WRITER: Chad Lawhorn

KU opens multimillion dollar expansion of Kansas Geological Survey; new space to help with critical minerals, water

States like Colorado, Wyoming and Utah may have mountains and canyons that beautifully fill picture windows, but Kansas has one type of window that makes geologists in those state’s envious. A window to the world beneath our feet. The Lawrence-based Kansas Geological Survey has one of the country’s largest collections of core drilling samples, which are cylinders of rock and soil that show the layers and ...

Courtney, Polian won in every corner of Lawrence; other news and notes from Tuesday's elections

Some news and notes from Tuesday’s local elections in Lawrence and Douglas County: ••• A big takeaway in the Lawrence City Commission race is that voters were of one mind about two people. You used to hear of how Lawrence had an east-west divide on local, political matters. There were no signs of that this year. Newcomer candidates Mike Courtney and Kristine Polian were the big winners, finishing ...

Plans filed for new, small event space downtown, with apartments above; East Lawrence commercial site may turn residential

News and notes from around town: ••• If you really like bars, there’s a pending downtown development that may make your head spin (or pound): Two new apartments in between the very active downtown bars The Bottleneck and Leroy’s. However, there is a catch. The two apartments will be on the second floor of an existing building, which means stairs. (It has been my experience that really liking bars ...

Costco files plans to build store in northwest Lawrence; giant wholesale retailer would be next to Rock Chalk Park

After more than a decade of rumors, they are finally true: Costco has plans to come to Lawrence. The membership-only discount retailer that is famous for everything from mega-sized household goods to low-priced food court lunches has filed plans at City Hall to build a 166,000-square-foot store in the commercial area next to Rock Chalk Park in northwest Lawrence. In addition to the store itself, the ...

A look at campaign finance totals for City Commission candidates ahead of Tuesday's election

Tuesday is when we will really find out if anything has changed since the Lawrence City Commission primary election held in August. But, it is fair to say there has been a change in the category of who is leading in the area of campaign contributions. First-time candidate Kristine Polian is now the leader in campaign donations received in this City Commission election. Polian, the former chief financial ...

KU launches program to encourage longtime, tenured faculty members to retire early

As part of a budget-balancing measure, the University of Kansas has launched a program to encourage certain, longtime, tenured faculty members to retire early. University employees on Friday received a notice announcing a “voluntary separation incentive program,” that is targeted toward tenured faculty members. Under the program, faculty members who have attained tenure status, are at least 62 years old ...