Broadcaster draws crowd at âÂÂ’Kansas!â book signing

Long lines were the norm Thursday night at Douglas County Bank, 300 W. Ninth St., where purchasers of a new color photography book about Kansas sought autographs from television broadcaster Bill Kurtis.

âÂÂForever Kansas!â honors the late Andrea Glenn, longtime editor of Kansas! magazine. Edited by her husband, Grant Glenn, the book features the best of 20 years of photo features from Kansas! Both Kurtis and Grant Glenn signed books.

Kurtis, a Sedan native who is host of A&EâÂÂs âÂÂInvestigative Reports,â wrote the bookâÂÂs introduction.

The book, published by The Kansas City Star, sells for $35 at most retail bookstores. Proceeds from the book go into a grant set aside for scholarships to Kansas college students.

Arts

Firefighter sculpture dedication Saturday

Halcyon Screen, a sculpture by Dan Rockhill, will be dedicated at 9:30 a.m. Saturday at Lawrence Douglas County Fire Medical Station No. 2, 2128 Harper St.

The piece represents the protection that firefighters provide the community. Rockhill, professor of architecture at Kansas University, will attend the dedication to talk with visitors and answer questions.

The dedication also marks the completion of the work by the selection committee from the Lawrence Art Commission.

The cityâÂÂs âÂÂPercent for Artâ program funded the sculpture. Under the program, capital improvement funds are set aside for art projects in new city construction and major renovations.

Baldwin

Search on for police chief

A search committee Thursday began interviewing seven applicants for the job of police chief.

City Administrator Larry Paine said he hoped to select a candidate and make a recommendation to the city council at its Dec. 2 meeting.

More than 80 people applied for the job left vacant with the surprise resignation in July of longtime chief Steve Butell. The search committee consists of two council members and regional law enforcement representatives.

The committee will recommend two or three to Paine, who will then make his selection and submit the candidate to the council for approval.

No one from the Baldwin Police applied for the job, Paine said.

Since ButellâÂÂs resignation, Sgt. Colleen Larson has been acting chief.

Health

Johnson County resident contracts West Nile virus

A 54-year-old Johnson County resident has become the ninth person in Kansas to be infected with the West Nile virus, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported.

The onset of symptoms occurred Sept. 19 but the person has not recovered, KDHE officials said. They would not say whether the individual was a man or a woman. Test results for the patient were confirmed through the University of California-Berkley.

This was the second case of West Nile virus to be confirmed in Johnson County. No cases have been reported in Douglas County.

Coming Saturday

Boothe scheduled to appear in court

Raymond Boothe, the Missouri man accused of killing his son on the Kansas Turnpike and then crashing his car in a Lawrence yard, is scheduled to appear today in Leavenworth County District Court. In SaturdayâÂÂs Journal-World, find out whether the court has determined Boothe is competent to stand trial on the charges.