SEEKING OUT
Will freshman phenom Josh Jackson be KU’s top scorer? 1C
NO. 1
Non-voters: Sign of protest or apathy? 1B
L A W R E NC E
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Monday • October 3 • 2016
PUBLISHED SINCE 1891
MUCH ADO ABOUT DOCKING
Peter Hancock/Journal-World Photos
MANY HALLWAYS IN THE DOCKING STATE OFFICE BUILDING, at 915 SW Harrison St. in Topeka, are now empty. Most state agencies that once occupied the 12-story building have relocated, many into rented space in privately owned office buildings. But the state still has no formal plan for what to do with the 500,000-square-foot structure.
A look at the building that may become state-owned urban decay in downtown Topeka BY PETER HANCOCK ••• phancock@ljworld.com
E
arlier this week, the state agency known as Alcoholic Beverage Control packed up its
furniture and files from the Docking State Office Building in Topeka and relocated to another building a few blocks away. It was only the most recent state agency to do
so, leaving most of the 12-story, 500,000-squarefoot office building just west of the Statehouse virtually vacant. For years, Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration has said the building
should be demolished, arguing that it is too old and obsolete, and that the cost of renovating it to modern standards would be too high. But so far, Kansas lawmakers haven’t been
willing to go along with that, citing the high cost of demolition, which would involve relocating a system known as the “power plant” that controls heating and air conditioning for all of the
buildings in the Capitol Area Complex, including the Statehouse itself. This means that as the giant office building that was once considered a
> DOCKING, 2A
City estimates 10,000 trees will be killed by emerald ash borer By Rochelle Valverde rvalverde@ljworld.com
More than 10,000 ash trees in Lawrence will die in coming years due to an invasive species of beetle destroying the trees from the inside out. Those numbers account for as much as one-third of the trees making up the Emerald ash borer
canopy the city is nationally recognized for. Lawrence’s horticulture and forestry manager, Crystal Miles, said the insect will eventually infect 100 percent of the city’s ash trees. “The emerald ash borer is going to be around until all (its) food supply is gone,” Miles said. Since the emerald ash borer was detected, about 130 infected ash trees have been cut down
from the grounds of city parks, buildings and right-of-ways, and Miles said the goal is to have removed 200 by year’s end. Miles said those trees showed advanced signs of infestation. “We’re starting with the ones that are showing a lot of dead,” Miles said. “And they’ve all had the emerald ash borer in them, probably for a year.” The insect, originally from East Asia, was first detected in Douglas County in September
2015. The larvae of the insect kill ash trees by feeding under the bark, forming tunnels that block the tree from distributing nutrients. The growing void left by the removal of ash trees will not remain, at least on city property. The city — which for 38 years running has been named a “Tree City USA” by the National Arbor Day Foundation for its tree program — plans to do more than just replace the trees it cuts
down. Miles said that the goal is to replace the trees at a rate of 1.5-to-1. The city is also injecting some trees — about 350 thus far — with an insecticide to kill off the larvae, which protects the tree as long as it continues to receive injections, Miles said. The injection is put directly into the tree by drilling small holes into it, so Miles noted the
> BORER, 4A
Local businesses owned by women propel city to high ranking
L
Town Talk
awrence has been named the 22nd best city in the country for female entrepreneurs. The ranking comes from GoodCall, an online consumer research company. The firm looked at data for about 400 metropolitan areas and ranked each based on factors such as the number
Chad Lawhorn clawhorn@ljworld.com
of businesses owned by women in a community, the breakdown of small businesses versus large businesses in a community, growth of the local economy, education rates for women and a few other factors. Victoria, Texas, was the top-ranked community. At No. 22, Lawrence was
Pleasant
L A W R E NC E
Journal-World
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High: 80
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the top-ranked community in Kansas and the second-highest ranked in the region. Greeley, Colo., checked in at No. 5. No other Kansas communities made the top 100. Others from the region include: l Fort Collins, Colo.: No. 30 l Boulder, Colo.: No. 33
Low: 63
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l Iowa City: No. 50 l Oklahoma City: No.
79
l Des Moines, Iowa: No. 86 The report found that about 35 percent of all businesses in Lawrence are owned by women. That ranked fairly high. The community with the largest percentage
of female-owned businesses was Danville, Ill., closely followed by Memphis, Tenn., which both had about 45 percent of businesses owned by women. — This is an excerpt from Chad Lawhorn’s Town Talk column, which appears each weekday on LJWorld.com.
Forecast, 6B
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DEATHS...........................2A EVENTS...........................6B
HOROSCOPE....................5B OPINION..........................5A
PUZZLES.........................5B SPORTS.....................1C-4C
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