New Wave honored

Southwind Extension District recognized LaHarpe-based New Wave Broadband with a 2019 Extension Appreciation Award.

Extension agent Jennifer Terrell cited New Wave’s assistance in implementing a new online system for 4-H entries and results for Allen and Bourbon county fairs.

The new system allowed 4-H’ers and their families to see Fair results in real time.

The Extension Apprecation Award has been awarded annually since 1977 to honor people, businesses and organizations in assisting Extension work.

IHS announces second quarter honor roll

Iola High School has announced its second quarter honor roll.

The honor roll is divided into three sections. All A’s which require a 4.0, Principal’s honor roll requiring 3.76 -3.99 average, regular honor roll requiring 3.00 – 3.75.

 

All A’s

Seniors: Dongming Eason Cheung, Jayce Doolittle, Diamend McFadden, Kelsey Morrison, Adryan Nading, Carlie Payne, Paige Riley, Courtland Sager, Jada Stogsdill, Ella Taylor

Juniors: Audrey Coltrane, Jada Cunningham, Thomas Fleming, Sidney Shelby, Dillon Slaven, Jessica Tidd

Sophomores: Hannah Andersen, Braxton Curry, Jenna Curry, Ryker Curry, Heidi Hibbs, Colin Long, Reece Murry, Anna Plumlee, Cooper Riley, Karina Sanchez, Chloe Sell, Elanie Sturgeon

Freshman: Caiden Cloud, Elsie Fleming, Macie Hoag, Hallie McDermeit, Cali Riley, Jesse Taylor, Luke Wicoff

 

Principal’s Honor Roll

Seniors: Mayte Breithaupt, Rachel Bycroft, Isabella Duke, Cal Leonard, Lauren McDermeit, Alex Morris, Andre Quinn, Alexandria Vega, Shane Winner

Juniors: Isaac Badders, Lorie Carpenter, William Francis, Hannah Gardner, Callie Murcko

Sophomores: Drake DeLaTorre, Maci Miller, Miah Shelby, TJ Taylor, Ember Womelsdorf

Freshman:  Eli Adams, Joseph Barbarick, Thomas Chapman, Jarrett Herrmann, Abigail Hirt, Jadyn Kaufman, Olivia Tremain, Haily Wilson

 

Regular Honor Roll

Seniors: Noah Ashmore, Casen Barker, Lacey Brown, Haley Carlin, Mary Crites, Calvin Delich, Alexandra Fager, Danielle Fees, Ty Johnson, Jillian Keller, Dakota Knowles, Elysia Kunkler, Mark McCullough, Trevelle Means, Theresia Middleton, Dalton Muntzert, Naomi Neal, Mary-Jane Neises, Brody Nemecek, Breanna Northcutt, Sadrie Overall, Makayla Perez, Gabriella Richards, Jordan Swart, Wolfgang Ian Webber, Derek White, Zane Whitney, Keian Zimmerman

Juniors: Jack Adams, Taylor Boren, Danae Cartright, Devon Catron, Rachen Cochran, Bradyn Cole, Manuel Doolittle, Damiean Dryden-Barnes, Alexi Fernandez, Kelsie Finley, Dakota Fry, Grace Garner, Tabitha Graham, Alice Hitchcock, Lauryn Holloway, Riley Jay, Aidan Jones, Joshua Kaufman, Jacob Leavitt, Bobby Lewis, Nathan Louk, Levi Meiwes, Jenna Miller, Landen Nading, Ashton Olsten, McKenna Orear, Kaden Priddy, Adrianne Reynolds, Toby Sander, Kailey Schinstock, Bryson Shaw, Kyler Sigg, Fayth Simpson, Elijah Smith, Jasmine Spiares, Rebecca Sprague, Elaina Stiffler, Kelli Stogsdill, Michael Stoll, Rebecca Wood

Sophomores: Ashtyn Aikins-Ansley, Adam Atwell, Tyler Boeken, Tyler Crane, Ally Ellis, Samuel Fager, Natalie Fees, Harper Gregg, Nicholas Karns, Elizabeth Kelley, Asha Kilby, Brett Morrison, Jorja Murko, Miranda Palmer, Dennis Smith, Logan Ulrich, Mariah VanNice, Brett Wilis, Carter Wilson

