City leaders will soon discuss some new ideas for sidewalk repair, including the creation of a sidewalk insurance program and a potential city takeover of maintenance responsibilities. The Lawrence City Commission requested to reconsider the city’s sidewalk maintenance program earlier this year, and the commission will discuss the potential changes as part of its work session Tuesday. Some residents have ...
As more local businesses reopen after COVID-19-related shutdowns, some are doing so with a new sign on their door telling all customers they must wear a facial covering. And business owners who spoke with the Journal-World last week said most of their customers are fine with that. In fact, one business owner can count the number of people who objected on one hand. Kelly Corcoran, owner of the downtown record ...
Lawrence transit officials say a federal grant to purchase the city’s first fully electric buses is a step in the right direction for the city’s sustainability goals and for eventually converting the city’s fleet of diesel buses. The Federal Transit Administration has awarded the city a $3.75 million federal grant to purchase zero- or low-emission buses. Transit and Parking Manager Adam Weigel said the ...
Lawrence developer and four-time convicted felon Thomas Fritzel’s request to serve his prison sentences at his multimillion-dollar home will not be decided this month as once planned. Fritzel, who was convicted of the felonies in two federal cases, requested in April to serve his prison sentences for both cases in home confinement because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The motions, filed in U.S. District Court, ...
Though city leaders voted to approve plans and permits associated with the county's expansion of its jail, some commissioners said they were not endorsing the project. As part of its meeting Tuesday, the Lawrence City Commission voted 4-1, with Commissioner Courtney Shipley opposed, to the institutional development plan and special use permit for the expansion of the Douglas County Jail, 3601 E. 25th St. The ...
In the wake of a protest against police brutality that filled the streets of downtown Lawrence, the mayor has asked two city boards to start working on projects related to racial equity. Thousands of people marched down Massachusetts Street on Sunday evening to protest police killings of black people and systemic racism in the United States, as the Journal-World previously reported. At the Lawrence City ...