 rounds under par on Thursday, but with the course softened by rain, 35 players broke par in the final round, including tournament-low rounds of 64 from Ciganda and Perrine Delacour. No one had shot better than 66 before Sunday.

Zhang, who turned pro after winning her second straight NCAA individual title, started the round at 1 under and got to 6 under at No. 11 with her fifth birdie of the round. She never got closer, sandwiching bogeys at Nos. 13 and 16 with a birdie at 14. She hit her tee shot into the water on the last hole and salvaged par.

“It’s really cool to see that my game is there, and I just have to work a little extra harder to play better,” the 20-year-old said.

NEW YORK KNICKS No picks. PHILADELPHIA 76ERS No picks.

PHOENIX SUNS Pick: Toumani Camara (52)

Given the trades that they’re making, this might be one of their last picks for quite some time. There’s nothing wrong with not valuing the draft, but giving up on it entirely is a dangerous game to play too often.

SACRAMENTO KINGS

Picks: Colby Jones (34, via trade), Jalen Slawson (54) Jones has skills the Kings crave; great shooter, great passing and great vision. A young Kevin Huerter-type in those regards.

Driver Ross Chastain celebrates after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Echopark Automotive Grand Prix on March 27, 2022, in Austin, Texas.