Growth: City Commission to limit development discussions

Discussion of two controversial development proposals for northwest Lawrence will be limited later this month when the issues are taken up by the Lawrence City Commission.

Proposals for a Wal-Mart Supercenter at Sixth Street and Wakarusa Drive and a housing development at Sixth Street and Folks Road are scheduled to come before the commission March 25.

Mayor Sue Hack and Vice Mayor David Dunfield outlined rules for discussion of each issue before the commission. Developers will be given 15 minutes to make their case, followed by one hour of public comment. No rebuttals will be allowed.

“I think it’s good to keep the discussion in focus,” Dunfield said.

“I think that we have all received a great deal of information about these particular locations,” Hack said. “We’ll have a lengthy staff report, we’ll have the minutes from the Planning Commission meeting. We’ve received lots and lots of e-mails and conversations from the public.”

Wichita: WSU endowed funding cut back $2.1 million

Beset by stock market losses and a faltering economy, Wichita State University Foundation will cut its support for student scholarships, faculty stipends and building upkeep this fall by $2.1 million.

The loss in endowed funding comes on the heels of decreased state funding. The university announced earlier this week it would cut back on programs in ethnic studies, women’s studies, legal assistant training and paramedic training.

The latest announcement cuts in half the $4.7 million the nonprofit foundation awarded from endowment funds this year.

About 60 percent of the Wichita State’s 823 endowed funds are scholarships, said Elizabeth King, vice president for WSU advancement and the foundation’s executive director.

Endowment fund donations are also down at Kansas University and Kansas State University.

Endowment fund donations will be down about $11.5 million at KU between last month and next February, said John Scarffe, endowment association communications director. He is unsure how many scholarships will be affected.

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