WRITER: Chad Lawhorn

Budweiser Clydesdales coming to Lawrence to honor pandemic volunteers, first-responders; local Bud distributor ranked tops in the country

Some of the hundreds of volunteers who staffed the COVID-19 vaccination clinics at the Douglas County fairgrounds will be back there next week, but this time they won’t have to deliver any shots. Good thing, too, because the line of visitors that will be at the fairgrounds this time would require a pretty big needle. Lawrence’s Anheuser-Busch distributor is bringing the famed Budweiser Clydesdales to the ...

KU again seeking director for Dole Institute; previous hire pursuing other opportunities

The University of Kansas is once again looking for a director for the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics after plans to hire a longtime administrator and fundraiser have fallen through. Donors and other stakeholders of the institute on KU’s West Campus were recently informed that Erica Terry, who was announced in late August as the incoming director, has decided not to take the position. “Today, I’m ...

KU had fewer students living on campus in 2020, but on-campus rape numbers still increased

The amount of time students lived on the University of Kansas campus in 2020 was greatly reduced by the pandemic, but that fact did nothing to reduce the number of sexual assault cases on campus, new numbers show. Both the number of reported rapes and reported fondling cases on campus grew in 2020, according to a federally mandated public safety report that universities across the country were required to have ...

Cookie shop becomes first tenant for 23rd Street development; plus, a new Mexican restaurant downtown

I’ve long felt a case could be made that cookies should come first. (That’s why I admire the makers of Cookie Crisp cereal. They flat out recommend eating a bowl of cookies to start your morning.) I don’t know that a bowl of cookies is involved, but I do have news of a cookie first. A cookie store will become the first commercial tenant of a mixed use apartment/retail complex on 23rd Street. Insomnia ...

At forum in Lawrence, U.S. Sen. Marshall expresses some support for vaccine mandates in general — but not for COVID-19

U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall in Lawrence on Saturday expressed some support for vaccine mandates in general — but not for COVID-19. Marshall, R-Kansas, has emerged as one of the leading voices against President Joe Biden’s pending vaccine mandate for workers at companies with 100 or more employees. On Saturday, Marshall faced a sometimes cheering, sometimes jeering crowd as part of a public forum at Rock Chalk ...

Construction firm specializing in federal projects moves headquarters to Lawrence; firm gives $15,000 to Haskell Foundation

About a decade ago, a single word dramatically changed the life of Jackie Foley, CEO of FireLake Construction, which recently moved its corporate headquarters to Lawrence. The word: Vestibule. Foley had recently quit her 20-year career as a bank executive to join her brother Bill Slavin in a new construction business he had started after an Air Force career. The game plan was for the company to focus on ...