LJWorld.com

If you like wearing hoodies and hats and you like to shop in Topeka, you just might be out of luck if Mayor Bill Bunten has his way.

According to the AP:

Mayor Bill Bunten says he’s suggesting that the city allow a retail store to ask people who come in wearing a hooded sweat shirt or ball cap to take it off their head so surveillance camera can see them. Police Chief Ron Miller also recommended a similar measure to discourage robberies.

Topekans say the proposal is both “socialist” and “communist,” and one local business owner said she’d lose customers. Bunten said the problem is kids these days.

Customers like this may have to change their attire to shop in Topeka. by AlexParker

"I wouldn't have a quarrel with it,” he told KSNT. “Now, I don't have a hoodie and I don't have a ball cap, but if I did I'd take it off. Most people take their hats off when they go into a store anyway. Well, they used to."

Bunten told the Topeka Capital-Journal he's not proposing an outright ban of hoodies and hats, but wants to give stores the option to require customers to take off the items.

Brisbane, Australia, banned hoodies after a number of crimes jolted the area. Public schools in Allentown, Pa., briefly banned hoodies, and skinny jeans (“too snug for school”). Some folks in Colorado Springs, Colo., believe they’ve been unfairly targeted for wearing hoodies in stories. Stores in the Los Angeles area are requiring people to take off their hats upon entering establishments.

And 16-year-old Dale Carroll, of Manchester in England, was barred from donning a hoodie after he was found guilty of anti-social behavior.

Apparently, he and other local kids (hoods?) caused “mayhem,” which is a tall order for a young teen.

Manchester magistrates heard that Carroll was part of a gang who caused mayhem to residents of Collyhurst village in the city for almost three years.

The court heard he had attacked locals and once attempted to cut down a CCTV lamppost with a chainsaw.

The teenager threw fireworks at cyclists and at one stage pulled a person from their bike and threatened them with an axe. He also drove a car on to a pavement and down steps close to the Sparrow pub in Collyhurst.

Carroll of Cheetham, Manchester, was found guilty of anti social behaviour and was banned from wearing a hoodie or cap in public and from entering a large part of Collyhurst, including the home he shares with his mother in Manordale Walk.

He was also prevented from congregating with more than two people, except family members, and banned from possessing fireworks, axes or chainsaws.

The proposal wasn’t discussed at the Topeka city council’s Tuesday meeting, but Councilman Andrew Gray wore a hoodie to meeting. He said it was comfortable.

It’s Charles Dickens’ 200th birthday, and scholars and fans are remembering the author for his important contributions to the literary world.

Pop culture owes much to Dickens, whose complex characters and examinations of the underbelly of society have influenced everything from “Lost” to the Muppets.

Fans of “The Wire” will recall a newspaper editor’s plan to capture “the Dickensian aspect” of Baltimore in the series’ final season. The HBO series owes a lot to Dickens, though creator David Simon drew a clear delineation between comparisons of down-and-out Dickens characters and the street punks and drunks that told the story of Baltimore, which, as we learn through the arc of the series, is a circle that remains the same, even if the characters change.

“(Dickens) would make the case for a much better social compact than existed in Victorian England, but then his verdict would always be, ‘But thank God a nice old uncle or this heroic lawyer is going to make things better,’” Simon told Vice magazine. In Simonsonian Baltimore, the rich uncle is actually a drug kingpin.

In March, a fascinating story was published on The Hooded Utilitarian, “a quasi-blog/quasi-magazine hybrid devoted to cultural criticism,” examining the cultural contributions of a Victorian serial novel called “The Wire,” written by an author forgotten to time, one Horatio Bucklesby Ogden.

Omar comin'! by AlexParker

Of course, it’s an elaborate satire of scholarly takes on Dickens, but it’s a great read. A “Victorian masterpiece…forgotten and ignored by scholars and popular culture alike,” is how Joy DeLyria and Sean Michael Robinson describe Ogden’s novel. They write how “The Wire” was mass produced, and praised by intellectuals of the time, but failed to find large audiences.