Freshman: Conor Andres, Holden Barker, Cody Chastain, Ethan Collins, Gavin Doolittle, Carly Dreher, Javin Franklin, Crystal Linsdey, Dallyn McGraw, Jhanvi Patel, Madison Robertson, Brock Sander, Kyle Schmidt, Sage Shaughnessy, Jake Skahan, Kadin Smith, Kaster Trabuc, Travis Wanker, Genevive Ward, Cody Wille, Elexis Williams

Tafanelli announces retirement

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Adjutant General Maj. Gen. Lee Tafanelli plans to retire in March, Gov. Laura Kelly announced Monday.

Tafanelli has been adjutant general since 2011. The office’s responsibilities include overseeing the Kansas Army and Air National Guard. He also directs the Kansas Division of Emergency Management, Kansas Homeland Security and has budgetary and administrative responsibilities for the Civil Air Patrol.

Tafanelli was commander of the 891st Engineer Battalion headquartered in Iola. He led the battalion to Iraq for Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2005.

Tafanelli, who has been in uniform for 39 years, was a Republican member of the Kansas House of Representatives from 2001 to 2004. After a year of deployment in Iraq, he served again in the House until resigning to become adjutant general.

The governor said his scheduled departure March 31 was a “planned resignation.”

“His efforts have aided Kansans in many ways,” the governor said in a news release.

A succession plan for the Kansas Guard will be made public later in January, she said.

 

EU rebukes Iran over nuclear violations, sanctions possible

BRUSSELS (AP) — Britain, France and Germany ratcheted up pressure on Iran today to cease its violations of a landmark nuclear deal, stressing that they want to resolve differences through talks while starting the clock on a process that could result in a so-called “snapback” of United Nations sanctions.

The three countries, which signed the international agreement in 2015 along with the United States, Russia and China, said in a letter to the European Union’s foreign policy chief that they had no choice but to trigger the deal’s “dispute mechanism,” given Iran’s ongoing transgressions.

The three said they rejected Tehran’s argument that Iran was justified in violating the deal because the United States broke the agreement by pulling out unilaterally in 2018.

“We have therefore been left with no choice, given Iran’s actions, but to register today our concerns that Iran is not meeting its commitments,’’ the countries said in a joint statement.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, who coordinates the agreement on behalf of the world powers, said the pressure on Iran from Europe does not mean international sanctions will automatically be slapped on the Islamic Republic.

The aim of the move by France, Germany and Britain is “to find solutions and return (Iran) to full compliance within the framework of this agreement. he said.

Hours later, Iran’s Foreign Ministry warned of a “serious and strong response” to the European move.

However, Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said Iran was is “fully ready to answer any good will and constructive effort” that preserves the nuclear deal. He was quoted today by the official IRNA news agency.

The Europeans stressed that they want to “resolve the impasse through constructive diplomatic dialogue” and made no threat of sanctions in their statement.

They also specifically distanced themselves from sanctions imposed by the U.S., which Washington has said is part of a “maximum pressure” campaign against Tehran.

“Our three countries are not joining a campaign to implement maximum pressure against Iran,” they said. “Our hope is to bring Iran back into full compliance with its commitments.”

The 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, seeks to prevent Iran from producing a nuclear weapon — something Iran insists it does not want to do — by putting curbs on its atomic program in exchange for economic incentives.

Under its dispute resolution mechanism, countries have 30 days to resolve their problem, though that can be extended. If it cannot be solved, the matter could be brought before the U.N. Security Council and could then result in the snapback of sanctions that had been lifted under the deal.

U.S. President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled the U.S. out in May 2018, saying the pact was insufficient and should be re-negotiated because it didn’t address Iran’s ballistic missile program or its involvement in regional conflicts. Since then he has reinstated American sanctions, which have been having a devastating effect on Iran’s economy.

In response, Iran has rolled back its commitments in stages to try and pressure the other countries involved to provide economic incentives to offset the American sanctions, but efforts from them so far have been insufficient.

China and Russia had been against invoking the dispute mechanism, but German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said in a statement that the three European countries “could no longer leave the growing Iranian violations of the nuclear agreement unanswered.”

