Rains continue in area

Thursday marked two days in a row of significant rainfall in Douglas County.

Officially in Lawrence, rainfall totaled .88 inches on Wednesday and Thursday, the National Weather Service said. Rainfall throughout the city for the two days combined hovered around the one-inch mark, according to Skyhawk weather spotters.

On Thursday, .43 inches had fallen in the 1700 block of 19th Terrace south of Allen Fieldhouse, according to Kenneth Blair.

The Deerfield area got a soaking of .75 inches during the period from 8 p.m. Wednesday to 9 p.m. Thursday, Randy Tongier said. Neighborhoods northwest of 26th and Iowa Streets saw .44 inches Thursday and a total of exactly an inch during the two-day period, William Winkler said.

The Prairie Park neighborhood received less rain, Bruce Stucky said. From midnight to 8 p.m. Thursday, .31 inches had fallen, he said.

American Indian cancer forum planned Saturday

The American Indian Heartland Cancer network will sponsor a forum, “Empowering American Indian Women: A summit on Breast and Cervical Health,” from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday in Stidham Union at Haskell Indian Nations University.

The forum is free and open to the public. Cancer survivors from the Prairie Band Potawatomi, Assiniboine Sioux and Kickapoo tribes are expected to share stories of their encounters with the disease.

Dee Ann DeRoin will lead an afternoon discussion on prevention and detection of cervical cancer.

For more information, call Janelle Murk toll-free at 1 (877) 715-6789, extension 4020.

Kansas University plans desegregation symposium

The National Bar Assn. will conduct the first session of its annual Wiley A. Branton Issues Symposium at Kansas University from 10 a.m. to noon today in Green Hall.

The symposium is open to the public and will address social, legal and political issues affecting the nation.

This year’s symposium, “Brown vs. Board of Education Revisited,” will examine the impact of the landmark 1954 Supreme Court desegregation case. Speakers will include attorney Charles S. Scott Jr.; Ronald Griffin, professor at Washburn University School of Law; and Theodore Shaw, deputy director of NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

Theater to perform ‘Dracula’

City Youth Theatre this weekend will stage a haunting production of “Dracula” just in time for Halloween.

The production, based on the Bram Stoker novel, will play at 7:30 p.m. today and Saturday at the Lawrence Arts Center, 940 N.H. More than 27 students from the Lawrence high schools and several private schools will take part in the play, which features original music composed and performed by the theatre’s artistic director, Ric Averill.

Also opening this weekend is the Seem-To-Be Players’ “Cats and Bats III: A Ferret in the Family.” Performances will be at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Saturday, 1:30 p.m. Sunday, and 9:30 a.m. and 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at the arts center.

In the play, Kansas University professor emeritus Ron Willis will join many of his former students, who will play animals who live in his back yard.

Tickets for both productions are $8 for adults, $6 for students.

Senior Center offers travel presentations

The Lawrence Senior Center will offer a presentation on Kansas landscapes from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. today at the center, 745 Vt.

The presentation will describe different landscapes in Kansas, how they formed, and some unusual characteristics of each. It also will explore how humans have affected, and been affected by, these landscapes.

The center will also present “Arm Chair Travel” from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 14. Refreshments are also provided.

Both these programs are free, but donations are accepted. To register, call the center at 842-0543.