WRITER: Chad Lawhorn

A conversation with Mayor Lisa Larsen on city-county cooperation, a new fire chief, downtown growth

One of the things I hope to do more of over the next year or so is have face-to-face conversations with more community leaders. While sitting across from my face is a lot to ask of someone, I’m hopeful to do such interviews with community leaders on a semi-regular basis. I’ll call it a "Conversation With ..." and it will become a new addition to the Town Talk lineup. So, first up, a Conversation With ...

New North Lawrence skateboard shop plans to ride growing popularity of sport

Maybe I'll do a melon-grab when I'm on the half-pipe. All right, I confess, I don't know what any of that means — and probably shouldn't guess — because I can't speak skater lingo. Whenever I get on a skateboard it's not words, but numbers — like the type on my insurance card — that take precedence. But there are plenty who do speak the language, and they once again have their own store in ...

Associated Press Executive Editor touts value of 'good old-fashioned facts' at KU awards ceremony

Associated Press Executive Editor Sally Buzbee remembers how her fellow journalists at the AP were being labeled as unpatriotic in the mid-2000s when they reported the war in Iraq was going poorly for the U.S. “I thought the U.S. was over that sort of thing,” said Buzbee, who was the AP’s Middle East regional editor at the time. “Hadn’t Vietnam taught us to listen to those on the ground?” Buzbee ...

New pub featuring 1,000 board games, plus mead, plans to open in downtown Lawrence

I no longer drink beer when I play Monopoly. I’ve hurt myself too many times falling off the Boardwalk. But booze and board games, plus some food, is precisely the type of activity that will be encouraged at a restaurant and pub in the works for downtown Lawrence. A Lawrence duo has reached a deal to open Trader’s Cache at 724 Massachusetts St., in the spot that used to house the Latin American restaurant ...

Lawrence's Old-Fashioned Christmas Parade in jeopardy of shutting down after this year; organizers say they are stepping down

One of Lawrence’s most beloved holiday traditions may be ending. Organizers of Lawrence’s Old-Fashioned Christmas Parade — the horse-drawn spectacle in downtown — say they plan on quitting after this year’s event. That means someone else will have to take the reins, or else this year’s event — slated for the first Saturday in December — will be the last. If so, it would mark the end of a ...

Questions about missing money and documents at Clinton State Park have state ready to investigate

After being presented with evidence of accounting irregularities, leaders with the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism have said they’re launching an investigation into cash-handling practices at the state park near Lawrence. But already the effort is facing a roadblock: The public documents that could prove the case have mysteriously turned up missing. “They were stolen by someone for some ...