The serial format did The Wire no favors at the time of its publication. Though critics lauded it, the general public found the initial installments slow and difficult to get into, while later installments required intimate knowledge of all the pieces which had come before. To consume this story in small bits doled out over an extended time is to view a pointillist painting by looking at the dots. …

Lastly, one might stand back from a pointillist work; whereas physically there is no other way to consume The Wire than piece by piece. To experience the story in its entirety, without breaks between sections, would be exhausting; one would perhaps miss the essence of what makes it great: the slow build of detail, the gradual and yet inevitable churning of this massive beast of a world.

DeLyria and Robinson describe the characters that make “The Wire,” with detailed looks at “slimy” Scott Templeton, Omar Little, “a Bronte hero,” “bourgeois merchant” Stringer Bell and Detective Jimmy McNulty, “used and exploited by corrupt social systems.”

Images of Ogden’s book – complete with etchings familiar to fans of Dickens’ novels – are included.

Contables McNulty and Moreland investigate a crime scene. by AlexParker

One passage describes a scene in which McNulty and his partner, Bunk Moreland, are examining a room for evidence of a murder:

Mr. Moreland – having more at stake in the proceedings, or rather less interest in pursuing what amount to, in his opinions, a goose chase the likes of which only Mr. McNulty would subject himself – put his cigar in his mouth and looked down at the sketches which they had obtained from Scotland Yard. Years of detective work such as this had compelled Mr. Moreland into an attitude of complaisancy; in most investigations his attitude was one of general affability and a charming lack of anything like concerns. As he flipped through the sketches, however, he took out his cigar, and his tone was exactly that of a child at last being forced to chores when he said, “Aw, f—k.”

Knowing that Mr. McNulty would share in his disgust, Mr. Moreland referred Mr. McNulty to the sketches. “Mother f----r,” said Mr. McNulty, indicating by this succinct phrasing his understanding as to the work that would be required in order to make sense of the sketches and the heinous nature of the crime. …

At the window Mr. Moreland set up another one of the sketches, marking another point, then crossing to help Mr. McNulty with his measuring tape. Holding the tape at the height of the victim so that Mr. McNulty might accurately determine the height at which the bullet might have entered. Mr. McNulty used a firearm to gauge the height at which the handgun may have been fired.

“F---,” said Mr. McNulty.

Or, as today’s HBO would have it:

DeLyria and Robinson have turned their analysis of Ogden’s work into a book, “Down in the Hole: The unWired World of H.B. Ogden,” available this summer.

By now you may have seen the bizarre photo of pink goo - more milkshake than meat - which in reality was a pre-production hamburger patty, treated with ammonium hydroxide, a chemical found in household cleaners and fertilizer. It's also used to kill bacteria. It was also used in burgers from fast food giants like McDonald's and Burger King.

Meat treated with ammonium hydroxide. by AlexParker

But no more.

British tabloid The Daily Mail reports that McDonald's ended the practice in the summer. The paper credited celebrity chef Jamie Oliver's campaign against meat treated with ammonium hydroxide as a catalyst for the decision, but McDonald's denied that. The Daily Mail reported that Taco Bell and Burger King have also ended the practice.

Oliver shocked audiences when he showed how meat - the cuts often left to make dog food - made its way into restaurants, school lunches and home kitchens.

I also came across some information about the bizarre, but oh-so-tasty, delicacy is the McRib, the limited-time-only meat patty that is literally shaped in a pan to look like pork ribs.

Chicago Magazine explains the evolution of the McRib, invented by Meat Industry Hall of Famer Roger Mandigo, and why it is so darn limited.

Here's how Mandigo and two co-authors described the general process in a 1995 article, the process which gives us the McRib:

Restructured meat products are commonly manufactured by using lower-valued meat trimmings reduced in size by comminution (flaking, chunking, grinding, chopping or slicing). The comminuted meat mixture is mixed with salt and water to extract salt-soluble proteins. These extracted proteins are critical to produce a “glue” which binds muscle pieces together. These muscle pieces may then be reformed to produce a “meat log” of specific form or shape. The log is then cut into steaks or chops which, when cooked, are similar in appearance and texture to their intact muscle counterparts.

