WRITER: Chad Lawhorn

Opinion: Environmentally-conscious Lawrence is not focused on the biggest problem with electric vehicles

Happy National Drive Electric Week. I’ve been seeing the signs all over town touting the week. They keep producing the same question for me: Is it odd that this environmentally-conscious city seemingly has more electric vehicle signs than electric vehicle charging stations? In fairness, the premise of that question is only half true. More specifically it is about 57% true in Lawrence. In Lawrence, the ...

Opinion: The three projects everyone rooting for Jayhawk success should be watching

The migratory pattern of the Jayhawk has officially broadened. After last week’s sighting in London, I believe the species notes in a birdwatching field guide may read like this: Brilliant plumage, pronounced beak, tepid offense, special teams inconsistently special. Yes, the actual football game in Wembley Stadium left something to be desired for KU fans. I’ll still argue that it was a good sight ...

Opinion: Republicans and Democrats should come together to make voting as easy as buying a gun

Have you heard about the federal government’s plan to begin denying large batches of background checks for firearms purchases if any one such background check came back inaccurate? The system would work this way: People who purchase a gun from a federally-licensed dealer already are required to submit to a background check. Such checks happen every week by the hundreds of thousands. Going forward, if one of ...

Opinion: Lawrence's data center moratorium is wrong in one way, but right in the most important

It seems imprudent for Lawrence to impose a two-year moratorium on data center development. It seems prudent that every city in America impose a two- year moratorium on data center development. I’m beginning to think my intelligence is artificial because I’m tending to believe both statements to be true. Let me try to explain. Let’s start in Lawrence. It is not clear that a data center development that ...

Opinion: Is it a good idea to continue to have a KU-Mizzou rivalry rooted in the Civil War?

The pragmatic thing to do would be to scrap this KU-Mizzou rivalry. However, pragmatism doesn’t show up often on the game plan of college athletics. For instance, the universities of Kansas and Missouri in fiscal year ‘24-’25 spent a combined $339 million to provide the educational opportunity of athletic competition to 1,086 students. You have to contort mightily to fit that into the definition of ...

PHOTOS: First responders, ROTC rise, shine and remember with early-morning 9/11 memorial event

More than 100 members of the University of Kansas ROTC program and area first responders from fire and police departments broke a sweat early Friday morning as part of an event to remember the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The KU ROTC 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb was done in remembrance of the victims of the attacks that occurred 25 years ago, and also recognized all who responded to the attacks in New York, ...