EU hopes US will rethink pullout of climate pact

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union has voiced regret at the U.S. government’s decision to pull out of the Paris climate agreement and expressed hopes that one of the world’s biggest CO2 emitters will backpedal on its decision and rejoin.

European Commission spokeswoman Mina Andreeva said today that the global deal signed in 2015 remains “the most important international agreement on climate change” and insisted that the EU will continue to “fight global climate change under this legal framework.”

Despite the U.S. departure, Andreeva added that the 28-member bloc will continue working with various U.S.-based entities and stakeholders who remain committed to the deal.

“The Paris agreement has strong foundations and is here to stay. Its doors remain open and we hope that the U.S. will decide to pass (them) again one day,” Andreeva said.

Germany said the U.S. government’s decision is “regrettable” but no surprise.

Environment Minister Svenja Schulze said the U.S. had announced its plan to withdraw from the pact two years ago and “luckily it has remained alone in doing so.”

Nearly 200 nations signed the landmark 2015 climate deal to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) by the end of the century, with each country providing its own goals for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases.

Schulze said the “domino effect” some had feared after U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement didn’t occur.

“The rest of the world stands together on climate protection,” she said in a statement, noting that even Russia, a fossil fuel exporter, recently joined the pact.

Field Day on watering livestock

The Turner Farm will host a Fall Field Day Nov. 12, beginning at 10 a.m., to discuss and showcase livestock water systems that provide healthy water, safe access and how to reduce the need to break ice in the winter.

Registration is required so organizers can plan for lunch. Please RSVP to the Allen County Conservation District Office at 620-365-2901, extension 3, by Friday.

The Field Day will begin at 9:30 a.m. with registration and coffee at the Mildred Store.

Participants will then travel to Turner Farms. 

Sean Turner has developed several ponds that have been fenced from livestock access and water is piped to a tank for a water source. Livestock access lanes and winter feeding sites will also be discussed. Shawn will be discussing his projects and how they have improved his operation. Proper fencing techniques will be illustrated along with seeing how water tanks supplied by pond water can be beneficial to livestock, the producer and the water running downstream.

Immediately following the Field Day, organizers will gather back at the Mildred Store for a lunch and the Stakeholders Leadership Team Meeting of the Upper Neosho Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy (WRAPS). 

This will be the final meeting for 2019 as WRAPS transitions into the new Statewide WRAPS grant that began July 1.

Everyone is welcome to stay for the SLT meeting. 

Midwest tremors

HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) — The U.S. Geological Survey says several earthquakes were recorded in south-central Kansas and northern Oklahoma this weekend, but no significant damage was reported.

One earthquake with a 3.2 magnitude was recorded Saturday night near Hutchinson, Kansas, which is about 50 miles  northwest of Wichita, Kansas. That tremor was reportedly felt as far away as Concordia.

In northern Oklahoma, a 3.0 magnitude earthquake was reported near Fairview around 1 a.m. Sunday. Another with a 2.6 magnitude hit near Quinton in eastern Oklahoma around 1:30 a.m. Sunday.

A different earthquake with a 2.7 magnitude rattled Waukomis in northern Oklahoma at 4:25 p.m. Saturday.

Today in history — Nov. 5

Today is Tuesday, Nov. 5, the 309th day of 2019. There are 56 days left in the year.

On this date:

In 1911, singing cowboy star Roy Rogers was born Leonard Slye in Cincinnati, Ohio.

In 1940, President Franklin D. Roosevelt won an unprecedented third term in office as he defeated Republican challenger Wendell L. Willkie.

In 1968, Republican Richard M. Nixon won the presidency, defeating Democratic Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey and American Independent candidate George C. Wallace.

In 1994, former President Ronald Reagan disclosed he had Alzheimer’s disease.

Five years ago: A day after sweeping Republican election gains, President Barack Obama and incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell pledged to try to turn divided government into a force for good rather than gridlock, yet warned of veto showdowns as well.

