The Iola Register, Sept. 29, 2022

Florida braces for Ian

Storm grows to Category 4

By CURT ANDERSON The Associated Press

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., (AP) — Hurricane Ian’s most damaging winds began hitting Florida’s southwest coast Wednesday, lashing the state with heavy rain and pushing a devastating storm surge after strengthening to just shy of the most dangerous Category 5 status.

Fueled by warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico, Ian grew to a catastrophic Category 4 hurricane overnight with top winds of 155 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center. The storm trudged on a track to make landfall north of the heavily populated Fort Myers area, which forecasters said could be inundated by a storm surge of up to 18 feet.

“This is going to be a nasty nasty day, two days,” Florida

Gov. Ron DeSantis said early Wednesday, stressing that people in Ian’s path along the coast should rush to the safest possible shelter and stay there.

Ian’s center was about 50 miles west of Naples at 10 a.m. Wednesday, as it churned toward toward the coast at 9 mph. Ian’s plodding pace meant the storm was expect-

ed to spend a day or more crawling across the Florida peninsula, dumping flooding rains of 12 to 18 inches across

County gets state boost to x damaged detour roads

Commissioners keep burn ban in place

By VICKIE MOSS The Iola Register

County roads damaged by detour traffic around a highway construction project at Moran will get a financial boost from the state.

The Kansas Department of Transportation agreed to pay for road repairs to several rural roads in the vicinity, in particular Nebraska Road and 4200th Street.

Mitch Garner, the county’s Public Works director, updated commissioners on a recent meeting with representatives of KDOT. The state agreed to pay $3,401 for patching work on a section of Nebraska Road, and another $11,316 for repairs to 4200 Street from Nebraska to New Hampshire roads.

Then, the state will give

the county a little more than $50,000 to chip seal a long stretch of Nebraska Road, but that won’t happen until next year.

Commissioners were pleased with the state’s agreement, and asked if there had been discussion about repairs to county roads in the

Humboldt area. A construction project between Delaware Road south to Chanute has forced large truck traffic to travel on county roads, cre-

ating a great deal of damage.

Garner and Mark Griffith, road and bridge director, said there had been preliminary discussion and they expected the state would contribute once that project was completed this winter.

Commissioners also asked Griffith about equipment, as he’s been looking into machines that could improve road work. He found a refurbished patching machine in Texas for about half the cost of a new one; commissioners wanted him to do more research, and he informed them on Tuesday that he’d been unable to find a better deal.

He also said insurance had confirmed a payment of $104,000 to replace a boom mower that was destroyed by fire this summer. He’s looking into either replacing that with a similar, new mower, but would prefer to buy a much more advanced Mower-

Biblesta returns Saturday

HUMBOLDT — The 64th Annual Biblesta celebration returns this weekend, featuring gospel singing and a parade known for its depictions of scenes from biblical stories such as Jonah and the Whale.

The day’s events kick off at 8 a.m. with the Run for the Son with youth activities beginning at 10.

Pastors Jerry Neeley, Cameron Carter and Matthew Jennings will speak

An emotional Sherrie Riebel reacts as commissioners thank her for 25 years of service as county clerk. A retirement reception is planned for 2 to 4 p.m. Friday in the courthouse basement. REGISTER/VICKIE MOSS

Crunchy

Crews tear up a section of the old parking lot in front of the Medical Arts Building at 826 E. Madison Ave. in preparation for a new lot, as seen at right. The overhang on the front of the building also has been scaled back. The exterior improvements are part of a larger interior remodel that will convert half of the building to a health clinic for Allen County Regional Hospital; the southern half is used by medical specialists. REGISTER/VICKIE MOSS

Christopher Stawasz, with Global Medical Response, walks among ambulances gathered at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Fla., Tuesday afternoon. The ambulances were staging in preparation for Hurricane Ian. ORLANDO SENTINEL/STEPHEN M. DOWELL/TNS

Colony church

The Colony Christiaan Church sermon discussed John the Baptist, the voice of one calling out in the desert, “prepare the way for the Lord,” who preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. He was an odd man, wearing camel’s hair and eating locusts and wild honey in the desert.

The religious leaders of the time did not approve of John or his message, yet he was not deterred from confronting them.

“Prove by the way that you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God.” (Mt 3:8)

But John knew his place. He made it clear that he was not the Savior, but one was coming after him who was greater than him, who would baptize with the Holy

Spirit and Fire (Lk 3:16).

How surprised John was then, when Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, came to him to be baptized. John tried to decline baptizing Jesus, for clearly Jesus had no sin to repent of.

But Jesus insisted saying “it should be done for we must carry out all that God requires” Matt 3:15.

Baptism thus continues to be a sign that “proves” we have turned to God and repented of our sins.

We were blessed to celebrate one of our youth being baptized this Sunday. Her public confession and obedience to being buried with Christ and raised to new life in the Spirit through baptism is inspiring.

EPA orders Kansas company to stop polluting wetlands

By TIM CARPENTER Kansas Reflector

TOPEKA — A Kansas excavating company in Coffey County was ordered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to clean at least 3.7 acres tainted by debris dumped in wetlands adjacent to a tributary of the Neosho River.

The federal agency directed Michael Skillman, owner of Victory Excavating in New Strawn, to stop disposing of waste in the wetlands. The compliance order from the EPA mandated removal of debris and completion of a plan to restore the site.

The illegal dumping allegedly continued after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Kansas City, Missouri, issued a cease-and-desist order in October 2021.

The EPA said Skillman had a “history” of violating the U.S. Clean Water Act.

In June 2021, the EPA reached a settlement with Burlington attorney Thomas Robrahn and Skillman’s construction company to resolve alleged violations of the Clean Water Act within the Neosho River. Under the settlement, Robrahn and the company agreed to pay a $60,000 civil penalty.

EPA said Robrahn and Skillman placed 400 cubic yards of shattered concrete into the river adjacent to Robrahn’s property without obtaining a permit. The work impacted 240 feet of the river in a section with populations of Neosho Madtom, a federally listed threatened fish species.

Parents of disabled kids urge Kansas lawmakers to expand aid, x issues with health care system

By TIM CARPENTER Kansas Reflector

TOPEKA — A Kansas mother struggling to balance treating her cancer with caring for her disabled children urged lawmakers Monday to provide more support for people like her.

Kathy Keck, a mother of five kids, three of whom have developmental and medical disabilities, said she left the workforce more than five years ago to care for her children. Now, with a mastectomy scheduled, Keck said she doesn’t know who will watch them while she is recovering.

According to Keck, her daughter’s full-time nurse covers 52 hours a week, and her husband, a full-time nurse, handles 40 hours of child care per week, leaving Keck in charge of her daughter for about 76 hours per week. Keck doesn’t know what to do for her six- to eightweek mastectomy recuperation period, where she won’t be able to do any heavy lifting.

“I too have concerns about another mastectomy, but the biggest cause of stress and anxiety is not knowing how I will care for two of my three disabled children/adults long enough to take care of my own medical needs and recover with the ongoing workforce crisis,” Keck said in testimony submitted to the Robert G. Bethell Joint Committee on Home and Community Based Services and KanCare Oversight.

Keck asked lawmakers at the meeting to address systemic issues by increasing medical-

ly necessary nursing care for children on the Technology Assisted Waiver, a Kansan waiver that provides people with services such as personalized medical care, and find ways to address the statewide shortage of qualified health care workers.

Keck said the KanCare system, the state-administered form of Medicaid in Kansas, needs to be fixed.

“What is happening in our system is a lot like cancer,” Keck said.

An issue brought up several times during the seven-hour meeting Monday was the waitlist for receiving aid for intellectual and developmental disabilities.

More than 4,800 Kansans are currently on a waiting list for the Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities HCBS waiver program, according to the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services. The waiver program provides extra resources, support staff and overnight care options, along with other disability aids.

Parent Rick Elskamp

said his 21-year-old daughter, Sheridan, got on the waitlist in 2013 and is still waiting for help, with advisers telling him the wait could be anywhere from 10 to 15 years.

According to Elskamp, Sheridan is mentally a 6-year-old and has sensory issues, a history of seizures, behavioral issues and communication delays. Elskamp and his wife work full time, and payment for her day care is very expensive.

Elskamp said he and his family tried to explore other options, such as contacting legislators, putting in a funding crisis request and utilizing a respite care plan offered by their insurance, all of which was denied or failed, Elskamp said.

“It should not be this difficult getting the funding for services Sheridan deserves. Could you imagine waiting 10 years after suffering a disabling injury to get benefits?” Elskamp said in his testimony.

Other speakers at the meeting brought up issues with child health

care coverage in the state.

Approximately 76% of KanCare enrollees are children and their caregivers, according to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, but child health care advocates say an outdated child insurance eligibility requirement is barring hundreds more from adequate coverage.

The Kansas Children’s Health Insurance Program determines program eligibility by federal poverty income guidelines, with children qualifying if their families make less than 250% of these income guidelines.

But advocates from the Kansas Action for Children say the state Legislature tied CHIP eligibility to the 2008 fixed poverty level, and have never updated it.

