Prairie Dell 4-H calls on 911

The Prairie Dell 4-H Club met Monday at the Allen County Critical Response Center to tour the 911 center. Karen Kimbell explained how the 911 center reacts to an emergency call.

Club members then had their monthly meeting at the park community building.  They decided to give a group presentation on CPR for 4-H Day on Feb. 2 at the Marmaton Valley High School.   

Club member Emilia Wilkerson has moved out of the area. Her offices will be filled by the following: Peyton Weast will be the reporter, Annika Hobbs will be parliamentarian and Kahlan Roloff will fill be the 4-H council representative.

The next meeting will be Feb. 4 at 7 p.m. at the Riverside Park community building.  Talks will be given by Kahlan Roloff and Annika Hobbs.

 

Iola High School students achieve academic honors

Iola High School has announced its second-quarter honor rolls for 2018-19.

Honor roll is on a 4 point scale with an “A” counting 4 points, “B” counting 3 and a “C” counting 2. Students earning a “D” or an “F” are disqualified from the honor roll.

The honor roll is divided into three sections. All A’s which require a 4.0, Principal’s honor roll requiring 3.76 -3.99 average, regular honor roll requiring 3.0 – 3.75.

All A’s

Seniors: Mia Aronson, Emmie Brant, Paige Burrough, Ellie Carson, Jaden Channel, Jonathan Miller, Piper Moore, Kassy Shelby and Jennifer Tidd.

Juniors: Dongming Eason Cheung, Torrance DePriest, Isabella Duke, Trevelle Means, Kelsey Morrison, Sadrie Overall, Carlie Payne, Andre Quinn, Ella Taylor and Shane Winner.

Sophomores: Lorie Carpenter, Audrey Coltrane, Jocelyn Erbert, Thomas Fleming, Hannah Gardner, Levi Meiwes, Sidney Shelby, Dillon Slaven and Jessica Tidd.

Freshmen: Braxton Curry, Jenna Curry, Reece Murry, Anna Plumlee and Elanie Sturgeon.

Principal’s Honor Roll

Seniors: Mercedes Maple, Cole Regehr, Shaylee Sutterby, Jeremy Waldman and Katelynn Weide.

Juniors: Rachel Bycroft, Alexandra Fager and Cal Leonard.

Sophomores: Jada Cunningham, Tabitha Graham, Lauryn Holloway, Aidan Jones, Henry Lohman, Landen Nading and Michael Stoll.

Freshmen: Hannah Anderson, Ryker Curry, Drake DeLaTorre, Ally Ellis, Colin Long, Maci Miller, Cooper Riley, Chloe Sell, Miah Shelby and TJ Taylor.

Regular Honor Roll

Seniors: Spencer Ames, Blake Ashmore, Tavon Bass, Dustin Bonnett, Derek Bycroft, Ashley Crane, Natalie DeGrado, Jacob Eyster, Blake Haar, Madisyn Holloway, Ty Johnson, Mathew Karr, Dakota Knowles, Elijah Luedke, Hunter Mittelmeier, Dylan Newland, Breton Plumlee, Kane Rogers, Trinity Roush, Sierra Snavely, Kendra Sprague, Wolfgang Ian Webber, Emily Weide, Jacob Wight and Michael Wood.

Juniors: Casen Barker, Mayte Breithaupt, Lacey Brown, Haley Carlin, Mary Crites, Calvin Delich, Jayce Doolittle, Danielle Fees, Kayton Godfrey, Christine Helman, Jillian Keller, Elysia Kunkler, Gabriella Lampe, Jasmine Ledford, Mark McCullough, Lauren McDermeit, Diamend McFadden, Alex Morris, Adryan Nading, Naomi Neal, Brody Nemecek, Breanna Northcutt, Sierra Petty, Gabriella Richards, Paige Riley, Courtland Sager, Xadie Smith, Ian Spoor, Jada Stogsdill, Alexandria Vega, Pieter Venter and Zane Whitney.

Sophomores: Jack Adams, Isaac Badders, Taylor Boren, Logan Brown, Landon Carson, Danae Cartright, Claudia Castellanos-Rodrigo, Bradyn Cole, Manuel Doolittle, Alexi Fernandez, Dakota Fry, Grace Garner, Riley Jay, Joshua Kaufman, Bobby Lewis, Grant Luedke, Delmar McCullough, Jenna Miller, McKenna Orear, Jonathon Poffenbarger, Adrianne Reynolds, Kailey Schinstock, Averie Sharon, Fayth Simpson, Elijah Smith, Rebecca Sprague, Elaina Stiffler, Kelli Stogsdill, Sharyia Trester, Henry Wicoff and Rebecca Wood.

