WRITER: Bremen Keasey

New state law will require Lawrence City Commission to change how it handles public comments in its live streams

Gov. Laura Kelly signed a bill on Wednesday that will require the Lawrence City Commission to change the way it handles public comments in its live streams of meetings. The new law updates the Kansas Open Records Act and Kansas Open Meetings Act, and a provision in it says that any governing body or agency that “elects to live stream their meeting on television, the internet or any other medium shall ensure ...

Commissioners vote to add Lawrence church as historic landmark; they suggest future discussions about how historic status impacts surroundings

Lawrence city commissioners approved a request on Tuesday to add a Lawrence church to the local register of historic places, after a discussion about how a building's historic status can affect nearby development. The commission voted unanimously to approve the nomination for the First Presbyterian Church building, 2415 Clinton Parkway, to the local list of historic places. The city’s Historic Resources ...

City Commission to consider request to add local church structure to Lawrence's historic register

City Commissioners will once again consider a request from a local church to be added onto the Lawrence Register of Historic Places. The commission will vote on approving the nomination for the First Presbyterian Church, located at 2415 Clinton Parkway, but this time only a portion of the church’s structure was nominated. The Historic Resources Commission voted in December to recommend approving the church to ...

From 'what if' to reality: How local elementary schoolers' imagination helped design a home for a formerly homeless tenant

A simple two-word question — "what if?" — and the limitless imagination of children is what sparked a two-year-long process that led to a formerly homeless person being housed. Madeline Herrera, the co-founder and director at Limestone Community School in Lawrence, said that as students began returning to class in January 2023 after winter break, she was working to figure out what the class’s next big ...

KU student from Lawrence who earned prestigious fellowship for international studies proud to represent community

When Charlie Johnson got a call during one of his virtual classes at the University of Kansas in March, he let it go to voicemail since he didn’t recognize the number. Johnson, a senior from Lawrence who went to Free State High School, soon saw on the auto-transcription of the voicemail that it was “so and so from Carnegie calling." “I started freaking out,” Johnson said. Johnson, who is majoring in ...

Cancellation of federal program means Just Food will lose 2,400 pounds of food each month

Douglas County food pantry Just Food announced it will receive 30% less food from one of its partners in the coming months after a federal program was canceled — meaning a loss of 2,400 pounds each month. In a news release Thursday, the food pantry said Harvesters, its regional Feeding America distributor, was notified that orders through The Emergency Food Assistance Program — a federal nutrition program ...