Legislators increased funding during the 2022 legislative session to address the issue, approving $1.4 million in increased CHIP coverage, but advocates are now asking legislators to find a permanent fix to the issue in the 2023 legislative session.

Kansas race tests which matters more: Economy or abortion?

By JOHN HANNA and HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH The Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Republicans redrew Democratic Rep. Sharice Davids’ suburban Kansas City, Kansas-area district this year to make a third term harder for her to win, adding rural areas where former President Donald Trump did well and removing urban areas that Davids had carried handily.

But the dynamic changed in June, when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Kansas voters responded in August by overwhelmingly rejecting a ballot measure expected to lead to more restrictions or a ban on abortion.

The magnitude of that vote has left Davids

and other Democrats optimistic. That’s why she is spending the final stretch of the campaign focused on abortion, attempting to keep the same abortion-rights supporters who turned out to vote in August energized to do so again in November.

It’s a delicate task, asking voters who may fault Democrats for rising housing and grocery prices to nonetheless support Davids for Congress.

“I think this election has more to do with control and limiting people’s rights,” said swing voter Tanner Klingzell, a 42-year-old from the suburb of Prairie Village who says he is fiscally conservative but socially progressive. He supports abortion rights and says, “I just don’t feel comfortable voting for Republicans.”

The Supreme Court’s abortion ruling has rewritten the script in districts around the country, and both Davids and Republican challenger Amanda Adkins must win over independents and GOP moderates to win the one swing congressional district in an otherwise red state.

Davids became the first lesbian Native American in Congress when she rode suburban anti-Trump sentiment to office in the 2018 election. Her background as a mixed martial arts fighter drew national interest, and Republicans initially tried to group her with “The Squad”

of new liberal House members. Those efforts fell flat as she focused on such non-divisive issues as road projects, prescription drug prices and high-speed internet for rural areas.

Adkins, a former corporate executive and Kansas GOP chair, is hitting Davids hard on pocketbook issues, a tactic Republicans nationally expect to carry them back to a House majority. She’s also started highlighting crime and border security. She held a news conference on those issues Monday, days after House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy

released Republicans’ “Commitment to America” agenda, which promises to fight inflation but also to “protect the lives of unborn children.”

The two have faced off before. Davids defeated Adkins in 2020 by 10 percentage points, but that was before redistricting after the 2020 census.

Parent Rick Elskamp urges legislators to provide more aid to struggling families during Monday’s hearing on KanCare oversight. (KANSAS REFLECTOR SCREEN CAPTURE FROM KANSAS LEGISLATURE YOUTUBE CHANNEL)

Cub royalty

Biden warns oil companies

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Wednesday warned oil and gas companies against increasing prices for consumers as Hurricane Ian lashed Florida’s southwest coast.

“Do not, let me repeat, do not use this as an excuse to raise gasoline prices or gouge the American people,” Biden said at the start of a conference on hunger in America and just hours before the hurricane made landfall as a massive Category 4 storm.

Biden said that the hurricane “provides no excuse for price increases at the pump” and if it happens, he

will ask federal officials to determine “whether price gauging is going on.”

“America is watching. The industry should do the right thing,” Biden added.

There are few signs that average gas prices have jumped significantly in Florida as the hurricane began to approach. AAA put the statewide average at just under $3.40 a gallon, six-tenths of a cent higher than a week ago.

A 99-day run of falling pump prices nationally ended recently, and the 14-week decline was the longest streak since 2015. The nationwide average price had

risen past $5 a gallon — and $6 in California — in June as the economic recovery and an increase in travel boosted demand for gasoline and Russia’s war in Ukraine caused a spike in oil prices.

Gasoline prices mostly reflect trends in global oil prices, and crude — both the U.S. benchmark and the international Brent — has been slumping since mid-June on growing fears of a global recession that would reduce demand for energy.

Many energy analysts believe prices are more likely to rise than fall in the next few months.

Ian: Hurricane nears landfall as Florida braces for worst

a broad area including Tampa, Orlando and Jacksonville in the state’s northeast corner.

Catastrophic storm surges could push 12 feet of water or more across more than 250 miles of coastline, from Bonita Beach to Englewood, the hurricane center warned.

“It’s going to get a lot worse very quickly. So please hunker down,” DeSantis said.

More than 2.5 million people were under mandatory evacuation orders, but by law no one could be forced to flee. The governor said the state has 30,000 linemen, urban search and rescue teams and 7,000 National Guard troops from Florida and elsewhere ready to help once the weather clears.

Florida residents rushed ahead of the impact to board up their homes, stash precious belongings on upper floors and join long lines of cars leaving the shore.

Some chose to stay and ride out the storm.

Jared Lewis, a Tampa delivery driver, said his home has withstood hurricanes in the past, though not as powerful as Ian.

“It is kind of scary, makes you a bit anxious,” Lewis said. “After the last year of not having any, now you go to a Category 4 or 5. We are more used to the 2s and 3s.”

Forecasters predicted Ian would make landfall more than 100 miles south of Tampa and St. Petersberg, likely sparing the densely populated Tampa Bay area what would have been its first direct hit by a major hurricane since 1921.

Officials warned Tampa residents that they still faced threats from powerful winds and up to 20 inches of rain.

“Please, please, please be aware that we are not out of danger yet,” Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said in a video on Twitter. “Flooding is

still going to occur.”

During the night, Ian went through a natural cycle when it lost its old eye and formed a new one. The timing was bad for the Florida coast, because the storm got stronger and larger — 120 mph to 155 mph — with landfall just a few hours away.

The size of the storm also grew, with tropical storm force winds extending 175 miles from the hurricane’s center.

“With the higher intensity you’re going to see more extensive wind damage,” University of Miami hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy said. “The larger wind field means that more people will experience those stormforce winds.”

The most damaging winds could hit a coastline where the population has jumped sevenfold since 1970, according to the U.S. Census. Authorities worried that many residents would ignore orders to evacuate.

Vinod Nair wasn’t taking any chances. He drove inland from the Tampa area Tuesday with his wife, son, dog and two kittens to a hotel in Orlando, where only tropical storm force winds were expected.

“You can’t do anything about natural disasters,” Nair said. “We live in a high-risk zone,

so we thought it best to evacuate.”

Ash Dugney warily watched ocean water being sucked out below a Tampa Bay pier Wednesday morning. He said he didn’t trust Tampa’s storm drainage system to keep his corner tuxedo rental business safe from flooding. Dugney said that happened in his neighborhood even during mild storms.

“I don’t care about the wind and the rain and the stuff like that, I just care about the flooding,”

Dugney said, adding that he moved essentials out of the shop and moved other items up to above waist-high level.

Flash floods were possible across all of Florida. Hazards include the polluted leftovers of Florida’s phosphate fertilizer mining industry, more than 1 billion tons of slightly radioactive waste contained in enormous ponds that could overflow in heavy rains.

Parts of Florida’s east coast faced a storm surge threat as well, and

isolated tornadoes were spinning off the storm well ahead of landfall. One tornado damaged small planes and a hangar at the North Perry Airport, west of Hollywood along the Atlantic coast.

More than 190,000 homes and businesses were without electricity before landfall Wednesday, and Florida Power and Light warned those in Ian’s path to brace for days without power.

Parts of Georgia and South Carolina also

could see flooding rains and some coastal surge into Saturday. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp preemptively declared an emergency, ordering 500 National Guard troops onto standby to respond as needed.

Before turning toward Florida, Ian battered Cuba and brought down the country’s electrical grid, blacking out the entire island. It also caused destruction in Cuba’s world-famous tobacco belt. No deaths were reported.

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Taking shelter from potential impact brought by Hurricane Ian, NASA’s Artemis I is rolled back to the Vehicle Assembly Building Tuesday at Kennedy Space Center, Fla. ORLANDO SENTINEL/JOE BURBANK/TNS

Humboldt High School will crown its Fall Homecoming King and Queen during Friday’s home football game with Eureka. Queen candidates are, front row from from left, Morgan Sterling, Leah Mueller, Ella Lassman and Karley Wools. King candidates are William Kobold, Maddox Johnson, Gavin Jaro and Trey Sommer.

PHOTO BY ELIZABETH MELENDEZ/HHS MULTIMEDIA DEPT.

Russia poised to annex occupied Ukraine a er sham vote

KYIV, Ukraine (AP)

— Russia was poised Wednesday to formally annex parts of Ukraine where occupied areas held a Kremlin-orchestrated “referendum” — denounced by Kyiv and the West as illegal and rigged — on living under Moscow’s rule.

Armed troops had gone door-to-door with election officials to collect ballots in five days of voting. The results were widely ridiculed as implausible and characterized as a land grab by an increasingly cornered Russian leadership following embarrassing military losses in Ukraine.

Moscow-installed administrations in the four regions of southern and eastern Ukraine claimed Tuesday night that residents had voted to join Russia.

