WRITER: Kim Callahan

If City Hall seems a little bare, it's because the trees are gone

If you happened to sense that the area around Lawrence City Hall seems different lately, it’s probably because four large trees on East Sixth Street have recently been cut down, leaving the plaza area and lawn looking unusually naked, even for winter. The largest of the trees, a pin oak that soared to the roofline of the four-story government building, is probably the most noticeable absence. The tree, which ...

Lawrence contest to put barbering skills on display

An upcoming event aims to put the art of barbering on display, and local barber Jermaine Jackson is expecting folks from around the region to show up with their scissors, clippers and a competitive spirit. The barbering contest, sponsored by Lawrence Magazine, eXplore Lawrence and Watson’s Barbershop, where Jackson works, is slated for 3 to 8 p.m. Feb. 5 at Venue 1235, 1235 N. Third St. in North ...

Lawrence PFLAG chapter, making its debut next week, wants LGBTQ community to know it has your back

No one should face a difficult or complex experience alone — especially when a segment of society insists on attaching stigma to that experience and even legislating against it. That’s the simple message of a group of moms who started a local PFLAG chapter — which Lawrence, surprisingly, has lacked even though the organization is in its 50th year. These moms know firsthand how crucial, even life-saving, ...

Mom says Lawrence woman who died of fentanyl poisoning at age 23 'was a person, not another number'

Mary Cowdin stood outside a Douglas County courtroom in mid-December, waiting to learn the fate of a man who had been charged in connection with the death of her daughter Angelyca. Angelyca was the 23-year-old’s real name, but, as her best friend, Raven Wilson, noted, no one ever called her that. “Because to us she was Angel,” Wilson said, even though they often joked about how she was no real angel, ...

'I would never, ever, ever harm a child': Woman whose murder case was dismissed discusses ordeal as possible retrial looms

Ollie Ortiz would have celebrated his seventh birthday this month, and if Carrody Buchhorn could talk to his parents, she would tell them that she is not the reason their baby is gone. "I really want them to know that I absolutely did nothing to hurt Ollie and I loved him and I still love him," she told the Journal-World Monday, three days after a murder case against her was dismissed and she was freed from ...

Court dismisses case against woman accused of killing baby, citing Douglas County DA's failure to produce expert

A Douglas County District Court judge has dismissed the case of a woman who was accused of killing a baby six years ago at a Eudora day care center where she worked and has ordered the woman released from custody. In its order Friday, the court cited the failure of the Douglas County District Attorney's Office, in the murder case of Carrody Buchhorn, to find a forensic pathologist in a timely manner who could ...