WRITER: Bremen Keasey

It's the most active time of year for bats — here's what professionals do when these 'neat creatures' move into people's homes

Picture a horror movie scene: it’s the cliche dark, stormy night, right around Halloween. The full moon is out as the protagonist inches towards the abandoned house with a flashlight when suddenly bats come flying out from the doorway. In real life, it doesn't need to be Halloween time for bats to make their presence known. In northeast Kansas, the most active time for bats is actually going to be in the ...

Lawrence City Commission set to approve funding for sidewalks, demolition of long-vacant downtown building

As sidewalk improvements become a citywide emphasis with funding programs, the City Commission is set to decide on about a half-million dollars worth of specific sidewalk improvement work at its meeting on Tuesday. City staff is recommending approval of a $562,265 bid to Sands Construction LLC as part of the 2023 Pedestrian Improvements Project that will reconstruct or newly construct sidewalks at eight ...

As students move into campus-area apartments, city's solid waste division deals with busiest time of year

U-Hauls lining the streets. People lugging couches and lamps. Old furniture items lying in alleys or dumpsters right by the sidewalks. Move-in dates for housing around campus are not just stressful on parents and students preparing the new digs for the upcoming fall semester; they’re the busiest time of the year for the city’s waste department. “We need all hands on deck,” Gabriel Chavez, a solid waste ...

To find out where Lawrence residents don't want cuts, the city has been using an online budget simulator tool

As anyone knows while balancing a budget, there are tradeoffs with any decision made. If you go to see that new movie, will you have to miss out on dinner with friends? Can you splurge on those new shoes you’ve been eyeing if you lower costs by packing a lunch to work more often? When it comes to balancing municipal budgets, those same tradeoffs come at a scale of millions of dollars, and with more ...

Construction projects in North Lawrence, East Lawrence will close some traffic lanes for months

UPDATE: The story has been updated to reflect a new projection for when the North Second Street and North Third Street closure will end. Multiple construction projects that start this week in Lawrence will cause street closures in the area for at least a couple of months. Street pavement maintenance on North Second Street and North Third Street in North Lawrence will reduce the street to two lanes from the ...

As Lawrence city leaders ponder creation of open alcohol consumption area, here's how other cities implemented their programs

During a recent Lawrence City Commission meeting, commissioners had a muddled reaction to the idea of creating an open alcohol consumption area centered around Massachusetts Street. The plan to create a common consumption area, or CCA, a designated area where people could walk around with drinks they purchased from bars or restaurants that opted in to the program, generated more questions than answers from ...