Douglas County officials who won elections in November were sworn into office Monday at the county courthouse. Douglas County Commissioners Shannon Reid and Shannon Portillo, District Attorney Suzanne Valdez, Sheriff Jay Armbrister and Register of Deeds Kent Brown were among the newly elected ...
New private docks built on Lone Star Lake will now need to follow specific regulations aimed at preserving the lake and keeping the structures safe. The County Commission on Wednesday approved new regulations related to private structures built in Lone Star Lake Park, a county-owned park in ...
For the first time in Douglas County history, property owners along Lone Star Lake may need to follow specific guidelines when building docks on the water. The County Commission on Wednesday will consider adopting regulations for docks and decks on the southwestern Douglas County ...
After more than four decades of helping young people stay in school, advocating for people with disabilities and inspiring her colleagues, University of Kansas professor Jan Sheldon is hanging up her hat. Sheldon, a professor of applied behavioral science, retired last week. During her more ...
As Douglas County and its community partners were racing to make sure all of their coronavirus relief funds were spent by the end of the year, the federal government provided a deadline extension just days before it was set to expire. Both Gov. Laura Kelly’s office and the National ...
Despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and fears it would lead to a significant economic recession, Douglas County will begin its 2021 budget with $6 million on hand, showing that it avoided dipping far into its reserve funds this year like many residents, businesses and other organizations ...
The total number of criminal cases filed in Douglas County District Court has dropped by almost 50% in the last 15 years, data from the Kansas Office of Judicial Administration shows. However, many of those cases are still being filed — but in municipal courts rather than the district ...
After working for Douglas County for 30 years, a longtime official is ready to step away from the job. Kay Pesnell, who has worked for Douglas County’s Register of Deeds Office since 1990, will retire from the office’s top position at the end of the month. She has led the office for 18 ...
Nearly 70 rural properties on Wednesday moved into compliance with Douglas County codes for the first time in decades. The County Commission unanimously approved rezoning 67 properties located on Lone Star Lake’s western and southwestern banks from transitional agriculture, also known as ...
Douglas County may soon make changes to its current budget to account for increased spending and revenue it did not originally plan for. The County Commission on Wednesday will consider approving an amendment to the 2020 budget, which was originally crafted in the summer of 2019. The ...
Thanks to federal aid, more than 1,000 Douglas County residents received housing support this year as the coronavirus pandemic caused many to lose income. But with a new year coming and little new funding currently available, those residents may soon see that support disappear. Leaders of ...
The Douglas County Commission has reallocated another $290,000 of unspent CARES Act funding to help make sure all of its $24.9 million are spent by the end of the year. The commissioners also gave county staff the authority to make further changes to the funding plan when needed this month to ...
More changes to Douglas County’s plan to spend federal relief funds for the coronavirus pandemic could be coming soon. On Wednesday, the County Commission will consider making further reallocations of unspent funds from its $24.9 million Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act ...
Updated at 2:35 p.m. Friday Douglas County, starting Monday, will adopt a 10-day quarantine period for asymptomatic close contacts of people with COVID-19, according to a news release from Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health. The move came Friday after the Kansas Department of Health and ...
To make sure outstanding federal pandemic relief money is spent before an end-of-the-year deadline, the Douglas County Commission on Wednesday reallocated about $650,000 unspent funds in its CARES Act spending plan. And county staff believes there will be more funds to reallocate in about a ...
Douglas County may soon approve a backup plan to spend outstanding federal pandemic relief money before the end-of-year deadline. During its meeting on Wednesday, the County Commission will consider giving County Administrator Sarah Plinsky the authority to execute a contingency plan for the ...
The dream of Douglas County and local health professionals to construct and operate a behavioral health recovery campus is nearing fruition. Two of the three facilities for the planned Treatment and Recovery Campus of Douglas County, at 1000 W. Second St., recently wrapped up ...
Douglas County Sheriff-elect Jay Armbrister said it may sound “a little played out,” but he enjoys helping people who can’t help themselves. That help runs the gamut from driving a stranded motorist into town to buy a gallon of gas to consoling people who are considering taking their ...
Douglas County's incoming undersheriff, Stacy Simmons, was actually close to retirement “before Jay asked me to take on this journey with him,” she said, referring to Sheriff-elect Jay Armbrister. Now she’s planning to stick around a while because she and Armbrister have the same goals, ...
It may have taken longer than hoped, but a plan to provide accessible views of rural Douglas County is coming to fruition. After months of designing and building, students of Dirt Works Studio, a University of Kansas School of Architecture and Design studio, are in the middle of constructing a ...