WRITER: Chad Lawhorn

In Ames, local leaders learn Iowa State University makes de facto property tax payments to help city provide some services

Ames, Iowa — Leaders with the City of Ames and with Iowa State University told a Lawrence delegation Tuesday evening that their community has a town/gown relationship unlike many others in the country. Then, city officials proved it by telling the crowd what they get in the mail from the university — a check. Actually, they get multiple checks. First, there is the one the university sends to compensate ...

From cornfields to corporations, Lawrence leaders hear how Iowa State has built a $100M university business park

Ames, Iowa — Iowa cornfields already have a reputation for building it and they will come. Lawrence and Douglas County leaders in Iowa for a chamber of commerce intercity visit on Tuesday weren’t interested in the baseball — "Field of Dreams" — version of that story. Instead, they were more interested in learning what happened when an Iowa cornfield got torn up and reimagined as a business park. In ...

With three-quarters of the year in the books, Lawrence is on pace to set another record low for single-family home construction

If your hobby is hanging out at Lawrence City Commission candidate forums, you have likely noticed that affordable housing has arguably emerged as the top issue in this campaign. You’ve also likely heard all four candidates — to varying degrees — say that the first step to tackling the affordable housing issue is to simply build more houses. If for some reason hanging out at candidate forums isn’t ...

After big success with one startup venture, Lawrence entrepreneur betting on a breakthrough in youth sports

Lawrence entrepreneur Zarif Haque already has figured out how to navigate the notoriously difficult world of technology startups. His Draiver app — it provides a more efficient delivery system of used cars to dealerships — is now part of one of Mexico’s most rapidly growing companies, Kavak. The app that Haque created as a startup in Lawrence has been a success on almost every level, resulting in a ...

New $30M Dillons grocery store to open along Iowa Street on Oct. 17; grocer biggest tenant yet for KU's West Campus project

A $30 million Dillons grocery store that is 30,000 square feet larger than its predecessor now has an official opening date: Friday, Oct. 17. The new store at 2205 Iowa St. is set to open at 7 a.m. on Oct. 17. The store — which is just north and west of the Clinton Parkway and Iowa Street intersection — is replacing Dillons’ longtime store at 1015 W. 23rd St. It is replacing it in a big way. The new ...

Kansas City promoter confirms he's opening The Comedy Club of Lawrence in downtown next month; says venue will attract national acts

Nationally-known comedians already make Kansas City a frequent stop on their tours. Dustin Kaufman is betting that he soon can get many of those comedians to make the short trip to downtown Lawrence, too. I reported last week there were signs a comedy club was set to open in a former restaurant space along New Hampshire Street. Now we know that is indeed the case, and that a top Kansas City comedy promoter is ...