The draft version of Douglas County’s strategic plan for tackling housing and homelessness could be ready for final approval in a matter of months, and its overall objective is to achieve “functional zero” homelessness by 2028.
Assistant County Administrator Jill Jolicoeur presented the draft plan to Douglas County commissioners during a work session Wednesday. The plan lays out goals on a year-to-year ...
When about a dozen Haskell Indian Nations University students filed into Angeles Panaderia in eastern Lawrence earlier this week, they weren't there for delicious pastries.
Instead, those students came to share business ideas. The group makes up the membership of Haskell’s American Indigenous Business Leaders chapter, which nationally is dedicated to increasing representation for Native Americans in business ...
Douglas County commissioners on Wednesday deferred their decision on whether an energy firm may conduct testing for a potential large-scale solar project, and they and some members of the public were skeptical about the company's claims that it didn't know it needed a permit.
The commission’s meeting room at the Douglas County Courthouse was packed full of residents on Wednesday night, many of whom came to ...
Lawrence students walked out of class late Tuesday morning in a show of protest against the anti-transgender bills currently working their way through the Kansas Legislature.
Students at both Free State High and Lawrence High took to the streets in support of transgender rights in their organized protest. On the west side of town, well over 100 students walked from Free State to the intersection of Champion ...
A Florida-based energy firm recently conducted construction activities without a permit in eastern Douglas County — geotechnical surveys a representative with the firm says are to prepare for a future application for a utility-scale solar project. Now, they’re seeking to continue those tests with the proper permissions.
That’s according to this week’s Douglas County Commission agenda, which includes ...
At 81, Baldwin City native Glenn Rockers can recount a lifetime of hard work that shaped the man he is today — and now, he can also count himself as one of just a handful of folks who have earned a prestigious award recognizing such efforts.
Rockers, a successful excavator, recently received the Kansas Land Improvement Contractors Association’s lifetime achievement award. He’s one of only three people ...
A former Haskell Indian Nations University president has filed a complaint with the Office of Special Counsel in Washington, D.C., alleging “corruption, serial malfeasance, criminal misconduct and administrative wrongdoing” at the Bureau of Indian Education and on campus during his tenure.
The former president, Ronald Graham, submitted the complaint Monday. The Office of Special Counsel is an independent ...
In 2020, the percentage of deaths due to COVID-19 in Douglas County was less than the rates for both the U.S. and Kansas.
That’s according to a data brief from Dee Kinard, a senior analyst with Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health, which compares the 2020 leading causes of death for Douglas County with the U.S. and Kansas, examines how COVID-19 may have directly or indirectly affected trends in overall ...
Another pandemic relief program has come to an end, and the leader of Just Food expects that Lawrence will be profoundly affected.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress increased Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits through emergency allotments to help mitigate the country’s hunger crisis. But in Kansas, along with 31 other states and three U.S. territories, SNAP benefits — formerly known as ...
It's not yet clear what the next draft of Douglas County’s revised regulations for wind energy development will look like, but it is clear that the work to codify the updated rules is far from finished.
At a meeting on Monday, the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission discussed some of the changes it wanted to see in the second draft of that document. The conversation came about a month and a half ...
Story updated at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 22:
Although Douglas County leaders have yet to officially decide who will operate the county’s yet-to-open behavioral health crisis center, the plan is for it to be partially open in a matter of weeks.
That’s according to information about the Treatment and Recovery Center of Douglas County that county staff shared during Wednesday’s Douglas County Commission ...
Free State High School’s Encore variety show is on tap this week, and the school’s choir program is hoping to draw plenty of applause as it celebrates the 25th anniversary of the annual performance.
Upperclassmen in Free State’s choir program will put on shows at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday. This will mark the 25th year since Free State’s first Encore performance during the spring of 1998. It'll ...
Douglas County leaders will hear another update about the county’s yet-to-open behavioral health crisis center this week, and it’s expected to include something that members of the public have been asking about for much of the past year — a concrete timeline for opening.
That topic and a number of other details related to the Treatment and Recovery Center of Douglas County will be part of an update from ...
About a month after LMH Health formed a strategic clinical relationship with the University of Kansas Health System, the two entities have announced a new health care collaboration dedicated to sports medicine.
The program, dubbed Kansas Sports Medicine, is intended to provide care to athletes of all ages and skill levels, according to a news release from LMH Health on Tuesday afternoon. It will be a joint ...
Douglas County officials are warning the public of a fraudulent mailer threatening to seize assets and garnish wages and bank accounts due to an alleged unpaid tax liability.
Social media posts on forums dedicated to news and events in Douglas County from over the weekend called attention to a mailing issued by a “J.S. Brown” from a “Benefits Suspension Unit” for the county, which does not exist. The ...
Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health’s search for its next director is moving into the active recruitment stage, but the tentative timeline may mean the health department’s board has to come up with an interim leader to serve as a representative during the looming city and county budget processes.
The health department’s current director, Dan Partridge, announced his intent to retire last November, ...
While Lawrence High School sophomore Arabella Gipp didn’t come away with the 2023 Kansas Youth of the Year title, she can count herself among rare company as the most recent competitor to represent Lawrence in the event in back-to-back years.
Gipp was the winner of Boys and Girls Club of Lawrence’s 2023 Youth of the Year award, and she had a chance to compete for the statewide title — which she won in ...
It’s not every day that you encounter a community fixture that’s been around for 160 years and counting — but then again, not every congregation is quite like Ninth Street Missionary Baptist Church.
First established in 1863, the church is celebrating its milestone 160th anniversary this year and has no plans of slowing down any time soon. The church is one of two Black congregations from Lawrence's ...
Revisions to the county’s rules for wind energy projects have spurred hours of comments at public meetings, hundreds of recommendations for changes and a ream of public petitions, and the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission could soon give the public even more chances to weigh in.
The planning commission is set to discuss the first draft of the amended regulations, first introduced near the end of ...
Lawrence's reigning Boys and Girls Club Youth of the Year is set to compete for the statewide honor Monday night in Topeka.
In late January, Lawrence High School sophomore Arabella Gipp was named the Lawrence club's Youth of the Year for the second year running, and now she'll again represent the city in a bid to earn the Kansas Youth of the Year title.
If she does, Gipp will make it a two-year streak at the ...