“Our goal is clear: we want to preserve the accord and come to a diplomatic solution within the agreement,” Maas readded. “We will tackle this together with all partners in the agreement. We call on Iran to participate constructively in the negotiation process that is now beginning.”

Following the announcement, Russia’s ambassador to international organizations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, tweeted that he hoped the decision wouldn’t “complicate the situation further.”

After its top general was killed in a U.S. drone attack earlier this month, Iran announced what it said was its fifth and final step in violating the deal, saying it no longer will abide by any limitation to its enrichment activities. At the same time it again said all of its violations were reversible if it gets the economic relief it wants.

With the growing skepticism that the deal will be able to saved, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday suggesting that maybe the agreement could be somehow re-worked to address some of the concerns raised by Trump when he pulled the U.S. out.

“Let’s work together to replace the JCPOA with the Trump deal,” he told the BBC.

Borrell refused to comment on the suggestion, but again emphasized that the remaining signatories to the deal, which took years to negotiate, feel it is the best solution to limiting Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

“We have to preserve the nuclear deal and work to go back to full and effective implementation,” Borrell told reporters in Strasbourg, France. He described the pact as a “significant achievement” and underlined that “there is no alternative to this agreement.”

Britain’s Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told Parliament that “the government in Iran has a choice.”

“The regime can take the steps to de-escalate tensions and adhere to the basic rules of international law. Or sink deeper and deeper into political and economic isolation,” he said. “We urge Iran to work with us to save the deal.”

 

Morning fog causes wreck

EL DORADO, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say a truck hauling cattle overturned in thick fog this morning.The crash happened around 3:20 a.m. on U.S. 54 less than 10 miles east of El Dorado.

Loose cattle were  being corralled and taken offsite. Other than cattle, there are no known injuries.

Farm Bureau offers legislative update

The 2020 Kansas legislative session has begun.

To give area residents a better glimpse of what to expect in Topeka this year, Allen County Farm Bureau Association is hosting a legislative update at 5:30 p.m. Jan. 20 at the Iola Senior Center, 204 N. Jefferson Ave.

Kansas legislators Kenneth Collins, Kent Thompson and Caryn Tyson are expected to be in attendance.

The event is open to the public.

 

Chiefs survive hazardous bye week

The San Francisco 49ers and Green Bay Packers used their bye week to rest, relax and recharge.

Now they’ll meet in the NFC championship for the first time since 1997, when Reggie White, Brett Favre and that Pack bested Steve Young and Ken Norton Jr.

The R&R from the first-round bye proved more like rust, ruin and rubbish in the AFC, where the Ravens and Chiefs, the top two seeds, fell into 22-point and 24-point holes, respectively, in their return to action over the weekend.

Kansas City overcame the 24 points they spotted Houston thanks to last season’s NFL MVP, Patrick Mahomes, and some debatable decisions by Texans coach Bill O’Brien in a wild 51-31 win.

Baltimore didn’t bounce back, bowing to Tennessee 28-12 with its first loss since Sept. 29, rendering moot a fantastic season and calling into question quarterback Lamar Jackson’s playoff panache.

Behind Derrick Henry, who’s on the greatest eight-game stretch by any running back in the history of a league that’s celebrating its centennial season, the Titans are in their first conference championship game in 20 years.

The Chiefs reached their second straight AFC title game at Arrowhead Stadium thanks to a 51-7 run engineered by Mahomes and helped along by O’Brien’s decisions not to go for it on fourth-and-inches from the Kansas City 13 and then to try a fake punt on fourth-and-4 from his own 31 minutes later while still ahead 24-7.

 

BALTIMORE BOWS OUT

Now the Ravens know how the Broncos felt eight years ago when Baltimore upset Denver in double overtime on its way to winning Super Bowl 47.

Riding Peyton Manning’s successful comeback from neck fusion surgery that led to his release from the Colts in 2012, the Broncos entered the playoffs riding an 11-game winning streak and earned the AFC’s top seed with a 13-3 record. But they lost for the first time in 98 days thanks in large part to safety Rahim Moore’s ill-timed jump that allowed Jacoby Jones to haul in a 70-yard touchdown pass from Joe Flacco in the final minute of regulation.

That, and coach John Fox’s decision to have Manning take a knee with two timeouts and 31 seconds remaining, playing for overtime instead of a last-second retort.

