‘Ad Astra’ statue planned for placement today

Weather and bolts permitting, the “Ad Astra” statue will be raised again today and placed on top of the Capitol in Topeka.

The 22-foot statue depicting a Kansa Indian with his arrow pointed to the North Star was hoisted 300 feet and put atop the Statehouse dome on Monday as a crowd of more than 1,500 people cheered.

But four hours later, the bronze sculpture was brought back down because the base of the statue’s bolts didn’t line up properly.

Since then, workers have been drilling out the deficient bolts and re-aligning the holes.

Ben Bauman, a spokesman for Gov. Bill Graves, said Wednesday that workers were nearly finished making the adjustments.

He said a crane would lift the statue into place between 8:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. today.

He said that if it was too windy, however, the lift-off might be delayed.

Development

Public meetings planned on Wal-Mart proposal

Opponents of a proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter at Sixth Street and Wakarusa Drive will have an organizing meeting 4 p.m. Sunday at the Lawrence Memorial Hospital auditorium.

The meeting is being sponsored by the Progressive Lawrence Campaign.

Developers of the Supercenter will get their say tonight. Wal-Mart’s project engineer and other company representatives will be in town to answer questions from neighbors from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in the commons area at Quail Run School, 1130 Inverness Drive.

As proposed, the Wal-Mart would occupy 190,000 square feet  plus another 9,000 square feet for an outdoor garden center  at the northwest corner of Sixth Street and Wakarusa Drive.

Consideration of the proposal is expected at the Oct. 23 meeting of the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission, 6:30 p.m. in City Hall.

Notoriety

KU official named to list of influential Hispanics

Janet Murguia, Kansas University’s executive vice chancellor for university relations, has been named one of the nation’s top 100 “Most Influential Hispanics” by Hispanic Business magazine.

The magazine compiled its list through nominations from readers, Web site visitors, contributing editors and writers, and magazine staff.

The list, which appears in the October edition, also includes Kansas City Royals manager Tony Pena.

This spring, the Hispanic Business selected Murguia as one of 80 top Hispanic businesswomen in the United States.

Murguia joined the KU staff in 2001 after working for the Gore/Lieberman presidential campaign and in the Clinton White House.

Lecture

Pulitzer finalist to speak

A finalist for the 1998 Pulitzer Prize in history will speak Friday at Kansas University.

Rogers M. Smith will speak on “Political Allegiances in the 21st Century” at 4 p.m. in Alderson Auditorium at the Kansas Union.

Smith, a political science professor at the University of Pennsylvania, was a Pulitzer finalist for his book “Civic Ideals: Conflicting Visions of Citizenship in U.S. History.”

Smith will be in Lawrence as part of the Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar Program.