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.
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 Kellys 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.
Tolands 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, Thrives economic development director, will replace Toland as CEO on an interim basis.
Raef Cameron-Lee Casner, age 17, Iola, passed away on Monday, Jan. 7, 2019, at Childrens 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 Raefs 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
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 Koreas 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 Years address to say he was ready to resume two major stalled inter-Korean projects. Kim also said hell 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 Norths 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. Moons overture, however, has invited criticism from conservatives in South Korea and the United States that hes 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 countrys only major ally, China, that included a summit with President Xi Jinping. Chinese state media reported that Kim told Xi that hes committed to setting up a second summit with Trump to achieve results on the nuclear issue.
In a word, Chairman Kim Jong Uns 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 wont 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.
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 Californias deadly wildfires and said hes 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 Californias 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 Trumps tweet, the states 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 Trumps 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 Trumps comments on forest management and did not criticize his threat to withhold funding. McCarthy said hell propose more money for forest management as part of Democratic spending bills this week to reopen the government. But Republicans ultimately dont 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 hell add an extra $105 million in his upcoming budget for wildfire-related spending.
More than half of Californias 33 million acres of forest are managed by the federal government, and the letter noted the U.S. Forest Services 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.
Newsoms office didnt 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.
Finlands president said he had talked to Trump about wildfires in November but didnt recall discussing raking.
Ill 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.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) A moose wandered into a hospital building in Alaskas 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.
Didnt think wed 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 cameras 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.
Its 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.
The Iola American Legion Post 15 building has sold.
Jack Franklin of Allen County Realty told the Register this morning that the papers were signed Wednesday by LD3 LLC of Lawrence to acquire the post building at 712 W. Patterson and the parking lot to the west.
The company has not announced its plans for the building, Franklin said.
An article detailing the pending sale in Saturdays Register incorrectly reported John Brocker, also of Allen County Realty, was handling the transaction, when it should have been Franklin.
We regret the error.
Derek Schmidts time is at hand.
A consummate campaigner, Schmidts style and comfort in public settings would serve him well in the race to fill Pat Roberts U.S. Senate seat.
Roberts, age 82, announced a week ago he would not seek re-election to a fifth six-year term.
At age 50, Schmidt has given no indication his position as Kansas attorney general is anything but a stepping stone.
Knowing grassroots appeal is important, Schmidt travels the state for any gathering of consequence, hosts a destination picnic (for GOP faithful) each year and has positioned himself for higher offices still to come.
His ladder to success is long.
Schmidt has won eight state-level races, primary and general by wide margins. In 2010, he defeated Stephen Six, the Democratic incumbent, for the first of three successful attorney general elections. Prior to that, he won three terms in the Kansas Senate, the last two without opposition in the general election.
He was an assistant to U.S. Sen. Nancy Landon Kassebaum of Kansas and Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel while earning a law degree from Georgetown University. Back in Kansas, he joined former Sen. Tim Emerts law firm in Independence, Schmidts hometown, and served as a special assistant to Gov. Bill Graves prior to winning a Kansas Senate seat.
He also is a graduate of the University of Kansas and studied international politics, earning a masters degree, at the University of Leicester in England.
WHAT DOES all this tell us?
Schmidt is in the prime of his political life and the timing of Roberts retirement could not be better.
In 2020, Schmidt will be in the middle of a four-year attorney general term. Even if he lost he would continue an upward trajectory.
In the GOP, three others with statewide recognition stand out: Former governor by appointment Jeff Colyer; Kris Kobach, outgoing secretary of state who lost by 7 percentage points to Democrat Laura Kelly in the governors race, and Mike Pompeo, former congressman from Wichita and now U.S. secretary of state.
That Colyer lost to Kobach is telling. However, he has the financial wherewithal to compete and has demonstrated interest. Kobach, meanwhile, is so far to the right demonstrated by his loss to a Democrat that his political stock has dwindled.
Pompeo has more national recognition than state, but would be a worthy foe if he decided his staying power as secretary of state were in jeopardy. Pompeo also has some lofty credentials West Point, Harvard Law and former director of the CIA. Born and raised in Southern California, Pompeo did not become a Kansan until 1998 when he and three West Point friends acquired an aircraft-parts manufacturing firm in Wichita.