“Forcing people in these territories to fill out some papers at the barrel of a gun is yet another Russian crime in the course of its aggression against Ukraine,” Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said, adding that the balloting was “a propaganda show” and “null and worthless.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen urged the European Union’s 27 member countries to slap more sanctions on Russian officials and

trade over the “sham referendums.” She labeled the ballots “an illegal attempt to grab land and change international borders by force.”

The ballot was “falsified” and the outcome “implausibly claimed” that residents had agreed to rule from Moscow, the Washington-based think tank Institute for the Study of War said.

Pro-Russia officials in Ukraine’s Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia regions said Wednesday they would ask Russian President Vladimir Putin to

incorporate their provinces into Russia. Separatist leaders Leonid Pasechnik in Luhansk and Denis Pushilin in Donetsk said they were leaving for Moscow to settle the annexation formalities.

According to Russia-installed election officials, 93% of the ballots cast in the Zaporizhzhia region supported annexation, as did 87% in the Kherson region, 98% in the Luhansk region and 99% in Donetsk.

Western countries, however, dismissed the balloting as a meaning-

less pretense staged by Moscow in an attempt to legitimize its invasion of Ukraine launched on Feb. 24.

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said Washington would propose a Security Council resolution to condemn the “sham” vote. The resolution would also urge member states not to recognize any altered status of Ukraine and demand that Russia withdraws its troops from its neighbor, she tweeted.

European Union foreign policy chief Josep

County: Commission keeps burn ban

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Max industrial boom mower.

He also told commissioners he plans to refurbish a distributor truck that needed repairs this summer and briefly delayed chip and seal work in Humboldt. That would be much cheaper than replacing it, which he said could cost more than $300,000.

A COUNTYWIDE burn ban will remain in effect until further notice, in spite of a small amount of rain that fell last week.

Sheriff Bryan Murphy, who was not in attendance at Tuesday’s meeting, relayed his desire to continue the ban because of continued drought and dry conditions.

The storms on Thursday dropped only .33 inches of rain, bringing the total rainfall for September to just .40 inches. Typically, about 4.48 inches of precipitation is recorded in a normal September.

The county is 6.27 inches short of rain compared to what is typical for this time of year.

COMMISSIONERS plan to ask the City of Iola, and its fire and EMS director in particular, for an in-person report about the ambulance service.

Last year, the county reluctantly agreed to a new contract with the city for EMS services after examining options for a different provider. They said they’ve been disappointed by the lack of communication with the local department.

They asked County

Clerk Sherrie Riebel to run a report about the number of county ambulance runs and revenue, and were disappointed to see the number of runs have increased this year but revenue is about $400,000 less.

Commissioners wondered if the decreased revenue might be attributed to lack of collections, particularly as they switched to an outside contractor to collect EMS billing after a county employee retired last year.

But that’s exactly why they need better communication with the city, commissioners said.

“This is not personal. We know the boots on the ground are doing a great job. This is all about business and management and tax dollars,” Commission Chairman Jerry Daniels said.

TUESDAY was Riebel’s final meeting before

she retires on Friday.

Commissioners thanked her for her 25 years of service, and gave a standing ovation after she discussed a few items of business.

A retirement reception will be from 2 to 4 p.m. Friday in the basement of the courthouse. Shannon Patterson will be sworn in as the next clerk at 4 p.m. Friday.

IN OTHER news, commissioners:

Got an update from Thrive Allen County CEO Lisse Regehr on the status of ARPA funds. She confirmed the county could earn interest on the ARPA money, but Counselor Bob Johnson said counties typically earn very little interest.

Commissioners agreed it would be worth even a little bit of interest earned.

Signed a proclamation at the request of Hope Unlimited to de-

clare October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Hope Unlimited representatives Donita Garner and Alexandria Gumfory spoke about issues related to domestic violence; incidents have spiked since the COVID-19 pandemic. The agency’s shelter is full and they have launched a five-year campaign to raise money for a new shelter.

Borrell called the vote “illegal” and described the results as “falsified.”

“This is another violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty (and) territorial integrity, (amid) systematic abuses of human rights,” he tweeted.

Ukraine’s Foreign

Ministry statement asked the EU, NATO and the Group of Seven major industrial nations to “immediately and significantly” step up pressure on Russia with new sanctions and by significantly increasing their military aid to Kyiv.

The Kremlin remained unmoved amid the hail of criticism.

Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that at the very least, Russia intended to drive Ukrainian forces out of the Donetsk region, where Moscow’s troops and separatist forces currently control about 60% of the territory.

Russia is calling up 300,000 reservists to fight in the war and warned it could resort to nuclear weapons after this month’s counteroffensive by Ukraine dealt Moscow’s forces heavy battlefield setbacks. The partial mobilization is deeply unpopular in some areas, however, triggering protests, scattered violence and Russians fleeing the country by the tens of thousands.

Refugees from Ukrainian regions held by Russia arrive to vote for a referendum at a polling station in Rostov-on-Don on Saturday. GETTY IMAGES/AFT/TNS

Journalism that makes a difference

Iola school district’s enrollment numbers a promising sign

The local school district bucked a long-term trend by increasing the number of students attending Iola schools for the 2022-2023 school year.

The official student “count” day on Sept. 20 gives district officials the yardstick they need to re vise budgets based on last year’s numbers as well as develop future budgets.

The local difference is 15.5 students — a stu dent who attends the high school’s virtual program is counted as .5 — 1,223, up from 1,207.5.

That’s welcome news.

It’s been 15 years since USD 257 schools have wit nessed an increase in stu dents, which isn’t all that surprising since Allen County continues to re treat. Today’s estimated countywide population is 12,464 compared to 13,403 in 2007.

Superintendent of Schools Stacey Fager cred its the district’s expanded preschool program for at tracting students this way.

In 2018, the school district and private preschools teamed up to provide the same curriculum to all stu dents at no charge to fami lies. The program is funded through the Kansas Depart ment of Education’s Early Childhood Block Grant.

The goal is to have 100 percent participation so that all kindergartners be gin their formal education equally prepared. Being “kindergarten ready” is a determinant for future

success, researchers say, because the learning gap can be significant between children who have tak en advantage of a formal learning environment and those who have not.

Those preschool years are a critical time for learn ing. In their first three to five years, a child’s brain grows faster than any oth er stage in their lives, soak ing up social, cognitive, emotional and language skills essential to building a strong foundation.

Fager lauded the pro gram’s success for an in crease in grade school attendance. This year’s number of 5-year-olds in either kindergarten or pre school has increased from 95 to 108, requiring an addi tional kindergarten teach er.

Today, there are 504 stu dents in pre-K through fifth grade compared to 474 the previous year.

A SHINY, new building also doesn’t hurt.

The new Iola Elementary School is testament to the district’s dedication to its children by ensuring they have an environment that stimulates learning and fosters confidence. Though indirect, the message stu dents receive every time they walk through those doors is that they are ap preciated and worth every penny invested in their ed ucation.

Hats off to USD 257. May the success continue.

— Susan Lynn

ACC athletes defy stereotype

Most college athletes en dure multiple practices a day and balance coursework at the same time. Even with this, outside eyes may see them as party animals, or “rambunctious” and “irre sponsible.”

Most do not see the work these students put in behind the scenes.

Here at Allen Community College, students who partic ipate in athletics are held to a higher level than most, serv ing as athletic role models but also as academic leaders.

The athletes are happy to assume that mantle.

Here are three such ath letes:

GABRIELA DOMÍNGUEZ is volleyball player and a sophomore at Allen. Domín guez takes 18 credit hours while having a full athletic schedule. She starts class at eight, and her day is often not over until six.

After tak ing time to talk to friends and family, Gabriela begins her school work. She always does her schoolwork in the evening be cause she doesn’t want to be hurried and tired after prac ticing all day.

“I think student athletes have more pressure to have great grades because if not, we can lose our scholarship or we won’t play,” Domínguez said. “We have to be good stu dents to be able to do what we love.”

SONDRA PRIEST is a freshman at Allen and a pre-nursing major. She at

Jailynn Goforth ACC Flame editor

tends practice five days a week and takes 15 credits on top of her ac tivities. She is in class ev ery day of the week by 8 a.m. She spends two hours each day in scheduled practice, not getting back to her dorm until 6:30 most evenings. After a long day of school and cheer, it would be the time to relax and socialize, right? Not for Priest. She and her two room mates, who are also on the cheer and dance team, then tackle their homework as signments until late into the night.

“Academics are more im portant to me because I came to college to pursue an edu cation,” said Priest. “I would not have my scholarship if I did not keep my grades up.”

SEAN DIXON is a “super sophomore” here at Allen, meaning he’s been here for three years. Dixon is a track and field athlete, with practices three days a week. He balances 14 credit hours on top of sports. Dixon spends most mornings in class, with a short break for lunch after

which he heads to practice until five. He spends the rest of his night working on homework.

“I feel like sometimes I will get too caught up in either one,” Dixon said. “Either I am doing homework and practicing hard and forget ting to text and call my fam ily back home or I would get too caught up on social media and forget I have homework due. But most of the time I am able to balance it out.”

