WRITER: Chad Lawhorn

LMH on pace to post loss of more than $10M for 2019, but is budgeting for small profit in 2020

As the year draws to a close, leaders at Lawrence Memorial Hospital are getting their arms around a $20 million surprise. The hospital at the beginning of the year had budgeted to collect about $11 million in profits from the hospital’s basic businesses. Instead, LMH is on pace to post about a $10 million operating loss. Add those together, and that is a more than $20 million of unexpected bad news. ...

Lawrence City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St., is pictured Thursday, July 7, 2016.

City made $17 million misstatement in utility fund; planned water rate increases still moving forward

A $17 million mystery has been solved in the City of Lawrence’s utility department, but, no, the answer isn’t going to lead to any breaks on your rising water bill. City Hall officials have acknowledged that they made a bookkeeping error of about $17 million that artificially inflated — for at least two budget years — the amount of money that showed up in the city’s water and sewer utility fund. ...

Local craft beer scene grows as eastside brewery expands to west Lawrence

I’ve found that a few beers around a roaring fireplace can be good entertainment — especially if everyone remembers the key phrase “stop, drop and roll.” West Lawrence residents may get to check out some of that fun, as an East Lawrence brewery has opened a westside location. We reported in March that Lawrence Beer Company filed plans to open a location near the shopping center at Bob Billings Parkway ...

Lawrence's marijuana experiment and the questions it creates

Plain and simple, the mayor of Lawrence wants marijuana to be legal. In March, Lawrence city commissioners went about as far as they could go on that front. They lowered the fine for possessing 32 grams or less of marijuana to just $1 — not only for your first offense but also your second. The penalty for marijuana possession was lowered after a lot of discussion about how justice wasn’t being equally ...

The Granada owner buys The Bottleneck, also takes ownership stake in longtime neighborhood pub

The Bottleneck — the gritty downtown Lawrence music venue that has hosted everyone from Radiohead to Jewel — has a new owner. Mike Logan, who already owns one of the largest downtown music venues in The Granada, has purchased The Bottleneck with a group of investors. “For me, it is Lawrence against the world when we are trying to convince bands to come here,” said Logan, who also operates Abe & ...

Douglas County aviation firm buys Wisconsin company, moving operations to Vinland

When I’m on a flight, I don’t spend any time thinking about where the parts of the airplane came from. (I keep my focus on obtaining free pretzels, which after the fifth serving pretty much takes a full-time effort.) But the next time I’m on a plane, I probably will wonder whether the propeller came from little old Vinland, Kan. McFarlane Aviation Products — based in Vinland, which is an unincorporated ...