Mandigo explained the principle behind restructured meat products in Food Chains: From Farmyard to Shopping Cart:

"Most people would be extremely unhappy if they were served heart or tongue on a plate," he observed. "But flaked into a restructured product it loses its identity. Such products as tripe, heart, and scalded stomachs are high in protein, completely edible, wholesome, and nutritious, and most are already used in sausage without objection." Pork patties could be shaped into any form and marketed in restaurants or for airlines, solving a secondary problem of irregular portion size of cuts such as pork chops. In 1981 McDonald's introduced a boneless pork sandwich of chunked and formed meat called the McRib, developed in part through check-off funds [micro-donations from pork producers] from the NPPC [National Pork Producers Council]. It was not as popular as the McNugget, introduced in 1983, would be, even though both products were composed of unmarketable parts of the animal (skin and dark meat in the McNugget). The McNugget, however, benefited from positive consumer associations with chicken, even though it had none of the "healthy" attributes people associated with poultry.

In other words, the McRib, or at least the restructured meat products like it, consists of staples—or even specialties—of other cuisines.

As for why it comes and goes, it's not due to a marketing campaign. It's not even a case of demand. It's all supply, according to the Lincoln, Neb. Journal-Star:

And to this day, the McRib comes and goes from the McDonald's menu for reasons that have to do with its intense popularity and a national supply of pork trimmings that's typically a lot more limited than the supply of beef trimmings.

"If you suddenly start to buy a large amount of that material," said Mandigo, "the price starts to rise."

As the cost to McDonald's rises, the McRib tends to go out of circulation again. And then the same parts of a hog tend to flow back into the processing lines for Spam, Vienna sausages and other specialized products.

Was that really a UFO being driven down U.S. 77 in Cowley County?

That’s what residents thought when they saw a 32-foot thing on the back of a flatbed truck Monday.

Not really a UFO. by AlexParker

“It was this funny sphere that went through on this big trailer, and my first thought was that looks like a UFO,” resident Kammi Root told NBC affiliate KSN.

The strange sight was captured on video, and has set the Internet abuzz with claims that Kansas might have a new type of undocumented alien.

Local officials were told it was an aircraft, but “they asked us not to say a whole lot about it,” said Sheriff Don Read. "They" being the transportation company.

It appears, however, that the craft is not some celestial voyager, but a drone – the X-47B built by Northrop Grumman – being shipped from California to a naval air station in Maryland.

So why was it being driven through Cowley County, which is southeast of Wichita?

"It's difficult to fly an unmanned drone through commercial airspace," a Northrop Grumman spokesman told the website Life’s Little Mysteries.

“Piloted aircraft are one thing, but long trips for large aircraft without a human pilot on board are frowned upon for both aviation security reasons and practical concerns,” wrote LLM’s Benjamin Radford.

Forty-eight years ago, President Kennedy was shot and killed. It’s one of the moments in American history where those who experienced the tragedy don't hesitate remembering where they were, much as my generation will recall what we were doing on 9/11.

Journal-World's front page, Nov. 22, 1963 by AlexParker

Shock and sadness hung over the nation. In Lawrence, reactions across the board were of shock and grief.

Many people interviewed by the Journal-World at the time could not believe something like this could happen in the United States. Some blamed radicals, while one man said it was hard to comprehend how Southerners felt about Kennedy. Some residents interviewed by the Journal-World weren’t even aware Kennedy had died.

Local students prayed for the president, his family and the country. KU canceled its annual fall festival.

The Journal-World was an evening paper then, and thus didn’t publish an extra edition that day (you can read the entire paper here, thanks to the sadly defunct Google Newspaper Project). The headline was blunt, and the front page included a photo of the president’s convertible speeding away with a Secret Service agent clinging to the back.

(See the front pages here)

The Journal-World spoke to many in the business, political and university scenes, but few voices from regular citizens were included in the first edition. If you lived in Lawrence at the time, I'd love to hear what you felt and observed during this dark time.