The 2019 Ravens went 14-2, the best regular season in franchise history, earned a No. 1 seed for the first time, and received a record-breaking performance from Jackson, their second-year QB who turned the NFL upside down with his unmatched mobility and improved pocket presence. They had 12 players picked to the Pro Bowl, tying a record, and five All-Pros.

And they lost in the divisional round.

“This game is going to be the one that we’ll remember because it’s the last one,” coach John Harbaugh said. “I told them, in the end, there’s only one team that gets to be the one true champion — and that’s not going to be us this year.”

Jackson set an NFL record for yards rushing by a quarterback (1,206) and led an offense that compiled more yards on the ground (3,296) than any in league history. Although he accounted for more than 500 yards of offense against the Titans, Jackson committed three turnovers and was twice stuffed on fourth-and-1 runs in falling to 0-2 in the playoffs.

In addition to finishing sixth in the league in rushing, Jackson threw for 3,127 yards and 36 touchdowns with only six interceptions. But he was picked off twice and lost a fumble against Tennessee.

“I need to improve on everything, whether it’s running, throwing the ball, pocket poise, everything,” Jackson said.

 

TEXANS TUMBLE

For a while Sunday it appeared as though the fourth-seeded Texans would be hosting the AFC championship next weekend. But they imploded after jumping out to a big early lead and O’Brien faced the heat for his fake punt that Daniel Sorensen sniffed out in time to stop Justin Reid shy of a first down, giving the Chiefs a short field for a quick touchdown en route to scoring 41 consecutive points.

“We felt like we had to manufacture some points, manufacture some yards and it just didn’t work out. When you’re playing a team that is that explosive on offense, you’ve got to try and keep scoring,” said O’Brien, who also took heat for kicking a short field goal on fourth-and-inches rather than going for the first down and potentially a 28-0 lead.

The Texans became the first team in NFL history to lead a playoff game by at least 20 points and then lose by at least 20, and the 24-point lead they squandered tied for the fourth-biggest in playoff history.

Houston quarterback Deshaun Watson came to his coach’s defense when asked if he’s the right man to lead the Texans.

“You might have doubt, but I don’t,” Watson said. “I love that man, and I’ll always play hard for that man. You all can say what you want to say in the media, but as long as I’m at quarterback, he’s cool with me. He’s got my heart.”

Researchers link Russian hackers to Ukrainian gas company

BOSTON (AP) — A U.S. cybersecurity company says Russian military agents have successfully hacked the Ukrainian gas company at the center of the scandal that led to President Donald Trump’s impeachment.

Russian agents launched a phishing campaign in early November to steal the login credentials of employees of Burisma Holdings, the gas company, according to Area 1 Security, a Silicon Valley company that specializes in e-mail security.

Hunter Biden, son of former U.S. vice president and Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden, previously served on Burisma’s board.

It was not clear what the hackers were looking for or may have obtained, said Area 1’s CEO, Oren Falkowitz, who called the findings “incontrovertible” and posted an eight-page report. But the timing of the operation suggests that the Russian agents could be searching for material that damaging to the Bidens.

The House of Representatives impeached Trump in December for abusing the power of his office by enlisting the Ukrainian government to investigate Biden, a political rival, ahead of the 2020 election. A second charge accused Trump of obstructing a congressional investigation into the matter.

“Our report doesn’t make any claims as to what the intent of the hackers were, what they might have been looking for, what they are going to do with their success. We just point out that this is a campaign that’s going on,” said Falkowitz, a former National Security Agency offensive hacker whose company’s clients include candidates for U.S. federal elected offices. 

In an earlier interview, he told The Associated Press that the campaigns of top candidates for the U.S. presidency and House and Senate races in 2020 have in the past few months each been targeted by about a thousand phishing emails.

Falkowitz did not name the candidates. Nor would he name any clients.

Russian hackers from the same military intelligence unit that Area 1 said was behind the operation targeting Burisma have been indicted for hacking emails from the Democratic National Committee and the chairman of Hillary Clinton’s campaign during the 2016 presidential race.

Stolen emails were released online at the time by Russian agents and WikiLeaks in an effort to favor Trump, special counsel Robert Mueller determined in his investigation.

