Douglas County leaders voted unanimously to adopt the county’s operating budget for 2023 on Wednesday night — and confirmed that many county residents won’t be seeing any further relief from a historic increase in property tax bills. At Wednesday’s County Commission meeting, a group of five public commenters spoke against the budget plan, and some of them urged commissioners to hold the county’s ...
Douglas County leaders could soon complete the process of approving the county’s budget for 2023. At their meeting on Wednesday, Douglas County commissioners will conduct a public hearing on the $163.7 million budget proposal, where they will hear comments from county residents. Following that, they will vote on whether to approve the budget. Before voting on the budget, the commission can make changes to ...
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment has confirmed the first case of monkeypox in Douglas County, Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health announced Tuesday. According to a news release from the county health department, the infected person was tested through KDHE’s laboratory, and the person and their close contacts have been treated with a vaccine shown to be effective against monkeypox. According ...
Early last week, Just Food set a record for patrons served in one day — for the third time this year. On Aug. 16, the food bank served 478 households — or 1,186 individuals — in a single day. Ryan Bowersox, Just Food’s outreach director, told the Journal-World Friday that up until just prior to the coronavirus pandemic, one record-breaking day, let alone three, was rare. “I remember we broke the ...
Douglas County has finished its recount of votes on the constitutional amendment on abortion, and the outcome hasn't changed, the county's election office said Friday. The recount, which was initiated by anti-abortion activists in nine counties at the beginning of this week, was finished in Douglas County late Friday afternoon. As expected, the recount didn’t change the outcome of the vote in Douglas County, ...
Douglas County Emergency Management’s work throughout the COVID-19 pandemic was extensive; the department established the Unified Command team in March 2020 to help with pandemic response and recovery, and it also coordinated the county’s mass testing and vaccination events. It’s no surprise, then, that when Douglas County leaders wrapped up the process of allocating American Rescue Plan Act funding last ...