Thought for Today: 

“Imagination is the only key to the future. Without it none exists — with it all things are possible.” — Ida M. Tarbell, American journalist (1857-1944).

Butker’s last-second kick hands KC the win

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Harrison Butker watched his 44-yard field goal split the uprights, the clocks inside Arrowhead Stadium reading zero, and the Chiefs kicker turned and sprinted the other way in celebration.

The first person to join him? Patrick Mahomes.

The reigning league MVP, who missed his second straight game while recovering from a dislocated kneecap, looked just fine as he joined Butker and the rest of his Kansas City teammates in a midfield mob after their heart-stopping 26-23 victory over the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.

“I was sprinting down, maybe just from my soccer background growing up — that’s what you do when you score,” said Butker, who thought the winner may have been tipped. “When I was going I saw Patrick, and I wanted to embrace him and I’m like, ‘Nah, he can’t get hurt.’”

Matt Moore started in Mahomes’ place and threw for 275 yards and a touchdown, and he made the crucial plays when they mattered. He hit favorite target Tyreek Hill to convert a key third down and set up Butker’s career best-tying 54-yard field goal to knot the game, then found Hill again a couple minutes later to make the winner a little more manageable.

“I thought, Matt, that was a gutsy performance by him,” said Chiefs coach Andy Reid, whose team snapped a three-game skid at Arrowhead Stadium. “He took a couple of licks there and he got back up and finished. But just him calming the storm I thought was good.”

Hill finished with six catches for 140 yards for the Chiefs (6-3), including a spectacular TD grab, while Damien Williams ran for 125 yards — most of it on a 91-yard touchdown run.

Kirk Cousins threw for 220 yards and three touchdowns for the Vikings (6-3), though he struggled to deal with the Chiefs’ blitzes late in the game. Dalvin Cook was held to 71 yards rushing while top wide receiver Stefon Diggs had a single catch for four yards.

The Chiefs largely controlled the first half, building a 10-7 lead with the ball in the closing minutes. But they proceeded to go three-and-out, the Vikings marched downfield for a tying field goal, then got the ball back when Mecole Hardman fumbled the opening kickoff of the second half .

Suddenly, it was the Vikings who had taken control.

They needed just five plays to punch it into the end zone, despite a holding penalty setting them back. Amir Abdullah finished it with a 17-yard catch in which nobody was within 10 yards of him.

Hardman hurt the Chiefs again by failing to call a fair catch on a punt downed at their 3. But that flub was rendered irrelevant when Williams took a handoff, found a gaping hole on the left side of the line and made the only safety in front of him miss on a 91-yard touchdown run .

“We misfitted a little bit,” Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said. “We had a pressure coming off the outside, we got a little wide and then we missed tackles.”

Minnesota answered in the seesaw affair.

Leaning heavily on Cook, the league’s leading rusher, the Vikings marched 75 yards without facing third down until the final play. That’s when Cousins hit Kyle Rudolph from 3 yards out for the score, taking advantage of a Kansas City defense with just 10 players on the field.

After trading punts, the Chiefs put together another drive. Moore hit Hill to convert a key third down, and Butker matched his career long with a 54-yard field goal with 2:30 to go.

It was a monumental kick — and he had another coming a couple minutes later.

“This was a great win, a great team win,” Hill said. “We all did our thing, and this team needed this victory because the vibe in the locker room the last few weeks has been down. This is great, especially against a great team like this that has got a great quarterback, great coach, great team, period. So, this was a great win for us.”

Mickelson’s streak of 26 years in the top 50 comes to an end

SHANGHAI (AP) — The streak ended with little fanfare, and that was just fine with Phil Mickelson.

He slashed his way to a tie for 28th in the HSBC Champions, with only 100 or so fans following along. Mickelson played his last nine holes right behind Rory McIlroy, but only because Lefty was in the first group to tee off on the back nine. He signed for a 68 in his final round of the year.

