Douglas County Clerk Jamie Shew says advance voting for this year's primary elections has been steady and near normal. “We’re just a little ahead of the primary two years ago, but not by a lot,” he said. “We’re not seeing a huge turnout above normal. We have had a lot of phone calls requesting sample ballots and polling sites, so maybe we will have a good election day turnout." As of Friday, about ...
Patrick Kelly has a large financial advantage in the Democratic Party primary race for the Douglas County 1st District Commission seat, having raised and spent significantly more than his two opponents. The three Democrats vying for the party’s nomination for the 1st District seat are Kelly, director of the Lawrence College and Career Center; Lawrence insurance agent John Magnuson; and Lawrence City ...
Faith-based activist group Justice Matters has presented the Douglas County Commission with an offer to provide $30,000 toward the cost of a study into reducing the incarceration rate at the county jail. Brent Hoffman, of Justice Matters, told commissioners at their meeting Wednesday that Justice Matters had spoken with an anonymous donor who was willing to provide $30,000 for a comprehensive study of the ...
The Lawrence school board approved Monday a 2018-2019 budget for publication that reduces the mill levy by 1.324 mills. The published budget establishes maximum 2018-2019 total district expenditures at $170.8 million. The published budget also establishes a 54.626 mill levy, which will raise $63.39 million in property tax revenue in 2018-2019 for the district. At 54.626 mills, the district’s share of taxes on ...
Lawrence is experiencing “extreme drought” as a result of the city receiving just half the normal amount of rainfall through the first seven months of 2018, according to the National Climate Data Center. As of Tuesday, the official National Weather Service station at Lawrence Municipal Airport had recorded 12.04 inches of rain in 2018, said Bryan Baerg, meteorologist with the Topeka NWS office. That is ...
The Douglas County Commission is expected to approve final spending levels for this year's capital improvement projects at its meeting Wednesday. Sarah Plinsky, assistant county administrator, said commissioners already approved spending $1.22 million on facility-related projects and $5.82 million on road and bridge projects. However, those costs were based on estimates made before the projects began. ...