Monday, June 29, 2020
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Library cuts fines for kids Overdue fines will no longer be issued on children’s accounts at the Iola Public Library. Fines accrued in the past on children’s accounts have been forgiven, clearing 227 accounts, the library announced in a press release last week. Those children are now free to resume using the library. However, library director Roger Carswell notes the new policy applies only to the fines — books or other materials which were never returned still
must be returned or paid for. The 227 accounts were those who had already returned materials but still owed fines. Carswell points to evidence accumulated for several years that fines, especially for children, are counterproductive. Fines do not seem to decrease the number of books which are long overdue, Carswell said, and may actually increase the number which are never returned at all. Furthermore, fines are increasingly being seen
as a barrier to access to books. This is especially true for children from poor families, where even small amounts of unexpected expenses can’t be handled, and consequently parents may not take their children to the library at all, he said. Studies show that circulation rates among low-income families are lower in libraries which charge fines than in those which don’t. These are often the children who most need free access to books, Carswell said.
iolaregister.com
Trump denies being briefed on alleged bounties WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has denied he was made aware of U.S. intelligence officials’ conclusions Russia secretly offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants for killing American troops in Afghanistan. The Trump administration was set to brief select members of Congress on the matter today. The intelligence assessments came amid Trump’s push to withdraw the U.S. from Afghanistan and sug-
gested Russia was making overtures to militants as the U.S. and the Taliban held talks to end the long-running war. The assessment was Donald Trump first reported by The New York Times, then confirmed to The Associated Press by American intelliSee TRUMP | Page A2
Taylor: ‘Hope is not a strategy’ By SUSAN LYNN The Iola Register
Of the three Republicans vying for the Aug. 4 nomination to represent the 2nd Congressional District, Dennis Taylor stands apart. Unlike Jake LaTurner and incumbent Rep. Steve Watkins, Taylor is not trying to prove he’s a rubber stamp of President Donald Trump. “To say you have a 95.9% voting record aligned with President Trump’s positions is no badge of honor,” Taylor said, referring to Watkins’ campaign literature. In recent votes, Watkins has been against stimulus aid for the coronavirus pandemic
Dennis Taylor
and combating police brutality and racial discrimination. Watkins has also adopted Trump’s campaign style, recently calling LaTurner “Jake ‘Lying’ LaTurner.” Likewise, LaTurner questions Watkins’ authenticity by accusing him of not voting for President Trump in 2016 and whether he’s a bonafide Kansan because he lists his home address as a P.O. Box in Topeka. IT’S EASY for Taylor to rise above the fray. A Topeka attorney whose career has been primarily dedicated to public service, Taylor stopped by the Register Thursday afternoon for an interview.
Top of Taylor’s mind these days is how to address record unemployment and the COVID-19 pandemic. The two, of course, are related, and as such so is his answer. Taylor is proposing a jobs program that hires people to trace those who have come in contact with the virus. Not only would that put hundreds of thousands to work, but also help curb the spread of the virus as people learn if they have been exposed to the new coronavirus and the necessary steps to take forward. Getting the virus under See TAYLOR | Page A4
Walking in the footsteps of women
KSU athletes threaten boycott
The June sun was blazing overhead when I met up with a special group of women from the Yates Center High School class of 1976.
Trevor Hoag
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Arrest follows pickup theft
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Intolerance on both sides weakens all PAGE A3 Don’t sacrifice your self-respect
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Just Prairie
They’d gathered for a mini-reunion of sorts — based on a foundation of “life-long friendships,” as one participant put it — and as part of the festivities had agreed to humor me by taking a unique kind of walk. It would be a retracing of the path of industrious and community-minded women who’d come before them, a walk with busy ghosts. On the corner of Main and Bell Streets in Yates Center, near what was once the extreme north end of town, sits an inconspicuous monument See WALK | Page A4
Front row from left, Cindi Hoag, Debbie Garrison, Kathy Alexander and Debbie Stevens; and back row, Donna Beebe, Sandi Solander, Roxanne Ebberts and Nancy Kelley pose by the memorial to the 1928 Women’s Clubs of Yates Center. REGISTER/TREVOR HOAG
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