WRITER: Chad Lawhorn

LMH leaders say rumors of 'wholesale layoffs' are untrue, but financial losses continue; eastern Lawrence clinic to open

Amid continuing financial losses, leaders of LMH Health are now combating — and denying — rumors that the nonprofit hospital will turn to large-scale layoffs to improve the business’s bottom line. At a Wednesday evening meeting of the hospital’s board of trustees, board member Bob Moody said he had become aware that some hospital staff members were under the impression that “wholesale layoffs” ...

Lawrence home sales soar, but so do home prices, as Fed cuts interest rates, latest report shows

This seems backward to me, but August was both the time for back to school and back to looking for a new house. That’s odd because I’ve found that when my kids go back to school, my current house becomes much more livable. Regardless, Lawrence home sales soared in August. Home sales through much of 2019 have been stagnant or declining in Lawrence. But in August, they were robust. Real estate agents sold ...

KC auto dealer officially takes over at 2 south Iowa dealerships; as grocery market changes, Walmart gets more aggressive in delivery business

A few news and notes from around town: • I don’t know if you ever wonder what causes a Kansas City company to decide to expand into Lawrence, but I do occasionally. Most of the time, the answer is college kids. But every once in awhile, it is Goldilocks. At least that is what I’ve found as it relates to some of the big changes happening in the local auto market. The change is now official at one of ...

Company seeking tax break likely to produce jobs near $70K; questions emerge why commissioners got information that public didn't

The Journal-World has learned a company seeking tax breaks and free land to locate in a Lawrence industrial park will provide jobs near $70,000 a year at its high-skilled manufacturing plant. While that news is likely to be cheered by community members seeking better-paying jobs, the information also is creating questions about whether the city’s program to provide tax breaks and other incentives to ...

Auto repair shop moves near Warehouse Arts District; a reason for people to hope Old Navy will return to Lawrence

An auto repair shop in an arts district makes a lot of sense. Anytime I’ve created art, critics have said they would love to drive a truck through it. A longtime Lawrence auto shop indeed has made a move off of 23rd Street and now finds itself down the street from art and other such culture. Slimmer's Automotive Services opened at Ninth and Delaware earlier this month. The shop may not technically be in the ...

Hy-Vee closing Sixth Street grocery store in November

Updated at 11:50 a.m. Thursday Slow sales along a stretch of road crowded with grocery stores has Hy-Vee closing its store near Sixth Street and Monterey Way in west Lawrence later this year. The grocery store chain will close its store at 4000 W. Sixth St. at 10 p.m. on Nov. 3, though the convenience store that sits next to the fuel pumps at the location will remain open, the company said in a news ...

From nuts and bolts to shoes and shirts, sporting apparel store opens in old downtown hardware spot

The walls at the old Ernst & Son Hardware store in downtown Lawrence were a lot like the Loch Ness monster: rumored to exist but rarely seen. Past customers of the mom-and-pop hardware store know what I mean. The old store was so packed with nuts, bolts, tools, wagon wheel parts — really, he had some — that you could see everything but the walls that were holding the roof up on the place. But now the ...

A look at how gasoline prices are changing as new competition comes to Lawrence; not all parts of town are benefiting

Big swings just aren’t for the playground anymore in Lawrence. You’ll also find them as you drive around town looking for the best gasoline prices. After years of gasoline prices being pretty much the same no matter where you drove in Lawrence, there are now noticeable differences around town. The differences seem to be centered on the new Casey’s General Store at 1703 W. Sixth St. That store, which is ...

New restaurant-style food offerings coming to a Lawrence Hy-Vee as part of planned renovation

A new custom-made pizza kitchen, and perhaps a hibachi grill, are coming to Lawrence’s Hy-Vee grocery store on Clinton Parkway. The west Lawrence store is part of a group of Kansas City-area stores that will receive about $90 million worth of renovations in total. The big change for the Lawrence store will be the addition of a Mia Pizza kitchen and counter. The big idea behind the Mia Pizza concept is you ...

