News and notes from around town:

• A pair of proposals to add more industrial ground northwest of Lawrence soon will have their first public hearings. The Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission on Oct. 25 will hear a request to rezone 120 acres at East 700 and North 1800 roads from agricultural to light industrial. As previously reported, the 120 acres is the proposed site for a $21 million warehouse for Berry Plastics.

On Oct. 27, the planning commission will consider annexation and rezoning requests for 51 acres at North 1800 and East 1000 roads. The property owners are seeking to have the site rezoned from agricultural to general industrial. This property once was up for consideration as a site for the Berry warehouse but was not chosen. The development group — Venture Properties — however, said it wants to continue with the rezoning so it will be available to other potential users in the future.

Both meetings begin at 6:30 p.m. at Lawrence City Hall.

• According to the Douglas County Clerk’s office, today — Oct. 18 — is the last chance to register to vote in the Nov. 2 general election. Registration can be done online, here. Advance voting already has begun.

• A new report from the Douglas County Appraiser’s office shows home foreclosures in Douglas County are up significantly in 2010. Through the end of August, the number of foreclosure sales conducted in the county was 164. That’s up from 80 during the same time period in 2009.

• The Lawrence Memorial Hospital board of trustees will be adding a new face. Jane Blocher, the executive director of the Douglas County chapter of the American Red Cross, is expected to be appointed to the board by city commissioners at their meeting Tuesday. Also at their Tuesday meeting, commissioners are expected to appoint Thomas Christie to the city’s Board of Zoning Appeals.

• New statistics are out for the Lawrence Community Shelter. In a report to city commissioners, shelter leaders report that from March through August law enforcement officers were called to the downtown shelter 34 times, and emergency response crews were called 14 times. Other statistics in the report include: 22 guests obtained jobs during the time period; 28 guests obtained housing; 274 individuals used the shelter’s day services; 362 individuals used its night services.

• Also from the shelter, new information about its fund-raising efforts. A J-W article on Friday reported that a new $540,000 matching grant put the shelter more than halfway toward its $3 million goal. Shelter leaders since have done some more figuring and are announcing that the grant now has fund-raising efforts two-thirds of the way complete.

• Yes, that is pink you are seeing Lawrence firefighters wearing. Through Saturday, members of the Lawrence-Douglas County Fire and Medical department will be wearing bright pink t-shirts as part of a breast cancer awareness campaign. The department also will be selling the shirts, with proceeds to go towards fighting breast cancer. For more information, call Fire Station No. 3, 832-7630.

• The city of Lawrence has announced plans for an electronic recycling event. The event will be from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Oct. 23 at the Free State High parking lot, 4700 Overland Drive. The event is for small electronic devices, often which have lead, mercury or other material that is not recommended for landfills. The event is largely free, although fees will be charged to accept computer monitors and televisions. The fee for monitors is $10, and for television $15.

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