INSTRUCTORS at Allen also make sure students who are involved in extracurricu lar activities are being held responsible by sending out early student progress re ports, which alert a student who’s falling behind in class. Most teams are also required to complete a set amount of study hall hours.

“I think that [the idea we are irresponsible] is some thing that student athletes have to prove wrong every way they go,” Domínguez said. “People think we only care about the sport and what others think, but our grades are more important. Without a good GPA you’re not going to play.”

Although the stereotype of college athletes as party animals persists, these three students have shown just a glimpse of the truth. Stu dents are dedicated to their education here at Allen. Not only do teachers and coaches hold athletes responsible — so do the players.

About the author: Jailynn Goforth is a sophomore at ACC. A graduate of Hum boldt High School, Jailynn participates in cheer, quiz bowl, and is the editor of the Allen Flame, the school’s stu dent newspaper.

From asteroids to viruses, science is our hope A look back in t me. A look back in t me.

NASA this week successful ly did what it normally tries to avoid, and destroyed one of its own spacecraft — by ram ming it into an asteroid. It was the first step in an experi ment that could one day spare humanity from the fate of the dinosaurs by knocking a celestial threat off course. In an age when science is too of ten under attack from climate change deniers, anti-vaxxers and others, it’s a timely re minder that scientists are, in fact, on the good side.

The space agency’s Dou ble Asteroid Redirection Test, aptly given the acro nym DART, aimed a refrig erator-sized spacecraft at a football-stadium-sized aster oid and, on Monday evening, scored a bull’s-eye. The idea is to see whether striking the asteroid, called Dimorphos, might change its trajectory.

Dimorphos circles a larger asteroid in a known orbit, so NASA should be able to as certain within a few months whether it has successfully altered that orbit — which would be a first in human his tory.

The stakes couldn’t be high er. There are no non-avian dinosaurs in today’s zoos be cause, 66 million years ago, a six-mile-wide asteroid struck Earth in what is now Mexico, raising smoke and dust that blotted out the sun worldwide for years and starved them into extinction.

There are no known extinc tion-level asteroids on course toward Earth within at least the next 50 years, but the law

of averages says it will hap pen again someday. If an ap proaching object can be inter cepted millions of miles out and years in advance, even a small nudge could mean the difference between the continuing advancement of civilization or a return to the Stone Age.

The success of the NASA test so far has been an aston ishing scientific feat with the single-minded goal of pro tecting humanity. Back on Earth, exactly the same can be said of the lightning-fast development of coronavi rus vaccines, and the con tinuing efforts by scientists

to quantify and address the looming threats posed by hu man-caused climate change. Yet in too many corners of American politics, these steady societal servants of fact-based expertise have been trashed as anti-industri al zealots or vaccination con spirators.

The right’s bizarre fixation on Dr. Anthony Fauci, con demning him as the villain of the pandemic rather than its most prominent hero, is just one example of this toxic phenomenon. Another is the fact that more than 95% of scientists agree that human activity has caused the de

structive climate change that is more obvious by the year — yet more than 100 mem bers of Congress continue to deny it.

Scientists aren’t flawless or all-knowing, but they de serve more trust than those who impugn their expertise and motives for the sake of demagoguery. Whether the threat is from space, or a vi rus, or humanity’s own envi ronmental shortsightedness, the solution is to trust the science — and to reject the know-nothing extremism that afflicts too much of a na tion’s politics today.

— St. Louis Post-Dispatch

55 Years Ago September 1967

John Call and his brother, Clifford, have built a model of the former Geneva Acad emy which was the center of the Geneva community in the early years of Allen County’s history. The Gene va community was estab lished in the spring of 1857 by settlers from St. Johns, Mich., who came to Kansas to “counteract and defeat the nefarious attempt then being made to spread the curse of slavery over the virgin soil of Kansas.” The Call brothers were raised in the community, which has shrunk nearly to ghost town status, and decided to build the model for old time’s sake. The academy build ing became the commu nity Presbyterian Church and was used for church services for more than 50 years. The Call brothers said they would donate the model to the historical soci ety “if they want it.” John now lives in Colony and Clifford on a farm east of Mildred.

*****

Ray Pershall, president of Iola Industries, Inc., said 18 industries are employ ing 750 in Iola these days. Among those cited were Quality Packing Products, Iola Molded Plastics, the Lehigh Cement Co., Miller and Son Dress Co., the Wal ton Foundry and Thompson Poultry.

Sondra Priest

Gabriela Domínguez

Sean Dixon

European Union suspects sabotage of Baltic pipelines

By DORIS PUNDY and ALLISON WILLIAMS Tribune News Service

BRUSSELS — The European Union believes sabotage is the likely cause of leaks from the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines and is threatening countermeasures, its top diplomat said on Wednesday.

“The European Union is deeply concerned about damage to the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines that has resulted in leaks in the international waters of the Baltic Sea,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said.

“These incidents are not a coincidence and affect us all,” his statement read.

He said that all of the available information indicated that the leaks were the result of a deliberate act.

“We will support any investigation aimed at getting full clarity on

what happened and why, and will take further steps to increase our re-

silience in energy security,” he said.

Borrell said that any

Biblesta: Celebration on tap

Continued from A1

from 11 to 11:30 a.m., followed by featured performer Tim Timmons.

Timmons is a Christian musician and Nashville recording artist. In a press release, he says he spent two decades in ministry and a lifetime looking for Jesus.

His diagnosis of an incurable cancer 20 years ago gave him the gift of perspective, he said.

“It’s really the open

door to speak into people’s stories,” his website says.

He also hosts a podcast, 10,000 Minutes. The idea behind the podcast is to remind folks that there are 10,080 minutes in a week, and if 80 are spent at church, how do you spend the other 10,000 minutes?

The parade starts at 1:30 p.m.

After the parade, the

Voice of Truth Quartet will entertain the crowd from 2:15 to 3:30, followed by Lloyd Houk until 4:45, when awards will be announced.

The annual bean feed starts at 5.

Biblesta After Dark begins at 7 p.m. and will feature Gary Larson, Southeast Kansas director of Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Cain Coulton will lead Praise and Worship.

deliberate disruption of European energy infrastructure is unacceptable and would be met with a “robust and united response.”

Three leaks were found in the pipelines that carry gas from Russia to Europe via the Baltic Sea, in the exclusive economic zones of Denmark and Sweden off the Danish island of Bornholm.

The Swedish Coastguard said the gas from the suspicious leaks is continuing to spew into the Baltic Sea.

“Unfortunately, the gas cannot be captured or combated,” a coastguard spokesman told dpa. He could not give any estimate on how much has escaped so far.

The operator of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline said repairing the leak was an option but the damage had to be assessed first.

Nord Stream 2 AG spokesman Ulrich Lissek said that “no

one can seriously say at the moment what the situation is down there,” but that “the structural integrity of the pipeline must be massively damaged.”

The pipelines had been filled with Russian natural gas, but neither was actually delivering any gas to the terminals in Germany. Gas through Nord Stream 1 stopped flowing after Russia carried out maintenance work; Nord Stream 2 was never put into operation due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.

As the gas continues to spill into the sea, the focus in Europe has turned to who or what might be responsible for the blasts that caused the leaks.

The Kremlin rejected any accusations that it was responsible.

“It is quite predictable and predictably stupid and absurd to make such assumptions,” said Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, according to the Interfax news agency.

Peskov said that it was necessary to wait for investigations at the leaks and to determine whether it had been an explosion or not.

German security sources told dpa the cause of the incidents had not been clarified, but there were indications of sabotage. Only a state actor could mount such an intervention due to its technical complexity, the sources said.

“There can be no natural cause for this incident,” government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said in Berlin on Wednesday.

Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics described leaks in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines as “deliberate attacks” in a tweet on Wednesday that seemed to reference - but did not mention - the war in Ukraine.

“The sabotage of the Nordstream I and II pipelines must be classified as the most serious security and environmental incident in the Baltic Sea,” Rinkevics wrote. “It seems we are entering a new phase of hybrid war.”

NATO and the EU should “respond accordingly,” he said.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg also described the three leaks found in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines under the Baltic Sea as “sabotage” on Twitter after a meeting with the Danish defence minister in Brussels.

Stoltenberg said the duo “discussed the sabotage on the North Stream [sic] pipelines ... We addressed the protection of critical infrastructure in NATO countries.”

Norway, another NATO member in the region, said its own oil and gas facilities were not at risk due to the leaks and did not require support for the moment from the Western military alliance.

Jerry Neeley, Cameron Carter

Matthew Jennings

Tim Timmons 11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. Parade 1:30 p.m.

Quartet 2:15-3:30 p.m.

Houk 3:45-4:45 p.m.

Tim Timmons Lloyd Houk

Voice Of

Gary Larson

Director

Praise-N-Worship with Cain Coulton

Chanute’s Joshua Weese, one of the noteworthy entries at the 2021 Biblesta parade in Humboldt, portrays Moses carrying the Ten Commandments from Mount Sinai.

