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THE IOLA REGISTER Locally owned since 1867
Fiscal issues to drive lawmakers’ session
Record cattle prices mark 2014 By ROXANA HEGEMAN Associated Press
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Farmers and ranchers across Kansas are wrapping up the 2014 growing season, marked by rapidly changing fortunes that were buffeted by weather and markets. It began with a meager winter wheat harvest before late spring rains eased drought conditions just in time to green up pastures and sustain bountiful fall crops of corn, soybeans and sorghum. Cattle producers enjoyed unprecedented high livestock prices coupled with plunging feed costs. “On the livestock side it was very, very good because of high prices. On the crop side, we certainly had lower prices,” said Dan O’Brien, a Kansas State University extension specialist. The Kansas winter wheat crop bore the brunt of drought conditions that decimated fields early this year. Farmers abandoned more than 8 percent
Russian currency drops 7% MOSCOW (AP) — The Russian currency extended its losses today after a report showed the economy has started shrinking in annual terms for the first time since 2009 as the country is buffeted by falling oil prices and Western sanctions. Meanwhile, the government, which has been scrambling to support the ruble and the economy, announced fresh steps to keep the banks afloat. The ruble has been one of the world’s worst performing currencies this year and was down another 5 percent today, trading at 56 rubles per dollar in early afternoon in Moscow, wiping off some of the gains it made last week. The fall came as the Economic Development Ministry issued a report showing the economy shrank by 0.5 percent in November compared with a year earlier. The ministry attributed the year-on-year decline in the economy, Russia’s first in five years, to a sharp drop in manufacturing and investment. The economy has been buffeted by a combination of lower prices for the country’s crucial oil exports and the impact of Western sanctions. Stabilizing the ruble is a priority for the country’s monetary authorities. The Central Bank in past weeks raised its key interest rate to 17 percent and said it will offer dollar and euro loans to banks so they can help major exporters that need foreign currencies to See RUBLE | Page A4
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Monday, December 29, 2014
Cattle producers had high livestock prices with plunging feed costs this season. REGISTER/FILE PHOTO of the 9.6 million acres planted, which was followed by untimely late-spring rains that mired combines in mud as they tried to cut the stunted crop. Farmers averaged a mere 28 bushels of wheat for a total production statewide of 246.4 million bushels. The small
harvest didn’t translate into higher prices, however, because global wheat supplies are more than adequate to make up for shortfalls across the nation’s plains states, the U.S. Agriculture Department See AG | Page A4
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas lawmakers have a plateful of potentially ugly decisions ahead to close state budget shortfalls, but some of them and Republican Gov. Sam Brownback have bigger ambitions for the annual legislative session opening next month. Senate President Susan Wagle said the budget problems are an opportunity to restructure state government. The Wichita Republican’s list of big projects includes overhauling public school funding and the pension system for teachers and government workers. Brownback has said he’ll have school funding proposals and two top aides have proposed that Kansas study privatizing the pension system. The governor also is pursuing a 50-year water preservation plan. But such ambitions — and the likely resulting debates — will play out against the backdrop of projected short-
John Hanna An AP news analysis
falls totaling more than $710 million in the current budget and for the fiscal year beginning in July. “It’s going to be a tough one,” House Majority Leader Jene Vickrey, a Louisburg Republican. Legislators reconvene Jan. 12, the same day Brownback is inaugurated for a second term. Here’s a look at the session, scheduled for 90 days. GOP DOMINANT
Republicans swept all statewide offices in this year’s elections, as they did in 2010. The GOP holds majorities of 32-8 in the Senate and 97-28 in the House. See SESSION | Page A4
Today’s younger generation avid volunteers WASHINGTON (AP) — Tired of hearing people grouse about a tuned-out, apathetic younger generation? Well, here’s a comeback: Today’s young Americans are more serious about giving back than their parents were. In fact, those under age 30 now are more likely to say citizens have a “very important obligation” to volunteer, an Associated Press-GfK poll finds. The embrace of volunteering is striking because young people’s commitment to other civic duties — such as voting, serving on a jury and staying informed — has dropped sharply from their parents’ generation and is lower than that of Americans overall. Among six civic activities in the AP-GfK poll, volunteering is the only one that adults under 30 rated as highly as older people did.
“I want to make my city where I live a better place,” Morgan Gress, 24, of Washington said after sorting and hanging donated clothes with co-workers who chose to volunteer in lieu of an office holiday party. After you volunteer, she said, “You never walk away feeling you didn’t have a great time, or help someone out, or learn something new.” Today’s young adults grew up amid nudges from a volunteering infrastructure that has grown exponentially since their parents’ day, when the message typically came through churches or scouting. Gress doesn’t find it unusual that her employer, a hub for tech startups called 1776, encouraged workers to sort clothes at Bread for the City during office hours. Most of her friends work at companies with some sort of volunteer program, she says. Com-
I want to make my city where I live a better place. After you volunteer you never walk away feeling you didn’t have a great time, or help someone out, or learn something new. —Morgan Gress, volunteer, Washington state
munity service was required at her private high school in Buffalo, New York, like many other schools across the country. Volunteer opportunities were plentiful as a student at American University. In the decades since President George H.W. Bush championed America’s volunteer groups as “a thousand points of light” at his 1989 inaugural, the number of nonprofits has skyrocketed. The Martin
Luther King Jr. holiday and Sept. 11 have become days of service. Individuals launch community projects through social media, instead of hanging posters and making phone calls. Twenty percent of adults under 30 volunteered in 2013, up from 14 percent in 1989, according to census data analyzed by the Corporation for See VOLUNTEER | Page A4
Monarch in giving spirit
Monarch Cement representatives and members of the Humboldt Ministerial Alliance gathered Dec. 18 for the ceremonial gift to the Humboldt food pantry. Front row, from left, Anita White, the Rev. David Meier, the Rev. Marge Davis, Pastor Shirley Fisher, the Rev. Otis Crawford, the Rev. Delbert Sheerer and Kenton King. Back row, Rodney Sigg, the Rev. Jerry Neely, Father Michael Linnebur, Joshua Smith and Gabe Gutierrez. Courtesy photo
Quote of the day Vol. 117, No. 44
“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” — George Bernard Shaw 75 Cents
HUMBOLDT — Monarch Cement employees set an alltime high for collecting funds and food for the Humboldt Ministerial Alliance. Current and past employees raised $3,080 and food items valued at $663. The company matched the donations, for a total donation of $7,486. Organizers for Monarch’s Annual Christmas Benefit Drive were Anita White, Kenton King, Keith Harris, Otis Crawford, Rodney Sigg, Delbert Sheerer, Ed Splechter, Gabe Gutierrez, Joshua Smith and John Bilby, chairperson. The money and food were presented to the food pantry on Dec. 18.
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