Here’s what the Journal-World wrote that day:

Shock and Grief; Then Anger Here

Lawrence citizens registered shock, grief and intense anger, almost invariably in that order, when contacted by the Journal-World this afternoon about the tragic death of President Kennedy by an assassin during a motorcade through Dallas, Tex.

Some of the comments:

Congressman Robert Ellsworth, of Lawrence, reached in his Washington office about 2:30 p.m. today, express terrible shock at the tragic death of President Kennedy.

“I have been sitting around unable to do anything,” Ellsworth said.

“It is my understanding that Lyndon Johnson has already been given the oath of office, and I would like to say that we are certainly looking forward to rallying around him as loyal Americans and supporting him in the best interests of the United States and the free people everywhere.

“Nothing could be worse than what happened this afternoon,” Ellsworth continued. “This is a very profound shock to everybody. Everyone here is in a shock and almost at a loss of what do to. The United States has suffered a tremendous loss. From a human standpoint, our hearts certainly go out to a wonderful family.”

Kansas University Chancellor W. Clarke Wescoe: “I hardly know what to say except this is an incredible thing. I am deploy shocked and grieved as is everyone at the University and throughout the country.”

Lawrence Mayor V.C. Springer: “It’s unbelievable! It doesn’t seem possible it could happen in one of our states.”

City Commissioner Jim Schubert: “I certainly am stunned by this. It sounds like something that would happen in South America, not here.”

Oscar Rumsey, president of the Lawrence Board of Education: “The President’s death is a terrific loss to the country and to his family. I’m sure that nobody can understand why it happened.”

Alan Fischer, commander of the Dorsey-Liberty Post, American Legion: “Any patriotic Americans will be terribly shocked and disturbed. It’s something we just don’t like to think can happen in our country. I just don’t know what else to say. This is terrible!”

James Surface, vice chancellor and dean of faculties at Kansas University: “This is a terrible, shocking thing. We can only hope that the President will not die from this injury.”

Keith Lawton, vice chancellor for operations at KU: “This is a truly great tragedy for this country.”

“A feeling of shock and great sorrow engulfs the entire KU campus,” said Donald K. Alderson, dean of men at KU. “The campus is very quiet this afternoon and all the students wear sad expressions on their faces.”

Frank McDonald, chairman of the Douglas County Democratic Central Committee, said: “I just don’t know what to say! This is a terrible shock to every American regardless of who they are. I only hope that as of this moment (1:15 p.m.) that the shot has not been fatal.”

John Stanley, president of Stanley Motors Inc., said: “I’m shocked. This is a horrible thing. I only hope he lives.”

Jack Harris of Jack Harris Appliances and Furniture Co., said: “This is an amazing, shocking thing. It’s hard to believe this could happen in our country. I’m just at a loss for words. I just don’t know what goes on in some people’s minds.”

Odd Williams, state representative from the 13th District, replied: “I’m just shocked. This is really a shocking thing. I’m just sitting here hoping and praying he will be all right.”

Supt. Of Schools Carl S. Knox: “My reaction is one of shock and concern that such a thing can happen in America to such a public official. This points up the hazard one in public office places himself in.”

Rev. Charles Wesley Garrett, First Methodist Church: “My first reaction is that this is a tragedy not only in the personal life of the President, the Texas governor and their families, but in the life of the nation. Being a Texan, I am disappointed to have the shooting happen there.”

Mrs. Ethel High, former chairman of the Douglas County Republican Central Committee: “It doesn’t seem possible hat any citizen of the United States could do that, and I hate to think of it. It’s a great tragedy!”

Richard Gruber, professor of naval science at KU: “My reaction is jus the same as for every other citizen of the United States. We have lost one of the most outstanding Presidents this country has ever had.”

“I don’t know what kind of shape this country is in now,” said Capt. Willard Anderson, acting chief of the Traffic and Security Office at KU. “I simply couldn’t believe the news when I first heard it.”

Police Chief Bill Cox: “This is a terrible tragedy. I feel sorry for his wife and family and those Secret Service agents who were charged with his personal protection. This I some of the those tragedies a person in the President’s position leaves himself open to when he is in a parade. He just has no protection. It’s a tragedy that anyone would do such a horrible thing.”