REGISTER FILE PHOTO

The Nord Stream 2 gas line landfall facility in Lubmin, Germany, in 2020. AFP via GETTY IMAGES/ODD ANDERSEN/TNS

Crest gets a clean sweep at Chetopa

CHETOPA — The Crest High School volleyball team took down Chetopa and Uniontown with ease on Tuesday.

The Lady Lancers (20-4; 7-0) were impressive against the Chetopa Green Hornets, winning 25-9 and 25-11.

The team combined for 14 aces at a serve rate of 82% from the line. Lady Lancers Karlee Boots, Allyssa Adams and Kamryn Luedke each served a perfect 100% from the serving line.

In the Uniontown match, Crest won 25-15 and 25-17.

The Lady Lancers served a near-perfect 97% from the line to go along with eight ace serves.

McKenna Hammond led Crest in serve-receive passing on 15-of-15 to go along with 13 digs. She also registered five kills, a lone assist, five aces and a single block.

Lady Lancer Kayla Hermreck led the team with 18 kills and eight aces while going 13-for-14 from the serving line. She also tallied eight assists, six digs and one block.

Crest’s Kinley Edgerton led the team with 10 assists and also tallied one kill, six digs and went five-forsix from the serving line with two aces. Karlee Boots knocked down seven kills, four aces and eight digs while also going 11-for-11 from the serving line.

Delaney Ramsey had four kills, two assists, one ace serve and four digs. Allyssa Adams went eight-for-eight from the serving line while ripping two ace serves and six digs.

Lady Lancer Kamryn Luedke also tapped two kills and three digs while Brookynn Jones had six digs and went a perfect fourfor-four from the serving line.

Crest hosts St. Paul and Marmaton Valley on Oct. 4.

SCC volleys at Hartford

HARTFORD — The Southern Coffey County High School volleyball team split a pair of matchups with Hartford and Lebo on Tuesday in a mid-week tilt.

The Titans (14-6; 1-1) took their first match over Hartford fairly easily with set scores of 25-10 and 25-8.

Ross Snovelle helped lead SCC defense with eight kills, followed by Josie Weers’ seven kills and Madeline Spencer’s six kills. Weers also led from the serving line with four aces while Spencer knocked two aces.

Karley Ohl, Kennedy Gunlock and Snovelle each went a perfect 100% from the serving line as Weers and Spencer each served 93% from the line in the win.

Weers and Spencer also

See SCC | Page B3

Mustangs fall at Anderson Co.

By QUINN BURKITT The Iola Register

GARNETT — The IHS Mustangs faced stiff competition at the Anderson County volleyball invitational Tuesday evening.

The girls got off to a good start against Burlington, winning the opening set, 2522. The team then dropped the next two sets for their first loss of the day, 23-25 and 18-25.

Reese Curry led her Mus-

tangs offensively with six kills while Rio Lohman also knocked four kills.

Mustang Aysha Houk went a perfect 15-for-15 at the serving line with five aces. She also led defensively with 15 digs while Alana Mader made 4.5 blocks at the net defensively.

“Our blocking and net play were very good today. We also served-received and passed well during the Burlington game. We’ve got to work on terminating the ball

on the attack,” said Iola head coach Amanda Holman.

The second matchup pitted Iola against Anderson County in which the Mustangs fell, 19-25 and 12-25.

Lohman registered four kills while Jackie Fager and Curry had three kills apiece.

Mustangs Elza Clift and Kaysin Crusinbery each led defensively with six digs while Clift also passed well for a 2.4 passing total.

Iola will travel to Eureka on Thursday at 5 p.m.

IHS tennis competes at Pittsburg

PITTSBURG — The Iola High School tennis team fought hard at the Pittsburg Invitational on Tuesday.

Also participating were Parsons, Chanute and Labette County, who placed in the top three, respectively, and Coffeyville and Pittsburg.

Mustang junior and team leader Keira Fawson went 2-1 in the meet after falling in her opener to Parsons’ Sydney Schibi, 8-3. Fawson won her next two sets against Pittsburg’s Andy McCabe, 8-3, and Labette County’s Aubrey Lassen, 8-0.

Rebekah Coltrane also competed in singles and finished 1-2, winning her final matchup against Coffeyville’s Natalie Scott, 8-0. Coltrane fell in her opening match with Parsons Bri Boucher, 8-0, before losing to Pittsburg’s Indiana Grotheer, 8-1.

“She played some very close matches, getting to deuce a lot,” Iola head coach Chris Belknap said.

The first doubles duo for Iola saw Genevive Ward and Kennedy Maier go winless at 0-3.

Ward and Maier dropped their first matchup to Parsons’ Jadyn Heck and Kamryn Keathy, 8-0. They then lost to Pittsburg’s Savannah Grotheer and Laikyan LeFever, 8-1 before falling in their final matchup with Coffeyville’s Lindsey Hayden and Emma Thompson, 8-4.

“They kept smiling the entire time and had a good time enjoying themselves,” said Belknap.

The second pair of IHS doubles were Molly Riebel and Melanie Palmer who went 1-2 in their matches.

The duo got shut out in their first two matches but came back for a hard-fought third match to knock off Coffeyville in a tie-breaker. The meet began for Riebel and Palmer falling to Parsons’ Brookelyn Barger and Ariel Adams, 8-0.

MLB postseason primer

By DAVID BRANDT The Associated Press

Major League Baseball’s postseason has a little more heft this season.

The playoffs are rapidly approaching, with the final regular season games set for Oct. 5. The postseason begins two days later with a field of 12 teams — up from last year’s 10 — and includes a best-of-three format for the opening wildcard round.

An expanded postseason could lead to some spicy early postseason matchups. San Diego’s newly acquired slugger Juan Soto against the defending World Series champion Braves? Ageless star Albert Pujols and the Cardinals against Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber and the Phillies?

Both are possibilities de-

pending on results in the season’s final week.

MLB’s new wild-card format is similar to the one currently used in college baseball for the NCAA Super Regional round: The three games will be scheduled on three consecutive days from Oct. 7-9 at the higher seed’s field. The first team that gets two wins advances.

After that, the playoffs will be business as usual. The division series will be best-of-five, while the league championship series and World Series will be best-ofseven.

Here’s a little more information about baseball’s bulked-up postseason: WHAT’S NEW IN BASEBALL’S WILD-CARD ROUND?

The best-of-three wild card format is a change from the sudden death one-game

format that’s been in place since 2012.

Six teams each from the American League and National League will qualify for the postseason, including the three division winners in each league. The three wildcard teams in each league will be the teams with the best record that didn’t win their division.

The top two teams with the best records in each league will get a bye and don’t have to play in the wild-card round. Those four teams get a few days of rest. Right now, that would be the Astros and Yankees in the American League and the Dodgers and Mets in the National League.

The wild-card round will feature four series: The No. 6 seed will play at the No. 3 seed in both the AL and NL.

The No. 5 seed will play at

“They won in a hard earned tie-breaker. The duo M & M played very well yesterday,” Belknap said.

In the second match, Riebel and Palmer were shut out by Pittsburg’s Kali Terry and Jessie Lawson, 8-0. The pair won their final match over Coffeyville’s Sarah Turner and Evelyn Crafton in the tie-breaker, 8-7 (5).

Regional matchups are Saturday, Oct. 8.

Iola’s Dallyn McGraw goes for the hit against Burlington on Tuesday. REGISTER/QUINN BURKITT

Iola’s Kennedy Maier REGISTER/QUINN BURKITT

Cleveland Guardians pitcher Cody Morris with pitching coach Carl Willis. TNS

CLASSIFIED

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PACKING PAPERS AVAILABLE at the Iola Register O ce. $3 per bundle.

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After-School SEKA program - Part-Time

Advanced Practice Outpatient Therapist - Full-Time

High-intensity focused ultrasound not yet standard for cancer

DEAR DR. ROACH: I have prostate cancer. My PSA levels were as high as 48, and I’m taking medication to lower the numbers to 40. My urologist has recommended a high-intensity focused ultrasound after reviewing my MRI and biopsy results. Apparently, the cancer has not spread beyond the prostate. I was told that this procedure is much better for recovery purposes, as well as for quality of life afterward. The procedure is done via sound waves to focus on the area without having to damage anything around it. Have you heard of HIFU, and if so, what do you think

Dr. Keith Roach

about it? — J.W.

ANSWER: High-intensity focused ultrasound uses sound waves to heat up tissues. By focusing many ultrasound beams directly on the area affected by prostate cancer, the treatment, in theory, kills cancer cells, with a minimum amount of damage to other cells. This may eventually become a standard treatment for localized prostate cancer, but as of

yet, there is not strong evidence to support its use. Because of the lack of evidence comparing HIFU to standard treatments, a joint guideline recommends that prospective patients should know that the technique is unproven and approved by the FDA for destruction of prostate tissue, not explicitly for prostate cancer. I’m not sure if you knew.

I think it might’ve been an exaggeration for the surgeon to say that there is no risk of side effects. Fourty-four percent of men have sexual troubles, 17% have obstruction, 12% develop a stricture in the urethra,

and 8% develop urinary incontinence after the procedure. These numbers are lower than some of the other options, but certainly not zero.