Kansas City company files plans to build manufacturing plant with 80 jobs in Lawrence

Story updated at 1:50 p.m. Friday A Kansas City, Mo.-based company wants to bring 80 jobs to Lawrence and build a new manufacturing plant at Lawrence VenturePark. U.S. Engineering Metalworks has filed plans with the city to build a 100,000-square-foot manufacturing facility on an approximately 25-acre site at the business park on the eastern edge of Lawrence. The company would become the first to locate a ...

Renovation planned for large downtown Lawrence building; signs of a deal for vacant Buckle space

Uber may come in handy today when you don’t want to carry a pocket of quarters and mess with parking meters in downtown. But years ago, an Ober’s was the handiest of places, especially if you had a fancy turkey pull on your calendar. Before you think I’ve had one too many pulls of something, let me explain why I’m bringing up the name of a long lost Lawrence business. A large Massachusetts Street ...

Sales tax numbers have bounced back in Lawrence, but statewide they've taken a big downturn

Comebacks really are possible, which is why I refuse to throw away three-quarters of the clothes in my closet. First, the KU football team pulls off one on Saturday, and now it looks like local businesses are experiencing a bit of a bounce back too. After being down for much of 2019, local sales tax collections are making a comeback in the second half of the year. The City of Lawrence recently received from ...

New west Lawrence business betting that need for body scans will grow

We are becoming a world of scans. We scan everything from our shopper cards to get a discount to our fingerprints to get into our smartphones. But lots of people are betting that the real scanning revolution will be in health care. Think of the day when we scan our whole body to get advanced warning of cancer or other ailments. A new Lawrence business has opened that aims to tap into that future demand, while ...

Developers say they're still working to build a major shopping center south of the SLT

The idea of a big shopping center at the Iowa Street and South Lawrence Trafficway interchange isn’t dead after all. If you remember, we reported last month that there was speculation the out-of-state development group that has proposed the shopping center at the southeast corner of the intersection had given up on the idea. That speculation was fueled by the fact the developers unexpectedly dismissed a ...

A look at what people get paid across the state; Lawrence teachers may be the biggest losers in wage race

We should all have Kansas City envy. The state has released its annual report on wages across Kansas, and the numbers are a good reminder that pretty much all of us make less than what we would if were working in the much larger Kansas City economy. But some of us should be more green with envy than others. By the look of the numbers, Lawrence-area schoolteachers could be a good stand-in for Kermit the Frog ...

A do-it-yourself boutique to bring 'intense crafting' to west Lawrence

I’ve been told it is a faux pas to have a power tool inside a retail establishment. (Evidently it is “coercion” to ask for a half-off deal while holding a running chainsaw, lawyer-types say.) Regardless, a soon-to-open west Lawrence craft store will be putting power tools in the hands of customers in an effort to create a unique do-it-yourself center. AR Workshop is scheduled to open Sept. 6 in the ...

Latest renovations complete at McDonald's, but one more planned; grocer to launch new Lawrence service

I am a ball of sunshine every morning, but I know of people who speak only in the language best described as daybreak grunt. It can create quite an ordeal at the McDonald’s counter if the poor soul taking the order doesn’t know that mggmffn, MGGMFFN! means my beloved would like a McMuffin, ASAP. I can now report changes at a pair of local McDonald's restaurants have helped alleviate that situation. As we ...

FBI conducts investigation on KU's campus, research facility in west Lawrence

Updated story - Aug. 21 — KU researcher indicted for fraud for failing to disclose conflict with Chinese university Story updated at 5:46 p.m. Tuesday The Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted an investigation on the University of Kansas campus Tuesday and also was at the home of a KU researcher. The federal law enforcement agency was investigating at the university’s Life Sciences Research ...

Remembering when property tax rates actually fell in Douglas County; local leaders may want to study that period now

In my personal life, I spend a lot of time doing cost analysis. For the record, I have found a double cheeseburger always pays for itself. (It is double the meat and cheese, people.) But local governments currently are dealing with an even meatier question: Does growth pay for itself? No, it doesn’t sound nearly as fun as finding the answer to the cheeseburger question. But if you care about how much houses ...