WRITER: Kim Callahan

Affidavit indicates driver was arrested for DUI 9 weeks before student's death; case wasn't charged until last month due to KBI testing delay

Updated at 1:45 p.m. Thursday, April 16 Nine weeks before a 20-year-old KU student was killed in a hit-and-run, the driver accused in her death was arrested by a deputy on suspicion of DUI and other crimes, but the charges in that case weren't filed until March, months after the student's death. Douglas County District Attorney Dakota Loomis on Thursday told the Journal-World that the delay was due to his ...

Violent offender who used pit bull as weapon now facing 2 more felonies

Failing to register as a violent offender in Kansas is a serious offense, and on Wednesday a convicted felon in Douglas County discovered just how serious. Devontae Deshon Rae Torres, who was convicted in 2022 of siccing a pit bull on a man, was ordered to stand trial on two counts of aggravated violation of the Kansas Offender Registration Act, a Level 3 person felony punishable by a minimum of 55 months in ...

'It’s basically King Lear in a coma': KU alumnus' novel unites his love of Shakespeare with his expertise in neurology

Back in 2005, Sean Pauzauskie, then a senior at KU, took the advice that many an English major ignores. “You can be a writer, but get a day job,” he was told by his mentor David Bergeron, a professor of English and well-known Shakespearean scholar. It turned out to be a good advice — not just from the perspective of paying the bills, but also from the perspective of telling stories. The day job ...

Case of repeat DUI felon accused in fatal hit-and-run of KU student delayed another 7 weeks

It's been more than five months since a 20-year-old KU student's body was found on the side of the road, but little headway appears to have been made in the case of the driver accused of killing her. On Tuesday, the defense attorney for William Klingler was granted another 30-day continuance. However, Judge Stacey Donovan said that would be the last. "I'm not going to give another continuance," Donovan told ...

Lawrence city bus driver testifies that woman forced her way onto bus and stole it

A City of Lawrence bus driver on Monday testified that a woman pried the bus doors open, physically intimidated her, called her foul names, then stole her bus and drove it across town last September. "Bitch, we're going to the TRC," the woman told her, she testified. TRC is a reference to the Treatment and Recovery Center at 1000 W. Second St. The driver said that at the time she was seated in her bus, ...

Speech pathologist pleads not guilty to molesting kids at Lawrence elementary school; trial scheduled for January 2027

A speech pathologist accused of molesting multiple children at a Lawrence elementary school pleaded not guilty Monday afternoon at his formal arraignment in Douglas County District Court. Mark Gridley on Monday waived a formal reading of his charges and pleaded not guilty to all of the felony counts against him. As the Journal-World reported, Judge Amy Hanley, following a two-day preliminary hearing last ...