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City Commission approves gender identity ordinance By Chad Lawhorn clawhorn@ljworld.com
It took more than a two-hour discussion that ranged from restrooms to rights to religion, but Lawrence city commissioners late Tuesday approved a controversial provision providing new legal protections to trans-
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Today’s forecast, page 10A
INSIDE
vestites and other people who are transgender. On a 4-1 vote, commissioners agreed to add gender identity to the list of protected classes in the city’s anti-discrimination code. The new language will make it illegal for employers, landlords and most businesses to discriminate against people
who are transgender or don’t identify with the gender of their birth. Commissioners approved the ordinance in front of a deeply divided crowd of more than 70 people who filled the City Commission chambers and much of the lobby. Commissioners heard from multiple Lawrence
residents who said that the new ordinance would wrongly condone a “lifestyle choice” that some individuals make to be transgender and that it violated Biblical teachings. A majority of commissioners, though, were unswayed. “Looking at this, a lot of these arguments just fall flat,” said
Mayor Aron Cromwell. “This is not about morality. It is about discrimination.” City Commissioner Mike Amyx voted against the ordinance. He said he was not Please see CITY, page 5A
! Decision on utility policy
put off. Page 2A
Veterans find job market tough
ENROLLMENT
Shrinking numbers an issue at KU
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Many opting to return to college
By Andy Hyland ahyland@ljworld.com
By George Diepenbrock gdiepenbrock@ljworld.com
Local farms welcome visitors for tour This weekend, 24 Douglas County farms will be open to the public for the seventh annual Kaw Valley Farm Tour. The tour includes a variety, from alpacas to beekeepers to wineries. Page 10B SPORTS
ADs seek stability for Big 12 Big 12 athletic directors discussed ways during their meeting Tuesday to stabilize their league and considered the possibility of expansion. Page 1B
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QUOTABLE
People don’t want people prying into their own personal business.” — Sen. Anthony Hensley, a Topeka Democrat, who said the lack of cooperation in a marriage incentive audit was likely because people didn’t want to talk to state officials about such matters. Conservatives questioned the validity of what they say were “subjective” responses from agency staff and clients contained in the audit. Page 3A
COMING THURSDAY We’ll catch up with U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom, who’s in town to talk with a local Rotary group.
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When Andrew Foster got out of the Navy a few years ago, his skills at working on a radar missile guidance system helped him land a California job for Starbucks fixing espresso machines. The 28-year-old military veteran who had served all over the world, including an anti-terrorism and antipiracy stint in the Persian Gulf, said he was fortunate to get into the civilian workforce at a time when it can This be difficult series for so many young vetThis is erans. But part the transithree in tion from a series the miliexploring tary back various into civilian aspects life wasn’t of the seamless. local job “It’s an market. entirely different set of standards and protocol and an entirely different structure as well,” said Foster, who grew up in Derby and returned to Kansas University in 2008 just before his maintenance division at Starbucks was eliminated and outsourced. Now he’s among thousands of young military veterans across the country who have returned to college on the Post-9/11 GI Bill as a way to earn a degree and hone their skills amid a rough job market. With the national unemployment rate at 9.1 percent in August, the U.S. Bureau
Amyx
Kevin Anderson/Journal-World Photo
MANY VETERANS COMING BACK FROM IRAQ OR AFGHANISTAN are choosing to go back to college to earn a degree instead of searching for a job in the current economy. Some of those veterans attending Kansas University are, front row from left, Katherine Robinson, Andrew Foster, Kyle Brown and Sara Sneath; back row from left: Jake Robinson, Drew Beets and Stewart Melton. of Labor Statistics earlier this year estimated the jobless rate among all veterans who served since 9/11, including in Iraq and Afghanistan, was a couple points higher. Those who work with veterans to find employment say it’s a likely a result
of the current job market and the difficult transition that veterans can face. “With the market the way it is, employers can be a lot more selective,” said Matt King, a veterans employment representative with the Lawrence Workforce Center.
Employers’ incentives King said the workforce center aims to help match veterans who have certain skills with jobs they are best qualified for. King said the center has also helped veterans gain extra job training for skills in certain Please see VETERANS, page 2A
Kansas University officials, concerned by another decrease in enrollment, said Tuesday they’re taking steps to reverse the trend. Fall enrollment dropped 744 students, to 28,718, according to figures released by the Kansas Board of Regents on Tuesday. The 2.5 percent drop continues a recent trend of decreasing enrollment at the university, after enrollment increased to a record 30,102 in 2008. The figures include numbers for both KU’s Lawrence and Edwards campuses, as well as at KU Medical Center. “They tell me we’ve got work to do,” said Matt Melvin, KU’s KANSAS vice provost UNIVERSITY for enrollment management, looking at the numbers. Some of the decline, he said, was anticipated as KU’s freshmen classes in 2009 and 2010 dropped off from previous years. Melvin said he was pleased with the academic success and the diversity of KU’s incoming freshmen this year. “We’re very strong in quality, very strong in diversity,” Melvin said. “We need the trifecta. We need the quantity.” Enrollment is going up at KU Medical Center, which reported a 2.3 percent increase. And students were taking more credit hours at KU’s Edwards Campus in Overland Park. But they were offset by declines on KU’s Lawrence campus. KU doesn’t separate the head count for the KU and Edwards campuses, and taken Please see ENROLLMENT, page 2A
Baseball stats pioneer says ‘Moneyball’ hits it out of the park LAWRENCE RESIDENT Bill James, pictured in 2004 at Hobbs Park, is a pioneer in the field of baseball statistics. His sabermetrics system is the basis for the movie “Moneyball,” which stars Brad Pitt.
By Dennis Anderson danderson@ljworld.com
Journal-World File Photo
Bill James is a critic of baseball, not movies. But he’s got an informed opinion of the movie “Moneyball,” out in theaters nationwide this week. “It’s terrific,” said James, who lives in Lawrence. “It’s a fun movie with a warm and original perspective on baseball. It’s got a really nice energy to it.” “Moneyball,” based on a book by Michael Lewis, is the story of a corps of nerds trying to change the way big-league teams assess and acquire players. The system that the club, led by Brad Pitt’s Billy Beane character, uses is based on James’ system of sabermetrics, the analysis of player performance based on statistics. There isn’t a Bill James character in “Moneyball,” but his name is used four times in the script, as well as his image.
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The people who made the movie — all of them, I think — are nonbaseball fans. That’s part of the reason it works as well as it does; they avoid the cliches associated with baseball.”
— Bill James, on “Moneyball” James has been writing about baseball for nearly 35 years. Jargon in his world includes “win shares,” “similarity scores” and “range factor.” As in the movie, the baseball establishment shunned his early work until a new generation took over. James now has two World Series rings for his role as senior adviser of baseball operations for the Boston Red Sox. “I write to hard-core baseball fans,” James said. “Anybody else is an interloper. That’s part of what defines
my books: the decision to write to the hardest-core, most knowledgeable baseball fans, assuming that the reader starts with a deep knowledge of the game. I’ve never tried to write to the casual fan.” So it’s a wonder sabermetrics can be the basis for a Hollywood movie. “The people who made the movie — all of them, I think — are nonbaseball fans,” said James, a towering yet soft-spoken figure. “That’s part of the reason it works as well as it does; they avoid the cliches associated with baseball because they don’t have a traditional view of the game.” If there were a Bill James character in the movie, whom would James like to play him? “John Wayne and Wally Cox would appear to be the logical candidates,” he said. — Managing editor Dennis Anderson can be reached at 832-7194.