The upcoming ballot issue to create a quarter-cent countywide sales tax to fund additional mental health services will get a boost from Lawrence Memorial Hospital, although not without some criticism. The hospital’s board of trustees on Monday evening agreed to allow the LMH Health logo to ...
The Douglas County Commission has directed administrative staff and sheriff’s office personnel to develop a plan on how to use the $3 million available in the county’s 2019 budget to add capacity at the county jail. Commissioners decided that building an addition to the jail was the best ...
Undersheriff Gary Bunting will tell the Douglas County Commission on Wednesday that the sheriff’s office does not recommend that portable modular units be used to solve overcrowding at the county jail. Bunting will report on the cost to install and staff modular units. The report is a ...
A 20-year veteran of the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office has filed to run for sheriff. Jay Armbrister, 42, of Baldwin City, filed Oct. 4 to run as a Democrat. Armbrister said he filed early because he was eager to share his candidacy with county residents. “It’s always been my goal to ...
The city’s interest in consolidating city and county governments has created some tension between the two governing bodies, but Lawrence city commissioners plan to continue the conversation. Lawrence city commissioners raised the topic with Douglas County commissioners during a joint ...
Although plans for a new crisis center and enhanced mental health services have been scaled back by more than $700,000, Douglas County's director of behavioral health projects said the projects are still a big step forward for the county. “The good news is we are still committed to a broad ...
The man charged with developing new plans for a behavioral health campus and associated enhanced services will present the Douglas County Commission with ways to shave hundreds of thousands of dollars off of an earlier set of plans. The plans Bob Tryanski, county director of behavioral health ...
Sweeping changes stemming from the state’s 2016 reform of juvenile justice are calling into question the future of the Douglas County Juvenile Detention Center and the adjacent day school for at-risk students, said Pam Weigand, director of Douglas County Criminal Justice Services. The state ...
The undersheriff for the operations division of the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office has retired. The retirement of Jim Martin, who was hired for the position in 2013, was announced Wednesday, Sgt. Kristen Channel, sheriff’s office spokeswoman, said in response to an inquiry from the ...
Lawrence’s city leaders resolved Tuesday to do further research into a unified city-county government, but a day later, Douglas County commissioners restated that they were not interested in the idea of unification. The Lawrence City Commission, whose members had first brought up the topic ...
Douglas County Undersheriff Gary Bunting will provide county commissioners on Wednesday with information on the cost of installing portable, modular cell units at the county jail and will discuss the pros and cons of their use in addressing overcrowding. Last month, Bunting shared with ...
The Douglas County Commission has raised the minimum age to purchase tobacco products in the county's unincorporated areas to 21. The commission approved a resolution to raise the minimum age during its meeting on Wednesday. Commissioner Mike Gaughan said the county will soon publish the ...
The Douglas County Commission will consider a measure Wednesday that would require customers to be 21 before they can legally purchase tobacco products in rural county stores. The measure won’t have widespread implications because it would only apply to four stores in the county’s ...
Douglas County District Court is in the middle of what’s thought to be an unprecedented number of murder trials scheduled in close succession. The clerk’s office is extra busy, the jury pool is being stretched, judges’ dockets are crowded and the district attorney’s office has brought ...
The Lawrence Community Shelter will have to cut services to stay within its budget and is looking to its government and nonprofit partners to help determine how that should be done, shelter board members told community leaders Wednesday. At a joint meeting of the Douglas County Commission, ...
Lawrence mayor Stuart Boley's proposal to explore merging the city and county governments didn't go over well with Douglas County commissioners on Wednesday, but the county leaders said they were willing to review existing shared funding agreements with the city. The discussion occurred at a ...
Engineers with the Kansas Department of Transportation next month will present to the Douglas County Commission proposals for improving safety at five at-grade intersections on the west leg of Kansas Highway 10. KDOT is currently reviewing accident and speed statistics for the K-10 ...
Lawrence's mayor wants to have a serious discussion about the city of Lawrence and Douglas County combining forces to create a consolidated government. Mayor Stuart Boley said he plans to propose that the city of Lawrence and Douglas County jointly ask the county's legislative delegation to ...
A longtime Douglas County agricultural institution is celebrating its 100th anniversary Sunday, but most of that history wouldn’t have happened without the efforts of one black Douglas County farmer who grew up the son of a sharecropper. Research into the beginnings of Douglas County K-State ...
The Douglas County Commission signaled Wednesday that it would pass an ordinance increasing the age to legally buy tobacco products, including e-cigarettes and vaping liquids, to 21. All three county commissioners said they favored the age increase. But commissioners said formal action would ...