As the City of Lawrence anticipates revenue losses related to the coronavirus pandemic, some local leaders are voluntarily giving up a portion of their salaries to help the city’s bottom line. But they don’t expect those contributions to be antidotes, and they're still preparing for the ...
A former utility worker is suing the City of Lawrence for allegedly discriminating against him because of his disability, but the city says that he was fired for legitimate, nondiscriminatory reasons and that awarding him damages would be "unjust enrichment." The plaintiff, Deandre Simmons, ...
City leaders have approved a plan for spending more than $1.5 million in federal funding from the Community Development Block Grant and Home Investment Partnerships programs, including restoring some of the funding previously cut from neighborhood associations. As part of its meeting this ...
Updated at 4:46 p.m. Wednesday City leaders have approved changes to the city’s no-camping rules to be more accommodating to homeless people when local shelters are full. As part of its meeting Tuesday, the Lawrence City Commission voted 4-1, with Mayor Jennifer Ananda opposed, to add an ...
City leaders have voted to approve code changes that would allow downtown businesses to expand their operations into what are currently angled parking spots, but exactly what that downtown layout will look like and how much parking will be retained is not yet decided. Late Tuesday, during a ...
For about an hour, a group of protesters Tuesday made expletive-laden demands for Lawrence city commissioners to release a black man who has been in the Douglas County Jail awaiting a murder trial for five years. Protesters flowed into City Hall chambers demanding that the commission defund ...
City leaders will soon consider a plan for how to spend more than $1.5 million in federal funding from the Community Development Block Grant and Home Investment Partnerships programs. As part of its meeting Tuesday, the Lawrence City Commission will consider the 2020 spending plan, which would ...
City leaders will soon decide whether to approve a temporary layout for downtown that limits parking in an effort to give businesses more space to safely operate during the coronavirus pandemic. As part of its meeting Tuesday, the Lawrence City Commission could approve the temporary layout as ...
Over the past two years, no member of the general public has laid eyes on details of the more than 25 complaints made against Lawrence police, and none of the cases has been reviewed by the city's Community Police Review Board. But as calls for police reform and accountability are heard ...
City leaders will soon consider changing the city’s no-camping rules to be more accommodating to homeless people when local shelters are full. As part of its meeting Tuesday, the Lawrence City Commission will consider adding an exemption to the city ordinance that currently makes it illegal ...
There was not enough support among city leaders on Tuesday to abandon Lawrence's contentious sidewalk repair program, but leaders were interested in a few limited tweaks to how the program operates. Currently, the program generally requires homeowners and other property owners to pay to repair ...
As protests against police killings of black people and calls for reform continue across the country, Lawrence Mayor Jennifer Ananda is calling for the city to reallocate some police funding to social services, among other changes. At the opening of the Lawrence City Commission’s meeting ...
City leaders will soon discuss some new ideas for sidewalk repair, including the creation of a sidewalk insurance program and a potential city takeover of maintenance responsibilities. The Lawrence City Commission requested to reconsider the city’s sidewalk maintenance program earlier this ...
City leaders will soon consider an agreement that would allow nearly all of the energy that powers city buildings to come from renewable sources. As part of its meeting Tuesday, the Lawrence City Commission will consider entering into a 20-year agreement with Evergy Energy, formerly Westar ...
Lawrence transit officials say a federal grant to purchase the city’s first fully electric buses is a step in the right direction for the city’s sustainability goals and for eventually converting the city’s fleet of diesel buses. The Federal Transit Administration has awarded the city a ...
City Manager Craig Owens announced Wednesday that Jeff Crick will be the new planning and development services director for the City of Lawrence-Douglas County Planning and Development Services Department. Crick joined city staff in 2013 and has served as the planning manager for the ...
Though city leaders voted to approve plans and permits associated with the county's expansion of its jail, some commissioners said they were not endorsing the project. As part of its meeting Tuesday, the Lawrence City Commission voted 4-1, with Commissioner Courtney Shipley opposed, to the ...
In the wake of a protest against police brutality that filled the streets of downtown Lawrence, the mayor has asked two city boards to start working on projects related to racial equity. Thousands of people marched down Massachusetts Street on Sunday evening to protest police killings of black ...
City leaders expressed support for a new layout for downtown that limits parking in an effort to give businesses more space to safely operate during the coronavirus pandemic, but wanted the city to remain open to other alternatives. As part of its meeting Tuesday, the Lawrence City Commission ...
Story updated at 5:40 p.m. Monday City leaders will soon consider providing close to $450,000 of federal coronavirus relief funds to the local homeless shelter, enabling the construction of an isolation ward and other building improvements to help the shelter respond to the pandemic. As part ...