WRITER: Sylas May

Alvamar homeowners sue golf course ownership, seeking $26M in damages and restoration of defunct golf holes

When nine holes at the Jayhawk Club golf course stopped being maintained a few years ago, Scott Robinson said, it was “kind of subtle.” “It was in early 2023,” he said. “You just noticed that the greens and areas weren’t being kept up. It was very subtle.” But he couldn’t help but notice when the changes came to the greens behind his home. “Behind my house, I watched a pond be destroyed and ...

With new murals, Junior Girl Scouts and Jewish congregation hope to turn bland buildings 'into something beautiful'

Did you know river otters live in Kansas? Many people don’t, the scouts of Girl Scout Junior Troop 2856 say, and they want to remind passersby in downtown Lawrence with a new mural about endangered species. This mural, and another one planned by the Lawrence Jewish Community Congregation, were both enthusiastically received by the city’s Cultural Arts Commission on Wednesday night. The LJCC’s mural would ...

Survey respondents think Lawrence is doing well on arts and culture, not so well on economy

As the City of Lawrence prepares to start its next strategic plan, a survey is showing that residents are feeling good about arts and culture, but not so good about the economy, city leaders heard on Tuesday. At their weekly meeting, city commissioners heard the results of the National Community Survey, also known as the Community Satisfaction Survey, which was completed by polling firm Polco. The survey ...

60 people from 23 states have applied for Lawrence's city manager position, mayor says

Sixty people from 23 states have applied to be Lawrence’s next city manager, and the Lawrence City Commission plans to start evaluating those applications as early as next week. Lawrence is currently looking for a successor for City Manager Craig Owens, who announced last year that he would be stepping down this spring. At Tuesday’s City Commission meeting, Mayor Brad Finkeldei shared the stats about the ...

City of Lawrence will soon start application process for a construction manager for Fire Station 6

Lawrence will soon start accepting applications for a construction manager for its new fire station, Fire Station 6, which is expected to start construction next year. On Tuesday, the commission voted 5-0 to approve a method called “construction manager at risk” to build Fire Station 6. The method differs from a traditional design-bid-build process in several ways, and Mayor Brad Finkeldei said it would be ...

'Can’t think of a building more worth it': More than $2M of renovations complete at Douglas County's historic courthouse

One of the many painstaking parts of the historic Douglas County Courthouse’s recent renovation was DOUGLAS COUNTY COURT HOUSE itself. The decorative lettering near the courthouse’s front entrance was among the features of the more than 100-year-old building that were in bad shape, said Jay Zimmerschied, Douglas County’s director of capital projects, earlier this week. “There were chunks of letters ...