The number that stands out is No. 51, his position this week in the Official World Golf Ranking.

For the first time in nearly 26 years — 1,353 weeks to be exact — Mickelson is no longer among the top 50 in the world.

“It was a good run,” Mickelson said Sunday. “Unfortunately, the last eight months I played terribly and have fallen out. But I’ll get back in there.”

The question is whether anyone can ever match it.

Jordan Spieth was not quite 4 months old when Mickelson first cracked the top 50 on Nov. 23, 1993, with a runner-up finish in the Casio World Open. Deane Beman was still the commissioner of the PGA Tour.

Rory McIlroy compared Mickelson’s streak favorably with Tiger Woods going 142 starts on the PGA Tour over seven years without missing a cut.

“Being top 50 in the world since 1993, that means no injuries, no breaks, that is nothing,” McIlroy said. “Play your game, keep going.”

That’s all Mickelson has done.

He never reached No. 1 in the world, mainly because of Woods, partly because Mickelson was not on top of his game when Woods fell off and created an opportunity. Then again, Mickelson never won a PGA Tour money title or was voted PGA Tour player of the year.

His hallmark is consistently great play, and it is unrivaled.

“It’s pretty amazing given he was there into his 40s like that, with how much time is taken from golf with your family,” Spieth said. “You’re not as sharp because you’re not doing it as often. I give him more credit in the last seven to 10 years.”

Mickelson nearly fell out at the start of 2018, and then he ran off four straight top 10s, culminating with his third World Golf Championships title in Mexico City. He reached No. 17 with his victory at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February — his seventh win in his 40s, including a major — and was hopeful of a big year.

He hasn’t finished better than a tie for 18th since then.

McIlroy is completing his 11th year in the top 50 — he first cracked the top 50 with a runner-up finish in Hong Kong in 2008 — and that’s now the longest current streak. For everyone else but Mickelson, it seemed something always would go wrong, whether it was injury (Woods) or a spell of bad play (Adam Scott, Sergio Garcia, Justin Rose).

No one thought Woods would drop from the top 50 — much less No. 1, a spot he twice held for five straight years — until his personal life imploded and then his legs broke down, and his streak of 15 years in the top 50 ended in 2011.

The secret?

It starts with great golf, and Mickelson is among the best to ever play.

“You have to have good balance,” Mickelson said. “Amy (his wife) is a big part of that, having a good balance of family and playing schedule, so when I do play I’m focused. Having kids on the road early in my career was a big thing.

“For the most part, it’s having the desire to work on it, and having passion for it and love it and enjoying it and competing.”

McIlroy believes the record can be matched, and he thinks it goes beyond staying injury-free. McIlroy had back trouble very early in his career, and he missed a chunk of time in early 2017 with a rib injury, only the second time he went through an entire year without winning.

“I would have said that a few years ago,” McIlroy said about injuries. “But I feel as good as I ever have.”

He’s also 30. What will he say 10 years from now?

“Hopefully, what Tom Brady says,” McIlroy replied. “I feel better than when I came into the league.”

McIlroy says a family and shifting priorities could become more of an obstacle than injuries, which impresses him about Mickelson.

Spieth is more impressed with Mickelson having played on the last 24 teams for the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup, another streak that is ending. Mickelson qualified for 19 consecutive teams, and only recently had to rely on a pick. But those streaks go hand-in-hand.

“You’re not going to make teams if you’re not top 50, or top 20 even,” Mickelson said.

That’s where Mickelson could be found for three weeks shy of 26 years, and even though the streak is done, Mickelson says he is not.

He’s already talking about making the next Ryder Cup team.

Texas win gives Harvick title shot

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Kevin Harvick and the Stewart-Haas Racing team had already been preparing for NASCAR’s finale. With another win at Texas, they now know they will be racing for a Cup title in two weeks.

