The Lawrence Times

Douglas County on Thursday will host a community listening session on the possibility of moving from three county commissioners to five. County Clerk Jamie Shew will start the event with a presentation about the process of moving to a five-member commission, which would require an election. Then commissioners will take comments from community members. Some people have expressed concerns about a lack of representation of rural Douglas County residents, particularly after the 2020 election. Source: The Lawrence Times

The Kansas Supreme Court sought to bring clarity to prosecution of driving-under-the-influence offenses Friday by unanimously granting district courts authority to view prior DUI convictions in Missouri as comparable to the Kansas law. The court examined the Kansas Legislature’s modification of state law in 2018 aimed at accounting for DUIs from other states. The justices said lawmakers sought to eliminate an “identical-to-or-narrower-than” test used in Kansas to determine whether alleged DUI offenders should be charged with a misdemeanor or felony. The court determined Kansas legislators wanted prosecutors in this state to include out-of-state violations of laws broader than Kansas’ infractions, specifically [...]

“Those who are unvaccinated, including City employees and members of the public, are still required to wear a face covering when in a City building,” according to a city news release. In addition, the Lawrence City Commission will move to hybrid meetings, beginning with the Tuesday, Dec. 7 meeting. Commissioners will attend in person at City Hall. Meetings will continue to be livestreamed and broadcasted, and virtual participation will still be an option. “Those who want to provide public comment may continue to do so virtually or by attending the meeting in-person. For in-person participants who are required to or choose [...]

Those heading home to Old West Lawrence for the holiday might need to ask for directions. The routes that residents have taken for years are now obstructed by temporary road barriers. It’s an experimental effort to prevent speeding and excess traffic through neighborhood streets, instead pushing drivers out to arterial roads and collector streets. Some residents of the neighborhood have concerns about the barriers’ consequences — both intended and unintended. Maren Bradley, vice president of the OWL neighborhood association, said that during an annual meeting in January, residents’ concerns about speeding, unsafe drivers and the potential dangers for kids, pedestrians and [...]

Riders of Lawrence Transit can now use an app to purchase bus passes, the City of Lawrence announced Monday. The free app, Token Transit, is available on the App Store and Google Play. Here’s how it works: “You can select different types of bus passes such as full fare, reduced fare or T Lift monthly passes, 10-ride punch cards, day passes, single ride tickets, Night Line and K-12 semester passes,” according to the city’s news release. “Once the selection is made and the purchase confirmed, it will be saved in your stored passes. Bus riders then activate the pass and show [...]

A crowd gathered Sunday to celebrate the completion of a new mural at Cottin’s Hardware, 1832 Massachusetts St. Artists Dave Loewenstein, Ardys Ramberg and Missy McCoy got started on the mural, “Tiempo de la Tierra,” on Sept. 7, just after the Lawrence City Commission gave it final approval. Loewenstein, conservation leader Brett Ramey, a member of the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska, and Haskell Indian Nations University Professor Daniel Wildcat, a Yuchi member of the Muscogee Nation of Oklahoma, spoke eloquently and with passion about the mural, our community, the global community and the precarious situation our earth is in, Tom Harper [...]

Douglas County Sheriff Jay Armbrister wants to consider how to reuse space in the local jail — without adding any new beds —  to help address inequities.  Men in minimum security at the jail get 16 hours a day of free time within their housing unit, Armbrister said; in that time, they can have visitors, be on the phone or watch TV. Women in minimum security, on the other hand, have about three and a half hours of free time each day, he said.  “It’s just not fair, and I can’t fix it,” he told Douglas County commissioners Wednesday. “… This [...]

Lawrence city commissioners on Tuesday unanimously voted to move forward with an extension of the city’s temporary “parklets” while staff develops a long-term program. The temporary right-of-way program, which occupies some downtown parking spaces for outdoor dining, was implemented to help restaurants stay in business amid the COVID-19 pandemic. It was set to expire at the end of this year, but commissioners moved Tuesday to extend the program through March 31, 2022.A “Lawrence Listens” survey, which yielded 2,000 submissions, drew a largely positive response. Lawrence residents who visit downtown comprised 82.1% of respondents, and the survey showed that 85.6% of all [...]

Most visitors to downtown Lawrence like the street parking stalls-turned-al fresco dining spaces and would use them in the long term, according to the city’s recent survey. The temporary right-of-way program, implemented to help restaurants stay in business amid the COVID-19 pandemic, is set to expire on Dec. 31. The city is considering implementing a long-term version of the program. City commissioners asked staff to gather public feedback to help determine what to do next. Those results are in, and staff now recommends extending the temporary parklets through the end of March 2022 to allow time to develop a long-term plan. [...]

After a historic cold snap depleted natural gas reserves in February, prices for heating could be as much as 30% higher this winter, prompting concerns about increasing bills for Kansas and Missouri customers. Kansas is already grappling with the $1 billion fallout from this winter’s cold snap, when natural gas prices rose by 200 times in a matter of days. Missouri’s largest utility has asked regulators to defer the costs it paid for natural gas in that same time. Now, the federal Energy Information Administration is predicting higher average prices for gas and an increase in electricity prices, too. If this [...]