Traffic

KDOT: I-435 ramp reopens for weekend

Only a few hours of delay remain for the 11,000 drivers diverted daily from a ramp off Interstate 35 in Johnson County.

Repair work has been suspended until next week on an Interstate-435 bridge near Lackman Road, said Catherine Patrick, the project’s construction engineer for the Kansas Department of Transportation.

That means the ramp onto the freeway’s westbound lanes from southbound Interstate 35 will be open today and through the weekend. It’ll be a welcome shift from the scene since weekends in mid-September, when crews shut down the ramp from 7 p.m. Thursdays to 6 a.m. Mondays for around-the-clock patching work on the I-435 bridge.

Now that the $603,000 repair job is virtually complete, Patrick said, only one more disruption is scheduled. The ramp is likely to be closed sometime between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Wednesday, weather permitting.

Schools

Federal education law topic of forum tonight

Parents, teachers and administrators will gather tonight at Lawrence High School to consider implications of the No Child Left Behind law.

The federal education reform law mandating that schools improve academic performance of all students will be discussed from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at a forum sponsored by Community Connections.

The organization is a parent-oriented group in partnership with Lawrence Education Assn., the Lawrence district’s union for teachers.

Christy Levings, president of the Kansas-National Education Assn., will present an overview of No Child Left Behind from 6:30 p.m. to 7:15 p.m. A small-group discussion will follow.

The meeting is open to the public. District schools were urged to send representatives to the event in the cafeteria at LHS, 1901 La.

Community

College fund to benefit children of cancer victim

A college-education fund for Blake and Colton Wingert, ages 5 and 7, has been established at Peoples Bank, 4831 W. Sixth St.

The boys’ mother, Melissa Wingert, died of cancer Tuesday at the family’s home in Lecompton.

Wingert, 29, had learned two years ago that she had cancer. Her co-workers at TherapyWorks, 1112 W. Sixth St., organized the Great Pumpkin Pursuit fun run last year, raising $10,000 to help pay the family’s medical bills.

“We appreciate everything that everybody’s done,” said Kent Wingert, the boys’ father. “It really means a lot to us.”