WRITER: Chad Lawhorn

Lawrence and Topeka leaders plan joint trip to northwest Arkansas to study economic development, community building

It is not often that a sentence begins with the phrase “if Lawrence and Topeka would have fallen in love with each other 50 years ago.” But, indeed, that’s the picture Matt Pivarnik, chief executive of the economic development organization Topeka Partnership, was asking members of a Lawrence and Topeka crowd to envision on Thursday. If that love affair had materialized, he said, he believed the two ...

Lawrence is the student debt capital of Kansas and ranks high nationally too

I was not a geography major in college, but I did understand it well enough to know that KU’s decision to start its graduation ceremony at the top of a hill was an advantage to me: If I ran down it, I might beat the administrators who realized they had made a mistake. These days, I worry what I would be trying to outrun is student debt. College was far less expensive during my college times, and student debt ...

Big new bar opens in downtown with kitchen on the way and plans to have rooftop seating

Sports are big business in Lawrence. College partying is even bigger. A new downtown Lawrence bar and restaurant plans to get in on both industries, and soon may have at least three floors of space — including a rooftop seating area — to do it from. Logie’s on Mass has opened at 728 Massachusetts St. in the building that used to house the Tonic nightclub, which primarily was known as a college bar. ...

Haskell president removed from office following investigation and concerns about free speech at university

Updated at 4 p.m. Friday The president of Haskell Indian Nations University has been removed from office following an internal investigation and criticism that he was stifling free speech rights of students and faculty. Brandon Yellowbird-Stevens, president of the Haskell National Board of Regents, confirmed the removal of President Ronald Graham. Haskell’s student newspaper, The Indian Leader, also ...

New apartment project slated for Ninth Street near KU; former auto dealership to become home for Hertz car rental

UPDATED: 2:45 p.m. May 6, 2021 If a film were made about my days living in a college apartment, it would have been a horror flick. A completely innocent protagonist (me, of course) caught between two monsters — an angry pile of dirty dishes in half the rooms and a stinking pile of laundry in the other half. (Remember, I’m innocent, though.) I don’t know that any films are going to be made, but plans have ...

Plans filed to turn 1950s-era industrial building in East Lawrence into restaurant, large outdoor dining, recreation area

The old East Lawrence industrial building along Eighth Street near the railroad tracks frequently leaves me feeling hungry. After all, it generally is shaped like a hot dog. (I could never work at the Pentagon because my pizza bills would be too expensive.) Now, it looks like dining at that site might be a possibility. Plans have been filed at Lawrence City Hall to rezone the old Quonset Hut-like building at ...