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Monday, September 28, 2020
iolaregister.com
Iola, Humboldt teams compete in Burlington
President Donald Trump
Report: Trump paid $750 in US income taxes
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Alex Gordon gets retirement sendoff PAGE B1
Advocates want agency to track foster care system By ANDY TSUBASA FIELD The Associated Press
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Child welfare advocates in Kansas are pushing for an independent agency to monitor the state’s troubled foster care system. The nonprofit advocacy group Kansas Appleseed, with support from some lawmakers, wants the state to create an Office of the Child Advocate to investigate complaints and track child welfare agencies, primarily the state Department for Children and Families, which oversees the foster care system. Legislation creating the office has been introduced for three years, getting its first hearing — but no vote — this year. “We’re talking about a system with six, seven thousand kids — depending on what month you’re looking at — and these are kids in the custody of the state,” said Mike Fonkert, campaign director at Kansas Appleseed. “So having robust oversight that See SYSTEM | Page A4
By JOSH BOAK The Associated Press
A sign marks the legendary intersection known as Pot’s Corner. REGISTER/TREVOR HOAG
This is not a pot Trevor Hoag Just Prairie There’s a saying folks in the Midwest often use, though I don’t recall it being nearly as prevalent when I was growing up here: It is what it is. I can’t begin to tell you how much I loathe that phrase. Some possible interpretations include: Nothing’s to be done about it. Nothing’s going to change. Deal with it. Accept your situation. Accept the pain. Move on. Etc. It’s an ontology — a theory of existence — that succinctly and simultaneously articulates rugged, uncomplaining individualism with an almost obscene sense that the world simply cannot improve for the better. Hence it doesn’t take much imagination to see how, as political, social and economic conditions have continued to deteriorate for most people here in recent decades, that loathsome phrase has only increased in its use. It is what it is. … But what about when it isn’t? When
Chamber pots adorn the tops of fence posts at Pot’s Corner. something that exists has an existence so peculiar as to thwart traditional categories of understanding, even scrambling the distinction between being and not-being at all? ENTER Pot’s Corner, the mysterious and historically laden intersection northeast of Moran at the intersection of Oregon Road and 4600
Street. It at first appears to be an intersection like any other, with tall grass, weeds and thistles bristling about and gently shifting in the seasonal wind. But then you notice the chamber pots, each one adorning a corner fence post, along with a recently erected See POTS | Page A4
President Donald Trump paid just $750 in federal income taxes the year he ran for president and in his first year in the White House, according to a report in The New York Times. Trump, who has fiercely guarded his tax filings and is the only president in modern times not to make them public, paid no federal income taxes in 10 of the past 15 years. The details of the tax filings published Sunday complicate Trump’s description of himself as a shrewd and patriotic businessman, revealing instead a series of financial losses and income from abroad that could come into conflict with his responsibilities as president. The president’s financial disclosures indicated he earned at least $434.9 million in 2018, but the tax filings reported a $47.4 million loss. The tax filings also illustrate how a reputed billionaire could pay little to nothing in taxes, while someone in the middle class could pay substantially more than him. Roughly half of Americans pay no income taxes, primarily because of how low their incomes are. But IRS figures indicate that the average tax filer paid roughly $12,200 in 2017, about 16 times more than what the president paid. The disclosure, which the Times said comes from tax return data it obtained extending over two decades, comes at a pivotal moment ahead See TAXES | Page A2
Trump vows quick court vote, Biden urges delay for Nov. 3 WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Sunday that confirmation of his Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett will go “quickly” but his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, implored the Republican-led Senate to hold off on voting on her nomination until after the Nov. 3 election to “let the people decide.” Speaking at a press conference at the White House, the president spotlighted Barrett’s Roman Catholic religion, portraying her as a victim of attacks on her faith. But it’s her conservative approach to the law, particu-
larly health care access that is drawing opposition from Democrats, not her private beliefs. “It’s a disgrace,” Trump said. He vowed she will be confirmed “very quickly.” Trump’s announcement of Barrett for the seat held by the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is launching a highstakes, fast-track election season fight over confirmation of a conservative judge who is expected to shift the court rightward as it reviews health care, abortion access and other hot-button issues. Biden on Sunday appealed directly to his former col-
leagues in the Senate to “take a step back from the brink.” Biden urged Senate Republicans not to fan a controversy during an already tumultuous election year for a country reeling from the coronavirus crisis, a struggling economy and protests over racial injustice. If Trump wins the election, Biden said the president’s nominee should have a vote. But Biden said he should choose the next justice if he prevails on Nov. 3. “This is time to de-escalate,” Biden said in Wilmington, Delaware. No justice has ever been See COURT | Page A2
Judge Amy Coney Barrett reacts as President Donald Trump introduces her as his Supreme Court Associate Justice nominee in the Rose Garden of the White House, on Saturday. (Yuri Gripas/
Abaca Press/TNS)
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