In northern Lawrence, the city set up 20 white and gray tents in a park to house people who are homeless. It’s not health care or COVID-19 tests, but federal coronavirus tax dollars are paying for the camp. “If we put our homeless population into the shelter, there’s a higher chance that they’ll get the virus and then they’ll spread it across the community,” Douglas County Commission Chair Patrick Kelly said. The camp marks but one example of the creative ways communities are using the federal money. They scrambled to spend the cash before a deadline at the end of December, [...]

Wearing dress uniforms complete with white gloves, Lawrence police department command staff unfolded the U.S. flag and sent it slowly up the flagpole in front of the department’s new headquarters Monday, officially marking the building’s opening. In the crowd gathered along the road in front of the nearly $20 million headquarters were former police chiefs, city staff members, city commissioners and other local leaders. Interim Police Chief Capt. Anthony Brixius thanked all those who worked on and supported the project, and he said the building and the long-discussed goal of uniting police staff under one roof would benefit the department and [...]