WRITER: Chad Lawhorn

LMH discusses partnerships with hospitals in Topeka, Emporia; Intrust Bank announces new Lawrence president

Whether it be neurosurgery in Topeka or knee surgery in Emporia, LMH Health doctors may soon be a bigger part of it. Lawrence neurosurgeons next month will be allowed to start doing some surgeries at Topeka’s St. Francis hospital, while a pending deal would allow doctors with LMH-owned OrthoKansas to provide services beginning in January at Emporia’s Newman Regional Health hospital. Members of the LMH ...

One year after bankruptcy, future still cloudy for local Kmart plant; other news from area chain stores

Let’s go national today with some news about chain stores that operate in Lawrence: • Sears is a lot like the 1970s-era lawnmower I have from the retailer. It leaves a pool of oil on my garage floor so large that J.R. Ewing once tried to buy the rights to it. (It is so old that it actually still gets J.R. Ewing references.) In other words, both of them are a mess but keep on running. Sears entered ...

South Mass. Street store offering coffee with a kick, plus other CBD products

I thought spiked coffee was something you kept a secret. (Umm, I don’t know why that coffee cup combusted when it got near an open flame.) But there’s a new retailer that has the offering front and center. But, no, the coffee isn’t spiked with alcohol. American Shaman has opened its second location in Lawrence with a new shop at 19th and Massachusetts streets. A major offering of the shop is coffee on ...

Construction workers lift the wall of a home under construction on Silver Rain Road in this file photo from April 2016.

Realtor group begins to worry about Lawrence's growth policies; home sales forecast to decline slightly in 2020

Don’t expect Lawrence’s real estate market to regain its bounce in 2020, a Wichita State economist told Lawrence Realtors on Thursday. A slight decline is more likely for the number of home sales next year. Stanley Longhofer, director of the WSU Center for Real Estate, is forecasting that home sales in 2020 will be down about 3.5% from this year’s totals. Longhofer is projecting 2019 will finish with ...

Old liquor store on Massachusetts Street set to become jiujitsu studio

After spending 3 1/2 years in a motor home as a “nomad jiujitsu instructor,” maybe it is not surprising that Robert Riley ended up at a Lawrence liquor store. But no, this is not one of those types of stories. Riley actually is turning the old liquor store building into a jiujitsu studio, with the help of a business partner who also has his own story of a winding journey. Riley and business partner Charlie ...

Mexican restaurant Tortas Jalisco reopens; plans also filed for a laundromat and a pawn shop

A longtime Mexican restaurant is back from a nine-month break, and it has reopened in a spot that may remind you of its beginnings. Tortas Jalisco has opened in the back room of Empire Bar & Billiards near Ninth and Iowa streets. Being in a pool hall is a new experience for Tortas, but operating a restaurant in a small space isn’t. If you remember, Tortas Jalisco got its start in the corner of a gas ...