WRITER: Austin Hornbostel

Native artist Dyani White Hawk, a Haskell alumna, wins prestigious $800K MacArthur Fellowship

For years before Dyani White Hawk actually set foot in Lawrence, a picture of the Haskell Indian Nations University campus hung on her family’s fridge. White Hawk would eventually live and work in Lawrence for five years, and she spent some of that time studying on that very campus. It's a time that she says shaped her life and career in many ways. White Hawk, a Sičáŋǧu Lakota artist now based in ...

'A whole lifetime full of experiences': LMH Health blood bank supervisor to retire after more than 4 decades working with blood donations

It’s difficult to summarize a career spanning more than four decades in just a few words, but there’s a few that do the trick when it comes to Faith Friesen — 25,000 lives saved. Friesen, the blood bank supervisor for LMH Health, is preparing to retire after 43 years of working with blood donations. In the nearly 20 years since Friesen began coordinating LMH Health’s blood drives, she’s overseen the ...

Multiple students who requested report about alleged crimes on Haskell campus say feds gave them the same incorrect documents

After a denied Freedom of Information Act request, a lawsuit and, finally, the release of more than 500 pages of documents, one nonprofit is still hunting for an investigative report about alleged crimes on Haskell Indian Nations University’s campus — and multiple students are now encountering the same problem. As the Journal-World reported, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility sued the Bureau ...

Lawrence leaders work late into the night on contract dispute between city, unionized employee group

The Lawrence City Commission has been tasked with settling a dispute in contract negotiations between the city and a group of unionized employees, but it still wasn’t near a resolution by 10 p.m. Tuesday. As the Journal-World has reported, the City Commission will have the final say in contract negotiations between the city and a group of unionized city employees, which have stalled as the parties have failed ...

City Commission issues recommendations for settling dispute between city and unionized employee group

After working late into Tuesday night to find a resolution for an impasse in contract negotiations between the city and a group of unionized employees, the Lawrence City Commission settled on recommendations for provisions on cleanup at homeless camps and two other issues. Commissioners didn’t take an official vote on their recommendations for the homeless camp conflict or the other two disagreements, related ...

Construction at Pallet community, now called 'The Village,' will start next week

The City of Lawrence announced Monday that construction at Lawrence’s Pallet Shelter Village is set to start in about a week, along with details about which vulnerable groups will be a priority to shelter. Monday’s announcement notes that these details were shared a week ago with residents of two ZIP codes in the Pinkney neighborhood; the planned village is located in the neighborhood at 256 N. Michigan St. ...