WRITER: Kim Callahan

State health department warns of wastewater discharge in Kansas River in Lawrence; city says heavy rain led to pump failure

Updated at 11:35 a.m. Wednesday, May 31 The Kansas Department of Health and Environment has issued a stream advisory for the Kansas River in Lawrence after a faulty pump resulted in contaminated wastewater being discharged into the river. Trevor Flynn, assistant director of Municipal Services and Operations for the City of Lawrence, told the Journal-World that it was not yet known precisely how much discharge ...

Rape survivors say they were treated poorly by DA's office, not given notifications or a voice

The Douglas County District Attorney’s Office failed to notify multiple women that the man who viciously raped and beat them would likely be getting out of prison decades earlier than expected. The reason the office didn’t tell them? It decided the women were better off not knowing. District Attorney Suzanne Valdez’s office didn’t want to open old wounds, it said after being confronted by the women on ...

Rape victims express dismay with DA's office, Project for Innocence after rapist's sentence is drastically reduced without their being notified

Two Lawrence-based entities are facing criticism in connection with a brutal rape case in which the rapist’s sentence was reduced by 30 years and victims contend that they weren’t notified. The Douglas County District Attorney’s Office and the University of Kansas Law School Project for Innocence and Post Conviction Remedies are both facing questions after the sentence of rapist Cory Elkins, who was ...

The State of Kansas does not want to compensate a woman who was imprisoned for murder; the prosecution's own expert said the baby died from natural causes

Updated at 4:45 p.m. Thursday, May 4 The State of Kansas is asking that a Lawrence woman’s request for compensation for wrongful conviction and imprisonment be denied — even after an expert for the prosecution determined that the child the woman was accused of killing had died not from homicide but from natural causes. The woman, Carrody Buchhorn, is seeking — pursuant to state law — nearly $400,000 ...

'We have to do something': Lawrence attorney hoping to assemble team to keep anti-trans laws from taking effect in Kansas

A new law targeting transgender Kansans is set to go into effect on July 1, and Lawrence attorney David Brown — calling it dangerous, cruel and ignorant — is determined to do everything in his power to stop it. The law, often referred to as the bathroom bill — a misnomer, Brown said, because it restricts so much more than restroom use — requires that when a regulation applies distinguishing men’s and ...

City says new safety measures to be in force at North Lawrence camp for people experiencing homelessness

Updated at 3:45 p.m. Monday, April 24 City of Lawrence leaders have begun informing community members staying at the city-sanctioned support site for those experiencing homelessness that a new safety measure — which includes a strictly enforced no-visitors policy and a signed agreement — will take effect Monday. The new measure is designed around nationally recognized best practices and came about after ...