Story updated at 3:07 p.m. Monday, July 1: The interim Douglas County administrator has proposed a budget that maintains the current mill levy — however, Sarah Plinsky said, she “would call it a ‘status quo’ or ‘inflationary increases only’ budget.” Any new programs or ...
Family, friends and colleagues of retiring Douglas County District Court Judge Paula Martin attended a reception in her honor Friday at the old county courthouse. Martin, whose announced retirement date is Saturday, has been on the bench 25 years and presided over some of Lawrence’s most ...
After years of financial issues at the Lawrence Community Shelter, its board sought supplemental funding of $148,000 from the Douglas County Commission. Commissioners on Wednesday approved the request, each noting that the shelter couldn’t be allowed to close its doors but also offering ...
The Douglas County Commission at its meeting Wednesday approved bids from Mar Lan Construction and Turner Construction to serve as construction managers at risk for housing portions of the behavioral health campus and an expansion of the Douglas County Jail, respectively. Mar Lan, the low ...
Updated at 2:19 p.m. Wednesday Douglas County Sheriff Ken McGovern will retire instead of seeking reelection to a fifth term in 2020, he announced Wednesday. McGovern, 60, has worked for the sheriff’s office for 37 years and was elected sheriff, as a Republican, in 2004. He said his ...
Although plans aren’t yet fully fleshed out, the Douglas County Commission will consider a proposed drug court as part of its budget process for 2020. As part of ongoing efforts to provide alternatives to incarceration and reduce recidivism, particularly for those with substance use ...
Douglas County commissioners at their Wednesday meeting will consider bids for construction managers at risk for two projects: an expansion of the Douglas County Jail, and housing components of the behavioral health campus. Commissioners Michelle Derusseau and Nancy Thellman have long ...
The Douglas County Criminal Justice Coordinating Council will meet Tuesday, and among items on its agenda are proposals for a drug court and for a study that could have implications for a proposed expansion of the local jail. County commissioners attended a work session on drug court in ...
“Help is available.” Monica Kurz told Douglas County commissioners that’s a phrase she uses all the time in her work. “It's a message I want to put out there, and it's a message that needs to be true,” the director of Headquarters’ Kansas Suicide Prevention Resource Center said ...
Recruiting firefighters and paramedics will be a big challenge for the next chief of Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical, the three candidates for the vacant chief position told those attending a question-and-answer session Saturday at the Lawrence Public Library. The forum, which drew about ...
Douglas County officials say they’ve now confirmed the recent tornado destroyed over a dozen homes and affected over 80 more in the county. The May 28 tornado touched down south of Lawrence and mowed through properties to the county line. It continued northeastward into Leavenworth County, ...
Kids in Eudora, Baldwin City and Perry-Lecompton schools will have some extra mental health support next year. Douglas County commissioners on Wednesday approved an expansion of the WRAP, or Working to Recognize Alternative Possibilities, program, which places master’s-level mental health ...
Inside the Douglas County Courthouse, supporters packed the county commission’s meeting room Wednesday for proclamations of LGBTQ+ Pride Month and National Gun Violence Awareness Day. Outside on Massachusetts Street, however, a group of protesters held signs, spoke with passersby and handed ...
Brandon Eisman described himself as a cisgender male, a father and an active member of the community — but at the Douglas County Commission’s meeting Wednesday, he spoke as Deja Brooks, his drag persona. At the meeting, the commission proclaimed June as LGBTQ+ Pride Month for the first ...
A group of Lawrence-area agencies wants to lead a project to reduce Douglas County’s rates of suicide deaths and attempts. County commissioners will hear their proposal at their 4 p.m. Wednesday work session. Headquarters Inc., the Lawrence-based suicide prevention lifeline that serves all ...
Hollie Tapley was as close to her Topeka home this week as she has been since the severe weather season started in the late winter. “I’ve been on the road since March 14,” she said. “My team (has) been all over Kansas and Nebraska.” Tapley is the disaster relief coordinator for the ...
The Douglas County Commission will not meet on Wednesday, May 29. Interim County Administrator Sarah Plinsky said after the commission's May 22 meeting that the tentative plan going forward would be for the commission to meet four times a month. When a month has five Wednesdays, she said, the ...
Douglas County commissioners and staff on Wednesday tasked Lawrence Community Shelter leadership with providing a more structured plan before they consider its request for $148,000 in additional funding this year. The shelter has faced financial issues in recent years, and in December, its ...
The Douglas County Commission on Wednesday will hear from a firm contracted to help the Lawrence Community Shelter with management, budgeting and other such concerns. Among other items noted in the firm’s report, it suggests the shelter change its mission statement to focus exclusively on ...
Just as local behavioral health leaders want to build up a crisis intervention center at the future Douglas County Recovery Campus, they want to break down some infrastructure that could stand in their way. Douglas County commissioners heard Wednesday about plans beyond the blueprint for a ...