Stolen car recovered from Kansas River

Divers helped drag a stolen car Tuesday from the frigid Kansas River near the Eighth Street boat ramp.

The late-1970s model Cadillac, above, was reported stolen in August 2001 to Shawnee County authorities, Douglas County Sheriff Rick Trapp said. Part of its roof had caved in.

Monday night someone called Lawrence Police dispatchers and reported seeing an antenna sticking out of the water. The caller had been on the river in a canoe earlier in the day, Trapp said.

Waiting for ideal light and weather conditions, Douglas County Underwater Search and Recovery Unit found the car during its search Tuesday.

Divers on the underwater team consist of personnel from the Lawrence Police, Douglas County Sheriff’s Office and Lawrence-Douglas County Fire & Medical.

Haskell: Medications missing from health center

Lawrence Police are investigating the disappearance last month of nearly $3,000 worth of drugs from Haskell Health Center, 2415 Mass.

The drugs were taken sometime between 7:35 p.m. Dec. 27 and 7:30 a.m. Dec. 30, a police report said. Most of the drugs were painkillers such as morphine and codeine tablets.

Investigators are not sure how the suspect gained entry to the health center. There were no signs of a break-in, although two interior doors sustained damage, a report said.

Police said they had a suspect but would release no other details. No arrest has been made, and an investigation continues.

Police didn’t make their investigation public until Tuesday.

‘River city weekly’: KU professor to discuss Harlem Renaissance poet

Kansas poet Frank Marshall Davis is the subject of this week’s “River City Weekly” show on Sunflower Broadband Channel 6.

John Edgar Tidwell, Kansas University associate professor of English literature and author of Black Moods, the collected poems of Frank Marshall Davis, talks with host Greg Hurd about Marshall’s life and poetry.

Marshall was a major figure in both the Harlem Renaissance and the Black Arts Movement and is perhaps best known for his poetry about race and class issues in America.

“River City Weekly” airs at 6:30 p.m. Wednesdays with encore presentations at 7:30 weeknights and 9 a.m. Saturdays.

Kansas University: First Budig professorship given to special-ed expert

A Kansas University professor has been named the first recipient of the Gene A. Budig Teaching Professorship in special education.

Gary Clark, who has taught at KU for 32 years, will receive a one-year stipend and present a lecture at 4:30 p.m. March 4 in Room 150 of Joseph R. Pearson Hall.

Clark specializes in career development and transition education for high school special education students. He has developed teaching and training materials for school personnel.

Budig, KU’s chancellor from 1981 to 1994, and his wife, Gretchen, established the gift last summer with an undisclosed gift to KU. The amount of the annual stipend has not been disclosed.