WRITER: Kim Callahan

Commissioners to consider ex-deputy DA's nomination to advisory board, but most are silent on controversy ahead of vote

Updated at 5:10 p.m. Monday, Aug. 12 Someone at City Hall wants a former deputy district attorney who’s facing allegations of misconduct to serve on a board that reviews allegations of police misconduct, but no commissioner has so far owned the nomination to the Journal-World, despite repeated requests for transparency. The nominated ex-deputy DA, Joshua Seiden, lost his job over a well-known incident just ...

Small fire breaks out in basement of Lawrence's historic Liberty Hall; investigation underway

Updated at 11:48 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 10 A small fire broke out Saturday morning in the basement of one of Lawrence's most historic downtown buildings, and its cause is under investigation. The fire at Liberty Hall, 644 Massachusetts St., led to a temporary evacuation of the immediately surrounding buildings and a brief closure of the 600 block of Massachusetts Street to traffic around 10 a.m. The fire was ...

'Frankly appalled': In bipartisan congressional hearing, lawmakers express anger at the way Haskell is being run

"There's a toxic culture at Haskell, period." This assessment by Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury, D-New Mexico, was repeated in varying words over and over Tuesday in the nation's capital — by witnesses and lawmakers alike — during a bipartisan hearing that was sparked by a recent federal report detailing a university culture plagued by mismanagement and "severely lacking (in) process and procedures," as ...

DA candidate forum, captured in video, goes off the rails as former defense attorney confronts incumbent Suzanne Valdez

Two of the three Democratic candidates running for Douglas County district attorney left the stage of a candidate forum that turned heated Saturday after an audience member made accusations against current DA Suzanne Valdez. Valdez left the forum’s stage and did not return to participate in the question-and-answer session, while the second candidate, Tonda Hill, left but then returned to participate in the ...

Douglas County judge denies motion to suppress Snapchat evidence in case of man accused of sexually targeting middle school girls

A Douglas County judge on Wednesday denied a defendant’s motion to suppress Snapchat evidence in a case in which he is accused of sexually targeting numerous pre-teen girls at a Lawrence school. The alleged crimes of defendant Kenneth Soap, 44, of Lawrence, came to light after a teacher in January 2023 happened to overhear four female students at Liberty Memorial Central Middle School discussing a man calling ...

In the Year of the Dragon, Lawrence artist creates a colossal critter made of hay and her love for Kansas

A 100-foot dragon in the Flint Hills is likely to turn a lot of heads this summer, but for the Lawrence artist who made it, the fiery creature is much more than a roadside attraction. "It's a perfect meeting of East and West," Hong Zhang says of the massive hay-bale installation — and of dragons generally. 2024 is the Year of the Dragon in China, where Zhang is from, but she has lived for 20 years in Kansas, ...