Douglas County

Commissioners to set security priorities

Douglas County commissioners will meet at 3:30 p.m. today to consider options for spending nearly $400,000 in federal grants designed to bolster homeland security.

Commissioners have until Friday to turn in their list of projects, which would be designated to protect “critical infrastructure” in the county.

Officials from police, fire and other emergency-response departments in the county plan to meet this morning to set priorities for spending, then forward the recommendations to commissioners.

Among the projects to be considered: $450,000 for backup generators for Lawrence-Douglas County Fire & Medical and the Lawrence Police Department; a total of $180,000 for security systems to protect utilities in Lawrence, Eudora and Baldwin; and $60,000 for sidewalk barriers to prevent vehicles from driving into the Judicial & Law Enforcement Center.

The commission meeting will be at the county courthouse, 1100 Mass.

History

Brown v. Board expert to speak at library

LaTonya Miller, public affairs specialist for the National Park Service’s Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site, will speak at 7 p.m. today in the auditorium of the Lawrence Public Library, 707 Vt.

Her speech, “Fifty Years After Brown: The Monroe School,” will address the history and legacy of the Brown case as well as the new museum and research center in the building of the former Monroe School. The school had been one of four Topeka schools reserved for black children.

It was dedicated as a national historic site May 17, the 50th anniversary of the Brown decision outlawing desegregated public schools.

The free event is open to the public.

Lawrence schools

Great Race scheduled for Lawrence pit stop

Dodging flying cars and fielding questions from national media, a group of high school students from Lawrence fell to third place in the fourth day of a cross-country car race.

Members of the Lawrence High School Auto Club and their teachers are cruising the circuit in a pink 1957 Chevy Bel Air and competing against two schools in the amateur division of the 22nd annual Great Race for $10,000 in prizes.

More than 100 vintage vehicles will tool through Lawrence on Thursday for a morning pit stop in the parking lot of the Dillons store at Sixth Street and Wakarusa Drive.

The cars, manufactured between 1909 and 1959, pulled into Springfield, Mo., Tuesday evening.

Competitors will stop for lunch today in Fort Scott, for an evening pit stop in Ottawa and in Overland Park for a two-hour welcoming parade.

The race began Saturday in Jacksonville, Fla., and will end this Saturday in Monterey, Calif.