WRITER: Chad Lawhorn

Chancellor's office still mum on budget cuts that Girod says he's made

More than 24 hours after Chancellor Douglas Girod told a University of Kansas crowd he already had made significant budget cuts to his department, his office still was not releasing details about the cuts. At a Monday town hall meeting to discuss a proposal to cut approximately $20 million from the budget of KU’s Lawrence campus, Girod said he already had made a cut in excess of 10 percent to his office’s ...

Downtown retailer of nearly 4 decades set to close by year's end

Sometimes it is not a slowdown in sales that causes a business to close. Sometimes it's just that there's no one left to run it. That's the case with a 37-year retailer in downtown Lawrence that will close its doors later this year. Saffees, the women’s clothing boutique at 911 Massachusetts St., will close near the end of the year, co-owner Steve Mercurio recently confirmed to me. Its sister store next ...

New shop brings Munchers cinnamon rolls, plus homemade sweets and cocktails, to downtown

There are sweets of all types at Crystal’s Spot. You can have one of Lawrence’s most famous cinnamon rolls with a side of bourbon. Or you can have a serving of Andre Agassi stories, I’m sure with a side of dreamy. You probably could even negotiate a deal for a new house there. The new eatery above Rudy’s Pizzeria has several twists to it. Lawrence real estate agent Crystal Swearingen is a co-owner of ...

Paul Bunyan, look out: Ax-throwing business to open in downtown Lawrence

I know when I bowl, I’m sometimes required to yell “Fore!” I’m not quite sure what happens when I step up to an ax-throwing lane. We’ll soon find out because a new ax-throwing business is set to open in downtown Lawrence. Matt Baysinger — the Lawrence resident behind the ideas of the Breakout Lawrence escape room and Mass Street Soda Shop — is opening Blade & Timber at 809 Massachusetts St., ...

Plans filed for local butcher shop near Ninth and Iowa streets

If you want handcrafted sausages for your cookout, you could sure try to make them. (I hear it is a great way to avoid handshakes for at least a month.) Or, you could find a butcher shop in the sausage business. It looks like Lawrence is going to get the latter. Plans have been filed for Leeway Franks — the small restaurant that serves up what it calls handcrafted frankfurters, bratwursts and other such ...

A look at the large hotel going next to Rock Chalk Park and the restaurant that will come with it

Hordes of active teenagers next to restaurants is a good money-making strategy. That’s why there was a broad assumption when Sports Pavilion Lawrence opened at Rock Chalk Park in 2014 that restaurants soon would locate near it. Now, nearly four years later, the first restaurant is set to go in next to Rock Chalk Park, but it probably isn’t what you think. A leader with the new Best Western Plus hotel told ...