Howard Lindsey, Douglas County Civil Defense director:” This is quite a shock. Those people down here must be pretty bitter. We don’t realize how they feel. I suppose you will find radicals anywhere, but I just don’t know ho anyone could be so radical as to do what they did.”

Jack Sullivan, active Democratic leader in the county and former president of the State Young Democrat Club: “I don’t know what to say. I just know I’m shocked! This is a loss for the nation, and I’m sure all Americans will regret this tragic loss.”

Mrs. Robert G. Nixon, 1315 E. 21st: “I just don’t know what to say!”

Emily Taylor, dean of women at KU: “I hardly know what to say about this unexpected incident. Everyone who comes in to my office this afternoon is completely shocked by the news.”

A feeling of total shock was also reported by James K. Hitt, director of admissions and registrar at KU: “I’m jolted … this is all I can possibly think to say,” Hitt remarked.

Mrs. Richard Anderson, 2120 Haskell Ave.” “It gives me cold chills to think about it. Tragic – that this could happen.”

Clifford Ketzel, associated professor of political science at KU, said news of the shooting filled him with a feeling of “almost total loss.” He said he was reminded of the day, during World War II, when he was served aboard a destroyer in the Guam harbor. “Word of President Roosevelt’s death reached us that day and a feeling of stunned silence filled the ship.”

County Attorney Ralph King, Sheriff Fred Broadker and Undersheriff Rex Johnson, in a joint statement, read: “This is a terribly hard thing for a person to comment on. This is a most grievous incident, a terrible incident, one which comes as a tremendous shock to all law enforcement people and to all Americans.”

Mrs. Norris Nahman, 720 Wellington: “I’m just stunned. It seems so personal to me and probably to everyone.”

J.D. King, chairman of the Douglas County Republican Central Committee: “This is certainly a terrible thing, a shocking thing. I just can’t believe something like this could happen in our country. It’s just terrible!”

City Clerk Harold Fisher: “It’s shocking news. It’s hard to believe that anything like that could happen in a grand old country like ours. I certainly hope the guilty person soon is apprehended and brought to justice.”

KU students are all “visibly shocked and saddened” by the shooting, according to Mike Rogers, Osawatomie junior. Rogers said he leered of the snows as he was leaving a class at Summerfield Hall.

“The news is just terrible. I really can’t believe it,” said another KU student, Madelon Goetzinger of Olathe.

It’s been three weeks since I took over as digital editor of LJWorld.com and the Lawrence Journal-World, and in the whirlwind of starting a new job and clawing my way through the dozens of cardboard boxes that now clutter my home, I’ve neglected to say hello and introduce myself to you.

My most sincere apologies.

As Jonathan Kealing noted in September, I was a reporter for Journal-World – first as a general assignment reporter, then covering the education beat – before I went to cover news in Chicago. I worked most recently as online content producer for the Chicago Reader, the city’s venerable alt-weekly. I also covered public health for the online Chi-Town Daily News and wrote about the circus that is Chicago politics for the Chicago Current, a short-lived political journal. Along the way I freelanced for the Chicago Tribune, RedEye and other publications.

What Jonathan didn’t mention is that I’m taller than Chicago’s last two mayors, one of which castigated me at a press conference for a question he didn’t like. I’m friends with a friend of Steve Bartman. I grew up in Kansas City, Mo. The strangest interview I’ve ever done was with Ron Jeremy, who I believe recorded the conversation and was more candid than I care to remember. I was once within mere feet of the Stanley Cup and squealed with joy. I did. I squealed.

I’m quite pleased to return to Lawrence. I lived here for about two years, attending graduate school at Kansas University and then working for the Journal-World. In my time away, I’ve thought more and more about this town. I’ve thought about the ties that bind it together, from a unique homesteading history to the 2008 NCAA basketball championship (I still get chills from watching “The Shot”).

I’ve learned more about the social fabric of Lawrence (if you’ve not read “This is America?” you’re missing out.) And I’ve thought about how passionate people are about their town.

