WRITER: Sylas May

City of Lawrence and Douglas County leaders to weigh in on a proposed Fire Medical funding formula next week

The formula that Lawrence and Douglas County use to split their fire and EMS expenses could get a major update soon – one that the department says will make the split more stable as staffing grows and changes. But, in the near term, don't expect it to yield a much different split than this year. Last year, the City of Lawrence and Douglas County agreed to split the costs of Lawrence-Douglas County Fire ...

Functional compass rose with sunflower design will be 'a really wonderful focus point' for Lawrence airport

Out on the tarmac of Lawrence Regional Airport, a beautiful sunflower is about to bloom – beautiful, and also useful. It’s a compass rose, to help pilots calibrate or “swing” their compasses. On Friday, a few volunteers were out drawing the geometry for the design, and on Saturday they’ll be painting it in bright blue and gold. “This is just a really wonderful focus point for the airport,” said ...

Eat, drink and meet with dozens of Kansas authors at this weekend's Free State Book Festival

Many so-called “book festivals” aren’t really that festive at all, says Maureen Carroll of the Kansas Authors Club. Often, they’re focused on publishers and are more like industry conventions. But the club’s Free State Book Festival this weekend, she said, will really be a festival – with live performances, food, beer and the chance to meet dozens of authors from northeast Kansas. “You can bring ...

At listening session on Lawrence police's draft camera policy, Chief Rich Lockhart looks for understanding

“A dragnet of cameras,” “a new level of surveillance,” “Big Brother.” These are all things members of the community said on Wednesday night at a listening session about Lawrence police’s camera registry and aggregation program, and Chief Rich Lockhart is adamant that none of them is true. He spent more than an hour at the Lawrence Public Library, trying to allay people’s concerns about the ...

Sidewalk repair program will focus on Sunset Hill and Pinkney neighborhoods this year; what to know about the projects

Parts of two Lawrence neighborhoods are scheduled for sidewalk repairs in 2026 as part of the city's ongoing effort to bring its infrastructure into compliance with ADA accessibility standards. The city's ADA Right of Way Transition Program will be targeting areas in the Sunset Hill and Pinkney neighborhoods, and ADA Compliance Administrator Evan Korynta recently briefed Lawrence's Connected City Advisory Board ...

At a gas station, in the garden, at Clinton Lake – armadillos have lived in Kansas for decades, and you'll be 'seeing them more and more'

Maybe it thought it was a Shell station – this armadillo that Eudora police found in the parking lot of the local Kwik Shop last week. An off-duty officer called it in after seeing it there, and police posted photos on social media of them guiding it with a long pole. They got it into a crate, police chief Wes Lovett told the Journal-World, and then took it “to a safer spot in a rural area,” according to ...