WRITER: Sylas May

Lawrence police say new Fusus system can make their work more efficient; some members of the public want a pause

A call comes in for a disturbance in Centennial Park. Lawrence police are on their way, but what dispatchers haven’t been told – and officers therefore don’t know – is that the suspect is armed with a baseball bat. “We don’t want that to become an escalating confrontation,” Sgt. Drew Fennelly told the Lawrence City Commission on Tuesday night. And it didn’t – in part because police were ...

In affidavit, child describes Prairie Park Elementary speech therapist blindfolding and binding them and putting something in their mouth

Earlier this month, a Prairie Park Elementary School student told forensic investigators about a “test” that a speech therapist at their school had made them take — one that required them to be blindfolded with Band-Aids and tape and to have their hands bound behind their back. Then, while restrained and unable to see, the child said the therapist moved a “long, cylindrical” object around inside their ...

Douglas County DA says ethics allegations stemmed not from misconduct, but from 'dissatisfaction' with her 'unconventional, but much desired, approach'

To a special prosecutor who compiled an ethics complaint against her, Douglas County District Attorney Suzanne Valdez is someone who has accused a judge of being sexist, sent him inappropriate texts, and created a stressful work environment that drove many of her employees to resign. But Valdez on Tuesday had a different story to tell. What really happened, she said, was that she made general statements about ...