Freshmen: Madison Adair, Emily Ator, Adam Atwell, Tyler Boeken, Evan Casner, Samuel Fager, Heidi Hibbs, Isaac Houston, Trenton Jones, Nicholas Karns, Elizabeth Kelley, Phillip Khang, Austin Morris, Brett Morrison, Miranda Palmer, Yuritzi Saavedra, Mariah VanNice, Trenton Varney, Skyler Walden, Mars Westgate, Devon Wilson, Ember Womelsdorf.

Supreme Court: Ginsburg’s recovery is ‘on track’

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court says Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s recovery from cancer surgery is “on track” and no further treatment is required. But the 85-year-old justice will miss court arguments next week.

Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg says that doctors for Ginsburg confirmed an initial evaluation that found no evidence of remaining cancer following surgery.

The court’s oldest justice had surgery three weeks ago to remove cancerous growths on her left lung. She was released from the hospital in New York four days later and has been recuperating at home since then.

Ginsburg missed three days of arguments this week, the first time that’s happened since she joined the court in 1993.

She has had two previous bouts with cancer, in 1999 and 10 years later.

Federal workers get $0 paychecks amid shutdown

OGDEN, Utah (AP) — Federal workers received pay stubs Friday with nothing but zeroes on them as the effects of the government shutdown hit home, deepening anxieties about mortgage payments and unpaid bills.

All told, an estimated 800,000 government employees missed their paychecks for first time since the shutdown began three weeks ago.

Fuming employees posted pictures of the $0 pay stubs on Twitter and vented their frustration as the standoff entered its 21st day. This weekend, it will become the longest shutdown in U.S. history.

Some Democratic lawmakers seized on the empty pay stubs as a way to renew criticism of President Donald Trump, who triggered the shutdown over his demands for funding for a border wall.

Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia tweeted: “It should be payday for hundreds of thousands of federal workers. But thanks to Trump, many are actually getting pay stubs like this. He’s treating them like the countless contractors he stiffed throughout his business career.”

Roughly 420,000 federal employees were deemed essential and are working unpaid. An additional 380,000 are staying home without pay. While furloughed federal workers have been given back pay in previous shutdowns, there is no guarantee that will happen this time.

Government contractors, who have been placed indefinitely on unpaid leave, don’t get compensated for lost hours.

The typical federal employee makes $37 an hour, which translates into $1,480 a week, according to Labor Department data. That’s nearly $1.2 billion in lost pay each week, when multiplied by 800,000 federal workers.

Paper drive postponed

Iola Rotary Club’s monthly paper drive, scheduled for this Saturday, has been pushed back a week due to threatening weather. It will now be held on January 19.

Newspapers, magazines and corrogated cardboard are collected and taken to behind the 911 Communications Center at 450 N. State St. in Iola.

Thrive’s Toland tapped for cabinet post

Iolan David Toland has been appointed Acting Secretary of Commerce by Gov.-elect Laura Kelly.

Toland, CEO of Thrive Allen County, will leave that position Friday.

Toland served as Kelly’s campaign treasurer.

In his 10 years with Thrive, Toland has been instrumental in taking it from an all-volunteer staff to an organization known nationally for its health and wellness initiatives in rural communities. Today, Thrive has 10 full-time employees and a $1 million operating budget. 

Toland’s new job in Topeka begins Monday. 

Kelly, in an interview with the Topeka Capital-Journal, lauded Toland, as well as Julie Lorenz, whom she appointed as interim secretary of the Kansas Department of Transportation.

“Julie Lorenz and David Toland are an impressive addition to our dynamic team,” Kelly said. “They both represent what this administration will be about: experience, energy and new ideas.”

Thrive announced in a news release the search for a permanent replacement has begun. Bill Maness, Thrive’s economic development director, will replace Toland as CEO on an interim basis.

 

Raef Casner

Raef Cameron-Lee Casner, age 17, Iola, passed away on Monday, Jan. 7, 2019, at Children’s Mercy Hospital, Kansas City, Mo. Raef was born March 19, 2001, in Chanute, Kansas, to Keith Casner and Lea (Dillingham) Thomas.

Raef attended school at Iola High School, where he was currently a junior.

Raef loved video games, including but not limited to Pokémon, Mario Brothers, Crash Bandicoot and Spyro. Known as a movie buff, Raef loved many Disney, superhero, sci-fi movies, and would always have seen movie trailers before friends and family knew about them. Some of his favorites include, The Incredibles, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Terminator movies, and The Simpsons. 