While HIFU is reasonable in men who have failed, or cannot get, standard treatment or in men who have very lowrisk cancer, neither of those situations seems to apply to you. A PSA level above 40 puts you at high risk, and the standard of care at this time is surgery, if the urologist feels there is a good chance of a cure. Radiation treatment, usually with medication to help lower testosterone levels, is another standard

option.

DEAR DR. ROACH: While traveling, I’ve always been careful to drink bottled, filtered water. On a recent trip to the Philippines, I was diagnosed with amoeba. I didn’t eat raw vegetables, and everything I had eaten was cooked. Does filtered water not protect us against amoeba? Is distilled water the way to go? — A.H.

ANSWER: Filtering is an effective way of removing protozoa like Entamoeba histolytica from drinking water, so I don’t think it was the bottled water that infected you. This particular parasite is very

infectious (a single organism is enough to cause disease) and can be spread through handto-hand contact, as well as through food. It can also be spread sexually. It is uncommon in people who spend less than a month in the endemic areas.

It’s impossible to be 100% safe when you can’t cook food yourself, but drinking only bottled water (avoid ice), eating foods that are cooked and served still hot, only eating fruit you can peel yourself, and completely avoiding buffets and salad bars will help. Frequent hand hygiene by sanitizers is also a good idea.

Unbeaten Dolphins underdogs at Bengals

By ROB MAADDI The Associated Press

Tua Tagovailoa and the unbeaten Miami Dolphins are underdogs in Week 4.

The Dolphins (3-0) kick off this week’s schedule against Joe Burrow and the Cin cinnati Bengals (1-2) on “Thursday Night Foot ball.”

The Bengals are 3 1/2-point favorites, ac cording to FanDuel Sportsbook.

If a victory over the Buffalo Bills wasn’t convincing enough, perhaps a win over the defending AFC champi on Bengals would prove the Dolphins are legiti mate contenders.

“There are still some doubters, but we don’t really pay attention too much,” Dolphins run ning back Raheem Mo stert said. “We just go out here and do what we got to do at the end of the day. Whether if it’s against a tough op ponent or a not-so tough opponent, each week is a different challenge and each week is a dif ferent opportunity for us to grow.”

Tagovailoa is trying to play with an injured back on short rest. Dol phins coach Mike Mc Daniel said Tagovailoa would be questionable in a typical week. Mi ami has a capable back up in Teddy Bridgewa ter if needed.

Tagovailoa’s uncer tainty makes this one easier to predict.

BENGALS 26-20

Denver (plus 2 1/2) at Las Vegas

The Raiders are too talented to be stay winless after winning 10 games last season.

Russell Wilson still hasn’t found a rhythm in Denver’s offense and rookie coach Nathaniel Hackett has made sev eral head-scratching decisions. It’s an op portunity for Raiders coach Josh McDaniels to get his first win since Nov. 24, 2010, when he coached the Broncos.

BEST BET: RAIDERS 24-19

Arizona (plus 2) at Carolina

The Cardinals have struggled in the first half and need to start games the way they finish them. They’ve won nine straight road games in the regular season. Kyler Murray should outduel Baker Mayfield in the battle between former Okla homa quarterbacks.

UPSET SPECIAL: CAR

DINALS 26-20

Los Angeles Char gers (minus 5 1/2) at Houston Justin Herbert is playing hurt, the Char gers are banged-up and they were blown out by the Jaguars last week.

The winless Texans have been outscored a combined 30-0 in the fourth quarter this sea son.

CHARGERS 30-16

Jacksonville (plus 6 1/2) at Philadelphia Jalen Hurts and the Eagles are rolling.

They dominated Car son Wentz last week and have another reunion against coach Doug Pederson, who led them to the franchise’s only Super Bowl title.

EAGLES 27-17

Los Angeles Rams (plus 2 1/2) at San Fran cisco

The 49ers have owned the Rams the past three years, winning six straight, though Los Angeles beat San Fran cisco in the NFC cham pionship game.

49ERS 23-20

Minnesota (minus 2 1/2) at New Orleans

The Saints, especially Jameis Winston, need to stop turning the ball over. The Vikings are still finding their offen sive groove under new coach Kevin O’Connell.

SAINTS 23-20

Tennessee (plus 3 1/2) at Indianapolis

Matt Ryan rallied the Colts to their first win of the season in a come back victory over the Chiefs. Now, he gets his first taste of this AFC South rivalry.

SCC: volleys at Hartford Tuesday

Continued from B1

dominated on defense, making three digs apiece while each also averaged 1.5 digs per set.

“We played well in the first match against Hartford. We were able to set up and kill a lot of balls and also pass the ball well,” said South ern Coffey County head coach Jeff True.

Southern Coffey County dropped their second matchup with Lebo in two sets, 23-25 and 13-25.

The first set saw the Titans claw back into the match but come up just two points short. Southern Coffey’s pass ing was off in the sec ond set and the team went on dry streaks to allow Lebo to take a larger lead.

“We made a real ly nice push against them in the first set, but in the second set, we didn’t pass the ball well, which allowed them to

make a couple of good runs from which we couldn’t recover,” True said.

Weers led offensive ly with nine kills while Snovelle registered five kills and Spencer knocked four kills. At the serving line, Spen cer tallied the lone ace serve of the match and went 90% on serves.

Kyla Houston, Jalea True, Weers and Ohl each went a perfect 100% from the serving line.

Weers led with two blocks, followed by Sno velle’s lone block defen sively. Spencer, Weers and Snovelle also each notched four digs in the loss.

“All in all it wasn’t a bad night, we just need to continue working on being good consistent passers. I love the effort that this team is giv ing,” said True.

Southern Coffey County will travel to Oswego on Thursday.

COLTS 24-21

Chicago (plus 3 1/2) at New York Giants

The Bears have won two games without test ing Justin Fields too much. He’s thrown only 45 passes. The Giants have a short week after a tough loss at home to Dallas on Monday night.

GIANTS 22-16

Jets (plus 3 1/2) at Pittsburgh

The Steelers are sput tering offensively under Mitch Trubisky. The Jets have held a lead for just 22 seconds.

STEELERS 21-17

Cleveland (minus 1 1/2) at Atlanta

Jacoby Brissett is proving he’s more than a game-manager for the Browns, who rely on Nick Chubb and an ex cellent ground game.

BROWNS 27-19

Washington (plus 3 1/2) at Dallas Cooper Rush is 2-0 fill ing in for Dak Prescott this season. Carson Wentz tries to bounce back from a beatdown against the Eagles to face another familiar opponent.

COWBOYS 23-21 New England (plus 10) at Green Bay

After beating Tom Brady and the Bucca neers, the Packers face the reeling Patriots.

PACKERS 30-13

Kansas City (minus 1 1/2) at Tampa Bay

The Buccaneers are in hurricane upheaval, struggling on offense and facing a team seek ing to get even for its loss in the Super Bowl two years ago.

CHIEFS 24-21

2022 RECORD

Last Week: Straight up: 10-6. Against spread: 10-6.

Season: Straight up: 27-21. Against spread: 24-24.

Best Bet: Straight up: 1-0. Against spread: 1-0. Season: Straight up: 2-1. Against spread: 2-1.

Upset Special: Straight up: 1-0. Against spread: 1-0.

Season: Straight up: 1-2. Against spread: 1-2

California eyeing girls flag football in schools

REDONDO BEACH, Calif. (AP) — Elsa Mo rin gripped the football and launched a per fect spiral. Then the 17-year-old dodged in and out of cones and yanked the flag hang ing from another girl’s belt for a key defensive play.

“Something about football just gets me really excited,” said the senior at Southern California’s Redondo Union High School. “I’ve always just want ed to play.”

Morin was among about three dozen girls who recently tried out for the school’s flag football team. The scene at Redondo’s field is playing out with increasing fre quency in California and around the coun try as girls flag football soars in popularity.

The number of girls playing flag football in U.S. high schools dou bled to 11,000 in the de cade leading up to 201819, according to the National Federation of State High School As sociations.

On Thursday, the southern section of the California Interscho lastic Federation is ex pected to vote on mak ing it an official girls’ high school sport. If approved, the state fed eration — which gov erns interscholastic sports in the Califor nia — would take it up next month with a goal of making it an official sport in the nation’s most populous state for the 2023-24 school year.

Flag football already is a sanctioned high school girls sport in states including Al abama and Nevada. And it was added as a collegiate sport by the National Association of Intercollegiate Ath letics, with colleges in Florida, Georgia, Kansas and elsewhere fielding teams.

While girls are al lowed to play tackle football on high school teams in California,

few do. Flag football allows them to expe rience the sport in a way “that has all the knowledge, skills, and ability and the strategy of traditional football without some of the more violent parts of it,” said Paula Hart Ro das, president-elect of the CIF Southern Sec tion’s council who pre viously coached Lawn dale High School’s flag team.

