News and notes from around town: • If you love fresh bread as much as I do, you may have nearly dropped your stick of butter upon seeing a “for lease” sign in the window of downtown Lawrence’s Great Harvest Bread Co. But don’t worry, the longtime bakery is on the move, rather than ...
Many people are unknowingly already doing the hard work of gymnastics, said Scott Belanger, the owner of the new Jayhawk Gymnastics. “Gymnastics is kind of the original Crossfit training,” Belanger said. “Crossfit does a lot of gymnastics strength training. With a gymnastics class, ...
Douglas County homeowners should check their mailboxes soon for a piece of mail that very well could lead to a property tax increase later this year. The Douglas County appraiser’s department is preparing to mail on Friday “change of value notices” for about 40,000 properties in Lawrence ...
I’m not a presidential candidate, so I don’t know much about tax shelters. I can only assume that you put your head between your knees and cover it tightly much like you do in a tornado shelter. No? Regardless, a new report shows Kansans may be inclined to that reaction when they get their ...
I’m not sure the last time I found myself at a grocery store at 3 a.m., but I buy my Doritos by the case to avoid such emergency trips. You may want to start taking your own precautions as Hy-Vee has announced it is no longer keeping its stores open 24 hours a day. But, soon, Lawrence’s ...
The final batch of financial numbers for 2019 didn’t change the diagnosis for Lawrence’s nonprofit hospital: It was a rough year for LMH Health. The hospital posted a $15.8 million operating loss for 2019, its first losing year in more than a decade. To make matters worse, the hospital ...
There was a time when the only skyscraper in Lawrence was a windmill. (Don’t rent the penthouse suite in that one, unless you like to be dizzy.) The windmill was 64 feet tall with blades that measured nearly 35 feet. It dominated Mount Oread in the days before Fraser Hall. Now, the old ...
Power tools and health care aren’t commonly paired together, unless doctors are trying to explain what they'll do to my arteries if I don’t cut down on the sweets. But I’ve got a story that legitimately pairs them today. One of Lawrence’s largest tool and equipment rental companies is ...
A new year has ended an old trend at Lawrence City Hall. The city released its first sales tax report of 2020, and it shows not only did sales tax collections fall for the month, but so too did the amount of special sales taxes the city collects from online sales. That online decline was the ...
Every time I’ve tried to figure out whether the chicken or the egg came first, I’ve never gotten past the research stage of a plate of scrambled eggs and a basket of chicken fingers. Now, it appears my research is going to be even more difficult. One of Lawrence’s relatively new chain ...
Lawrence is set to feel the pain from one beleaguered retailer: Kmart, which is closing its Lawrence distribution center. But the city might get an employment boost from another long-struggling retailer that seems poised to make a major job announcement in Lawrence. The company may surprise ...
Just two years after an expansion project, a Lawrence manufacturing plant is set to close, costing nearly 100 people their jobs. API Americas announced in a federally required filing that it intends to close its manufacturing plant in the East Hills Business park within the next 60 days. The ...
I’ve certainly known school administrators who like to have conversations. (Why were you late to school today? Who pulled that fire alarm? How did Ms. Beatty’s car end up on the roof?) But there is a former school administrator who loves even pleasant conversations, and she has opened a new ...
Buying a home in Lawrence didn’t become any easier or cheaper in 2019, as the latest report shows home prices now have increased 26% since the middle of the decade. The number of homes sold in Lawrence last year dropped by about 2% compared to 2018 levels, while the median selling prices ...
News and notes from around the downtown area: • I’ve got a garage full of vehicles from Detroit, and soon it seems that I could have a belly full of pizza that is inspired by the city too. Look for a new “Detroit-style” pizza restaurant to open on Ninth Street. Longtime Lawrence ...
This Town Talk column appeared in the Jan. 22, 2020, edition of the Journal-World's Crave food supplement. More from that section, including interviews with Lawrence restaurateurs, can be found here. I’m definitely not a restaurant critic, and I’ve found it is dangerous to be a food ...
For 50 years, there has been a Border Bandido on the loose in Lawrence. I can attest because it has stolen at least three notches on my belt that I’ll never get back. Of course, I’m talking about the Mexican restaurant on 23rd Street. Soon, though, it will be just a memory. The ...
People are still trying to figure out what to call this decade that just ended. It wasn’t exactly the teens, it wasn’t exactly roaring and, if you take a couple of Twitter accounts out of the equation, it wasn’t exactly dirty. While not catchy, new numbers show there certainly is one ...
The threat of online retailers certainly didn’t subside any in 2019, but Lawrence’s retail market remained pretty stable throughout the year anyway, according to a new report from the local office of commercial real estate firm Colliers International. The vacancy rate of retail spaces ...
A little bit of Canada is coming to downtown Lawrence. Actually, it sounds like a big Canadian is coming to the downtown scene. A Canadian-based pub called Moose McGuire’s has signed a deal to locate along Massachusetts Street, and the guy they call Moose is coming with it. “It was a ...