WRITER: Chad Lawhorn

As city posts lackluster growth of families, a downtown business that serves children is set to close

The days around Halloween are a good reminder of why kids need a place to burn off excess energy. (Even unloading the family U-Haul of discount candy doesn’t wear them out.) Soon, area parents may have one fewer place to take their kids. The owners of Laugh Out Loud Family Zone have announced they are closing their business early next year. For nearly eight years, Laugh Out Loud has offered indoor playground ...

In this July 31, 2018 photo, shoppers walk into a Target store in Methuen, Mass. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

Local sales tax collections fall for the month; Lawrence on the edge of moving into negative territory

I certainly understand the temptation to go cheap when doing back-to-school shopping. When my son heads off to college, I’m going to make him grow his own bean-bag chair. Maybe some Lawrence shoppers got into that mode as well, as the latest sales tax report for the city showed some weakness during the important back-to-school shopping season. The city recently received its sales tax check for October, but ...

Lawrence Jimmy's Egg locations close months after opening, citing inability to overcome 'radical' claims they were tied to Kobach

One early sign of trouble for the new Jimmy’s Egg restaurants in Lawrence was when adult customers would come with crayons in hand to scrawl “(Expletive) Kobach” on the diner’s tables. But the trouble grew from there, the diner’s owner said, with some people writing the same phrase on his car and smearing excrement on its windshield and door handles. Where the trouble was going to stop was unclear to ...

A conversation with Douglas County Commissioner Michelle Derusseau, including her thoughts on community growth

My understanding of supply and demand mainly comes from simple experiments, like gathering my two kids at the dinner table and placing just one doughnut in between them. Indeed, the market is beautiful to watch. Leave it to free enterprise to figure out how to make a dining table fly across a room. Lawrence and Douglas County, though, are about to embark on a more complicated supply and demand experiment. ...

KU argues with NCAA that Adidas isn't a booster, but sends out flyer to local businesses suggesting otherwise

Whether former Adidas consultants — and now convicted felons — were boosters of KU Athletics is a big question in the NCAA’s case against the university. The NCAA argues Adidas officials were boosters, making their many contacts with KU coaches about recruits impermissible. KU leaders, though, have said they’ll forcefully argue otherwise when they present their case to the NCAA. Related story - ...

Lawrence businessman strikes deal to open one-hour eyeglass center

I love it when I have to go without my eyeglasses for a few days. I end up having the most interesting of cocktail party conversations — usually with the coat rack in the corner. Wait times for eyeglasses, though, may be going down as a Lawrence businessman has struck a deal to open a one-hour eyeglass center. Lawrence businessman Paul Benner plans to open Hour Glasses at a location along North Second Street ...