WRITER: Conner Mitchell

Governing board for KU Athletics approves requests to refinance debt, apply for emergency line of credit; department forecasting 14% less revenue for current budget year

The board overseeing Kansas Athletics on Wednesday unanimously approved two measures intended to shore up the department's financial situation as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to strain revenue streams. The first measure gives Athletics Director Jeff Long and CFO Pat Kaufman the authority to refinance $30 million in department debt through new bonds issued at lower interest rates. Kaufman told board members ...

KDHE skips new weekly update on COVID-19 clusters after initial feedback; Kansas passes 50,000 case threshold

Only a week after it released the first list of active COVID-19 outbreaks in Kansas, the state Department of Health and Environment on Wednesday skipped its update to review the feedback the department received the week prior. According to a statement on the department's COVID-19 dashboard, the reporting of outbreak locations should be back on schedule next week. On Sept. 9, KDHE reported the locations and ...

KU reports 841 total COVID-19 cases, says community tested positive at over 10% in last week

The University of Kansas' total number of COVID-19 cases has risen to 841, the school announced Tuesday afternoon — an increase of 42 cases since Friday, when testing data was last released. Out of 779 total tests conducted between Sept. 7 and Sept. 13, 85 members of the KU community tested positive for the virus, for a positivity rate of 10.9%, the highest rate since KU began releasing data. Part of the ...

Food court in KU's DeBruce Center to close through Sept. 28 after part-time employee tests positive for COVID-19

Courtside Cafe, the food court located inside the DeBruce Center at the University of Kansas, will close through Sept. 28 after a part-time employee of KU Dining tested positive for COVID-19, the Journal-World has learned. No patrons were in close enough contact with the worker to be considered high-risk for transmission of the virus, but they are being asked to self-monitor for COVID-19 symptoms just in case. ...

KU stays stable in latest U.S. News and World Report rankings

The University of Kansas fell one spot to 60th among public universities, but moved up six spots among all universities in the 2021 edition of the U.S. News & World Report's rankings of best colleges released Monday. The rankings from the online media company that analyzes and ranks numerous aspects of American society are highly touted among universities, though they have faced criticisms from higher ...

Kelly says recovery task force will recommend spending 'fair chunk' of CARES Act money on expanded testing program

Story updated at 6:43 p.m. Monday, Sept. 14: TOPEKA — Gov. Laura Kelly said Monday that Kansas' SPARK Taskforce, which is tasked with overseeing economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, will advocate later this week for spending "a fair chunk" of federal CARES Act dollars on expanding the state's testing program to include tests for asymptomatic individuals. Kelly said Monday that the state so far has ...