Lawrence Journal-World 09-14-2016

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IN VOLLEYBALL, VERITAS SWEEPS SEABURY, FSHS TOPS LHS. 1C CANDIDATES URGED TO LAY OUT ETHICS COMMITMENTS.

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Wednesday • September 14 • 2016

Ex-mayor Farmer intends to change plea courtroom in Topeka, where he pleaded not guilty to one charge of interstate travel of embezzled funds, though his lawyer, John Cowles, said he had intended to plead guilty but wanted more time to consider his options.

By Conrad Swanson cswanson@ljworld.com

Former Lawrence Mayor Jeremy Farmer intends to change his plea in a federal embezzlement case. On Thursday, Farmer appeared in a federal

According to court documents, Farmer notified the court that he plans to change his plea. His intentions were made public by a Tuesday court filing, and a new hearing was scheduled for the end of September.

Farmer is accused of taking more than $55,000 in funds from the Lawrence food bank Just Food. He was hired as the organization’s executive director in 2011.

> FARMER, 6A

Farmer

KU’s U.S. News and World Report ratings fall a bit

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he University of Kansas fell a few notches in this year’s U.S. News and World Report rankings of the nation’s best colleges. KU is ranked 118th overall among national universities, down three places from last year’s list. And it fell one notch, in a tie for 56th place, among Here’s how public universities in Kansas and neighboring public universities in the nation. states scored in the U.S. News and World Report rankings: “Rankings, although important, are just one factor we use to measure our sucAMONG PUBLIC cess,” KU Chancellor Bernadette GrayUNIVERSITIES Little said in a news release Tuesday. “We track how our performance comUniversity of Colorado-Boulder: 38 92 pares to our peers’ while focusing on University of Missouri: 51 111 additional priorities, which include Nebraska: of University 51 111 student retention and graduation rates and increasing our freshmen and overUniversity of Oklahoma: 51 111 all enrollment.” University of Kansas: 56 118 Kansas State University: 64 135 > RATINGS, 2A

HOW KU COMPARES

UNIVERSITY

OVERALL

Mike Yoder/ Journal-World File Photo

Teachers union asks justices to restore tenure phancock@ljworld.com

Topeka — The state’s largest teachers union asked the Kansas Supreme Court on Tuesday to restore a decades-old law that provided job protections known as tenure rights for most of the state’s nearly 34,000 public school teachers.

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But the Kansas attorney general’s office said there was no reason to overturn a lower court’s decision to dismiss the lawsuit because the Kansas Legislature acted properly when it repealed the law. It also argued that the teachers union had no standing to bring the suit because it had not shown any teachers were actually

harmed by repealing those tenure rights. At issue is a bill that lawmakers passed late in the 2014 session that was mainly intended to address another Supreme Court decision regarding school funding equity. That bill provided $130 million in additional funding for what was called “equalization

Not as warm CLASSIFIED...............1D-6D COMICS..................... 8CRA

Work to begin on city’s strategic plan rvalverde@ljworld.com

phancock@ljworld.com

By Peter Hancock

CITY COMMISSION

By Rochelle Valverde

University ranked 118th in nation, down 3 from last year By Peter Hancock

PUBLISHED SINCE 1891

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High: 74

DEATHS...........................2A EVENTS...........................6B

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Low: 64

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aid” for certain kinds of school funding. But in the political machinations of the Kansas Statehouse, lawmakers added numerous other provisions onto the bill, some of which had been considered as separate bills.

> TENURE, 2A

Members of the Lawrence City Commission will soon be deciding what they want the city to look like in the future and then coming up with a strategic plan to get there. City leaders said those decisions will have a broad impact. “What this commission decides our strategic plan is will drive this entire operation from top to bottom,” City Manager Tom Markus told com- Markus missioners at their work session Tuesday. As part of the work session, commissioners received a presentation that outlines what a strategic plan is and how it is used. The presentation defines strategic planning as a systematic process for developing a vision for a community’s future by creating specific, interrelated steps to arrive at that future. Those steps are part of budgeting and business plans, and a regular report will measure and evaluate progress made on the plan. The strategic planning process will also include multiple opportunities for community input, but Markus said decisions ultimately come down to commissioners’ judgment.

> PLAN, 6A

BURGERS, MEET BEER A steamy match made in heaven. CRAVE

Forecast, 6B

HOROSCOPE....................5B OPINION..........................5A

PUZZLES..........................5B SPORTS.....................1C-4C

GRAND OPENING SPECIALS


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