Counseling center faces drop in donations

Headquarters Counseling Center is contending with a lack of funding, a change that part-time director development director Wendy Leedy attributes to a drop in donations. The center’s annual membership drive has yielded $5,600, down from $10,500 the year before.

To become a Headquarters Counseling Center volunteer, Lauren, whose last name is withheld for privacy reasons, works through training materials at the center at 1419 Mass.

Parking: Task force discusses World Company proposal

A mayoral task force met Tuesday to discuss The World Company’s offer to donate land in the 600 block of New Hampshire Street and lease half the spots in exchange for city financing of a new 750-spot parking garage that would cost $9.79 million.

Committee members said they want to see information about the parking needs on the north end of downtown, effects on traffic, maintenance costs and other information.

Kirk McClure, a Kansas University associate professor and committee member, said it appeared to him the project would amount to taxpayer funding of World Company parking.

But Ralph Gage, World Company general manager, said the lot would get used by customers and employees of other downtown businesses.

The committee meets next at 3 p.m. March 25. The World Company owns the Journal-World.

Accident: Cattle truck fire forces turnpike lane closings

The westbound lanes of Interstate 70 were shut down a couple of times Monday night so cattle could be rounded up after the truck they were traveling in caught fire, the Kansas Turnpike Patrol said.

Shortly before 10 p.m. a bearing in the front axle of the truck, a semi-tractor trailer, caught fire and flames spread to the trailer, a turnpike patrol dispatcher said. The truck, owned by National Carrier, Liberal, was brought to a stop by the driver about 2.5 miles east of the Shawnee-Douglas counties line, a report said.

The driver, who was unhurt, was identified as Buford Pierce, 47, Carrollton, Mo.

Turnpike maintenance personnel were called to the scene to round up the cattle.

Kansas University: Audio-Reader adds Spanish-language paper

Audio-Reader Network, the Kansas University-based service that provides broadcasts of newspapers, books and magazines for the sight-impaired, has added a Spanish-language newspaper to its repertoire.

Listeners now can access Dos Mundos, an English-Spanish newspaper published in Kansas City, Mo., through the Telephone Reader system at (800) 772-8898.

Audio-Reader also has added the New York Times and Wrestling USA magazine to its offerings. It now has two state and two national newspapers broadcast statewide, and more than 63 newspapers that are broadcast in regions of the state.

Housing: Tenants to Homeowners Inc. awarded $50,000 grant

The Federal Home Loan Bank of Topeka’s Affordable Housing Program has awarded $50,000 to a local agency that helps low-income homebuyers afford their first homes.

The grant will allow Tenants to Homeowners Inc. to provide its clients with $2,500 in additional financing toward their first home purchase. The funding will assist Lawrence families who are income-eligible for the Homeowners Out Of Tenants, or HOOT program.

Tenants to Homeowners buys, builds and rehabilitates homes, then sells them to low- and moderate-income first time buyers.

It also provides credit counseling and free First Time Homebuyers Workshops. The next workshop will be from 9:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at the United Way Center, 2518 Ridge Court.