WRITER: Kim Callahan

Interim Police Chief Anthony Brixius

Of chief concern: Interim leader of Lawrence police stresses importance of conversations, accountability

Anthony Brixius didn’t grow up wanting to be a cop. After a childhood spent between Lawrence and Wichita, he had decided to become a teacher and, like his mother before him, enrolled at the University of Kansas, where he earned a degree in secondary education. He soon realized, though, that despite his “commitment to service,” standing in front of a classroom all day wasn’t the best fit for him. Nor ...

Nomadic family ready to hit the road again after 2-month pandemic delay

The Thomas family’s Great American itinerary did not include two months parked at a Baldwin City motel, but here they are. Before the family sold their home and most of their possessions to embark on their new nomadic life, they listed — and planned for — a lot that could go wrong. A deadly pandemic that would shut down the country was not on that list. Nor was it even in their wildest imagination as ...

Jui-jitsui

'Do what you want': Blind man's love of jiu jitsu makes inclusion easier for others

When opponents grapple with Nick Hoekstra in jiu jitsu they tend to hold back — at least at first. His blindness gives them pause. But when it becomes apparent that he is determined to win, their hesitation evaporates, and he becomes just like everyone else, an equal. That’s the world of the dojo, he says: a place of respect for all comers. It’s not the world itself, though, where fitting in and ...

Lawrence shows 'tremendous' response in fostering pets as pandemic disrupts normal operations of Humane Society

In Lawrence, as elsewhere across the country, residents have been stepping up in big numbers to care for animals in the community. The stay-at-home order issued by Douglas County to curb the coronavirus pandemic has led to unprecedented hardships, to be sure, but also has created a uniquely comforting circumstance for animals who need care and for people who long to feel useful. “A lot of people are at ...

Local film about immigration in Garden City wins festival award

A locally made film about immigration has won an award at the 2020 Borrego Springs Film Festival in Southern California. The film, “Strangers in Town,” co-directed by Lawrence resident Stephen Lerner and Reuben Aaronson of Los Angeles, won the People’s Choice Documentary award. Lerner said he wasn’t too surprised “because the response was huge at the screening, though you never know till it ...

Popular documentary about immigration to have another screening in Lawrence; online participation welcome

Long before the images of families separated at the border outraged many Americans, Lawrence resident Stephen Lerner was quietly outraged by the increasingly ugly tone of the immigration debate. “I started feeling very uncomfortable with watching that happen, both in the political process and in discussions everywhere, because the fact is we are a country of immigrants,” he told the Journal-World recently. ...