Kansas state broadband leaders say federal and state funding established last year to improve connectivity across the state helped support nearly 100 projects, and they are optimistic additional funds are on the way. During the pandemic, the SPARK task force earmarked $60 million in CARES Act funding for two broadband grant programs related to the pandemic response. Connectivity Emergency Response Grants totaling $50 million are funding a total of 65 projects across the state and 25 Broadband Partnership Adoption Grants totaling $10 million helped facilitate internet access for low-income households, defraying internet subscription costs, funded hot spots, and provided devices to [...]

Gov. Laura Kelly was in Alma on Monday to celebrate a project that converted a downtown building into affordable apartments for eight families. Frontier Property Management partnered with Kansas Housing Resources Corporation officials to convert the historic Limerick building into apartments. Rent will range from $500 for single-bedroom apartments to $900 for those with more, according to WIBW news. Alma residents started moving in Tuesday. Tyler Holloman of Frontier Property said the need for housing in Southeast Kansas is critical. Source: The Iola Register

Allen County commissioners learned the final guidelines from federal officials on coronavirus relief funds will allow them more flexibility to use the money however they want. They’ll now prioritize county projects when spending the $2.4 million. “Can ARPA pay for that?” has become a common refrain as county leaders debate how to best use $2.4 million federal COVID-19 relief funds. On Tuesday, Allen County Commissioners got the answer: in most cases, yes. They can use ARPA for just about anything. But with requests for the money more than double what the county has, commissioners now want to prioritize county projects over [...]

Iola City Council members will hear a request Monday from KwiKom Communications to help the company expand its fiber-optic service in Iola. KwiKom already provides such service to portions of Iola, primarily north of U.S. 54. It would cost roughly $640,000 to cover much of the rest of Iola, the company noted. It is hoping the city would pay up to half — $320,000 — to extend the private company’s reach to an additional 1,700 residences and 100 businesses The funds would be repaid through a franchise fee payment of $37,500 annually, plus another $7,000 to $10,000 for pole rental to [...]

Steve French remembers answering the phone when he was a child. His parents ran the ambulance service out of Moran, and he would sometimes answer the telephone when calls came. He remembers a call concerning a heart attack. The ambulance arrived within minutes, but the man passed away. “I remember as a 10-year-old, hearing her cry and the trauma of her pain,” French said. “So I’ve always been in tune to those concerns. If a call goes out, I want to make sure we are there.” French, who recently took office as Iola mayor, met with Allen County commissioners Tuesday morning [...]

At the start of each year, the New York Times highlights places around the world folks should visit. The 2022 list features a place quite familiar to locals: Allen County’s own Humboldt. It seems the folks running the New York Times have discovered something we’ve known for quite a while now. Humboldt is a happening place to be. At the start of each year, the Times posts a travelog of sorts, highlighting places around the globe worth visiting. The list of 52 places released over the weekend — ranging from San Francisco’s Great Highway to Normandy, France, or the Daintree Rainforest [...]

Pickleball, a relatively new sport, is gaining followers across the country and in Iola. Lyle Kern is the pioneer of the game in the area and the game is gaining a robust following in Iola and LaHarpe. Pickleball is growing in popularity across America, and here in Iola. A mix of different sports, pickleball has a dedicated following in Iola. So what exactly is Pickleball? Lyle Kern, one of the more seasoned pickleball players in the area, tells it best. “I tell people it’s like if you could stand on a ping-pong table and play ping-pong,” Kern said. “You have a [...]

Linda Berry, spokeswoman for the KCC, said the commission’s staff was working with the Kansas Geological Survey and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to investigate potential links between the latest earthquakes in Saline County and drilling or injection activity. She said there had been no drilling in the past three months adjacent to the earthquakes south of Salina in central Kansas. That serves to rule out theories hydraulic fracturing directly induced the quakes, she said. There are no KDHE-regulated Class I wastewater disposal wells within 15 miles of the earthquakes, Berry said. There are approximately 38 KCC-regulated Class II [...]

When Steve French is sworn in as Iola mayor in January, he promises to do so without ego, but rather a desire to see the remaining City Council members meet his one request. “I will encourage true debate when we have a topic,” he said. “I don’t even care what the topic is, whether it’s patching a hole in the road vs. mill and overlay. We need a true debate.” French has been a part of debates aplenty in his time on the Council. He was one of the original Council members chosen in 2011, when Iola switched from a three-member [...]

Then Iola Public Library’s new initiative aims to help toddlers grow into well-rounded individuals and prevent child abuse and neglect. Playing with a child is an involved process — you just don’t realize it. But peel back the layers and you see the building blocks for emotional stability being laid and verbal and motor skills being expanded. Add reading into the mix and the learning opportunities grow. Put this all together into a safe place like a public library, and the potential for it becoming a movement starts to happen. All this is behind Iola Public Library’s new initiative, “Early Literacy [...]