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FRIDAY • JANUARY 8 • 2016
BAMBI, MEET BOBCAT
SCHOOL FINANCE DEBATE
Tabled report may still be useful ——
Officials: Contents could be roadmap to new system By Peter Hancock Twitter: @LJWpqhancock
Topeka — A draft report recommending ways that Kansas could overhaul its school funding system was tabled by a special legislative committee on Tuesday. But key lawmakers say its contents may still become the foundation of a new finance system, and education groups are alRichard Gwin/Journal-World Photo ready organizing so they A YOUNG DEER SNORTS AND SCRAPES ITS FEET WHILE APPROACHING A BOBCAT to scare the predator away late in the afternoon on can be ready to respond to LEGISLATURE Monday east of Lawrence. it during the 2016 legislative session. “They’re not out-of-line suggestions. They are in line with what the committee was given as direction to look at,” said Rep. Ron Highland, R-Wamego, who chaired the special committee and Kansas lawmaker’s wrote the draft report. “I think the recThe posting Bradford Adding to the drama was Facebook post disommendations, some will be dealt with shared from the Conservative the fact that Bradford was playing a derogaCountry community Faceamong a group of lawmakers very quickly and heavily by committory cartoon image tees, and some won’t.” book page featured a who, in 2015, filed a formal of President Barack photo of a man wearcomplaint against Rep. Please see REPORT, page 8A Obama and poking fun ing a sombrero and Valdenia Winn, D-Kansas at Mexican accents a headline, “Mexican City, an African-American, ignited a storm of conwords of the day.” It accusing her of unjustly calltroversy Thursday. then jokingly fashing lawmakers racist during The post by Rep. ioned unrelated words a committee meeting. John Bradford, Rinto a mock sentence Winn publicly described Lansing, has since in heavily accented supporters of a bill denying been removed from English that celebrated in-state tuition to people Bradford his Facebook page, Obama’s leaving office who are in the U.S. illegally but not before it in January 2017. It also “racist bigots.” Peter Hancock prompted a flurry of stateincluded an altered picture of phancock@ljworld.com Please see POST, page 2A ments of condemnation. the Democratic president.
Legislator accused of racist Facebook post Statehouse Live
A
Attendance slips in skating rink’s second year
KC man pleads guilty in shelter stabbing
By Conrad Swanson Twitter: @Conrad_Swanson
By Nikki Wentling Twitter: @nikkiwentling
On Nov. 27, the day the outdoor city ice skating rink opened for the season, the National Weather Service issued a freezing rain advisory, and rain and sleet fell on Lawrence. It was a bad opening weekend for the rink, said Lawrence Parks and Recreation operations manager Jimmy Gibbs. And it didn’t get much better. Based on city estimates, the skate rink has seen not Richard Gwin/Journal-World Photo quite one-third of the skatTHE HURLA FAMILY, OF EUDORA, ENJOYS SKATING ON LAWRENCE’S SYNTHETIC ICE RINK on Dec. ers it had by this time last 24, 2015. From left to right: Langston, 3; mom Shanda; Parker, 10; Grant, 5; Lincoln, 7; and dad year. Joe. Lawrence Parks and Recreation officials say the rink this year has not quite seen one-third the Please see RINK, page 2A number of skaters it had by this time last year.
A 22-year-old Kansas City, Mo., man has pleaded guilty to attempted firstdegree murder in connection with a March 2014 stabbing at the Lawrence Community Shelter. In the spring of 2014 Christopher McKay, then 21, was both a volunteer in the kitchen of the Lawrence Community Shelter, 3655 North 1360 Road, and a guest of the facility, the Douglas County District At- McKay torney’s Office said in a release. On the afternoon of March 13, McKay took a steak knife from the shelter’s kitchen and slashed the throat of Robert Shaner, then 46, a shelter staff member and former guest. Please see STABBING, page 2A
INSIDE
Fog, showers Business Classified Comics Deaths
High: 40
Low: 24
Today’s forecast, page 8A
2A 6C-9C 10C 2A
Events listings Going Out Horoscope Opinion
5A, 2C Puzzles 5A Sports 6A Television 7A USA Today
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School support 6A 1C-5C 8A, 2C 1B-8B
A Lawrence High School graduate has created a charity that allows Kansans to make a monthly donation directly to local school districts. Page 3A
Vol.158/No.8 32 pages