If Iola sleeps in this morning, it’s excused.After all, a sizeable chunk of townsfolk didn’t get to bed until the wee hours of this morning. So pull down the shades and roll over. You’ve earned…

Iola area folks have three more opportunities this summer for delightful entertainment that doesn’t cost a red cent.The Iola Municipal Band plays at 8 p.m. Thursdays at the bandstand. Don’t miss a one. You’ll love…

Imagine if Iola grew by 20 percent. That would be an additional 1,000 to our current population of 5,700.That’s the expectation Friday night with the Charley Melvin Mad Bomber Run for Your Life.Year after year…

While still asleep in the pre-dawn hours, at least 30 Nigerian children were slain.Their crime? Wanting to learn. Islamic militants attacked the boarding school bearing guns and machetes. Most of the children who tried to…

Kansas City should build a new airport.The current airport is not only old, but also ex- tremely inefficient for trav- elers and airport personnel alike.Yes, yes, the 2004 renova- tion freshened its look. The tile…

  It has been one week since SAFE BASE returned from Colorado, and I am still recovering — for better or worse.  It took a lot of work from behind the scenes — Mark Dunlap…

Nobody likes a power-grabber.  Which is the essence of the downfall of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi. On our Independence Day, Egypt’s military staged a coup of sorts and arrested Morsi and hundreds associated with his…

If our Founding Fathers could see their country today, they might think, back to the drawing board.“We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union ….” Are the first…

It wasn’t the Alamo, but Texas Gov. Rick Perry wasn’t taking any chances.Monday morning more than 100 heavily armed state police swarmed the Texas capitol to guard against abortion rights supporters.Armed with truncheons and helmets,…

Today, interest rates on federally backed student loans doubled.Lack of Congressional action allowed the interest rates on the Stafford loans to go from 3.4 to 6.8 percent.While it’s assumed public outcry will force Washington to…