The Lawrence Times

Thousands of international soccer fans and millions of dollars are expected to descend on Kansas City next year as the city hosts six world cup matches. Lawrence officials and organizations have begun preparing to claim a slice of the pie. The impacts are expected to be huge. Six games will be played at Arrowhead Stadium, including a quarterfinal match. “For each of those, the impacts they estimate are similar to what a Super Bowl would be,” said Steve Kelly, vice president of economic development for the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce. KC2026 is the organization in charge of planning for the World [...]

Douglas County has launched its pilot program to give older people and veterans with service-related disabilities a break on their property taxes. The program will give folks ages 65 and up and disabled veterans who meet income guidelines a maximum rebate of $300, or the county portion of their property tax, whichever is less. Source: The Lawrence Times

Two Kansas legislators prefiled a bill that would deliver millions in voter-approved school bonds that were blocked earlier this year because of a strict ruling from the Kansas attorney general. Voters in the Greeley County school district approved in May a $4.6 million school bond that was to be used for upgrades and renovations, but because the county — the smallest in Kansas with a population of just less than 1,200 — doesn’t have an elections website, the Kansas Attorney General’s Office refused to release the funds. The Attorney General’s Office, which is responsible for validating every bond election in the [...]

From more than 650 submissions received in the span of just a week, the City of Lawrence has chosen the winner of the 2024 snowplow naming contest: Taylor Drift. “This creative, punny name captured the hearts of our judging panel and will soon grace one of the hardworking snow plows that keep our streets clear and safe during winter weather,” the city announced in a news release ... Source: The Lawrence Times

Kansas Supreme Court Justice K.J. Wall said ... the state is “approaching a constitutional crisis” with a shortage of attorneys in rural areas, and that “equity and justice” are at stake. Wall spoke at a news conference in Concordia as a committee tasked with studying the crisis over the past two years unveiled a report that offers recommendations for attracting more attorneys to practice in rural areas. The report also presents stark data: Outside of the state’s five most-populous counties, just 21% of active attorneys serve 45% of the state’s population. One-third of the attorneys in those 100 rural counties are over the age [...]

The City of Lawrence is doling out $1.2 million from its sales tax coffers for affordable housing and housing-adjacent projects. New this year will be a community educator to help renters learn their rights. The city’s Affordable Housing Advisory Board heard presentations from organizations and developers in October. They deliberated and decided on their recommendations for projects and initiatives that they believed the city should fund in 2025, and the Lawrence City Commission approved the recommendations earlier this month. Source: The Lawrence Times

The Lawrence City Commission on Tuesday took the first step toward considering tax breaks to help the University of Kansas construct its planned Gateway District near the football stadium. Vice Mayor Brad Finkeldei noted that similar requests for the city to simply accept an application for tax breaks — including one the commission approved last week connected to the Reuter building — generally go on the commission’s consent agenda. (That’s a list of items that are generally considered routine and approved all at once with one motion.) The commission accepting the application doesn’t mean they’ll approve a final agreement. Finkeldei said [...]

An injunction issued late Tuesday will prevent any construction or land modification associated with a proposed solar farm north of Lawrence until a lawsuit seeking to stop the project can be resolved. Chief Douglas County District Judge James McCabria issued the order after hearing arguments from attorneys representing Grant Township, the North Lawrence Improvement Association and more than a dozen other plaintiffs. The group was seeking an emergency order to prevent the Douglas County Commission from voting on updated plans for the Kansas Sky Energy Center, a 159-megawatt solar energy project planned for 1,105 acres in Grant Township. The plaintiffs filed [...]

KHI developed an interactive digital divide dashboard to provide an overview of computer ownership and broadband availability in each of the state’s 105 counties. ... The challenge of responding to the state’s technological divide has been more difficult in rural communities due to insufficient infrastructure that elevated the cost of adding high-speed internet service. Source: The Lawrence Times

Two students are enrolled this year at the Healy Public Schools district in western Kansas, a decrease from 20 students the previous year. Steadily declining enrollment led area voters in November to favor dissolution, and the Kansas State Board of Education affirmed the vote Tuesday. Healy’s neighboring district, Scott County Schools, will absorb its territory and property, and eventually collect taxes that would have typically gone toward the Healy district. Source: The Lawrence Times