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2020 known for turmoil in sports
Wednesday, December 30, 2020
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2020: Early optimism shattered By VICKIE MOSS The Iola Register
This is the second in a threepart recap of the coronavirus pandemic and 2020.
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2 counties drop mask mandates TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Two northeastern Kansas counties are backing off mask mandates they imposed last month as coronavirus cases surged, and officials set up a clinic in an arena in the state’s city to vaccine thousands of health care workers. County commissioners in Brown and Jackson counties argued that they had weathered a wave of infections and dropped mandates requiring people to wear masks against the advice of public health officials, The Topeka Capital-Journal reported. But in south-central Kansas, Reno County commissioners kept a mask mandate in place. Sedgwick County, home to Wichita, the state’s largest city, launched an effort to vaccinate 10,000 health care workers, including dentists, chiropractors, optometrists, and homehealth and hospice workSee COVID-19 | Page A6
April April began on an optimistic note, despite the mounting cases of COVID-19. After all, help was on the way. Congress approved a $2.2 trillion relief bill, promising $1,200 stimulus 2020: payments and A LOOK increased benefits for those who BACK lost their jobs to the pandemic. State leaders raced to funnel federal funds to small businesses, as reported April 6. In a statewide webcast, which was temporarily hijacked by “Zoom bombers,” Iola native and Kansas Secretary of Commerce David Toland introduced terms like
Bryan and Alisha Clay display the enormous tree that landed on their house after it was uprooted during a May storm.
A “Black Lives Matter” event on the courthouse lawn included attendees lying on their stomachs for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, the amount of time an officer pinned George Floyd to the ground. At right, Allen County Regional Hospital gets a new sign to mark a new relationship with Saint Luke’s. FILE PHOTOS Payroll Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL). The state is using every proverbial arrow in its quiver to help businesses cope with the ongoing COVID-19 economic shutdown, (Toland) said Friday. The Register continued to interview those affected by the pandemic: more restaurant owners, food pantry workers, dentists, pastors, medical students. Even funeral home providers were affected, as the coronavirus restrictions limited the ability to have in-person funerals. The stay-at-home order prompted debate over who was considered an “essential worker.” Allen County commissioners responded to Gov. Laura Kelly’s stay-at-home order by
asking residents to respect it. When the Sheriff and commissioners were asked about enforcing the governor’s declaration, they also emphasized that this would not curtail peoples’ freedom in any overarching or draconian manner. An April 7 article introduced a couple of Good Samaritans, Iolans Marsha and Kenneth Storrer, who picked up litter from roadsides, “just to make the county a little cleaner,” Marsha said. On April 22, Jim Smith tackled cleanup at a park near the Neosho River. The early days of the pandemic seemed to wrap everyone in a spirit of cooperation. We were all in this together. Unfortunately, the hardships became overwhelming. On April 2, local food pantries reported seeing twice as
many families as usual. Allen County Commissioners gave $500 to three area food banks. On April 13, the Kansas Supreme Court backed Gov. Kelly’s power to shut down operations in the state, including church gatherings. A GOP-led panel of legislative leaders challenged her authority. The ruling forced the justices to weigh in on an issue See YEAR | Page A3
Just Prairie: Recalling a year of adventure Trump’s $2,000
checks stall as GOP blocks vote
Trevor Hoag
two counties — roughly 800 square miles — had become as seemingly vast as the cosmos itself. Not only that, but studying a place and its history or ecology can take on a “religious” dimension, akin to how the indigenous people who called Kansas home (before it was called Kansas) made telling stories about the land an integral part of the meaning and greater significance in their lives. I was in need of healing,
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s push for bigger $2,000 COVID-19 relief checks stalled out in the Senate as Republicans blocked a swift vote proposed by Democrats and split within their own ranks over whether to boost spending or defy the White House. The roadblock mounted Tuesday by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell may not be sustainable as pressure mounts. Trump wants the Republican-led chamber to follow the House and increase the checks from $600 for millions of Americans. A growing number of Republicans, including two senators in runoff elections on Jan. 5 in Georgia, have said they will support the larger amount. But most GOP senators oppose more spending, even if they are also wary of bucking Trump.
See ADVENTURE | Page A6
See CHECKS | Page A5
Just Prairie Is it possible to come home and rediscover it? When I returned to Kansas last year after almost two decades of absence, never would I have thought that learning about the place I was from would become an obsession. Such things interested me little growing up in the Woodson and Allen County areas, so what had changed? What was different? I suppose the obvious answer is: me. Having studied and taught ephemeral subjects like philosophy, literature and writing, the tangibility of history had become appealing. Unlike philosophy, history gives you something to hold onto, something to grasp and even measure. And when I took hold of
The Vegetarian Colony site is marked by a simple white sign.
Kalida Castle gleams against a bright winter’s sky. “home,” or it took hold of me, it was like opening a treasure chest that had been sitting patiently, waiting for me all my life.
Places I had seen hundreds, even thousands, of times before were coming to reveal themselves in a surprisingly novel way. The space of
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