A Lawrence man pleaded not guilty Friday to first-degree murder in connection with a homicide at a homeless camp, and his trial is scheduled to take place next spring. The defendant, Julius Beasley, 40, is accused of stabbing Crystal White, 51, of Lawrence, who was found dead in a tent near 100 Maple St. in North Lawrence in the early-morning hours of Feb. 22. Judge Stacey Donovan found probable cause for ...
Douglas County District Attorney Suzanne Valdez is requesting leniency from the Kansas Supreme Court in the disciplinary matter against her, arguing in part that she has already been “severely punished” by the media, which she blames for her election loss. Valdez’s attorney, Stephen Angermayer, states in the brief that Valdez lost her bid for reelection not due to her office’s performance but “due to ...
Updated at 3:27 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 14 A homeless camp that has persisted on the eastern edge of Hobbs Park was cleared away this week. The camp, on private property in East Lawrence, had been there for some time but recently had grown as the City of Lawrence shut down the sprawling homeless camp behind the Amtrak station in mid-October. When the Journal-World at that time asked the city about its plans for ...
More than 20 years ago Becky Saathoff was among the founding athletes of Douglas County Special Olympics, along with just eight or nine others. Now, at age 43, she has around 100 fellow Olympians and on Saturday achieved the dream of many an athlete: induction into the Hall of Fame. “I’m excited!” she said, adding that she had “a great time” at the recent gala in Kansas City, Kansas, where she was ...
It’s one of the most massive structures in Douglas County and likely the tallest, looming over North Lawrence like a mountain, but in the past seven years the hulking grain elevator has been largely dormant, put out of commission by persistent leaks and other age-related ills. That’s about to change. Come next summer, trucks full of corn and soybeans will be rumbling through the neighborhood once ...
When bicycling became a thing in the 1800s, the activity appealed to women who discovered in it an unaccustomed freedom of movement: Hey, we can go places, even if we can’t vote! Predictably, alarms went off. The activity may seem liberating, public scolds warned, but at what cost to your appearance, ladies? The phrase “bicycle face” promptly entered the public consciousness, referring to the stern and ...