WRITER: Chad Lawhorn

Leaders warn LMH may not be part of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas network in 2022; two companies in tough negotiations

Story updated at 5:49 p.m. Wednesday: The state’s largest health insurance company and Lawrence’s only hospital are in contentious contract negotiations that may result in LMH Health no longer accepting Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas as a preferred provider. Leaders of LMH Health on Wednesday warned area residents that there is a real possibility in 2022 that the hospital and its doctor's offices ...

Some Douglas County voters have mistakenly received 2 ballots for upcoming elections

Douglas County’s top election official has begun notifying about 1,200 county voters that they may have incorrectly received an extra ballot in the mail for the upcoming city and school board elections. But Douglas County Clerk Jamie Shew said Wednesday that he’s confident the ballot mistake — caused by a third-party printing and mailing company — would not affect the operation of November’s local ...

KU to host public tour, hike at Baldwin Woods Forest Preserve

Members of the public will have a chance later this month to tour one of Douglas County’s most pristine woodland areas as part of a University of Kansas open house. The Kansas Biological Survey & Center for Ecological Research at KU will host a public tour of the Baldwin Woods Forest Preserve from 10 a.m. to noon on Oct. 30. The Baldwin Woods Forest Preserve, which is between Baldwin City and Lawrence ...

Dance studio opens along 23rd Street; Lawrence's middling ranking in small cities report; art gallery reopens downtown

Some news and notes from around town: — I’ve had many dancing partners who I am sure would have enthusiastically endorsed the idea of a “virtual dance.” While their feet may love the idea, it is not an ideal arrangement for a dance studio, yet many studios found themselves in such a situation during the height of the pandemic. “It was very rough,” Rachel Weitekamp, owner and director of Sunflower ...

In addition to its large solar project, NextEra is considering a wind farm for southwest Douglas County, parts of Franklin County

The same energy firm proposing to build a 3,000-acre solar farm in southeast Douglas County also is exploring the feasibility of building a large wind turbine farm in southwest Douglas County, I’ve confirmed. Florida-based NextEra Energy has begun reaching out to large landowners in southwest Douglas County and northwest Franklin County about a project dubbed the Larksong Wind Energy Center. “We are just ...

After 50 years, KU homecoming and Alumni Band a real family affair for Bob Foster

Thanks to COVID, it had been nearly two years since former director of bands Bob Foster had climbed that ladder with baton in hand to conduct the KU Alumni Band on the football field. Not that Foster was particularly worried about the layoff. The organizers, after all, had given him the song to conduct in advance — and he had heard of it. Maybe you have too: “I’m a Jayhawk.” While members of the ...