Mass incarceration, lack of transparency and unfair treatment of minorities and the poor have inspired Lawrence defense attorney Cooper Overstreet to run for Douglas County district attorney, he said. Overstreet, 32, filed last week to run as a Democrat in the Aug. 4 primary election. He’s ...
Rural Douglas County residents living within a proposed consolidated fire district could see a slight decrease or no change to their taxes for fire protection if the consolidation is completed later this year. However, that may rely on the leaders of the involved townships keeping their side ...
Two Lawrence attorneys are officially in the running to become the top prosecutor in Douglas County. Cooper Overstreet, a defense attorney for the Swain Law Office, and Suzanne Valdez, a law professor at the University of Kansas, both filed to run for the Douglas County district attorney ...
The Douglas County Commission has approved $43,500 in funding for a new meal service for Lawrence students that was launched earlier this week. On Tuesday, the Lawrence school district announced that several restaurants had stepped up to launch the new meal program, which replaced a former ...
The Douglas County District Court on Wednesday set a deadline for a local activist group to respond to the county government’s motion to dismiss the group's lawsuit that aims to halt the county’s plans to expand its jail. Attorneys for Douglas County and Justice Matters, which has long ...
The Douglas County Commission on Wednesday could begin the second part of a two-phase plan to consolidate several rural fire departments. The commissioners will consider giving initial approval to a resolution outlining the merger of the recently created Fire District No. 6 with the county’s ...
The Douglas County District Court is bringing in an outside judge to preside over a lawsuit that aims to stop the expansion of the county jail. Chief Judge James McCabria said Thursday in an email to the Journal-World that the outside judge, James Fleetwood, was needed because the Douglas ...
The Douglas County Commission has approved the first part of a plan to combine several rural fire departments into one large fire district. However, the taxing implications of the entire two-step plan won’t become clear until the commissioners finalize the entire plan in the coming months. ...
Douglas County has formally asked the Douglas County District Court to throw out a lawsuit filed by a local activist group that would halt the planned expansion of the county’s jail. It also requested the court to expedite scheduling of the hearing on the matter to avoid delay on the ...
The Douglas County Commission on Wednesday will consider giving final approval to the first part of its plan to consolidate several rural fire stations into one new fire district. In early March, the commissioners gave initial approval of the proposal by authorizing a resolution outlining the ...
Prior to local activist group Justice Matters filing a lawsuit last month against Douglas County’s plan to expand its jail, an attorney for the county warned that he would pursue a $3 million surety bond from the group if it went through with the lawsuit. In response, William Skepnek, an ...
Although Douglas County recently lifted a monthslong pause on processing requests to subdivide land in the rural parts of the county, residents have not yet taken advantage of it. Tonya Voigt, the director of zoning for the county, said Friday that no applications have been submitted since a ...
Douglas County will soon begin crafting a tool to collect data on the local homeless community that will be used to fight chronic homelessness in the area. On Wednesday, the County Commission approved an agreement with Community Solutions to take part in the Built For Zero initiative. ...
Douglas County on Wednesday may take a step to begin tracking data on the local homeless population, with the goal of addressing chronic homelessness in the community. The County Commission will consider entering an agreement with Community Solutions, a nonprofit organization dedicated to ...
The future Douglas County crisis center has the necessary funding for planning and construction costs. State lawmakers approved the county’s request for $750,000 to finish the center as part of the state budget for fiscal years 2020 and 2021, which Gov. Laura Kelly signed into law ...
Douglas County leaders have decided to provide paid leave for county employees not working because of the coronavirus outbreak, saying it was the right thing to do even if it would impact the county's budget. As part of its meeting Wednesday, the Douglas County Commission voted 3-0 to approve ...
Douglas County leaders will soon consider approving paid leave for county employees who will not be working because of the coronavirus outbreak. As part of its meeting Wednesday, the Douglas County Commission will consider a proposal to pay employees regardless of whether they must report to ...
Story updated at 8:47 p.m. Monday The local health department said Monday that it is basing its work on a model that shows the number of COVID-19 cases in Douglas County peaking in about 30 days with the potential for about 300 hospitalizations. Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health Director ...
The Douglas County Commission ordered most of the county’s facilities to be closed to the public during its meeting on Wednesday amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. County Administrator Sarah Plinsky said the approved closure of facilities will bar the public from most of the county’s ...
The Douglas County Commission will hold a pared-down meeting Wednesday after deferring several items originally scheduled to be taken up this week. One item that remains, however, is the commission’s consideration of selecting a construction manager at risk for its proposed behavioral health ...