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SATURDAY • JANUARY 10 • 2015
A MEMORIAL TO WHAT?
TOPEKA
Feds reach deal with state DOC on inmate abuse
Memorial Stadium
Kansas Memorial Union
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Prison forced to make changes after report found women imperiled
Mike Yoder/Journal-World Photo
KANSAS UNIVERSITY IS HOME TO TWO MASSIVE MEMORIALS TO WORLD WAR I, which is marking its 100th anniversary: Memorial Stadium, pictured at upper left, and the Kansas Memorial Union, the red brick building to the right of Dyche Hall, which is at center.
By Peter Hancock Twitter: @LJWpqhancock
Few know World War I roots of popular sites on KU campus By Sara Shepherd
Learn more about it
Twitter: @saramarieshep
Two of Kansas University’s most trafficked buildings were constructed as memorials to KU’s casualties of World War I. As the Great War marks its 100th anniversary most of the tens of thousands of fans packing Memorial Stadium each fall, or the thousands of students and visitors flowing through the Kansas Memorial Union each day, don’t know the buildings’ significance — which is one reason KU hasn’t constructed buildings as memorials since. Except for the name “Memorial Stadium” in a few spots, the stadium has no obvious signage noting its WWI roots.
Read more about KU’s involvement in World War I, and the construction of Memorial Stadium and the Kansas Memorial Union, on the sixth floor of the Union, 1301 Jayhawk Blvd. The KU History website, kuhistory.com, also has related articles, including “Rising for the fallen,” “Kansas must have a stadium!” and “We remember.”
This photo of Joseph C. Liggett is among 129 photos of KU students and alumni who died while in service during World War I, displayed on the sixth floor of the Kansas Memorial Union. The union — where “Kansas Union” is carved over the main entrance — has a small plaque on
its main level, but reading more requires a trip to the top floor. William Towns, former union operations manager and KU history scholar, said that times and decorum were different back then. He said it wasn’t unusual for memorials to be less “self-aggrandizing.” At the same time, Towns and some others say it’s too bad that tributes to the buildings’
valiant beginnings aren’t more prominent now. The stadium, in particular, surprised Ray Liggett and relatives, who learned it was a war memorial only after stumbling across genealogical information on a great uncle who was one of KU’s WWI casualties. “I thought ... surely there was a plaque that indicated why they
Topeka — The U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division announced Friday it has reached a settlement agreement with the Kansas Department of Corrections to prevent sexual abuse of female prisoners at the Topeka Correctional Facility. The settlement stems from a report by federal investigators in September 2012 that found women prisoners at TCF The agreement were subjected to a pattern or requires the state practice of sexual to comply with the abuse. Prison Rape Elimi“This will go nation Act National a long way toward reducing Standards and that the harm women the state mandate have experienced zero tolerance of while being held at the TCF,” said all forms of sexual Barry Grissom, abuse and sexual U.S. Attorney harassment. for the District of Kansas. “The state of Kansas and the KDOC are to be commended for working with the Justice Department to reform the state’s correctional practices.” TCF is a women’s prison that houses more than 700 inmates. Corrections Department spokesman Jeremy Barclay said the department was pleased with the settlement. “We’ve been working with the federal government on this for two years, and we’ve been working on fixing the situation
Please see MEMORIAL, page 2A
Please see PRISON, page 2A
Credit rating agencies critical of Kansas’ budget outlook Both rating agencies — Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s — downgraded the state’s credit rating in August. The Topeka — Two credit rat- statements issued Friday are not another downgrade, ing agencies said Friday that but they represent concerns both agencies have about the state’s budget shortfall issues that could affect future rating decisions. By Peter Hancock
Twitter: @LJWpqhancock
and a recent court ruling on school finance represent growing problems for the state that could affect its credit rating in the future. Moody’s Investor Service
said the Dec. 30 ruling is a “The state is likely to appeal “credit negative” for the state again, but the lower court’s of Kansas but a positive for its recommendation comes at a 286 school districts. particularly stressful time for
INSIDE
Partly cloudy Business Classified Comics Deaths
High: 34
Low: 22
Today’s forecast, page 6A
state finances,” said Moody’s spokesman David Jacobson. On Dec. 30, a three-judge panel in Topeka ruled for a second time that public schools in Kansas are unconstitutionally under-funded. And while the court did not order a remedy, it suggested that as much as $548 million in additional school funding could be required, or about 9
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percent of the total state general fund. That came at a time when the state was already confronting a projected $279 million budget deficit for the current fiscal year and another $436 million deficit in the next fiscal year that begins July 1. Combined with other factors, Please see CREDIT, page 2A
Ready for Texas Tech
Vol.157/No.10 18 pages
The No. 12 Jayhawks face the Red Raiders at 2 p.m. today at Allen Fieldhouse after edging out Baylor in a close one Wednesday. Page 1B
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