Area 1 discovered the phishing campaign by the Russian military intelligence unit, known as the GRU, on New Year’s Eve, said Falkowitz, who would not discuss whom he notified prior to going public. He said he followed the industry standard process of responsible disclosure, which would include notifying Burisma.

In the report, he said the GRU agents used fake, lookalike domains in the phishing campaign that were designed to mimic the sites of real Burisma subsidiaries.

Falkowitz said the operation targeting Burisma involved tactics, techniques and procedures that GRU agents had used repeatedly in other phishing operations, matching “several patterns that lots of independent researchers agree mimic this particular Russian actor.” Area 1 says it has been tracking the Russian agents for several years.

The discovery’s timing — just weeks before presidential primaries begin in the United States — highlights the need to protect political campaigns from targeted phishing attacks, which are behind 95 percent of all information breaches, said Falkowitz.

“This is a real specific, timely case that has real implications,” he said. “To discover it and potentially get out in front of it is a significant departure from what’s typical in the cyber security community, where someone just tells you, yeah, you’re dead.”

In phishing, an attacker uses a targeted email to lure a target to a fake site that resembles a familiar one. There, unwitting victims enter their usernames and passwords, which the hackers then harvest. Phished credentials allow attackers both to rifle through a victim’s stored email and masquerade as that person.

Area 1 said its researchers connected the phishing campaign targeting Burisma to an effort earlier last year that targeted Kvartal 95, a media organiza tion founded by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

In this case, the Russian military agents, from a group security researchers call “Fancy Bear,” peppered Burisma employees with emails designed to look like internal messages.

In order to detect phishing attacks, Area 1 maintains a global network of sensors designed to sniff out and block them before they reach their targets.

In July, the U.S. Federal Elections Commission gave Area 1 permission to offer its services to candidates for federal elected office and political committees at the same low rates it charges non-profits.

LSU stays perfect to claim ultimate prize

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — From small-town Ohio kid to Louisiana legend, Joe Burrow capped his record-breaking, Heisman-winning season by bringing a national championship to LSU.

Burrow threw five touchdown passes, ran for another score and finished off one of the most accomplished seasons in college football history by leading the top-ranked Tigers to a 42-25 victory against No. 3 Clemson on Monday night in the playoff final.

“He’s one of the greatest players in LSU history,” Tigers coach Ed Orgeron said. “He’s done so much for the state of Louisiana and LSU. We are so grateful to Joe Burrow.”

The senior quarterback from The Plains, Ohio, delivered the Tigers (15-0) their first national title since 2007 and fourth overall, breaking a few more records along the way in what was already an historic season. His five TD passes and 463 yards passing are the most for a BCS or College Football Playoff title game. So were his six total touchdowns.

“This is what I wanted to do from the time I was 5 years old, was hoist this trophy. And bringing it back to Louisiana,” Burrow said, then caught himself. “I guess we’re in Louisiana, but staying in Louisiana, we weren’t going to let someone come in here and steal this from us in our home state.

“We have a great fan base that came out and supported us. We were going to keep this thing right here.”

Under a shower of sparkling white, gold and purple confetti, Burrow raised the CFP championship trophy toward the Superdome roof. The party was on — no doubt already raging on nearby Bourbon Street.

Burrow became the first major college quarterback to throw 60 touchdown passes in a season and LSU snapped defending national champion Clemson’s 29-game winning streak. For the first time in his college career, Clemson star quarterback Trevor Lawrence was on the losing team.

“I hate how it finished,” the sophomore said. “But man, we did some really amazing things.”

The Tigers (14-1) had won Lawrence’s first 25 starts.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve stood in front of a team after a loss,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said.

On this night, Lawrence (18 for 37 for 234 yards) was no match for Burrow — the Ohio State transfer who threw all of 16 TD passes last season with LSU.

His ascent has been dizzying and unprecedented. Running a version of the New Orleans Saints’ offense brought to LSU by 30-year-old assistant coach Joe Brady, Burrow and an array of talented receivers transformed these Tigers into one of the most prolific offenses college football has ever seen.

The Saints’ Drew Brees, Burrow’s idol growing up, could not have done it better.