The open seat will draw others, but the field will winnow itself well before the 2020 primary election.
This writers considered opinion is Schmidt will file and excite voters of both parties, as well as independents, with his campaign and then be elected to the U.S. Senate in November 2020.
Bob Johnson
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) Disruptions to air travel are possible if Britain leaves the European Union in March without a deal, the head of the leading association for airlines around the world warned today.
Alexandre de Juniac, director general and CEO of International Air Transport Association, said the risk to traffic flow is partly under control after the announcement of contingency plans.
However, he voiced concerns about the possibility of some disruption that could involve flight adjustments and cancellations in the period after a so-called no-deal Brexit because current guidelines relating to air travel between Britain and the EU reflect 2018 traffic levels. Passenger traffic is projected to grow 5.5 percent in Europe this year.
I am not concerned that there will be a major disruption, but I am concerned that there will be disruptions in the coming weeks, in the coming months because it has not been calibrated properly, de Juniac told reporters in Dubai.
With less than three months to Brexit day on March 29, Britain has yet to agree on terms for its withdrawal from the EU, raising fears that the country could leave the bloc without a deal to ease the transition to a new future relationship a scenario that could see serious dislocations to trade.
Even if a deal is secured, Brexit will involve the country leaving around 750 international treaties, among them arrangements governing the EUs aviation market. The British government has said that following Brexit it wants arrangements with other countries to allow air travel to continue unimpeded.
IATA, which represents some 290 airlines, relies on open borders, de Juniac said.
When you close these borders, its not good news for us, he said.
A study commissioned by IATA on the effects of Brexit stressed that Britain has the largest aviation industry in Europe with around 80 percent of all North Atlantic traffic passing through British or Irish airspace.
When North Carolinas Republican legislative leaders have seen their work struck down in court as unconstitutional as they have many times they have frequently responded by attacking the judge or judges as partisan hacks.
That approach wont work if the conservative-leaning U.S. Supreme Court surprises the nation by throwing out the congressional district map that N.C. legislators explicitly drew to elect as many Republicans as possible.
The court on Friday agreed to hear a challenge to the North Carolina map, as well as one to a Maryland congressional district. That was big news, because while the court has addressed racial gerrymandering, it has never ruled on whether partisan gerrymandering can be unconstitutional. In taking these cases, the court could for the first time establish whether crafting districts to help one party over the other is permissible.
Despite the odds, we and most N.C. voters hope the court does away with the practice or severely limits it. North Carolinas leaders acknowledge that they drew the lines to ensure that 10 Republicans were elected to the states 13 congressional seats. Rep. David Lewis said they did so because I do not believe its possible to draw a map with 11 Republicans and two Democrats.
Such an approach is the height of hubris and an insult to voters, whichever party is in charge. It essentially robs millions of voters of their voice, since the outcome is preordained. In a more narrow legal sense, it also could violate the First Amendment right to association, as now-retired Justice Anthony Kennedy argued in 2004. Democracy requires people to join together to advance their political beliefs. So when a state makes that nearly impossible, First Amendment concerns arise.
Long ago Senate president pro tem Phil Berger, a Republican, co-sponsored five bills over eight years to create independent redistricting commissions. Now that his party is in the majority, he sees no need for change.
Unfortunately, its hard to be optimistic about the Supreme Courts view of the N.C. case (which is called Rucho vs. Common Cause). The conservative justices are not inclined to think the courts should meddle in states political affairs. When the moderate Kennedy was on the court, there was a chance he could side with the courts four liberals. His replacement, Brett Kavanaugh, has not ruled on partisan gerrymandering cases before, but theres little reason to think he would break with his fellow conservatives in this case. Given his clear partisan leanings revealed in his confirmation hearings, its almost certain he wont.
The court, which will hear arguments in March and likely rule by June, will decide only if partisan gerrymandering is unconstitutional. It will not rule on whether its a wise practice that benefits this country. Clearly its not and it doesnt. North Carolina should follow the lead of several other states that have created independent commissions, with legislative input, to draw maps.
Only then will political seats be won the old-fashioned way: By convincing voters you are the best candidate, on a level playing field.