Page 31 - Mike Yoder News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Even with the shutdowns caused by the coronavirus pandemic earlier this year, it appears 2020 will go down as the fourth best in the history of the RV industry. Pent-up demand, the pandemic and long-term trends favoring the industry contributed to the surge, and that’s important for the regional economy, as tens of thousands of people are employed at Elkhart-area businesses that either supply or produce most of the nation’s RVs. According to the RV Industry Association, factory shipments to dealers jumped 43.4% to 42,513 in November compared to the same month a year ago, and shipmen...

Staff Report photo by: Orlin Wagner Big Jay shows off his face mask during the Jayhawks' football game against Oklahoma State on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2020 at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium. 2020 will always be remembered as the year of the coronavirus pandemic, which, to date, has infected nearly 20 million Americans and killed more than 340,000, including more than 2,500 Kansans. It will be the story of 2021 as well, and for many of us, the story of our lifetimes. The deadly virus not only relentlessly dominated headlines for 10 months of the year but also affected virtually every aspect...

photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World File Photo Lawrence Police Department vehicles are pictured during the University of Kansas Homecoming Parade in this file photo from Sept. 27, 2018. Story updated at 5:10 p.m. Tuesday: The Lawrence Police Department is rolling out its Special Victims Unit, or SVU, that will focus primarily on cases of physical abuse — specifically, crimes against children, crimes of a sexual nature and domestic violence, according to a news release. “LKPD has deliberately focused on the development of the SVU for over a year, and its implementation is a testament to...

photo by: Mike Yoder Santa Claus figurines dressed as doctors, miners, fishermen and other characters are grouped together on a dining room cabinet in the home of Chris and Jess Appodaca. Chris Appodaca received her first Christmas decoration at the age of 3. Now, 64 years later, she has too many to count. There’s the line of vintage cookie tins above the kitchen cabinets and the cookie jars above the kitchen windows. There’s the case of Santa milk jugs and mugs in the dining room and the handmade quilts on the walls. On her grandmother’s old stove rests hundreds of Santa figurines.

On the morning of Sept. 15, 2018, 40 farmworkers at Riggs Brothers Farm stood up out of bed into water. Hurricane Florence made landfall in eastern North Carolina the night before, and they were waiting out the storm in their labor camp in Jones County. They scrambled to grab their belongings and waded out the door into waist-high water before spending hours calling 911 and farmworker advocates. Their boss, farm owner Randy Riggs, never showed up. To rescue them, attorneys and the U.S. Department of Labor had to intervene. "When someone finally opened the door, water rushed in even higher," s...