In flag football, no one gets tackled. A play ends when an oppos ing player pulls off the flag of a ball-carrier. It also is far cheaper than tackle football since no helmets or pads are needed.

The NFL sees flag football as a way to encourage its female fans. The Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers started a pi lot high school league during the last school year, giving many girls a first shot at playing.

Chase Hartman, the Chargers’ former com munity relations man ager, said more than 70 schools filled out inter est forms for the new pilot league. The NFL teams selected eight schools to start and provided uniforms and gear.

“The response was quite frankly more than we were prepared for,” he said.

Jake Jimenez, coach of the team at Redon do Union, said with COVID-19 still circu lating he wasn’t sure how many girls would want to play. But near ly three dozen showed

up for the first tryouts last school year, and a similar number came out this year. Jimenez could only accept half of them. He hopes that once California sanc tions the sport, he can build a junior varsity team and develop a pipeline of players.

“They loved being the pioneer of women in sports and girls in flag football,” he said. “We are truly trailblaz ers.”

He said he’d like to schedule games right before his school’s tackle football games to promote the team.

The NFL — which invited a group of pi lot league flag players to join tennis legend Billie Jean King for the coin toss at the last Su per Bowl — has been driving interest at the high school level. But flag football has been gaining in popularity among younger players for years, especially amid growing concern about the risk of con cussions and other in juries from tackle foot ball.

Mark Broersma, commissioner of the Friday Night Lights flag football organiza tion in Southern Cali fornia, said girls make up a fraction of the 25,000 children from kindergarten to eighth grade who play each year, but their ranks are growing.

“We see an increase in all-girls teams that roll in and play as a team,” Broersma said.

Tryouts at Redondo

St. Huberts High School girls flag football TNS

Kansas, Kansas State on cruise control

By JOHN RABY The Associated Press

An eye-opening win by Kansas State over Oklahoma and strong starts by Kansas and other Big 12 teams on the road have thrown the early conference standings into an unfamiliar heap.

Perennial basement dweller Kansas is 4-0 and on the cusp of its first ranking in 13 years. And look who’s sharing the league cellar, for now — the Sooners and fellow Southeastern Conference defector Texas.

Heading into the first full week of the Big 12 schedule, there is no team with a losing record and there are only three unbeaten teams left. Big 12 road teams are 9-4 so far this season, winning four out of six games last week, the most in one week since Oct. 31, 2020.

Kansas State looked befuddled in a nonconference home loss to Tulane two weeks ago, only to go into Norman to take down No. 18 Oklahoma for the third time in four years under coach Chris Klieman. The Wildcats were rewarded with the No. 25 ranking.

“We just talked about belief,” Klieman said after K-State beat the Sooners 41-34 behind quarterback Adrian Martinez’s 148 rushing yards and

five total touchdowns.

“We talked about how we’re a really good football team that didn’t get it done last week and that was over. We needed to believe this week that we were good enough to beat these guys.”

The Wildcats have no time to gloat because it must prepare to host a Texas Tech team that took down visiting Texas in overtime with the help of a 6-of-8 performance on fourth down.

Kansas has won both

MLB: Postseason

Continued from B1

the No. 4 seed.

WHY ARE THE PLAYOFFS SO LATE?

October’s postseason festivities will bleed into November before a champion is crowned.

That’s mostly because of the sport’s labor strife that resulted in a work stoppage over the winter.

Some of the games originally scheduled for the first week of the season were moved to the end, meaning a season that was originally scheduled to end on Oct. 2 instead ends on Oct. 5.

WHAT HAPPENED TO BASEBALL

TIEBREAKERS?

Game No. 163 is one that lives in baseball lore. Bucky Dent’s homer for the Yankees in 1978. Matt Holliday’s game-winning run in the 13th inning for the Rockies in 2007.

Those days are gone.

If there’s a tie for one of the playoff spots, mathematical tiebreakers will be used instead of an extra game. The first will be the head-tohead record between the two teams involved.

If that can’t handle the stalemate, the team with the best intra-divisional record will win the tiebreaker. If that doesn’t work, the process continues with more and more convoluted solutions until a resolution is reached.

It’s unlikely tiebreakers will be needed in the American League, but keep an eye on the National League. The Braves and Mets are locked in a tight race for the NL East, while the Brewers and Phillies are in a battle for the final NL wild-card spot.

WHO IS FAVORED?

Great question.

The Los Angeles Dodgers have been dom-

of its road games, including at West Virgini a on Sept. 10. To put things in perspective, from 2008 to 2021, the Jayhawks won just five times total on the road, and not more than once in any season.

Now it’s time for a visit from Iowa State, which won its only other road game, a 10-7 squeaker over Iowa on Sept. 10. It’s going to be a run game, power vs. power: The Jayhawks have compiled at least 200 rushing

yards in every game. Iowa State allows just 76 yards on the ground per contest.

The way this season is going, everything can change in one weekend. Four Big 12 teams are ranked and three others are receiving votes in the AP poll.

“I think the parity in this league is may be more than ever,” Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy said. “And I’ve said this for a number of years. You might have

a team win this league that has two or three losses. You might this year, from what I’m seeing. There’s quality in this league and the competitive nature of playing road games, which are difficult. You’re just seeing a lot of teams that are about the same.”

TCU is 3-0 for the first time since 2017 after new coach Sonny Dykes beat his former team, SMU, on the road. And now the Horned Frogs will prepare for their

league opener and get a visit from Oklahoma in a matchup of teams averaging more than 500 yards of offense.

“You look at the ratings and all that stuff, I mean, the league is really good,” Dykes said. “I think that’s what makes our league different is there’s no layups. You say, OK, who’s the layup in the league? And there’s not anybody. And there’s just not many leagues that can say that.

“You know, the team that was picked last in the league is right on the verge of being in the Top 25. Where else does that take place, except in the Big 12?”

Oklahoma will find out if it can bounce back from the Kansas State loss. The Sooners won their only other road game decisively over Nebraska. Oklahoma lost its first two league games in the COVID-shortened 2020 season, then rebounded to win the league.

“We’re not going to be defined by this loss moving forward,” said Oklahoma coach Brent Venables. “We will, however, be defined by how we respond moving forward. I still believe with everybody I got in this team and what’s still sitting in front of us.”

No. 9 Oklahoma State won its first three games, all played at Boone Pickens Stadium.

California: Flag football

inant all season with a lineup that includes Mookie Betts, Trea Turner, Will Smith and Freddie Freeman. They could top 110 wins this season during the final week.

Over in the American League, the Houston Astros have already topped 100 wins as well. They’ve got a loaded lineup that includes Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman and Yordan Alvarez, along with potential AL Cy Young winner Justin Verlander.

New York’s teams should figure into the mix as well. The Yankees were cruising for much of the season — led by star Aaron Judge’s 60-homer campaign — but have just a 30-31 record. The Mets have one of the league’s deepest pitching staffs, with two aces on top in Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer.

Continued from B3

do Union were held on a blistering afternoon.

Many of the hopefuls played flag football during physical education class in middle school and hoped to score a spot on the high school’s second-ever team.

Despite the competition, the girls cheered each other on as they dodged through cones and spun by defenders trying to pull the flags. They applauded the fastest sprinter — a soccer player who decided to try something new.

The novelty is what drove 17-year-old Aly Young to the sport after she previously competed in soccer and track. Young had always loved football but didn’t go out for the tackle team, fear-

ing she’d be injured. Then, she found flag.

“It’s a fun environment, it’s super competitive,” she said.

IN RECENT years, parents and health experts have raised concerns about the risk of head injuries from tackle football, particularly among developing children, with some suggesting younger kids would be safer sticking with flag. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study from last year, for one, found kids playing tackle football had 15 times as many head impacts as those playing flag football.

Morin is one of the few girls playing both tackle and flag. She said she fell in love with football after

coming to the United States from France five years ago but was discouraged from initially playing with boys by a prior coach who’s no longer at the school.

This year, she’s a running back on the school’s tackle football team and a leader on the girls’ flag team. She rallied the girls trying out for flag even when they fumbled, reassuring them with “you got it, girl!”

She also told them about the fun they had last season when their school won the pilot league’s championship.

“We got a lot of opportunity because it was never known that girls play football,” Morin told a newcomer while tossing her the ball during warm ups. “It was dope.”

Running out of

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Kansas State quarterback Adrian Martinez rushes with the ball against Oklahoma in the fourth quarter of last week’s matchup. BRIAN BAHR/GETTY IMAGES/TNS

Fish fossil catch includes oldest teeth ever

NEW YORK (AP) — A big catch of fish fossils in southern China includes the oldest teeth ever found — and may help scientists learn how our aquatic ancestors got their bite.

The finds offer new clues about a key period of evolution that’s been hard to flesh out because until now scientists haven’t found many fossils from that era. In a series of four studies, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, researchers detail some of their finds, from ancient teeth to never-beforeseen species.

The fossils date back to the Silurian period, an important era for life on earth from 443 million years ago to 419 million years ago. Scientists believe our backboned ancestors, who were still swimming around on a watery planet, may have started evolving teeth and jaws around this time.

