WRITER: Kim Callahan

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) ...

Special prosecutor disputes DA Valdez's claim that board's attorney has a conflict, argues against recusal

The special prosecutor in a disciplinary case against Douglas County District Attorney Suzanne Valdez is objecting to Valdez's motion that the attorney for the Kansas Board for Discipline of Attorneys be recused, and she characterizes many of Valdez's assertions in the matter as inaccurate. Valdez's attorney, Stephen Angermayer, filed a motion to have the board attorney, Krystal Vokins, recused based on ...

Relative of slain 14-year-old calls for FBI to investigate Lawrence shooting as a federal hate crime

A relative of a 14-year-old Black boy who was allegedly killed by a 17-year-old white boy in Lawrence is calling for the FBI to investigate and for the case to be tried as a federal hate crime. Michael Berry, a cousin of the late Kamarjay Shaw, has addressed a letter to the U.S. attorney for the District of Kansas, Kate E. Brubacher, requesting that Derrick Del Reed, now 18 and facing a first-degree murder ...