WRITER: Chad Lawhorn

KU wants to convert part of Robinson Center to home for ROTC programs; Regents to consider $15M project and others

The University of Kansas wants to spend $15 million to convert a portion of an aging gymnasium and recreation center building into a new home for the university’s ROTC programs. The Kansas Board of Regents has scheduled a special meeting for 9 a.m. Tuesday to consider approving a plan to undertake significant renovations to the Robinson Center on the KU campus. The meeting also will include approvals for ...

Regulators approve increase in Lawrence electric bills while decreasing KC bills; plan aims to compensate Evergy for winter storm costs

Lawrence customers of the electric utility Evergy will start paying more on their monthly bills to account for costs related to the 2021 arctic blast that struck the region, state regulators decided Thursday. Kansas City customers of Evergy, however, will start getting a credit on their bills, also related to the February 2021 winter storm, the Kansas Corporation Commission ordered. Evergy customers in ...

Lawrence's Veritas Christian School to move into larger space, expects enrollment to keep growing as school increases visibility

A private Lawrence school plans to get bigger and much more visible with a pending move across town. Veritas Christian School has struck a deal to move into about 30,000 square feet of space near 31st Street and Kasold Drive, leaving behind its longtime home in a more remote section of northern Lawrence. “We are kind of tucked away now and people don’t drive by and notice us,” Mike Baker, head of ...

An air race full of female pilots comes to Lawrence to crown a winner and urge others to aim high

There are a multitude of reasons that more than 100 women planned to land their aircraft at Lawrence Regional Airport on Wednesday and Thursday. There is the sightseeing that goes with traveling to a new part of the country. There’s the skill-building that goes with flying an aircraft through the wind and the clouds. There’s the stereotype-busting that goes with pretty much being a female pilot at all ...

Thanks to rising home values, Douglas County, area cities set to collect $14M in additional property taxes if tax rates aren't cut

It is no secret that home values are soaring in Douglas County. What may be less understood is how property taxes across the county may rise as a result of those higher home values. Well, we now have an estimate we can share. If Douglas County and the four cities in the county simply leave their tax rates unchanged from a year ago, those governments will collect more than $14 million in new property taxes this ...

Number of homes sold in Lawrence starts to decline as interest rates rise, but selling prices are still going up

Rising mortgage interest rates may be cooling off half of Lawrence’s housing market, but it probably isn’t the half many people would prefer. The number of homes sold in Lawrence declined significantly in May, but the selling prices of those homes continued to increase. Lawrence homes sales in May fell by 11% compared to May 2021, according to the latest report from the Lawrence Board of Realtors. For the ...