Weather

Up to 4 inches of snow expected by noon today

Barring a dramatic miscalculation by meteorologists, area residents should be waking up this morning to a fresh blanket of snow.

“There is no doubt in my mind there will be snow coming down (this) morning,” said Ross Janssen, 6News meteorologist.

The National Weather Service on Friday predicted between 2 and 4 inches of snow in the Lawrence area starting about midnight Friday and continuing until noon today.

Unlike the storm that hit the area at midweek, this storm will arrive without sleet or heavy winds, Janssen said.

Janssen said he expected a third storm to arrive either late Monday or Tuesday, which would signal an unusual event: three winter storms in one week.

Crime

Retrial brings guilty verdict on 1 of 3 charges

A retrial that was helped along by a prosecutor’s failure to challenge an appeal ended Friday with favorable results for the defendant.

Jurors in Jefferson County cleared 42-year-old Tim James, a former Lawrence tree surgeon, of two of three charges against him stemming from the 1999 beating and robbery of an elderly Perry man. As a result, James is facing roughly 8 to 16 years in prison, compared with his original sentence of 21 years.

Jurors found James not guilty Friday of aiding and abetting aggravated kidnapping and aiding and abetting aggravated burglary. He’d been found guilty in 2001 on both counts.

As in the previous trial, jurors found James guilty of aiding and abetting aggravated robbery.

James won the right to a retrial this year after Jefferson County Attorney Jim Vanderbilt failed to respond an appeal in which James claimed he’d had poor legal representation.

Sentencing will be Feb. 17.

Community

Basketball players to deliver gifts at LMH

Players from Kansas University’s women’s basketball team will serve as Santa’s helpers Monday at Lawrence Memorial Hospital.

The players will deliver to LMH patients an estimated $11,000 in merchandise donated to KU. The visit is scheduled for 2:30 p.m.

About 1,300 items — T-shirts, posters and other merchandise — were donated by companies with KU trademark license agreements.

This is the 11th year for the Crimson and Blue Holiday Project.