Yes, I’ve thought a lot about passion. That’s one reason I decided to return to Lawrence; people care deeply about what happens here. I feel very strongly about the role of local news organizations in a community. Yes, print journalism is in a tough spot, but journalists like the ones that work at the News Center are some of the smartest and most passionate people I know. You may not agree with everything that’s written in the Journal-World, but without it, there would be an unacceptable information void.

The passion Lawrencians have for their town is obvious on LJWorld.com. It shows up in different ways, such as the fantastic Dear Lawrence photo project. It is especially obvious in the hundreds of comments posted each day on this site.

The steady flow of discussion proves that people here believe their city, state and country can be a better place. I firmly believe that the exchange of viewpoints, opinions and facts can make us more informed, and perhaps even more enlightened.

But it also has its drawbacks. Too often, online discussions devolve into name-calling, unaccountable invective and general nastiness that take away from the communal experience of our lives in Lawrence. I simply ask you engage in respectful discussion with each other. Banter is one thing; cheap shots and derogatory insults are another.

You may have also noticed a change that occurred on LJWorld.com yesterday evening. We’re trying something new, and allowing only verified users to comment on stories such as those that involve a death under investigation or a sexual assault. These stories often attract the worst comments, those that are insensitive to grieving families or those that offer little more than baseless – and potentially libelous – speculation.

My hope is that users of these boards will foster a respectful and thoughtful exchange of ideas, even when other say things that are counter to their opinions or ideas. It’s very easy to fire back a knee-jerk reaction. It’s harder to sit for a moment and think how to best respond to a comment – if at all.

In my endeavor to keep LJWorld.com a welcoming community, there are a few things I won’t stand for. In the Harry Potter series, there are the Unforgiveable Curses, which result in death and maiming. Here, there are Unforgiveable Comments, which result in a comment’s removal and possibly banishment of the user who leaves them.

In accordance to the terms of service, comments that are libelous or defamatory are unacceptable. I hope you’ll refrain from racist, sexist or otherwise insensitive or unnecessarily needling comments, especially when it comes to our neighbors who find themselves in the paper, either by choice or not. “Outing” users by referencing what users may presume to be their real names will not be tolerated.

And I’ll ask that users stay on topic in discussions. Arguments between a few users or long missives that detract from the point waylay many discussions. If you see a comment that violates the terms of service, please flag it for removal. Together we can make LJWorld.com, KUSports.com, Lawrence.com, WellCommons and Sunflower Horizons fun places where we can learn from each other.

I think these are fair parameters, and I think the overall community appreciates having a spot to discuss the news of the day. No doubt you’ll disagree with some of my decisions down the line, but I invite you to message me through the site or email me at aparker@ljworld.com; I’m happy to explain my position and listen to yours.

I’ve enjoyed interacting with some of you so far, and look forward to getting to know this community better.

Sometimes – well, often, really – the Internet gives us a chance to chuckle at things that are serious. In the case of the Occupy Wall Street movement, where clarity about pretty much anything is lacking, one man at an Occupy Denver rally knows what he stands for.

He is a Jayhawk.

From the good folks at Deadspin we bring you the rantings of a man who is crazy. Crazy for Kansas basketball. He even nominates Bill Self for chairman of the Federal Reserve. And how many championships has Missourah won? Anyway, it's good for a chuckle.

Update: The fan is apparently the father of a Kansas University graduate, who was moving into a new home in Denver, if this blog is to be believed. The father is a banker, the family thought it would be funny to take pictures of him in the middle of the protest.

I'm very excited today to introduce you to Alex Parker, our new digital editor here at LJWorld.com.

Alex will replace Whitney Mathews, who you'll all remember left LJWorld.com and The World Company just before July 4 this year. It's taken us a little longer than we would have liked to replace Whitney, but it was important to us to have the right fit. Alex is the right fit.

