WRITER: Chad Lawhorn

Tamales of all types to be focus of new restaurant slated for Ninth Street

You probably have heard of breakfast burritos. But a breakfast tamale? (Caution: Getting the Froot Loops and the milk into the corn husk can be messy.) Actually, look for a new shop that will serve a better version than that. A local restaurant owner has signed a deal to open Mama’s Tamale Shop just outside of the downtown area. Angelina Cruz — along with her husband, Maximo — have reached a deal to open ...

Auto dealer to build new showroom on 23rd Street; ice cream shop on the move and other news and notes

Look for yet another new development in the Lawrence auto industry. Laird Noller Automotive has filed plans to build an additional used car showroom on 23rd Street. The longtime Lawrence dealership has filed plans to build an approximately 3,000 square-foot used car showroom on a largely empty lot across the street from its Ford, Lincoln and Mazda dealerships near 23rd and Alabama streets. “We just need ...

Latest sales tax numbers indicate online shopping still soaring in Lawrence

I have heard that people sometimes have one identity in the real world and another online. Maybe that is happening in Lawrence. In the real world, we’ve been a bunch of spendthrifts thus far in 2019. But online, our purchases are melting credit cards across the city. The city recently received its sixth of 12 monthly sales tax checks from the state, with this one largely capturing sales that were made in ...

An exit interview with departing City Manager Tom Markus

We are really nice but not that rich. That is one takeaway I had from my final interview with Lawrence City Manager Tom Markus as he ended his tenure at City Hall last week. Markus noticed the Lawrence friendliness in the grocery store and other places where he was out and about around the community. Markus, who has been in public administration since 1973 and most recently came to Lawrence after serving in ...

New Census numbers show county's older population growing, while younger population begins to shrink; county becoming more racially diverse

Douglas County residents, if your cabinets have a growing amount of Metamucil in them, don’t feel bad. New government statistics show the county is becoming a much older place. But the younger folks must not like our pockets full of Werther’s candy because the same statistics show the county is in the beginning stages of losing its important 18- to 24-year-old population. The Census Bureau recently ...

Bioscience company files plans to expand its North Lawrence headquarters

A Lawrence company that focuses on making particles smaller needs its space to get bigger to keep up with its quest to help deliver cancer-fighting drugs to the pharmaceutical market. CritiTech — a biotech firm that Lawrence leaders long have circled as a company that could grow into a local high-tech success story — has filed plans with the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Office to expand its North ...