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THURSDAY • JANUARY 15 • 2015
City gets earful on why police HQ vote failed “
rence city commissioners on I voted ‘no,’ and it was a protest vote. I didn’t know Wednesday evening heard how else to get your attention. I was so upset with nearly 90 minutes’ worth of reasons why people rejected how Rock Chalk Park was done.” the proposed sales tax that would have paid for the head- — Vince Vannicola, who spoke at Wednesday’s listening session quarters. Early on, displeasure with how commissioners have pro“I voted ‘no,’ and it was a think their facilities are inadcessed the controversial Rock protest vote,” said Vince Van- equate. “I didn’t know how else Chalk Park sports complex was nicola, who apologized to po- to get your attention. I was so a frequent theme. lice officers because he does upset with how Rock Chalk
By Chad Lawhorn Twitter: @clawhorn_ljw
From Rock Chalk Park to too many anecdotal stories about leaking roofs, Lawrence voters had a lot of reasons for voting against a $28 million police headquarters plan in November. At the first of two scheduled “listening sessions,” Law-
Park was done.” Several other speakers — there were about 40 people who attended the session at City Hall — also mentioned displeasure with the Rock Chalk Park process and were miffed at how the recreation project got placed ahead of the police project. Please see POLICE, page 8A
Hospitals plead for Medicaid expansion
A safer way to get to school
By Peter Hancock Twitter: @LJWpqhancock
Mike Yoder/Journal-World Photo
AMANDA BRYSON, RIGHT, WALKS HOME WEDNESDAY from Woodlawn Elementary School with daughter Arianna, 7. Bryson was also pulling a wagon with her 4-year-old twins, Sasha and Trenton.
Parents, officials aim to make schools more accessible by foot, bicycle for kids in total — gathered at West Middle School on Wednesday to begin collaborating on the Safe Routes to School project, which aims to make vast infrastructure improvements to schools’ accessibility by foot and bicycle. Over the next several years, the project could result in changes to street design and better enforcement of traffic laws. But after the Lawrence-Doug-
By Elliot Hughes Twitter: @elliothughes12
More than 60 percent of elementary and middle school parents in Lawrence believe their child’s school does nothing to encourage students to walk or bike to class, health officials said Wednesday. Teachers, parents, city commissioners, engineers, Mayor Mike Amyx and others — about 70
las County Health Department unveiled more data from its first round of research Wednesday, officials believed increased education and encouragement would be the place where an impact could quickly be made. “There’s probably a lot of room for improvement for schools that want to be more aggressive and encourage kids to walk and bike,” said Charlie
Bryan, the health department’s community health planner. “That’s a great place to start.” According to the survey, which has input from 1,673 parents, the top three concerns parents have regarding their child walking or bike to school involved traffic infrastructure: the safety of intersections, the amount
Topeka — Kansas hospital officials told a legislative committee Wednesday that they face tremendous economic challenges if the state does not expand Medicaid as allowed under the Affordable Care Act. “We’re in the roughest time we’ve ever been in,” said Dennis Franks, CEO of Neosho Memorial Regional Medical Center in Chanute. Franks was among several people who testified Wednes- LEGISLATURE day before the House Vision 2020 Committee, which is chaired by Rep. Tom Sloan, R-Lawrence. That committee is generally charged with conducting longterm studies of issues that normally don’t get the attention they need in a regular 90day session, Sloan said. Sloan said he hopes to develop a “Kansas Please see MEDICAID, page 2A
Regents question university NEA grant would help festival go global entry criteria Town Talk L awrence is getting more serious about throwing a party of international proportions. We’re talking about the Free State Festival, an annual art and film festival that largely is regional in nature but has aspirations to be international in scope by 2016. City commissioners at their meeting on Tuesday got a briefing about how leaders at the Lawrence Arts Center and others hope to grow the festival. Commissioners unani-
Chad Lawhorn clawhorn@ljworld.com
mously agreed to submit a $200,000 grant application to the National Endowment
Business Classified Comics Deaths
Low: 22
Today’s forecast, page 8A
Organizers plan to spend about $630,000 over a two-year period on the festival. About $120,000 would come from city guest tax funds, while the rest would come from private donations, grants and about $40,000 in ticket sales. For those of you who need a reminder about the Free State Festival, it was the event that brought famed blues guitarist
Please see FESTIVAL, page 2A
INSIDE
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for the Arts that would be used to help grow the plan. Soon, city commissioners will get to decide whether they want to contribute tax dollars to help grow the festival, too. The festival organizers plan to ask the city to donate $60,000 of city guest tax money to the festival in 2015 and are forecasting that they will ask for similar amounts in both 2016 and 2017. Commissioners may have that request before them by the end of the month.
Please see ROUTES, page 8A
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By Peter Hancock
Twitter: @LJWpqhancock
Topeka — More than 95 percent of all the freshmen admitted to any of the state’s fouryear universities last year did so by meeting the state’s qualified admissions standards, one of the highest rates recorded in years, according to a report presented Wednesday to the Kansas Board of Regents. But some higher education officials suggested those standards may be too lax, and Please see REGENTS, page 8A
State official skirts jury A Kansas ethics official failed to appear before a grand jury as ordered Wednesday as part of an inquiry into loans made to Gov. Sam Brownback’s re-election campaign. Page 3A
Vol.157/No.15 18 pages