WRITER: Kim Callahan

On Transgender Day of Remembrance, Lawrence community honors lives lost to violence, bigotry

A lot has changed in 70-year-old Rachel Reed’s lifetime, but one thing has remained disturbingly constant: violence against transgender people. Even in a period of seeming progress for the LGBTQ+ community with the recognition of gay marriage and increasing visibility in the past few decades, dozens of transgender people are murdered every year in the U.S. — a number that Reed believes is vastly ...

LMH Health says fired CFO took 'elaborate steps' to hide his work history and criminal record

Updated at 4:35 p.m. Monday, Nov. 13 The chief financial officer for LMH Health, who was hired and fired in the space of a month after failing to disclose his criminal history, “took elaborate steps to conceal his true work history and criminal record,” the Lawrence hospital said Friday as it sought to assure the public that it was investigating the matter and indicated that it would be as transparent as ...

Lawrence's 'artistic' police dogs and their charitable work to be featured on 'Kelly Clarkson Show'

The Lawrence Police Department's patrol service dogs are scheduled to be featured on a nationally televised talk show this week, and the public is invited to a local watch party to celebrate. LPD's Patrol Service Dog Mack and his handler, Cpl. Kevin Henderson, along with Friends of the K9 Vest Midwest founder Emily Fawcett, will appear via Skype on "The Kelly Clarkson Show." The segment is about how LPD's three ...

Woman alleges in affidavit that KU basketball player violently raped her as she begged him to stop; deputy DA wanted document kept secret

A University of Kansas basketball player violently sexually assaulted a woman this summer on the KU campus as she begged him to stop, according to allegations in a recently released affidavit in the case. The now former player, Arterio Demetrius Morris, 20, of DeSoto, Texas, is charged in Douglas County District Court with one felony count of rape, according to charging documents. The charge relates to an ...

Counsel for the panel overseeing the disciplinary complaint against DA Valdez recused

The counsel for the panel overseeing the disciplinary complaint against Douglas County District Attorney Suzanne Valdez has been recused from that position because Valdez named her as a witness in the proceeding at the last minute. As a witness, the counsel, Krystal Vokins, will not be permitted in the hearing room while other witnesses are testifying and thus would not be able to perform her job as counsel to ...

Theatre Lawrence's new season to kick off with 'Crowns,' a celebration of Black women

Theatre Lawrence is opening its new season Friday with a musical that explores the lives of Black women and, along the way, delves into an array of divides – Black/white, rural/urban, North/South, young/old, shame/pride. “Crowns,” as director Annette Billings says, “is a very celebratory play, and I think it fits so well in our current times of lots of personal and professional and (national) ...