Sports: Fall Classic starts tonight See B1
THE IOLA REGISTER Locally owned since 1867
www.iolaregister.com
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Iola OKs online bill paying Latest ACA lawsuit mirrors Legislature By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
Iolans will soon be able to pay their utility bills online. City Council members approved Monday a contract with Information Network of Kansas (INK) to accommodate online payments, at no cost to the city. Instead, customers will be charged 2.5 percent of the total paid via credit card, or $1.50 for online check, said City Clerk Roxanne Hutton. The city will continue to offer at no charge payments by credit card and checks like it’s done all along, Hutton explained. The city also offers to receive credit card payments over the phone, and automatic draft from a checking account. The online bill payments allow a customer to do so at any hour of the day, Hutton said. Payments to the Iola Recreation Department for various activities also can be done through INK, Hutton said.
THE CITY will not enact
cost-of-living pay raises to its See CITY | Page A6
Democrats say politics involved By ANDY MARSO Kansas Health Institute
When Rep. Jim Ward read the latest lawsuit brought by Kansas officials against the Affordable Care Act, the Wichita Democrat thought the federal action at the center of the suit sounded familiar. “My first thought was, ‘Wait a minute, didn’t we just do this about four months ago?’” Ward said, referring to the Legislature increasing a tax on health plans. “And why is one better than the other?” Republican state leaders who initiated the lawsuit say it’s an essential part of an ongoing fight against federal overreach by President Barack Obama’s administration. Democrats say the state is suing the federal government for doing the same
Walkability expert Mark Fenton speaks Monday at a joint meeting of the Iola City Council and Iola-USD 257 Board of Education. A full recap of Fenton’s presentations to the community will be in Wednesday’s Register. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN
thing — increasing a tax on Medicaid health insurance plans — that the Republican-led Legislature did in June to help close a $400 million budget gap. Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt and Gov. Sam Brownback issued news releases last week outlining the lawsuit, in which Kansas is joined by Texas and Louisiana. The suit claims a provision of the ACA that imposes a tax on health care plans is unlawful because it also applies to insurance companies that have contracts to administer Medicaid, known in Kansas as KanCare. The plaintiffs claim the health insurance provider fee amounts to a backdoor tax on state treasuries in order to fund the federal law, because Kansas has to pay to defray a portion of the KanCare companies’ new tax. The suit seeks to recoup See SUIT | Page A3
Budget deal near Iola High schedule change imminent By ANDREW TAYLOR The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional leaders are throwing their collective weight behind a hard-won, two-year bipartisan budget plan aimed at heading off a looming government debt crisis and forestalling a government shutdown in December. The pact, which would take these volatile issues off the table until after the 2016 presidential election, emerged in behind-the-
scenes negotiations late Monday on Capitol Hill. Itwould give both the Pentagon and domestic agencies $80 billion in debt relief in exchange for cuts elsewhere in the budget. The deal represents one last accommodation between President Barack Obama and departing House Speaker John Boehner, but whether it succeeds depends in great measure on the reception it gets from restive House
By BOB JOHNSON The Iola Register
Principal Stacey Fager handed USD 257 board members a plan for returning Iola High School to a seven-period day at their meeting Monday evening. For years Iola High School has had block scheduling, which features four 90-minute periods a day in which subjects are taught every other day.
Administrators think a subject taught five days a week will enhance learning. A disadvantage of the change will be students will have fewer electives from which to choose. With seven periods, the school day would go from 8 a.m. to 3:21 p.m. and classes would last about 48 minutes. Fager said he drew up the plan with the help of faculty and staff members. “We looked at a lot of sce-
narios,” he said, and “I feel like the (new) schedule can accommodate a lot of things.” Kansas requires classes to meet 1,116 hours a year; the new schedule would total 1,130.04 hours. Teachers also were polled on the importance of a seminar period and whether it should be at the end of the day, with positive responses being nearly 90 percent to both quesSee 257 | Page A6
See DEAL | Page A6
Government debt and GDP
Total U.S. debt exceeded the nation’s gross domestic product, or total economic output, last year.
Total debt In trillions
2015*: $18.1
$20 16 12 8 4 0
1996: $5.1 ’96
’00
’03
’06
’09
’12
Festival-goers walk among the food booths Oct. 17 at Farm-City Days. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN
’15
Debt as percentage of GDP
2015*: 101%
120%
90
1996: 63%
60
30
0
’96
’00
’03
’06
’09
’12
*As of June 30 Source: Congressional Research Service Graphic: Angelica Quintero, Los Angeles Times/TNS
Quote of the day Vol. 118, No. 2
’15
Farm-City Days changes may be in works By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
With more than a week to reflect on the 44th annual Farm-City Days celebration, organizers won’t take long to determine what changes they’ll make in 2016 and beyond. Aaron Franklin, committee president, said that while the newly formed committee has much to be proud of, members
already are eager to find ways to improve for future festivals. The committee met last week to reflect on their successes, while noting what they’d like to see different next year. All 11 members of the committee signed on in late March, but didn’t do much in terms of planning specific events until summer arrived. “For one thing, we’ll have a full year to work on it,” Frank-
“You cannot find peace by avoiding life.”
— Virginia Woolf
75 Cents
lin said. “Other than having some college kids help, it was pretty much all 11 of us running everything.” While some of the committee members had helped with other festivals, none had run a full-fledged celebration on their own before, Franklin noted. “It’s hard to create volunteer rolls when you don’t See CHANGES | Page A3
Hi: 60 Lo: 49 Iola, KS