This was Orgeron’s vision for LSU when he was promoted from interim coach in 2016. There was plenty of skepticism about the Cajun who had failed in his first crack as a head coach with Mississippi.

Orgeron has proved to be the perfect fit for LSU. Just like Burrow.

After tossing his fifth touchdown pass of the night, a perfectly placed jumped ball to Terrace Marshall Jr. from 24 yards out to make it 42-25 with 12:08 left in the fourth, Burrow signaled TD and strolled to the sideline.

The Superdome is LSU’s dome away from home, about 80 miles from the Tigers’ Baton Rouge campus — and it was rocking.

The LSU band broke out its unofficial anthem, “Neck,” and as the Tigers bounced and waved towels on the sideline, Burrow just sat on the bench, bobbing his head and waving one arm.

Joe Cool. Just doing his thing. Next stop: The NFL draft, where he will likely be the first pick in April.

The final score was lopsided, but it was far from easy for LSU and Burrow.

Clemson pushed LSU into the deepest hole it had to climb out of this season in the first half. Two weeks after Lawrence ran for a career-best 107 yards against Ohio State, he opened the scoring with a 1-yard jaunt around right end in the first quarter.

After B.T. Potter kicked a career-long 52-yard field goal for Clemson to make it 10-7, the Tigers sprung receiver Tee Higgins on a 36-yard reverse for a score to make it 17-7 in the second quarter.

It took LSU 5:19 to wipe that out and take the lead, with Burrow and his favorite receiver, Ja’Marr Chase, doing most of the damage. The Heisman winner hit the Biletnikoff Award winner with a long ball to set up a quarterback draw from 3 yards out to make it 17-14.

Burrow and Chase hooked up for a 14-yard touchdown with 5:19 left in the second quarter and LSU fans erupted as their Tigers took the lead for the first time, 21-17. They never looked back.

Chase finished with nine catches for 221 yards.

The SEC Tigers weren’t done. Burrow led LSU on a 95-yard drive, taking a hard shot on a long run before finding Thaddeus Moss, son of former NFL star receiver Randy Moss, standing alone in the end zone. That made it 28-17 with 10 seconds left in the half.

Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables flummoxed LSU for most of the first quarter, with tight coverage and hard-to-decipher blitzes. Burrow, Chase and Co. put up 269 yards in the second quarter.

“Coach Venables is great at what he does, it just took us a while to get it figured out,” Burrow said.

Did they ever. LSU dropped 628 yards and six touchdowns on a Clemson team that came in allowing 264 yards and 11.5 points per game.

“Weapons all over the field. We’ve been seeing it all year,” LSU safety Grant Delpit said. “Just seeing how many weapons we had on offense is just crazy.”

Over the last three games of his spectacular season, against Georgia in the Southeastern Conference championship game and Oklahoma and Clemson in the playoff, Burrow passed for 1,305 yards and 16 touchdowns. LSU won those games by a combined score of 142-63.

When it was all over, Burrow puffed on a victory cigar as he made his way from the locker room to the postgame news conference. No one was about to tell him he couldn’t smoke inside.

This season, LSU’s newest football hero has done just about whatever he wants.

“I don’t know about the whole hero thing,” Burrow said, “but I know this national championship will be remembered for a long time in Louisiana.”

Professor gets $800K settlement

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A former Newman University professor who alleged the university discriminated against her because she was a woman should receive more than $800,000 in damages and be reinstated, a federal jury ruled Monday.

The jury found in favor of Cindy Louthan, former assistant professor of elementary education at Newman, who sued the private Roman Catholic university in Wichita in 2018.

Cindy Louthan alleged a supervisor was hostile toward women and harassed and discriminated against her because she is female. She also contended the university did not investigate her concerns and punished her when she complained about the supervisor, ending in her losing her job, The Wichita Eagle reported.

“We are disappointed in the jury’s decision and are considering our appeal options,” Teresa Hall Bartels, the interim president said in a written statement. “Newman University’s mission and core values insist community members respect the dignity of others and interact with integrity and honesty with all. Since this case involves employee matters we will have no further comment at this time.”

Louthan’s attorney, Sean McGivern, said she plans to pursue reinstatement.

Louthan was one of five former university employees who sued  the school in Wichita alleging unfair treatment or termination in recent years. The university has denied the allegations in each case.