This let the fish hunt for prey instead of “grubbing around” as bottom feeders, filtering out food from the muck. It also sparked a series of other changes in their anatomy, including different kinds of fins, said Philip Donoghue, a University of Bristol paleontologist and an author on one of the studies.

“It’s just at this interface between the Old World and the New World,” Donoghue said.

But in the past, scientists haven’t found many fossils to show this shift, said Matt Friedman, a University of Michigan paleontologist who was not involved in the research. They’ve been relying on fragments from the time — a chunk of spine here, a bit of scale there.

The fossils from China are expected to fill in some of those gaps as

researchers around the world pore over them.

A field team discovered the fossil trove in 2019, Min Zhu, a paleontologist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences who led the research, said in an email. On a rainy day, after a frustrating trip that hadn’t revealed any fossils, researchers explored a pile of rocks near a roadside cliff. When they split one rock open,

they found fossilized fish heads looking back at them.

After hauling more rocks back to the lab for examination, the research team wound up with a huge range of fossils that were in great condition for their age.

The most common species in the bunch is a little boomerang-shaped fish that likely used its jaws to scoop up worms, said Per Erik Ahlberg of

Public notices

(Published in The Iola Register Sept. 29, 2022)

IN THE ELEVENTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT DISTRICT COURT, CRAWFORD COUNTY, KANSAS

IN THE MATTER OF: Izabella Nycole Sheldon, Case No. CRP-2022AD-000002

A female minor, DOB: August 6, 2008

NOTICE FOR SERVICE BY PUBLICATION

THE STATE OF KANSAS TO DANIELLE NICOLE SHELDON: You are hereby noti ed that an action for Petition for Transfer of Custody and StepParent Adoption has been commenced against you in the District Court of Crawford County, Kansas, the object and general nature of which is to obtain a Step-Parent Adop-

(Published in The Iola Register Sept. 29, 2022)

IN THE ELEVENTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT DISTRICT COURT, CRAWFORD COUNTY, KANSAS

IN THE MATTER OF: Izabella Nycole Sheldon, Case No. CRP-2022AD-000002

A female minor, DOB: August 6, 2008

ORDER GRANTING SERVICE BY PUBLICATION Pursuant to K.S.A. 38-2237

NOW, on this date the Court considers the Request for Service by Publication led herein. There are no appearances.

tion by Petitioners, James Ralph Vilmer and Ceara Marie Vilmer.

The names of all parties in this action are stated above and the name and address of the attorney for the Petitioners is TINA M. LONGNECKER, THE LAW OFFICE OF TINA M. LONGNECKER, 702 S. Pearl, Ste. B, Joplin, Missouri 64801. You are further noti ed that unless you le an answer or other pleading or otherwise appear and defend against this action within 21 days after September 23, 2022, judgment and decree will be entered in due course upon all pending issues.

THIS NOTICE IS EFFECTIVE AS OF THE DATE AND TIME SHOWN ON THE ELECTRONIC FILE STAMP

(9) 29 (10) 6, 13

The Court nds that Natural Mother, Danielle Nicole Sheldon, shall be given notice of the proceedings by publishing a Notice for Service by Publication once a week for three consecutive weeks in the newspaper authorized to publish legal notice in the locality where the parent was last known to reside, to wit: Iola, Allen County, Kansas. Report of service shall be made by a davit with a copy of the published notice attached. IT IS SO ORDERED.

THIS ORDER IS EFFECTIVE AS OF THE DATE AND TIME SHOWN ON THE ELECTRONIC FILE STAMP AND SIGNED BY JUDGE. (9) 29 (10) 6, 13

Sweden’s Uppsala University, an author on one of the studies.

Another fossil shows a sharklike creature with bony armor on its front — an unusual combination. A well-preserved jawless fish offers clues to how ancient fins evolved into arms and legs. While fossil heads for these fish are commonly found, this fossil included the whole body, Donoghue said.

(Published in The Iola Register Sept. 22, 2022)

A davit of Publication for the Allen County Historical Society, Inc.

The annual Allen County Historical Society, Inc., business meeting will be held at the Jefferson Elementary School (300 S. Je erson Ave. Iola, KS) on Thursday, October 13, 2022 at 6:30 p.m.

Following the business meeting, The Society will be giving a tour of old school with the help of former Je erson teachers. The meeting is free and open to the public to attend. For more information contact the historical society at (620)365-3051, email achsdirector@outlook.com (9) 22, 29 (10) 6

ZITS

by Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman

BEETLE BAILEY by Mort Walker HAGAR THE HORRIBLE by Chris Browne FUNKY WINKERBEAN

BLONDIE

Yesterday’s Cryptoquote: The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any. — Alice Walker

MARVIN by Tom Armstrong

HI AND LOIS by Chance Browne

by Tom Batiuk

by Young and Drake

Wildcats sweep past TRL foes

OSWEGO — Marmaton Valley High busted out the brooms Tuesday as both the varsity and junior varsity volleyball squads swept both of their matches.

The Wildcat varsity dispatched Northeast-Arma in straight sets before rallying to knock off host Oswego in three sets in the finale.

The JV Wildcats, meanwhile, took a three-set victory over Northeast and a straight-set win over Oswego.

Strong service games from Tayven Sutton and Janae Granere paved the way for MV’s 25-20, 25-16 win over Northeast. Sutton was first, serving for seven consecutive points in the first set. Granere notched six straight points at serve in the

clincher.

It took a bit longer for the Wildcats to find their legs against Oswego. The Indians cruised to a 25-17 victory in the first set before MV’s Braelyn Sutton turned the tide. She served six straight points, helping the Wildcats overcome a 13-10 deficit to win, 2521. From there, Marmaton Valley overcame an early third-set deficit, and ended the match with a 5-2 run to win, 25-21. Maider Arbulu had an early five-point serving streak to set the tone.

The Wildcats (15-8) resume play Tuesday at Colony to take on Three Rivers League rivals Crest and St. Paul.

In JV action, Marmaton Valley defeated Northeast, 26-24, 24-26 and 15-8, and Osweg, 2519 and 26-24.

Cardinals clinch NL Central crown

MILWAUKEE (AP) —

The St. Louis Cardinals finally separated themselves from the Milwaukee Brewers in early August after chasing them for much of the season.

They haven’t looked back since, turning what had been a nip-and-tuck NL Central race into something of a runaway.

MVP contender Paul Goldschmidt went 2 for 4 with a pair of RBIs as the Cardinals clinched the division title Tuesday night by beating the Brewers 6-2 behind six strong innings from Miles Mikolas.

“With the guys that we have and the veteran leadership, we knew that as soon as we smelled some blood right there and we took that lead, we knew we could run away with it,” Mikolas said.

Andrew Knizner hit a two-run homer to break out of an 0-for-22 slump as St. Louis sealed its first division crown since 2019 and fourth straight playoff berth by defeating the team that won last year’s NL Central championship. This marks the third straight year the Cardinals have wrapped up a postseason spot with a victory over the Brewers.

The Cardinals (90-65) guaranteed themselves at least a tie with second-place Milwaukee (82-72), and now they own the tiebreaker because the victory Tuesday gave St. Louis an insurmountable 10-8 lead

in the season series.

St. Louis held a rather low-key celebration on the Brewers’ home field after the final out, reacting not much differently than if they’d just won an ordinary game at midseason. The party didn’t start until the Cardinals got into the locker room and started popping champagne.

“This is just one step, guys,” Albert Pujols told his teammates at the start of the celebration.

“Just remember this moment. This is what we want to do deep in October and hopefully win the championship and bring it to the city of St. Louis.”

The Brewers remain 1 1/2 games behind Philadelphia for the final NL wild card. The Phillies won the season series with Milwaukee and would get the playoff bid if the teams end up tied.

St. Louis trailed Milwaukee in the NL Central standings for much of the season and was four games back on the morning of July 31. The Cardinals are 37-17 and the Brewers 25-28 since.

“We just didn’t really play well enough all season to deserve winning the division,” Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich said. “You get what you deserve in sports a lot and we just, for whatever reason, weren’t able to put it all together. Not saying we don’t still have a shot. We still have a shot at a wild card.”

Skier’s body found

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — The body of a famed U.S. extreme skier who went missing this week after falling from the world’s eighth-highest mountain was recovered Wednesday and transported to Nepal’s capital.

Hilaree Nelson, 49, was skiing down from the 26,775-foot summit of Mount Manaslu with her partner, Jim Morrison, on Monday when she fell off the mountain.

Nelson was a mother of two.

On Wednesday, Morrison said in an Instagram post that he and Nelson were skiing down from the summit when Nelson “started a small avalanche” and was swept off her feet and carried down a narrow snow slope.

Marmaton Valley High’s Roslyn Houk sets up a teammate in a victory over Oswego Tuesday. PHOTOS BY HALIE LUKEN/MVHS

Brooklyn Adams dives for the ball for Marmaton Valley High’s junior varsity Tuesday. PHOTOS BY HALIE LUKEN/MVHS