Health | VIEW ALL

FDA OKs new cholesterol pill for high-risk patients

WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a first-of-its-kind pill that can drastically reduce cholesterol in a way that’s previously only been available with expensive, injectable drugs. The drug from Merck was OK’d on Thursday for patients with artery-clogging ...

High-Risk Breast program helps patients stay ahead of cancer

The statistics are sobering. The American Cancer Society reports that one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer during her lifetime. But breast cancer risk isn’t the same for everyone. While many women are at average risk, some have other factors that place them at a ...

Kansas cases of cyclospora more than double this week

TOPEKA — Kansas cases of a foodborne illness that causes explosive diarrhea doubled this week to 55, and a national health agency said cases exceeded 7,000 nationwide. Dana Hawkinson, medical director of infection prevention and control for the University of Kansas Health System, said ...

Home and Garden | VIEW ALL

How to protect your roses from black spot disease

Few garden plants attract as much admiration as roses. They're as beautiful in the garden as they are in a vase, and their flowers are almost universally a symbol of love. Unfortunately, they don't always grow without challenges. Wilting, infestations and infections are not uncommon. And none ...

A soothing cup of herbal tea can begin in your garden

Drink a fragrant cup of herbal tea, and the intoxicating scent of steeped herbs might calm your mind before you even take a sip. Even better is when they come from your own backyard herb garden. Mine includes several ingredients for my daily cup, and they're all easy to grow and ...

5 tomato superstars for a mouthwatering summer harvest

Tomato time is my favorite time. In spring, the anticipation of slicing into a juicy, meaty ball of perfection has me planting more than I should. By midsummer, plumping tomatoes on fragrant vines motivate me. And in late summer, when the payoff arrives here in my zone 7 garden, I'm reminded ...

10 top performing new plants for this season

Every spring brings a new growing season and, for me and other garden communicators, dozens of not-yet-available sample plants sent by breeders and growers. To try them out, I squeeze some into my beds and borders, tuck others into containers, and plant the rest in the Maternity Ward, a ...

Food | VIEW ALL

This Stars and Stripes Pie is designed to wow on the Fourth of July

For the Stars and Stripes Pie in my cookbook, "50 Pies, 50 States," I wanted something that would be a showstopper at any Fourth of July barbecue. I got fancy, using foil as a divider when filling the pie to mimic the color blocking of the flag. I used two fillings — strawberry and blueberry ...

Arts and Entertainment | VIEW ALL

Go, See, Do: Vintage Players, Summer Book Sale, Community Bike Ride and more

Friday, July 17 Summer Book Sale, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Lawrence Public Library, 707 Vermont St. Each book $2 or less. Enter on Kentucky Street side of the library. July Adult Swim: Stars, Stripes & Swim, 6-8 p.m., Outdoor Aquatic Center, 727 Kentucky St., ages 18+, no registration required; ...

Lifestyle Columns | VIEW ALL

Local History: Watson Park has long history as community venue

Whether you know it for its train or its swimming pool or its basketball court and playground equipment, the park running for two blocks between Kentucky and Tennessee streets has been through a lot. Often referred to as “Train Park” in reference to the No. 1073 locomotive on its grounds, ...

Local History: The many moves of Douglas County’s ‘No. 6’ school

Most of the rural schools in Douglas County are identified by a name as well as a number. An exception to this norm is “No. 6.” Goldie Piper Daniels, in her 1974 history of the educational buildings in our county, notes that the name “Crutchfield” was found attached to No. 6 on an ...

Local History: A Medal of Honor recipient who lived in Lawrence

On the east side of Iowa Street, between 19th and 23rd streets, stands the United States Army Reserve Training Center, which bears the name of Samuel J. Churchill. Churchill is one of two Medal of Honor recipients to have been Lawrence residents and to be buried here. Churchill was ...

Local History: After Quantrill’s Raid, a Lawrence church became a morgue

On the east side of the 700 block of Vermont Street, you can see a small bronze plaque on a brick building at about eye level. It tells of a First Methodist Church that once stood there, which was built in 1857 and was used as morgue following Quantrill’s Raid on Aug. 21, 1863. More than ...