Harvick won the fall race at Texas for the third year in a row Sunday, again securing one of the championship-contending spots for the Nov. 17 season-ending race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

“Well, we’ve already been going down the road,” Harvick said from Victory Lane in Texas. “We’ve already been to the simulator, we’ve already built the car, and now we’ve just got to make sure that we do what we think is right and go with our gut and see what happens.”

After starting from the pole, Harvick led 119 of 334 laps and paced a 1-2-3 finish for Stewart-Haas. He had gotten to Texas fifth in points, below the cutline for a championship run.

“It’s a scenario that takes a lot of pressure off next week,” car owner Tony Stewart said. “It does take that edge off. … It’s big for the organization.”

Harvick led six times in the No. 4 Ford, including the final 21 laps and 73 of the last 80, and finished 1 1/2 seconds ahead of teammate Aric Almirola. Daniel Suarez, the Stewart-Haas driver still unsigned for next season, was third.

With Martin Truex Jr. already locked in for the final four at Homestead, the final two spots for the title run will be determined next week at Phoenix. At least one driver will get in on points.

“It is going to be a good battle for sure,” said Logano, the defending Cup champion who remained in fourth in points after finishing fourth in the No. 22 Team Penske Ford at Texas. “We are definitely racing for that last spot just in case someone behind us outside of the top four wins. … It’s going to be fun.”

Kyle Busch is third in the standings, only two points ahead of Logano.

“We all know one guy is going to move through on points and we have to do whatever we have to do in order to be that guy,” Busch said.

Truex finished sixth at Texas, a week after clinching his title chance with a win at Martinsville. Playoff contenders Busch and Ryan Blaney were seventh and eighth, with Kyle Larson 12th. The other contenders, Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott, had accidents that put them deep in the field.

Hamlin’s 28th-place finish, six laps behind Harvick, dropped him from second to fifth in the standings. He is 20 points behind Logano, and only three ahead of both Larson and Blaney. Elliott is 78 points outside the final four.

Harvick’s fourth win this year was the 49th of his career, matching Stewart for 14th on NASCAR’s career list. Harvick’s only championship in his 19 Cup seasons came after a win in the finale at Miami five years ago.

“I think every year is different. For me, I would tell you that I don’t think we’ve run as well as we probably wanted to run week in and week out compared to the things that we expect,” Harvick said. “But this particular year has been neat for me to sit back and watch the evolution of how we progressed with the race cars, how the conversations have progressed, how my theories and things I think are right and wrong have changed.”

Hamlin got loose coming out the fourth turn on the 81st lap and slid off the track and through the infield. The No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was damaged after slamming hard across the grass and over asphalt.

“Just lost control. That’s all there is to it,” Hamlin said. “Did the best we could, and we’ll go to Phoenix and try to win. … There’s no doubt in my mind that we can go there and win. In these circumstances, I like the challenge.”

 

CONTENDING WITH TROUBLE

Elliott was in the eighth and final playoff spot coming into the race, and stayed there after getting into trouble early. He will have to win at Phoenix to get in the final four.

On the ninth lap Sunday, Elliott got loose and slammed hard into the wall. After an extended time on pit road for repairs, he got back on the track and finished the race. He finished 22 laps behind in 32nd place.

“I made a mistake, got loose and crashed. I really hate that happened,” Elliott said.

Elliott was the runner-up at Kansas last month but finished 36th at Martinsville last week after a mechanical failure. There was also his last-place finish among 38 cars at Dover, where his engine gave out after only eight laps.

 

FLASHBACK AT FRONT

Seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson has gone a career-long 93 races without winning, but he led nearly half of the second stage at Texas.

Johnson led 40 laps in the second 85-lap segment at Texas, where he has won a record seven times. His last win there came in the 2017 spring race, about two months before his last Cup win at Dover.

His only pole this season was at Texas in the spring race seven months ago, when he led 60 laps. He had led only 27 total laps in the 26 races since then before Sunday.

Just a few laps after the race resumed following the second stage, while still in the top three, Johnson got loose and couldn’t keep the No. 48 Chevrolet off the wall. The Hendrick team got him back on the track for a brief time, but the car had too damage to continue. He finished 34th.

