Perhaps you’ve never been unemployed before. If you are now — or fear you soon will be — you’re about to enter a government world of applications, weekly paperwork and a whole lot of rules. That’s the price for getting an unemployment check from the state of Kansas. I reached out to ...
Kansas’ unemployment hotline had a staggering 233,000 phone calls during a nine-hour shift on Thursday, Kansas Secretary of Labor Delía García told me today. “Well, we had 233,000 attempted calls,” she said. “Not all of them got through.” For those who did get through, wait ...
Maybe you have numbers overload (eight hours of working a TV remote control to find there is still nothing on will do that to you.) But I know some of you feel like a key number has been lacking in all the reporting that has happened on the COVID-19 virus in Kansas. How many people are ...
As the old saying goes, “curiosity kills the cat." I know many of you are curious about what was open and what was closed on this unique day in Lawrence history when health officials told people to stay home unless they had some essential reason to be out. But don't be a cat. Driving ...
Story updated at 8:54 p.m. Monday I have heard from several of you about questions related to the stay-at-home order issued by Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health that takes effect Tuesday. I probably don’t have answers to all your questions, but here is a look at a few. ...
When The Washington Post went looking for “coronavirus deniers and hoaxers” — as its headline said — it landed in a town not far from here. The Franklin County community of Wellsville took center stage in the article written by national correspondent Annie Gowen, who is based out of ...
I always assumed drive-thrus were out of the question when it came to marriage planning, which is why the rehearsal dinner was in the dining room of the McDonald’s. But now, in this crazy virus world, drive-thru weddings might become a thing in Lawrence. A rural Lawrence bed and breakfast ...
Maybe you have already heard this one, but it seems worth repeating: It has been quite a year this week. We already can say with certainty that 2020 will go down as a crazy year, but how crazy is yet to be seen. One item worth watching is the economic reports to come. They’ll give some ...
When it comes to rankings, KU basketball fans already may be a bit testy. (To review, March has brought the following: A No. 1 national ranking, NCAA heartbreak, and a large supply of giant No. 1 foam fingers that almost certainly are going to get misused.) Well, there is another ranking that ...
If a castle is your office, perhaps you could get away with wearing your bathrobe to work if you pair it with a nice scepter and crown. The theory likely won’t be tested, but Lawrence’s historic Castle Tea Room is going to serve as a prominent Lawrence office. The local United Way has ...
There are signs that parts of Lawrence’s Kmart Distribution Center may remain open. As we reported in late January, the company filed a federal form warning employees and the community that it was planning to close its facility at 2400 Kresge Road and eliminate 111 jobs in the process. ...
After years without a one-hour eyeglass business, Lawrence residents now have two. We reported in October about a plan for a local startup to open a one-hour eyeglass business in North Lawrence. Now there is word of a bigger player setting up shop in south Lawrence. Eyemart Express opened in ...
The thought of going directly to the factory to replace an appliance always appealed to me, especially when the nuclear reactor on my industrial-sized deep-fat fryer went out. That maybe isn’t an in-stock item at Lawrence’s Factory Direct Appliance store, but lots of kitchen and home ...
Instead of a mighty “ho, ho, ho,” it was more of a ho-hum holiday shopping season for local merchants, the latest Lawrence sales tax numbers suggest. The city recently received its February sales tax check from the state of Kansas. Because of ordinary delays in the state’s reporting ...
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 ...