Incumbent Patrick Kelly has entered the race for the District 1 seat on the Douglas County Commission. Kelly has lived in Douglas County since 1989 when he came to attend the University of Kansas. He worked at Lawrence Public Schools for 31 years as a teacher and building and district administrator before retiring in 2024. Before serving on the Douglas County Commission, he served on the Lawrence Cultural Arts ...
De Soto city leaders are looking for a seat at the table as discussions begin around a potential nuclear project in Kansas. TerraPower – a nuclear innovation company founded by Bill Gates – announced a partnership with utility company Evergy and the Kansas Department of Commerce in September 2025 to explore sites for its next potential commercial-scale nuclear power plant in Kansas. Last November, the De ...
Story updated at 5:44 p.m., Wednesday, April 29, 2026 Douglas County residents can now see who's behind the votes in local elections with a new online tool detailing voter demographics and precinct-by-precinct registration totals. For example, the new tool puts to rest any debate of whether men or women are more likely to be registered voters in Douglas County. Despite the county's population being nearly ...
Two large data center projects near Tonganoxie and De Soto could become Douglas County’s newest neighbors, bringing energy demands scalable to cities far larger than either town. Ever heard of San Francisco? The data center near rural Tonganoxie, Project Bluestem, would be about 15 minutes away from Lawrence. While the project is still in its early stages, the project's developer, Cloverleaf ...
As large-scale data center projects are being proposed in nearby communities, such as Tonganoxie and De Soto, the Journal-World has examined how the rapid expansion of energy-intensive, "hyperscale" facilities could affect Douglas County and the surrounding area. Read the entire three-part series by clicking the links below. • Douglas County's "de facto pause" on data centers and crypto mines. • What ...
Lawrence school board members approved a bus services contract on Monday with a new provider that will cost the district about $7 million in the upcoming school year. The vote was unanimous – with board members Shannon Kimball and Carole Cadue-Blackwood absent – for the three-year agreement with school bus operator Durham School Services. The estimated cost for the 2026-2027 school year is $6.8 million, ...