WRITER: Chad Lawhorn

'We are not doing that again'; When KU starts construction on east side of football stadium, Girod says games won't be moved

There’s a chance that when construction work on KU’s football stadium renovation concludes in August that the university will immediately start another major construction project to rebuild the east side with a hotel and other amenities. But Chancellor Douglas Girod told me recently that there is no chance that KU will again ask the football team to play another season in Kansas City or elsewhere. ...

Moran says he hopes Congress asserts its authority over the next four years; he continues to support filibuster rule

After Tuesday’s election results, all eyes are on President-elect Donald Trump, but Kansas’ senior Republican senator urged those who are nervous about the next four years to place some faith in Congress. “What I hope to see is a Congress that does its job,” U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, said in a brief interview with the Journal-World on Thursday. Moran said Congress has been too lax in the past ...

From Microsoft to Walmart, new KU research center on refrigerants is attracting strong interest from businesses

If you could have just one statistic to understand how good it is to be in the air-conditioning industry, it might be this one: About 3 billion people live in the hottest regions of the world, but currently only about 8% of them have air conditioning. As new middle-class economies emerge in places like China, India, Africa and elsewhere, the industry estimates it will need to produce the equivalent of five air ...

Trump wins his largest share of the vote ever in Douglas County; local voter turnout takes a big drop

Story updated at 9:10 a.m. Nov. 6: Since it seems no one is claiming that this election was stolen — perhaps an overlooked election victory from Tuesday — it seems accurate to say that America has moved towards Donald Trump. So too for Lawrence and Douglas County. Douglas County continues to be one of the strongest bulwarks against Trump in America — but its wall isn’t as thick as it used to be. ...

Solar farm developers unveil stormwater plan for Kansas Sky Energy Center project, but some key details weren't provided

Two large detention basins and acres of native grass are designed to be the main defenses against flooding that could be caused by a controversial solar farm development proposed for northern Douglas County, neighbors were told Wednesday. The developers of the proposed Kansas Sky Energy Center hosted an open house Wednesday evening at the Union Pacific Depot to publicly unveil the proposed stormwater plan for ...

More than 200 people per month using local Treatment & Recovery Center for mental health crisis, according to latest statistics

More than 200 people per month are coming into Douglas County’s Treatment & Recovery Center for mental health crisis, and most are voluntarily seeking treatment or arriving with a friend or family member, city commissioners were told Tuesday. Just a handful of patients per week are being brought in by local law enforcement agencies, but the impact the center has on the work of police officers goes far ...