WRITER: Chad Lawhorn

KU GATEWAY: For Girod, Gateway project started with a question: How can we use the stadium more?

There has long been a multimillion-dollar chicken or the egg question at the University of Kansas and its football program. KU Chancellor Douglas Girod got immersed in it even before his first day on the job. A couple of weeks before Girod’s July 2017 start date, the athletic director at the time announced that plans for a $300 million football stadium renovation would soon be released. A $50 million gift ...

Full-fledged Casey's slated for east side of Lawrence; new housing coming along O'Connell Road; Boulevard Brewing to host KU tailgate parties

News and notes from around town: — The day is likely coming that you could travel from the east side of town to the west side of town and have a piece of Casey’s pizza the whole way. And, of course, this in no way involves eating more slowly. Rather, there are signs that a full-fledged Casey’s is coming to the eastern side of Lawrence, one of the few locations in town that doesn’t yet have the ...

A barn-themed bathroom in a Lawrence shoe store is a finalist for 'America's Best Restroom'

If pigs could fly ... they still might not be as indispensable as the one inside the bathroom of Footprints, the longtime Lawrence shoe store on south Massachusetts Street. That pig — a tile version on the bathroom wall — has a toilet paper dispenser hanging out of its rear end. Soon, it may have an award hanging around too. The bathroom at Footprints, 1339 Massachusetts St., is one of nine finalists ...

From a cap on music concerts to a new transit service to downtown, a look at what's in proposed KU Gateway agreement

UPDATED 9:25 P.M. AUG. 11 They say football is a game of inches. So too, is an approximately $750 million redevelopment of KU’s football stadium, as evidenced by the thickness of the legal documents governing the project. There’s a big — 262 pages — and important document up for approval Tuesday night. It is the development agreement between the University of Kansas and the City of Lawrence. As we ...

Here come the students: Thousands to move into KU dorms this week, creating prospect of traffic delays

UPDATED 1:45 P.M. AUG. 11 It is a big week for dorms — and perhaps, delays. The University of Kansas has three days of dormitory move-ins scheduled for this week, which means thousands of students, family members or others who got suckered in to hauling furniture will be in Lawrence. Not only will additional motorists be in Lawrence, they’ll be driving on a city street system that already has some of ...

After months of being stagnant, Lawrence retail sales soar, according to latest report

I have never gotten excited about the phrase “Christmas in July” because it usually has ended with a touch of heat stroke after cutting down a pine tree in the Kansas heat. But City Hall officials may be appreciative of the phrase about now. The state’s July sales tax report showed a large uptick in economic activity in Lawrence. Taxable sales for the month were up 13.7% from the same month a year ago. ...