A highlight of Raef’s life was going to Disneyland and Universal Studios twice and Coco Beach. He was once an honoree at a Sporting KC event. Raef will be remembered for his kind heart and caring soul. It seemed no matter who met him, doctor, nurse, teacher or stranger, everybody loved Raef. He never knew a stranger and always thought of family and friends before himself. To him, family meant everything. It is his kind soul and caring smile that will be remembered the most.

Raef was preceded in death by his Grandfather Merle Casner and Grandmother JoAnn Dillingham and cousin Briawna Dillingham.

Raef is survived by his mother and step-father, Lea Thomas and husband, Doug, Iola; father, Keith Casner, Iola; one sister, Amalia Thomas, Norman, Okla.; three brothers, Chris Baker and Crystal Driskill, Lawrence, Justin Baker and Laney Corrina, Colorado, Evan Casner, Iola; grandmother, Erla Casner, Fort Scott, grandparents, Sam and Marion Thomas, Girard; one niece Kiana Baker; one nephew Kai Baker; and numerous other relatives.

A celebration of life for Raef will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the Feuerborn Family Funeral Service Chapel, 1883 US Hwy 54, Iola. The memorial service will be followed by a visitation at the funeral home.

The family has requested for friends and family to wear Pokémon, Disney, or superhero attire in memory of Raef. Friends are asked to think of a story or fond memory they can share at the memorial service.

Memorials are suggested to the Raef Casner Memorial Fund, and can be left with Feuerborn Family Funeral Service. If flowers are given, the family requests they be white lilies.

Condolences for the family may be left at www.feuerbornfuneral.com

South Korean leader urges bolder steps from North Korea, US

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean President Moon Jae-in urged North Korea to take bolder disarmament measures that the United States should then reward, suggesting today he wants harsh sanctions lifted so Seoul can eventually restart dormant economic cooperation projects with its neighbor.

Moon said resolving the issue of the North Korea sanctions hinges on how fast Pyongyang denuclearizes and whether it receives reciprocal measures from the United States. He said that would top the agenda in an expected second summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump.

“North Korea knows it needs (to take) clear denuclearization steps to see international sanctions lifted and the United States also realizes that reciprocal measures are needed to match these North Korean denuclearization steps,” Moon told a news conference.

Some observers believe that any sanctions relief, if pursued before Washington is ready, could weaken South Korea’s ties with its ally and complicate efforts to rid the North of its nuclear weapons. Others see the comments by Moon, a liberal who covets deep engagement with Pyongyang, as simply a symbolic bit of conciliation toward North Korea.

Moon spoke only days after Kim used a New Year’s address to say he was ready to resume two major stalled inter-Korean projects. Kim also said he’ll be compelled to take a different path if the United States keeps pressing for unilateral sanctions as well as maintaining broader U.N. sanctions.

The two projects are South Korean tours to the North’s scenic Diamond Mountain and a jointly run factory complex in the North Korean border town of Kaesong. They were suspended in the past decade along with other similar projects amid the nuclear standoff. The two projects were considered key sources of badly needed foreign currency for the impoverished North.

“My administration will cooperate with the international community, including the United States, to resolve the remaining issues such as international sanctions as soon as possible” to get the two projects restarted, Moon said at the news conference.

Moon, who took office in 2017, has shuttled between North Korea and the United States to facilitate high-profile diplomacy that included the first Kim-Trump summit in Singapore last June. Moon’s overture, however, has invited criticism from conservatives in South Korea and the United States that he’s making too many concessions and helping the North try to weaken U.S.-led sanctions.

Trump has maintained that sanctions on North Korea will stay in place until it completely abandons its nuclear program.

As Moon spoke today, Kim was heading back to Pyongyang after a two-day trip to his country’s only major ally, China, that included a summit with President Xi Jinping. Chinese state media reported that Kim told Xi that he’s committed to setting up a second summit with Trump to “achieve results” on the nuclear issue.

“In a word, Chairman Kim Jong Un’s visit to China is an indication that the second North Korea-U.S. summit is drawing near,” Moon said.

Little headway has been made since the Singapore summit, which ended with the North making a vaguely worded promise to work toward the “complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.” Moon on Thursday described the agreements North Korea and the U.S. reached in Singapore as “bit abstract.”

