WRITER: Rochelle Valverde

Graduation ceremonies to honor more than 800 Lawrence High School, Free State High School graduates

Updated 11:20 a.m. Monday, May 23: Free State High School's ceremony has been moved to 7 p.m. Thursday, May 26, due to expected inclement weather. More than 800 public high school students will soon celebrate their graduations. The graduation ceremonies for Free State High School and Lawrence High School are coming up on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week, respectively, and the school district has provided ...

Lawrence city leaders say they are ready for city to expand into area west of Kansas Highway 10

Lawrence city leaders say they are ready for the city to expand beyond its longtime border along Kansas Highway 10, and some are even interested in expediting that process by requiring areas to join the city instead of waiting for property owners to opt in. As part of its meeting Tuesday, the Lawrence City Commission received a presentation on a study of the infrastructure and service needs — anticipated to ...

Lawrence City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St., is pictured Thursday, July 7, 2016.

Lawrence City Commission says it's committed to keeping property tax rate flat; Larsen brings up possible reduction

The Lawrence City Commission’s longest-serving member said she thinks the city needs to consider decreasing its property tax rate given the anticipated increase in tax collections due to increasing property values. As part of its meeting Tuesday, the commission received updated 2022 revenue projections and discussed key policy decisions affecting the 2023 budget. Those include whether the commission still ...

Lawrence City Commission to discuss costs — estimated at more than $100M — to expand city past K-10

As the City of Lawrence contemplates jumping its long-held border along Kansas Highway 10, city leaders are due to get an update on what infrastructure and services — streets, sewers, emergency response — will be needed and how much it will cost. As part of its meeting Tuesday, the Lawrence City Commission will receive a presentation on a study of the infrastructure needs and costs for an area generally ...

Lawrence school district classified staff, supporters rally in support of minimum starting wage of $15 per hour

More than 50 Lawrence school district classified staff and community members gathered for a rally Monday in support of bringing minimum pay for those workers to $15 per hour. The school district began contract negotiations on Feb. 21 with the Personnel Association of Lawrence-Communication Workers of America, Local 6400, which represents the district’s paraeducators, custodians, food service workers, office ...

Catching up with the 2012 Academic All-Stars

Each year, the Journal-World reaches out to the Academic All-Stars from 10 years ago to see what they’ve been up to since high school. Here’s what some of the members of the 2012 class had to say. Louis Joslyn graduated from Baldwin High School with plans to attend Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa, to major in math and play soccer. He hoped to work in the math or science fields. Where are you and what ...