 

SIX TO NONE

There were six cautions in the first stage, but the second 85-lap segment was run without a yellow flag. There were 11 cautions overall.

A look back in time

65 Years Ago

November 1954

Allen Countians yesterday once again demonstrated their staunch Republican loyalty as over 4,000 citizens voted in one of the dullest local elections in history. LaRoy McCall, Humboldt, won the only county contest, defeating Henry Baeten, Democrat, for commissioner from the first district. Kansas Republicans regained a Congressional seat they lost two years ago and swept all other state and national offices at stake. As a result, Kansas once again will be represented by a full six-man Republican House delegation and two Republican senators. Lt. Gov. Fred Hall was elected governor over Democrat George Docking. Nationally, however, the Democrats took control of the House of Representatives and threatened to win the Senate.

*****

Mrs. Harold Blake resigned as secretary of the Iola Chamber of Commerce to accept a position with Wayne Archer in his real estate and insurance office. She has been secretary of the C of C since 1951.

*****

The memory of one of Kansas’ most picturesque soldiers will be honored here on Nov. 11 with the dedication of the Gen. Frederick Funston Memorial Armory. It is this part of the Veterans Day celebration which will bring Maj. Gen. Joe Nickell, adjutant general of the state, and over 600 National Guard troops. They will participate in the parade at 1 p.m. which will be followed at 3 p.m. by the dedication and the unveiling of a bronze plaque that records a few of Gen. Funston’s exploits. Col. J.D. Conderman of Iola, commander of the Guard unit here, will give the dedicatory address.

 

 

Iola Reads: Author visits Tuesday

Jennifer Nielsen, author of “A Night Divided,” a story of a girl and her family divided by construction of the Berlin Wall at the onset of the Cold War, will talk about her book Tuesday evening at the Bowlus Fine Arts Center.

The 7 p.m. community presentation will be in the Creitz Recital Hall. Refreshments will be served.

The book is the focus of this year’s Iola Reads campaign.

Books may be obtained at the Iola Public Library, USD 257 school libraries or in various locations around town. Readers are asked to pass on the book to other, return it to a library or another location where Iola Reads books are distributed.

Nielsen will speak earlier in the day at Iola Middle School and Lincoln Elementary School.

Former Iola City Administrator Carl Slaugh will be the focus of a similar program a week later.

Slaugh was stationed in Germany when the Berlin Wall was taken down,  upon the collapse of the Soviet Union. He will talk about his experiences with “Eyewitness To the Fall” at 7 p.m. Nov. there when it fell. He will tell about his family’s experience. The program will be at Iola Public Library at 7 p.m. Nov. 12 at the Iola Public Library.

Iola Reads is a cooperative project involving the library, USD 257 and the Bowlus Fine Arts Center. The project is funded by the Helen Gates Whitehead Testamentary Trust.

Colony congregants hear sermon on being ‘Chosen’

Larry Wittmer gave the Communion Meditation, “The bad news and the good news,” based on Ephesians 2. Bad: We are all spiritually dead. Spiritual death leads to alienation by God, and eternal death. Without Christ, our situation is hopeless. Good: Jesus gets us back to a right relationship with God by taking on our sins on the cross. Christ’s death was sacrificial, substitutionary, and sufficient. His sacrifice is acceptable to God. 

Pastor Chase Riebel gave the sermon on being “Chosen,” based on the movie and small group study “Overcomer.” God chooses his people. He determines our steps and guides our hearts. The invitation to celebrate eternity with Jesus is made to all, but we must accept the invitation and choose to follow God. Hear this sermon at colonychristianchurch.org.

Men’s Bible Study is at 7 a.m. Tuesday. Small groups meet Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Youth meal is at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday  and youth group at 7. 

Middle school pregame hangout is from 3:30 to 5 pm. Monday and Thursday at the Community Church.