To the editor: Dramatic city utility rate increases are being proposed when many in our community are struggling to pay for basic needs due to the pandemic. At the same time, the city utilities division proposes an expensive new project in Water Tower Park, a few blocks west of the KU ...

To the editor: Everybody chill. It’s just a virus. It’s not a conspiracy, hoax, or Divine Plan for population control. It’s a little piece of protein surrounded by a protective layer of fat. Happens in nature all the time. Human beings can control the spread, protect themselves and save ...

To the editor: In the “age of disruptions” none of us anticipated this new reality: our schools across the state having no consensus and the very true divide we are seeing in our communities. With the recent email from the school district that outlines the options that will play out ...

To the editor: In 1970 Joni Mitchell wrote the song “Big Yellow Taxi,” in which she sings about “paving paradise and putting up a parking lot.” Fast forward 50 years, and this is still happening, but now it is the land surrounding our wonderful dog park that is in the city’s ...

To the editor: On July 25, the Journal-World published “Lawrence arts and culture organizations say they’re in dire financial straits amid pandemic, request relief funding.” The article’s facts are alarming and should alert citizens to the potential loss of gems that make Lawrence ...

To the editor: World War II was ending as round-the-clock bombing continued the obliteration of German cities. The relentless rock of Russian armies was pushing in from the east against the hard place of Allied tanks that had forced their way across the Rhine. In stifled silence Nazi elites ...

To the editor: With the arrival of beautiful weather, many of us are, unfortunately, finding evidence in our yards that it is dog-walking season. While my immediate neighbors are good and responsible about picking up after their dogs, too many dog owners in Lawrence ignore their duty to ...

To the editor: Kansas is in the midst of a global pandemic; cases are rising since reopening. While some counties have few cases, people do not remain in one place. They travel. Everyone agrees that kids need to go back to school, but it is unwise to do so without careful planning, adequate ...

To the editor: It is clear you can get just as good an “in-person class room experience” from your local community college as well as pay lower tuition. After all, community colleges can teach online too. And there are some outstanding nonresidential post-secondary schools out there ...

To the editor: We taxpayers should receive stimulus money twice a month to spend in the economy as a reward for being such fine people; that would ensure job security and plenty of economic growth. After all, tax dollars do belong to the taxpayers. Reckless decisions by government have put ...

To the editor: Lawrence city commissioners and the city manager are discussing a proposed 2021 budget that is out of step as many Douglas County residents face the COVID-19 pandemic, skyrocketing unemployment and an uncertain economy. The proposed budget contains a staggering increase in ...

To the editor: At 8:15 a.m. on Aug. 6, 1945, the Enola Gay, a B-29 bomber, dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. A physicist named Robert Serber named the bomb Little Boy. By 8:16 am, 140,000 people in the city were dead. Less than 10% of the casualties were military. Thousands of the ...

To the editor: My husband and I own our modest home but live near a swath of rental houses. Within the last week, we both noticed an extraordinary number of people moving into these rentals, making it one of the most car-occupied streets in our neighborhood. None of the young people we saw ...

To the editor: Given that city commissioners plan to raise stormwater fees (again), I’m still hoping for an in-depth news story about this long-running issue. Although the late Nancy Shontz proposed a stormwater management master plan back in 1980, it took the flood of 1993 to finally push ...

To the editor: The article in the July 30 Journal-World about building a road from 27th Street to the Clinton Dam is another boondoggle idea the city has come up with that wastes taxpayer money. So far this year the city has wasted tens of thousands on creating outside seating areas in ...

To the editor: This letter is in regard to the city’s intent to build an access road along the Mutt Run to the Youth Sports Complex. Having watched and coached games at YSC for three decades, I can tell you that slow exits are normal. We wait in line at the bank, Starbucks and any ...

To the editor: I am writing to you about COVID-19 and face coverings and why I think they are much needed and also why I think that we as a community should be more willing to wear masks as people are so eager to get back to the real world. For us to make that happen we need to make sure ...

To the editor: A July 23 Journal-World headline read “Governor’s school delay shot down.” The story related that the Kansas Board of Education had voted 5 to 5 on the issue, thereby rejecting the governor’s wise call for a delay in opening the schools in a virus upturn. Buried in ...

To the editor: The Trump Administration has shown open contempt for the U.S. Constitution and our system of government since the president entered office, but now we perhaps enter a new, even more dangerous stage as we approach the presidential election. Our nerves are frayed badly by ...

To the editor: I retired from the Lawrence Public Schools six years ago after a 38-year career in facilities and operations. My job offered me the opportunity to be in any of the schools at any given time. One of the groups of people that I got to know were the school resource officers. I ...