When Douglas County held its budget talks last year, Sheriff Jay Armbrister had a staffing crisis on his hands: His office was lagging far behind nearby departments in pay for deputies and corrections officers, and many were leaving for jobs elsewhere.
This year, he says, the sheriff's office is still in need of more staff, but of a different kind — the clerical and technology personnel who work behind the ...
The Douglas County Commission approved security camera upgrades for the county jail, the Judicial and Law Enforcement Center and other county facilities at an abbreviated meeting on Wednesday.
Commissioners didn’t have any business to take care of on their regular agenda at Wednesday’s meeting, leaving a nine-item consent agenda to pass. The consent agenda included a $299,100 contract with Tech Electronics ...
A host of social service agencies — and, for the first time, a local church — are asking Douglas County for funding in 2025 to build new transitional housing and strengthen the support systems for people struggling with homelessness and substance abuse.
The Douglas County Commission on Tuesday, the second day of its 2025 budget hearings, heard funding requests from several social service agencies whose ...
The Douglas County Commission’s budget hearings opened with many questions regarding a proposed decrease in firefighter staff and the departments’ station expansion project.
County commissioners, at their first hearing for the 2025 budget on Monday morning, asked Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical representatives to discuss the recommendations of reducing staff on firetrucks and other cuts.
As the ...
After a public commenter addressed concerns with the Lawrence school board renewing the annual subscription for a security system monitoring students’ computer use, the board held further discussions before ultimately renewing their deal with the provider, Gaggle, on a 6-1 vote.
During Monday's school board meeting, board member Carole Cadue-Blackwood requested to further discuss the annual subscription to ...
Some family histories and community stories are written in pen and ink, but the ones in the Watkins Museum of History’s newest temporary exhibition are recorded with a needle and thread.
On June 20, the Watkins Museum opened a new exhibition called “Honoring the Ancestors: African American Textile Arts,” which features 11 quilts documenting family histories by nationally regarded textile artists, ...
