The newest leader of the Lawrence Police Department officially put on his badge on Tuesday. The City of Lawrence swore in Rich Lockhart, 53, as the chief during a ceremony with his family. He took over a department that had been led by interim leaders for nearly two years after the former chief, Gregory Burns Jr., stepped down. Lockhart’s wife, Laura, placed his badge on his uniform for him. He was also ...
In the past year, Lynn Stansberry and her family moved to an eastern Lawrence neighborhood so her two children could attend Broken Arrow Elementary, a school near and dear to her heart because she also attended the school when she was a child. But on Monday, Stansberry said that dream appeared to be threatened, as the Lawrence school district is considering closing the elementary school as a way to save money ...
The Lawrence school district’s absence rate among students this winter is much higher than what the district has seen in the past around the same time frame. But because of the way the district collects data related to COVID-19, it’s not entirely clear that the increase is due solely to the global pandemic. However, it may provide a better glimpse of just how many students are being affected by the virus, ...
A Lawrence man has been arrested in connection with a shooting that occurred outside of a nightclub in rural Douglas County on New Year’s Day. Daequan Jermaine Rayton, 24, was apprehended by the U.S. Marshals Service early Friday morning, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release. Rayton was transferred to the Douglas County Jail, where he was booked around 12:45 a.m. on suspicion of ...
A Lawrence school district committee is exploring new options for closing elementary and middle schools to help the district address a multimillion-dollar budget shortfall, and it's focusing on several buildings in the eastern and central parts of town — particularly Broken Arrow Elementary and Liberty Memorial Central Middle School. The scenarios would involve more far-reaching actions than those that were ...
The mother of Rontarus Washington Jr., who recently saw a murder charge against him dropped in Douglas County District Court, called on the City of Lawrence to hold the local police accountable for what she called “inhumane actions.” Kenisha Clark made the demand during the Lawrence City Commission meeting on Tuesday. She said her son, who faced a murder charge for several years until the case was dismissed ...