WRITER: Josie Heimsoth

New Year’s Day in Lawrence: Cold forecast, hiking and biking, holiday closures

If you want to jump right into your New Year's resolutions with a run, hike or bike ride, there are several planned in and around Lawrence on Thursday — even though it might get a little chilly. While the high temperature for Wednesday was forecast to be in the 50s, a cold front will cause the highs to dip into the low 40s for the rest of the week, including around 41 degrees for the holiday on Thursday. But ...

Free State High School's Addams family is heading to the Kansas Thespian Festival stage

Free State High School theater students will be taking their production of “The Addams Family: School Edition” to the Kansas Thespian Festival next month after being selected to perform on the festival’s main stage. Their show is one of five from high schools around the state to be chosen for the festival, which will take place Thursday, Jan. 8, through Saturday, Jan. 10, in Wichita. Free State students ...

Kaw Valley CrossFit expands with new adaptive fitness space to serve athletes with disabilities

To help more people with disabilities stay fit and active, Kaw Valley CrossFit needed more space for classes tailored specifically to them — and now it has just that. A new 2,500-square-foot space was built adjacent to Kaw Valley’s main facility, 1204 East 24th St., and it’s intended to host functional fitness classes that can be adapted to the needs of athletes in wheelchairs and those with other ...

Here's a list of Lawrence and Douglas County services with modified hours this week for the Christmas holiday

Many local organizations and municipal offices with regular weekday hours are shut down or have modified schedules this week in observance of Christmas. The organizations that will be closed or have impacted holiday hours this week include: • City of Lawrence – Offices will be closed on Dec. 25. • Solid waste services – Residential trash and recycling collection services will be delayed by one day ...

No white Christmas in the forecast; instead a record high near 70 degrees on Christmas Day

A white Christmas is not in the forecast for northeastern Kansas this year, as record-breaking warm temperatures are anticipated during the holiday. While no snow is disappointing for a lot of people, a social media post from the National Weather Service office in Topeka said that a white Christmas in northeast Kansas already doesn’t occur very often — only 15% to 20% of the time. But the National ...

Lawrence school district acknowledges quiet switch from Gaggle in court documents, responds to amended complaint in lawsuit

The Lawrence school district has responded to an amended complaint in a lawsuit regarding its former use of Gaggle, acknowledging a quiet switch to a similar software but denying any legal wrongdoing in making the switch. In November, the current and former students who filed a lawsuit against the school district for its use of Gaggle filed an amended complaint to the U.S. District Court of Kansas. It said ...