WRITER: Chad Lawhorn

Regents approve new policy that prohibits 'diversity pledges' from prospective employees, students

A new policy that will prohibit “diversity pledges” at state universities — but won’t require schools to close their offices related to diversity initiatives — won quick and unanimous approval by the Kansas Board of Regents on Wednesday. While diversity-related issues surrounding higher education have been divisive in several states across the country, Regents at their monthly meeting expressed no ...

Seating at KU's revamped football stadium to shrink by a few thousand seats; other updates on Gateway Project

Seating at the University of Kansas’ revamped football stadium likely will shrink by at least 5,000 seats when the facility opens in 2025, but KU’s athletic director promised year-round excitement levels from the site will grow. Members of Downtown Lawrence Inc. on Wednesday morning received an update from Athletic Director Travis Goff on the $448 million renovation of David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium ...

KU's stadium is full of construction material now, but all is on schedule to have commencement there next month

Today, it would not be hard to find actual boards on the field of David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium as it undergoes a $448 million renovation that has demolished the entire west side of the facility. But leaders of that project on Wednesday assured community members that mortar boards will be on the field next month as scheduled. In other words, despite how the stadium looks now, KU is confident commencement ...

Famed anchor Bill Kurtis reflects on facts versus opinion, key moments in journalism at KU event

It was a brief journalism lesson Tuesday evening from Bill Kurtis, a Kansan who has had anything but a brief journalism career. Kurtis — who delivered the 2024 Dole Lecture to a capacity crowd of more than 200 people at the Dole Institute of Politics on the KU campus — has covered the Charles Manson murder trial, the riot at the 1968 Democratic convention, and the 1966 Topeka tornado that led to him ...

For three consecutive months, home prices have fallen in Lawrence; home sales up from a year ago

It is too early to be a trend, but not too early to be a tantalizing possibility: The selling prices of homes in Lawrence are declining. For three consecutive months, the median selling prices of homes have declined, according to the latest information from the Lawrence Board of Realtors. Specifically, the prices have declined compared to the median prices from the same month a year earlier. The drop in ...

KU wins $1.6M to start new law clinic for veterans; Douglas County eyeing federal funds to create special court for veterans

Area veterans soon may have two new places to find help: the University of Kansas law school and a Douglas County courtroom. The KU law school is set to receive $1.6 million in federal funding to create a new law clinic specifically for veterans. U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, was in Lawrence Friday to announce the funding that he helped secure. Additionally, Moran and other leaders at a KU law school ...