School board decides bond issue outline

The Lawrence school board decided Monday night to have one bond issue with two questions — more than $54 million for construction at schools and nearly $9 million for technology improvements.

The construction includes $450,000 to build new science labs at Lawrence High and $20 million to remove and replace South Junior High School.

As the next step, district administrators will start putting together official legal language for the bond issue.

20-year-old reports rape at Lawrence party

A Tonganoxie woman told police an unknown man raped her early Friday at a party in Lawrence.

The 20-year-old told police she met four people she didn’t know about 2 a.m. near 12th and Massachusetts streets and went with them to a party. She said she didn’t know where the party was.

While there, one of the men talked her into going into a back room where he raped her, she told police.

Police are investigating. Lawrence Police spokesman Sgt. Dan Ward said alcohol was a factor.

Lawrence couple’s gift aids social work program

A Lawrence couple have donated more than $20,000 to a Kansas University program designed to encourage people to consider careers in social work.

The gift, from Vernon and Jessie Branson, will fund scholarships for students at Kansas City Kansas Community College’s bachelor’s in social work program, which will be run by KU and based in Kansas City, Kan.

The program will help students who have earned an associate’s degree to complete a bachelor’s degree in social work from KU.

Jessie Branson is a former Kansas legislator who represented Lawrence from 1981 to 1991. Vernon Branson was a Lawrence pediatrician who retired in 1995.