The North has previously called for the removal of 28,500 U.S. troops in South Korea as a precondition for its denuclearization. Its Foreign Ministry said in a statement in December that it would never unilaterally give up its nuclear weapons unless the United States first removes what it calls an American nuclear threat. The statement further raised questions about whether the country is truly committed to denuclearization.

Moon, who met Kim three times last year, reiterated his previous stance that Kim won’t link denuclearization to the U.S. military presence in South Korea. Moon also said Thursday that Kim told him that the denuclearization steps he was talking about were not different from what the international community wants.

Trump threatens to pull California funding

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — President Donald Trump threatened Wednesday to withhold money to help California cope with wildfires, a day after new Gov. Gavin Newsom asked him to double the federal investment in forest management.

Trump again suggested poor forest management is to blame for California’s deadly wildfires and said he’s ordered the Federal Emergency Management Agency to stop giving the state money “unless they get their act together.”

Fire scientists say climate change, not poor forest management, is the driving contributor to California’s increasingly destructive wildfires, many of which have not been primarily in forests.

FEMA could not immediately comment because of the government shutdown. Trump has previously threatened to withhold wildfire payments but never followed through.

Hours after Trump’s tweet, the state’s emergency operations agency said FEMA is extending its deadline for victims of deadly November wildfires to seek assistance.

Newsom, a Democrat who took office Monday, said Californians affected by wildfires “should not be victims to partisan bickering.”

Several Republican lawmakers who represent the town of Paradise, which was leveled by a fire in November that killed 86 people, said Trump’s tweet was not helpful.

“These are American citizens who need our help,” U.S. Rep. Doug LaMalfa said.

But Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, of California, defended Trump’s comments on forest management and did not criticize his threat to withhold funding. McCarthy said he’ll propose more money for forest management as part of Democratic spending bills this week to reopen the government. But Republicans ultimately don’t plan to back the spending bills.

Newsom and Govs. Jay Inslee and Kate Brown of Washington and Oregon, respectively, on Tuesday sent a letter to the president asking him to double federal funding for forest management. California has pledged $1 billion over the next five years to ramp up its efforts, which include clearing dead trees that can serve as fuel.

Lawmakers approved that money last year, and Newsom said Tuesday he’ll add an extra $105 million in his upcoming budget for wildfire-related spending.

More than half of California’s 33 million acres of forest are managed by the federal government, and the letter noted the U.S. Forest Service’s budget has steadily decreased since 2016. 

State and local governments own just 3 percent of forests and the rest is owned by private owners and Native American tribes, according to the University of California.

“Our significant state-level efforts will not be as effective without a similar commitment to increased wildland management by you, our federal partners,” the letter read.

Newsom’s office didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment about how much money the state has received from FEMA following recent wildfires.

Most FEMA money goes directly to victims through disaster assistance. The agency approved more than $48 million in individual and household assistance related to deadly wildfires in November, according to its website.

In a Tuesday event on wildfire safety, Newsom had praised Trump for always providing California with necessary disaster relief funds.

Newsom and Trump toured the fire devastation in Paradise together in November. At the time, Trump made a head-scratching comment about Finland minimizing its wildfire threat by “raking and cleaning” forests.

Finland’s president said he had talked to Trump about wildfires in November but didn’t recall discussing raking.

“I’ll defend him on that a little bit,” Newsom said Tuesday. “I think what he was talking about is defensible spaces, landscaping, which has a role to play.”

Moose walks into Alaska hospital, snacks on plants

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A moose wandered into a hospital building in Alaska’s largest city and chowed down on some plants in the lobby as workers watched the massive animal in awe.

When a patient mentioned that security staffers were monitoring a moose that got inside the Anchorage building Monday, Stephanie Hupton dashed out and started recording.

“Didn’t think we’d have a pet moose,” said Hupton, who works in billing at a physical therapy office inside a building attached to Alaska Regional Hospital.

The footage shows the moose browsing around some greenery near an entrance before it stands gazing at the camera’s direction. It briefly lingers before sauntering out through an open door.

Hupton said she never felt threatened by the mellow creature. It was an experience she never expected when she moved to Anchorage three years ago from Carroll, Iowa.

“It’s definitely different than small-town Iowa,” she said.

The moose got inside through doors that were stuck open because of extreme cold in Anchorage, where temperatures hovered around zero Monday, hospital spokeswoman Kjerstin Lastufka said.

The plants in the warm lobby were likely inviting to the animal, who ate some of them before leaving after about 10 minutes, Lastufka said.

The moose caused no injuries or any big problems, other than the snacking.

“It was a pretty calm visit,” Lastufka said.