SLU administrator tapped as Baker dean

An administrator at St. Louis University will be the next vice president and dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Baker University, officials announced Tuesday.

Jamie Comstock, interim dean of St. Louis University’s School of Professional Studies, will begin at Baker in July.

She replaces Stuart Dorsey, who left in June to become vice president of academic affairs at the University of Evansville in Indiana.

Comstock has been director of academic programs at her school for three years. Before that, she served nine years as director of the Organizational Communication Program and Leadership Minor at the University of West Florida, in Pensacola.

She also was faculty member in the communication arts department at the University of West Florida.

Comstock will oversee all academic programs, faculty and several administrators at Baker’s Baldwin campus.

KCPT to present show on state’s attractions

For those who think Kansas is nothing but wheat fields, the state’s public television stations have an answer: Maybe you’re not looking hard enough.

“K.C. To Kanorado: An Uncommon View from I-70” is set to air at 8 p.m. Thursday on KCPT Public Television, Sunflower Broadband Channel 7. It will repeat on that channel at 6 p.m. Dec. 14. The program will also air at 8 p.m. Monday on KTWU, Sunflower Broadband Channel 11.

Narrated by Kansas native Melissa Etheridge with a musical score by Kansas City musicians, “K.C. to Kanorado” encourages those who next make the trek across Kansas on Interstate 70 to slow down and see the state anew.

KCPT produced the program.

Equipment taken from construction sites

Lawrence Police are investigating the theft of thousands of dollars worth of lumber and equipment from a First Management construction site in west Lawrence.

Police say sometime between Saturday and Monday someone took a $3,500 cement mixer and at least 80 pieces of lumber from the site in the 700 block of Comet Lane.

An employee with the property management and development firm told police a second cement mixer had also been taken from a different job site in Lawrence two months earlier.

First Management had not previously reported that incident to police.

The total loss from both incidents is estimated at more than $7,000.

Operation WildLife brings birds to nursery

Representatives with Operation WildLife will have birds of prey on display Saturday at Vinland Valley Nursery, southeast of Lawrence.

The birds will be on display from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. for photographs, and Operation WildLife volunteers will answer questions, take donations and register volunteers.

Vinland Valley Nursery is at 1606 N. 600 Road, a mile south and a mile west of Vinland.

For more information, call the nursery at (785) 594-2966.

Awards, budget advice on tap at Arc meeting

The Arc of Douglas County will have a discussion about dealing with budget cuts for people with developmental disabilities in Douglas County at 7 p.m. Thursday at the United Way Center, 2518 Ridge Court.

Panel members will discuss the Kansas budget and how the shortfall affects people with disabilities, followed by a question-and-answer session.

Before the discussion, Arc President Dana Lattin will present annual recognition awards: Teacher of the Year to Carol Danner and Anthony Merz of Prairie Park School; Paraeducator of the Year to Martha LaRue of Southwest Junior High School; Carol Duckworth Parent Advocate of the Year to Peggy Owens; Support Staff of the Year to Andrea McMurray of Cottonwood Inc., and a Special Recognition Award to Dr. Jane Wegner at the Schiefelbusch Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic.