Topekans charged in auto burglaries

Two Topeka men arrested during the weekend were formally charged Monday in connection with six recent vehicle burglaries.

Additionally, one of the men is charged with aggravated assault after allegedly driving a car toward a Lawrence Police officer who tried to arrest him.

Police encountered the men about 5 a.m. Saturday after receiving a call about a burglary in progress at Highpointe apartments, 2001 W. Sixth St. They drove off and were arrested later in the 1500 block of Lynch Court.

One of the men, John E. Austin Jr., 20, is charged with burglarizing two cars at Highpointe for stereo equipment. The other, Christoffer L. Bailey, 20, is charged with aggravated assault on a law-enforcement officer, plus three auto burglaries Feb. 3 and one Feb. 5.

Burglary reported at scholarship hall

Someone burglarized a Kansas University scholarship hall during the weekend and stole more than $720 worth of property and money, according to police reports.

Between roughly 9:30 p.m. Saturday and 2 a.m. Sunday, someone entered at least four rooms in K.K. Amini Hall and took a purse, $150 cash, a CD player and headphones, and a Sony PlayStation 2 with games, according to reports.

“It looks like a stranger got in the house somehow and just wandered into open rooms,” said Lt. Schuyler Bailey, a KU police spokesman.

Investigators are working to identify a college-aged man seen in the hall that night, Bailey said.

Hallmark grant benefits KU design department

Hallmark Cards Inc. has announced it will donate $500,000 over the next three years to support the department of design at Kansas University.

The grant will provide funding for program upgrades, the resurrection of a graphic design program and travel expenses for faculty, said Steve Hedden, dean of the School of Fine Arts, which includes the design department.

The graphic design program, called “The Arts,” will allow students to get real-world experience by designing materials for nonprofit clients. Budget cuts at KU ended the program last summer.

Challenger train to pass through Lawrence again

The world’s largest operating steam locomotive will make a return pass through Lawrence sometime this morning.

The train, Union Pacific’s Challenger, will leave Kansas City, Mo., at 8 a.m. and is scheduled to arrive in Topeka at 10:30 a.m. It is not known what time it might go through Lawrence.

Last month the train passed through Lawrence on its way to Houston for the Super Bowl.

Televised Opry show features BR549

BR549, a Nashville-based band that includes Lawrence native Chuck Mead on guitar and vocals, is one of the acts featured on tonight’s installments of GAC Network’s “Grand Ole Opry Live” on Sunflower Broadband Channel 56.

Taped live during the band’s appearance Saturday at the Ryman Auditorium, the hourlong show airs at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m.