News and notes from around town:

• The phrase “used furniture” in Lawrence can bring up a lot of memories. (I suspect many of them involve a couch on an Oread porch, and then it gets a little hazy after that.)

Well, there’s a new business in town that is hoping to change that image. The folks who have owned Lasting Impressions clothing consignment shop for the last 23 years recently have opened a furniture and home decor store.

LI Home Goods has opened in the Malls Shopping Center at 23rd and Louisiana, just a few doors down from Lasting Impressions.

LI Home Goods also is a consignment shop, but it is the type that is a bit selective. The store doesn’t accept everything that comes its way.

“We expect people to bring us items that are in good condition,” said owner Susan Cook. “It is kind of a more upscale home decor shop.”

By home decor, Cook means everything from furniture to knickknacks. For example, the shop currently has large items like a Thomasville dining room set all the way down to lamps and even dishes.

Cook said the store certainly has items that will appeal to students, but she said the shop is more geared to folks looking to outfit their home rather than a student apartment. (I don’t know, I had a large collection of china table settings in college. I think Chinet came in packages of 50.) Cook said she opened the store because she noticed more folks were open to buying used furniture in this economy.

“We took home decor at Lasting Impressions for about the last 10 years,” Cook said. “Recently we started dabbling in furniture, and it just went so quickly. People wanted to bring more and more of it in, and we didn’t have the room.”

The store does rely on people bringing in quality items to sell on consignment. The typical arrangement is the store and the owner of the goods split the sale price 50/50. Like most consignment shops, the sale prices are deeply discounted. Cook said a $6,000 dining room table, for example, is priced at $1,500.

The store is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

• From home decor to pocket decor — as in the fancy wireless phone that is in your pocket. Wireless phones are going to get fancier as the much-touted 4G wireless networks extend across the country. For those of you who don’t know what we’re talking about with 4G, the ‘G’ is short for goodness. (As in, for goodness sakes, my cell phone bill is high.)

Actually, my I.T. guy tells me that is not accurate. The ‘G’ stands for generation, as in the 4th Generation technology of wireless phones — which may allow for high-definition mobile T.V., super-fast video conferencing, and time travel. (My I.T. guy is shaking his head again.)

Well, whatever it is, that 4G expansion is definitely under way in Lawrence. The good folks at the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Department tell me they have had permits for more than 30 cell tower expansions since Jan. 1. About 25 of them have been within the last couple of months.

Representatives for the wireless companies have indicated the expansions are to accommodate 4G service. AT&T and Verizon have been the main companies applying, according to the permit applications, but T Mobile also has had a few applications.

Before folks start complaining about a proliferation of new cell towers littering the Lawrence skyline, that’s not what is going on here. None of the applications have sought to build new towers in the county. Instead, they are looking to add more equipment to existing towers and structures.

The city has a pretty strict policy that requires wireless companies to work together to share space on towers. The city also encourages companies to locate on water towers and tall buildings, like the US Bank Tower in downtown, when appropriate.

Thus far, the only tower change requested is to increase the height of the existing tower near Sixth and Maine streets — the one near the Taco Bell — by about a dozen feet. That one sounds OK to me, since I do all my super fast video conferencing while eating a chalupa.

My understanding is most of the permit applications can be approved administratively, and several already have been approved and work has begun.

• Well, another week and another set of Douglas County property sales to review. To see the complete list of property transfers as recorded by the Douglas County Register of Deeds office, for the week ending Aug. 27, click here.

I noticed one commercial sale of note. It looks like a group led by Lawrence businessman Steven Noller has sold the car wash property at 1020 N. Third Street in North Lawrence to a Walker Bros. Company LLC, a group that is led by Olathe businessman John T. Walker Jr.

Based on some information I’ve seen on the Internet, it appears Walker Brothers is in the car wash and car detailing business in Olathe. So, whether an upgrade is in the works for the North Lawrence car wash — which is basically across the street from the old Tanger Mall — I don’t know.

Upgrades are happening in the Lawrence car wash industry. The latest is the car wash along 23rd Street just west of Haskell Avenue. The former Raco car wash has recently re-opened with a new name — I believe it is Wash Me — and revamped service stalls, complete with a nice looking stone facade.

So who knows, maybe the car wash industry in Lawrence is about ready to launch its 4G upgrade. That would be good. Sometimes I take the chalupa in the truck.