Some of you may recognize Alex's names from his previous time at the World Company. He was our education reporter — coincidentally one of his clearest memories is reporting on the USD 497 decision to build new stadiums at its high schools — and then a reporter and web producer for our websites. One of the works I'll most remember from his time here was the multimedia story he did on a Fort Riley unit's preparation to deploy to Iraq.

Alex left us in 2009 and has worked for the Chi-Town-Daily News and the Chicago Reader before returning to Lawrence just this week. I'm really excited to be putting the LJWorld.com community in his hands.

With LJWorld.com in good hands, I feel like it's an appropriate time to announce news of my own. A few weeks ago, I let The World Company know I'd be leaving to take a new role at Public Radio International in Minneapolis, Minn. My last day is next Tuesday.

I've spent the past five years working here — and I've lived here for more than eight — and I cannot tell you all how thankful I am for all of the support and wisdom I've gained from working with the community here — both virtually on LJWorld.com and our other websites as well as in person in Lawrence. Leaving will be bittersweet for me; I'm sad to leave my friends and colleagues in Lawrence, as well as the community we have here, but I'm excited for the new opportunity.

So, thanks again, for being a fantastic community. And don't be surprised if you still see me lurking in the comments occasionally. There's a great community here and I just don't want to totally get away.

--Jonathan

It's hot. There's no denying it.

In fact, according to the AP, Kansas was home to the hottest place in the country on Sunday.

No, it wasn't Lawrence.

But we did top 100 degrees for the first time all year, and that means it's time to announce the winner of our Ron King Agency Guess the First 100-Degree Day contest.

As it turns out, according to the National Weather Service, the arbiter of all things temperature and precipitation, we officially hit 100 in Lawrence at 4:15 p.m. (We topped out at 101 at 6 p.m., they said).

So, that means it's time to announce our winner. We had hundreds and hundreds of entries and out of all of them, our winner was just 45 minutes off.

Meghan Kinley of Lawrence guessed we would hit 100 degrees at 3:30 on July 10. Well, it was 4:15, but that's close enough to win the prize.

Meghan Kinley, 100-degree contest winner by jkealing

So, congratulations Meghan! Meghan claimed a prize package that included:

• Four tickets to a T-Bones game • Over-the-shoulder bag cooler • Giant beach towel • 16-inch flying disk toy • Toy sand shovel and molds • Neutrogena spray-on sunscreen • Roll-up picnic blanket tote • EZ-Freeze water bottles • Fruit Burst drink syrup

Special thanks to Ron King Agency for being the presenting sponsor for our contest, and also to the Kansas City T-Bones for the baseball tickets.

Also, if you'd like to get severe weather information via cell phone or email, sign up for our severe weather alerts.

An innovative partnership between The World Company and four independent, online local news providers has been awarded a grant by J-Lab at American University in Washington, D.C.

PVPost.com, EudoraReporter.com, GardnerEdge.com and KansasCityKansan.com have all agreed to participate in a cooperative with The World Company that allows each partner to use content from one another. The partners, known as the Northeast Kansas News Network, will also explore collaborative marketing, linking and will investigate whether the partnership could form the basis of a regional advertising network.

The grant, which is part of J-Lab's Networked Journalism project, provides $50,000 to be split between The World Company and the partners. That money is expected to be spent on equipment, promotion, marketing and staff time to develop the partnership and also to help improve the quality and amount of content being generated by the independent partners. Jonathan Kealing, assistant director of media strategy at The World Company, is coordinating the project.

“For us, this is a chance to help really develop the regional news ecosystem,” Kealing said. “These partners represent a wide variety of communities and all have as a goal to better inform their communities.”

Kealing said he hoped the grant and the partnerships that come out of it will enable these independent news sites to grow and thrive.

EudoraReporter.com is run by John Schulz, PVPost.com is operated by Jay Senter, KansasCityKansan.com is owned by Nick Sloan and GardnerEdge.com is run by Joel Johns. The partners are using StoryMarket, a new content syndication platform developed at The World Company, to share their content with each other, as well as to make it available to other publishers.

Other news companies that have been awarded J-Lab Networked Journalism grants include the Miami Herald, The (Portland) Oregonian and TucsonCitizen.com.