LaHarpe City Council members will chew over a request by city employees to add as many as 26 stop signs around town. Code Enforcement Officer Penny Miller and City Superintendent Mike Hedmon have driven every block in town in search of potential trouble spots for motorists due to obstructed views at intersections or where unfettered traffic pose safety hazards. Miller provided the Council members with a color-coded map identifying intersections she thinks would be better served if motorists had to stop. Source: The Iola Register

Pittsburg’s hospital is putting the brakes on some procedures as coronavirus cases continue to climb steadily statewide and the positivity rate tops 17%.

COVID-19 is threatening the way Kansas schools do their work.  Randy Watson, state education commissioner, told members of the Kansas Association of School Boards recently that the way schools deliver education currently is “not sustainable.” Although 1A to small 4A schools are returning to traditional five-day-a-week on-site classes because they can keep class sizes to fewer than 15 and require masks and social distancing, most larger schools are obliged to operate differently.  They are using all online, remote or hybrid models where students alternate attending on-site for part of the week and study remotely the remainder of the week. Source: The [...]

The first of a number of community projects kicked off over the weekend, with a team of volunteers gathering to help build a new pump track for bicycling enthusiasts. The group worked at the LaHarpe City Park Saturday and Sunday to mold an elaborate series of berms, rollers and tabletop fixtures, all made out of dirt. By Sunday afternoon, the entire track was laid, with most of the remaining work centered on contouring and compacting the dirt. Source: The Iola Register

Saint Luke’s Health System says it will close its two community hospitals in Overland Park at the end of the year. Both hospitals opened just a couple of years ago. The health system, which took over management of Allen County Regional Hospital in Iola in July,  said declining patient volumes were behind the decision. “Overall, our community hospital model has performed remarkably well and has allowed us to effectively expand access in a critical segment of our market,” Bobby Olm-Shipman, CEO of Saint Luke’s South and East, said in a statement. Source: The Iola Register

It’s 7:57 on a Monday morning, and Brett Willis and his friends are walking up the sidewalk to the high school. Brett forgot his mask. He throws his water bottle into the courtyard and stomps away, while his friends make their way through the line of fellow students waiting to get their temperatures checked before they can enter. “It made me really mad because I had to go back out to my car,” Brett says. This is just a “new normal” day at Iola High School during the coronavirus pandemic, which has brought several changes in terms of safety and hygiene [...]

Heather Horton has a few pandemic messages for her fellow Kansans. “Don’t give up. Take each day as it comes,” she says, which is good advice in any situation. But also: “Think about the people, not the profit margin, because that’s what matters in the end.” Horton and her husband, Roger, co-own two small businesses in Pittsburg. They opened Sweet Designs Cakery, where they bake party-type desserts, in 2009. A block away is Toast, which they opened last October, with a concept that was unusual for Pittsburg. Source: The Iola Register

The money lent from the federal government is meant to help hospitals and other health care providers weather the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet some hospital administrators have called it a payday loan program that is now brutally due for repayment at a time when the institutions still need help. David Usher, chief financial officer for a 12-bed rural hospital in western Kansas, is sitting on $1.7 million he’s scared to spend. The money lent from the federal government is meant to help hospitals and other health care providers weather the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet some hospital administrators have called it a payday loan [...]

Jessica Thompson, Thrive director of development, also spoke with commissioners about the possibility of moving forward on a new county-wide transportation system. Thompson noted that the cost of the program for the county — which would involve new vehicles that take residents of any age to almost anywhere — would run about $52,000 in its initial year, and then drop to between $20,000 and $30,000 in following years. Source: The Iola Register

Council approves incentives that would help Peerless Products acquire the old Haldex Brake facility. The Fort Scott-based company wants the facility to focus on a new line of commercial windows. Iola has taken a “big” step forward in attracting a window manufacturer to town. Iola City Council members approved Monday a series of incentives that would assist Peerless Products in acquiring the old Haldex Brake facility on North State Street. Source: The Iola Register