LHS student suspended for alleged threat

A Lawrence High School student was suspended for allegedly threatening a student with a box-cutting tool, district officials said Thursday.

Lawrence Police removed the female 10th-grader on Tuesday from LHS, 1901 La.

Officers later discovered the student had a knife and marijuana in her possession, said Julie Boyle, the district’s communications director.

She said the student was suspended for six days pending a disciplinary hearing required by district policy.

Meanwhile, Boyle said, two eighth-graders at Southwest Junior High School, 2511 Inverness Drive, were given “short-term” suspensions for writing a threatening note at school.

Guilty plea entered in counterfeit scheme

Kansas City, Kan. — A Missouri man has pleaded guilty in federal court to cashing a counterfeit $5,500 check purportedly issued by a Lawrence business, at Emprise Bank.

Yixin Zhu, Kansas City, Mo., was one of six people who entered guilty pleas Tuesday before U.S. District Judge G. Thomas Van Bebber for their involvement in a counterfeit check scheme. An eight-month investigation by Kansas City metropolitan law enforcement agencies uncovered the counterfeiting scheme that resulted in losses of about $500,000.

Zhu will return to court Dec. 15 for sentencing.

University to kick off lecture series today

The president of the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif., will be the first speaker in the new Richard L. Schowen Lectureship in Bioorganic Chemistry.

Richard Lerner, known for his work converting antibodies to enzymes, will speak on “Antibodies and Ozone” at 3:30 p.m. today in 130 Budig Hall. The lecture is free and open to the public.

The lecture series is named for Schowen, who retired in July 2000 after 37 years of teaching chemistry at KU.

St. Pat’s Parade seeks beneficiary for 2004

Organizers of the 2004 St. Patrick’s Day parade and related events are now accepting applications from groups or charities that would like to be the beneficiary of the St. Patrick’s Day fund-raising activities.

The deadline for applications is Nov. 3.

Each year, parade-related events have raised several thousand dollars for local children’s charities. This year, the Boys and Girls Club received $38,000. Previous beneficiaries have included the Ballard Center, the Ryan Gray Playground for All Children and Brookcreek Learning Center.

Applications may be picked up at McDonald Chiropractic Clinic, 953 E. 23rd St., KLWN/The Lazer, 3125 W. Sixth St., or by calling 749-6677.

Seniors’ legislature to convene Oct. 8

The 21st annual session of the Kansas Silver Haired Legislature will convene Oct. 8-10.

The group will introduce and hear testimony on seven bills and resolutions, covering topics such as assistance to grandparents, raising grandchildren, sales tax exemptions on food and community service by high school students to seniors.

Mildred Harkness, Lawrence, is an elected delegate. For an overview of the bills and resolutions, or to testify, contact Harkness at 843-4064.

Breast cancer survivors honored in silhouettes

As part of Breast Cancer Awareness month, Health Care Access and Breast Cancer Action will display portraits of 12 breast cancer survivors at four Lawrence-area businesses.

The portraits are silhouettes of survivors. From a list of hints about each of the survivors, people are to guess who the survivors are. Stories of the survivors and statistics about breast cancer will accompany the portraits.

The portraits will first be posted Sept. 29 and unveiled on Oct. 9.

The portraits can be found at U.S. Bank, 900 Mass., Hy-Vee, 3504 Clinton Parkway, Lawrence Memorial Hospital, 325 Maine, and Checkers Foods, 2300 La.

Perry PTO plans pancake feed

The Perry Middle School PTO will sponsor a Pancake Feed on Saturday to benefit PTO sponsored projects.

The pancake feed will be from 7:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. at Perry-Lecompton High School in Perry.

Historic society plans bus tour through area

The Kansas State Historical Society will give riders a glimpse of historic Kansas on a bus tour that begins at 1:30 p.m. Saturday. The bus leaves from the Kansas History Center and Museum, 6425 S.W. Sixth Ave. in Topeka.

Historians Virgil Dean, Charnel Winter and Tim Rues will led the tour, which includes stops at the John Ritchie Home, Territorial and Bleeding Kansas sites, Lane University, Territorial Capitol Museum and Constitution Hall State Historic Site. The tour will end with dinner and a performance by the Lecompton Re-enactors. The bus returns at 9:45 p.m.

Tickets are $25 and include an air-conditioned ride, refreshments, dinner and theater. For more information, call Pam Darling at (785) 272-8681.

Lawrence resident’s research highlighted

The October issue Scientific American will publish the findings of Lawrence resident Keith Ashman in an article titled “The Unexpected Youth of Globular Clusters.”

Ashman, who serves as director of University of Missouri- Kansas City’s Warkoczewski Observatory, and Stephen E. Zepf, a Michigan State University researcher, have observed globular clusters of all ages.