Kansas House Speaker Mike O'Neal, right, forwarded an email referring to First Lady Michelle Obama as "Mrs. YoMama." His office says it was a political cartoon, and O'Neal should not be criticized for sending the email.

photo by: Scott Rothschild

Douglas County legislators on Thursday met with representatives of area organizations to talk about issues in upcoming legislative session. From left to right, facing forward, are state Rep. Paul Davis, D-Lawrence, state Sen. Marci Francisco, D-Lawrence, state Rep. Barbara Ballard, D-Lawrence, state Rep. TerriLois Gregory, R-Baldwin City, state Rep. Tom Sloan, R-Lawrence, and state Sen. Tom Holland, D-Baldwin City. They were speaking with Steve Solomon of The Farm — Douglas County Visitation Center. The legislators met with officials from more than a dozen organizations during a meeting at the Lawrence school district headquarters.

Republican presidential candidates, clockwise from left, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, Rick Perry and Jon Hunstman will compete in the Kansas primary in March. Experts say Kansas could play a bigger role in the selection of the Republican candidate.

photo by: Mike Yoder

Some of the highly recommended reads for 2012 are stacked high at The Raven Bookstore, 6 E. Seventh St.,Thursday, Jan. 5, 2012.

photo by: Richard Gwin

Thursday's warm temperatures made people head outside, and some, like Al Stuber, even took to the sky. Stuber took his experimental home-built airplane, which runs on regular gasoline, out for a spin.

photo by: Richard Gwin

Thursday's warm temperatures made people head outside, and some, like Al Stuber, even took to the sky. Stuber took his experimental home-built airplane, which runs on regular gasoline, out for a spin.

photo by: Kevin Anderson

Lisa Sanders, manager at Bloom, 704 Mass, was rearranging product display on Thursday for a sale at the boutique store.

photo by: Shaun Hittle

The Douglas County Sheriff's Office has this portion of N. 2190 Road, in northwest Douglas County near Lecompton blocked off as they investigated an unattended death found near the Kansas River and the railroad tracks. Topeka Police are also on the scene.