The Lawrence-Douglas County Sustainability Office is looking for farmers to participate in a program that will harvest or collect a farm’s unsellable produce and donate it to people in need. The sustainability office has partnered with Kansas City, Mo.-based After the Harvest, a produce ...
Lawrence will be awarded more than $1.6 million in funding from the latest federal pandemic relief package to increase affordable housing and other supports to address homelessness. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development recently announced that as part of the American Rescue Plan ...
Douglas County leaders have approved a new health order that will keep the mask mandate in place, eliminate the mass-gathering limit and provide more flexibility about the occupancy rules for businesses and venues. As part of its meeting Wednesday, the Douglas County Commission voted ...
The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office has created new dashboards with local law enforcement data, which officials hope will help increase government transparency. During a Criminal Justice Coordinating Council meeting on Tuesday, Sheriff Jay Armbrister and county data analyst Matt Cravens ...
Douglas County leaders will soon get an update on efforts to keep people with serious mental illness out of jail. As part of its meeting Wednesday, the Douglas County Commission will receive a report detailing the number of bookings and other data for people with serious mental illness, or ...
After hearing concerns from owners of fireworks stands, Douglas County leaders postponed consideration of changes to fireworks regulations that would limit the locations of fireworks stands and prohibit people from setting off fireworks on county properties such as Lone Star Lake and Wells ...
Douglas County leaders will soon consider changes to fireworks regulations that would increase requirements on fireworks stands and prohibit people from setting off fireworks on county properties such as Lone Star Lake and Wells Overlook Park. As part of its meeting Wednesday, the Douglas ...
Lawrence city leaders will soon discuss an outside study of the city's agreement with Douglas County to jointly fund and provide emergency medical services, the results of which call for the county to increase how much money it provides toward the service. As part of its meeting Tuesday, the ...
Some of the city’s unsheltered homeless people have set up their campsites along the Kansas River, where the budding trees will soon help obscure them from view. Others, though, seem to have decided the safest place to camp is out in the open. In Watson Park, a handful of tents are pitched ...
Following the recent rewrite of pandemic management laws by the Kansas Legislature, county leaders are now preparing to be the arbiters of future health orders such as mask mandates and gathering limits. As part of the Douglas County Commission's meeting Wednesday, legal counsel for Douglas ...
Douglas County leaders are open to increasing the number of seats on the County Commission, and will soon develop a plan to gather public feedback on such a change before potentially taking further action. As part of its meeting Wednesday, the commission discussed increasing the number of ...
Amid some public concern about whether rural residents are adequately represented in county government, leaders will soon discuss the possibility of expanding the Douglas County Commission from three members to five. As part of its meeting Wednesday, the County Commission will discuss legal ...
At a joint meeting Monday, elected city and county leaders said that the coronavirus pandemic made both the problem of homelessness and the need for local governments to work together to address it more clear. The pandemic led to various organizations working to house people quickly or ...
The latest federal COVID-19 stimulus package is projected to send tens of millions into the coffers of Lawrence and Douglas County governments, while also allowing local leaders more flexibility to spend the money and more time to weigh those decisions than did past pandemic-related relief. ...
County leaders have taken another step forward for a proposed $4 million jail maintenance project. At its meeting Wednesday, the Douglas County Commission voted unanimously to approve a $63,500 addition to the professional services design contract with TreanorHL Inc. to cover changes to the ...
County leaders hope changes in public defender services for defendants who cannot afford attorneys can help address racial justice issues and the disproportionate number of people of color in the county jail. As part of its study session Wednesday, the Douglas County Commission discussed two ...
County leaders will soon discuss public defender services for people who are accused of crimes and cannot afford attorneys, including a proposal from a new nonprofit that hopes to offer another model. As part of its study session Wednesday, the Douglas County Commission will receive ...
After deciding to only make repairs to the county jail rather than move forward with a controversial expansion project, county leaders will soon consider approving the updated design contract for the proposed $4 million jail maintenance project. As part of its meeting Wednesday, the Douglas ...
Following concerns from local environmental groups, county leaders are going to reconsider the county’s level of chemical herbicide use and discuss potential reductions. The Douglas County Commission was scheduled to approve the county’s annual Noxious Weed Management Plan as part of its ...
County leaders have denied a rezoning request that would have allowed nine homes to be built in a rural area near the Lawrence city limits. As part of its Wednesday meeting, the Douglas County Commission voted unanimously to deny a request to rezone approximately 47 acres located in the 1400 ...