The Lawrence Times

Lawrence will always persevere, and we know what we value, Mayor Courtney Shipley said during her State of the City address on Tuesday. Reflecting on the past year, she spoke of lessons learned throughout the pandemic. “We hope COVID is waning, but the experience of the Unified Command has really taught us how to keep our relationships with our partners stronger in a way I don’t think that we ever have before,” she said. “So as unfortunate as it was, we learned some valuable lessons. We’re working smarter, not harder, with our partners.” Shipley noted the city’s multimodal transfer hub coming [...]

Lawrence is making an impact on America’s technology landscape. Data from the Brookings Institute revealed the latest trends in technology across the country and how the pandemic has disrupted the geography of tech jobs. It listed Kansas City as a “rising star” metro, and also showed how Lawrence has grown substantially in recent years. Lawrence lost 1,570 tech workers from 2015-2019; however, in 2019-2020, Lawrence saw growth of 151 workers, according to the data.  A closer look at the report from Axios shows that, at 19.3%, Lawrence is the No. 1 city for growth in tech workers per capita for 2019-2020. [...]

Lawrence’s Community Police Review Board is set to review a draft proposal that could reconfigure the board, leading one member to resign over what she sees as an effort to turn the board into little more than “window dressing.” At its meeting Thursday, the CPRB will review a project charter for a new Community-Police Oversight Task Force that would review ordinance revisions proposed by the CPRB and assess the existing complaint policies, procedures, and systems. CPRB members had sought direction from the city commission last fall after working for months on a revised ordinance that would have expanded its duties. The [...]

A new sign celebrating a few of North Lawrence’s distinct features now greets residents and visitors just past the intersection of North Second and Locust streets. Designed by North Lawrence resident and graphic designer Wade Kelly, the sign prominently features a bald eagle in flight above the slogan “Colorful Past. Bright Future.” The North Lawrence Co-op Elevator’s massive grain bins, Kansas River waves and a tiny sandrat – all features of North Lawrence – round out the sign’s distinctive facets. Don and Sarah Benda donated the sign, and the City of Lawrence Parks and Recreation Department installed it recently just south [...]

The Senate Judiciary Committee plowed into a bill Monday mandating state-imposed limits on actions of cities, counties, school boards and higher education institutions in a health emergency that was so complex it took more than 30 minutes for a legislative staff member to summarize. The Kansas Chamber, attorneys filing lawsuits against during the pandemic and individuals irritated by city or school board actions praised the bill. It was denounced by organizations representing city and county governments, public education and proponents of child vaccinations. A House member suggested references to religious freedom in the bill could be stricken, because worship was constitutionally [...]

As new COVID-19 cases have continued to drop in Douglas County, commissioners on Wednesday evening were set to let a countywide mask mandate expire. An emergency health order with a countywide mask mandate went into effect Jan. 7 as the county was seeing a rolling 14-day average of new cases nearly double previous pandemic spikes. That number eventually reached more than four times the previous records from November 2020, but new cases began to drop within two weeks of the mandate going into effect. Early last month, the commission had considered an option of a loosened mandate that would have required [...]

Douglas County Sheriff Jay Armbrister says first responders carry a lifetime of scars, mental and physical, from experiences in the field that require years of healing. It is the mental traumas from the day-to-day sights that are most hazardous and difficult to overcome, he said. Armbrister testified in support of Senate Bill 491 last week, which would secure workers’ compensation for first responders suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and shared his traumas. He shared how the emotional damage of seeing the body of a dead child dwarfs the physical injury suffered after smashing a window in a submerged vehicle. He shared [...]

Three affirmative votes Wednesday evening meant that thousands of Douglas County voters will soon decide whether the county commission should expand to five members. If all goes as planned, the commission will consider ballot language to put the question before voters for the Tuesday, Nov. 8 general election. The timeline is not terribly tight for the language of the question to be decided — commissioners must vote on the question before Sept. 1. After the election, however, if voters do determine that there should be two additional seats on the dais, the commission must adopt maps of new districts by Jan. [...]

Time to protect water in Kansas is running short. Parts of the aquifer in far western Kansas may only have 10 years of water left. Small towns are struggling to provide clean drinking water, and upgrading their facilities would bankrupt them. If the state is going to preserve its water resources, it has to act soon, say proponents of an overhaul to the state’s water regulation. “I don’t like to use the word ‘crisis,’ but our situation in our state is serious,” said Rep. Ron Highland, chairman of the House Water Committee. For years, the state hasn’t fully funded its water [...]

Sierra Club lobbyist Zack Pistora told lawmakers he could talk at length about the “big mess” plastic bags have created for aquatic ecosystems, landscape and infrastructure in Kansas. But the real problem with Senate Bill 493, he said, is an assault on democracy. The Kansas Chamber, manufacturers of plastic bags, and service industry representatives asked the Senate Commerce Committee to adopt the legislation, which would ban cities and counties in Kansas from restricting the use of plastic bags and containers. Pistora said the bill is “disingenuous” because it doesn’t provide a way for communities to reduce the accumulation of trash caused [...]