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WEDNESDAY • APRIL 9 • 2014
Commissioners tour Rock Chalk Park
City OKs funds for 23rd Street construction By Chad Lawhorn clawhorn@ljworld.com
Mike Yoder/Journal-World Photo
LAWRENCE CITY COMMISSIONERS MIKE AMYX, LEFT, AND MIKE DEVER view the track facility Tuesday during a tour of Rock Chalk Park. The tour also included a look inside the large indoor recreation center. Rock Chalk Park is located at Sixth Street, off George Williams Way.
KU Relays going to new stadium By Chad Lawhorn clawhorn@ljworld.com
The view from Rock Chalk Park looked plenty good for Lawrence city commissioners on Tuesday. After a more than hourlong tour of the sports complex in northwest Lawrence, commissioners agreed unanimously to grant a permit to allow the Kansas Relays to be held at the new track and field
stadium April 16-19, even though the project isn’t entirely completed. “We’re very excited,” said Brad Nachtigal, an associate athletic director for Kansas University. “We think it will show what a state-of-the-art track and field facility can be in the Midwest.” The view of Rock Chalk Park wasn’t universally loved, though. Commissioners approved the temporary occupancy permit
over the objections of Jack Graham, a neighbor who has expressed concern about the glare of the 100-foot tall stadium lights used at the track and field stadium. Lawrence attorney Rick Hird, who was representing Graham, said the glare of the lights would create a “permanent and significant reduction in the quality of their living environment.” Currently Graham’s home is the closest
to the site, but city plans call for other neighborhoods to be built near the center in the future. City staff members conceded that the process for approving a lighting plan for Rock Chalk Park was not properly followed. The City Commission previously had directed that no building permit for the project be issued until a lighting plan for the entire Please see PARK, page 6A
Construction crews haven’t even removed the first slabs of pavement, but a project to rebuild the busy 23rd and Iowa intersection already has gotten bumpy. Bids for the project recently came in about $1 million over budget. City commissioners at their meeting Tuesday approved the extra costs and pulled the extra money out of the city’s infrastructure sales tax account. Plans call for construction work to begin in May and last until mid-November. Once underway, motorists should prepare for a series of obstacles at the intersection. The intersection will remain open to traffic in all directions, but often times motorists will be funneled down to one lane in each direction. When completed, the intersection will include dual left-turn lanes for all four Please see PROJECT, page 6A
Developers, museum make deal for mural By Chad Lawhorn clawhorn@ljworld.com
A deal is in the works to recreate a popular downtown mural at Ninth and New Hampshire streets, although in a significantly smaller form. Lawrence city commissioners at their Tuesday CITY evening meeting were told COMMISSION the Spencer Museum of Art and a Lawrence-based development group had reached a tentative deal that would allow local artist Dave Loewenstein to either recreate or refashion the popular Pollinators mural on the wall of a new multistory building slated for the northeast corner of Ninth and New Hampshire streets.
Nick Krug/Journal-World Photo
FROM A VIEW LOOKING NORTH, the lights of the Rock Chalk Sports Park illuminate the facilities on Monday.
Please see MURAL, page 6A
Kansas teachers promise to fight elimination of tenure By John Milburn Associated Press
Topeka — Leaders of the largest Kansas teachers union vowed Tuesday to fight through November’s elections against the Legislature’s vote to eliminate tenure. The provisions were added to a school funding bill adopted Sunday by legislators that increases state funding for public schools by more than $129 million. The funding increase was made to satisfy a Kansas Su-
The legislation has the backing of the national Foundation for Excellence in Education, a group pushing for more choice for parents through various policy changes. Much of the legislation is patterned off what was accomplished by Republican Jeb Bush, right, the former Florida governor who is the chairman of the nonprofit organization.
similar to language that has been introduced or adopted across the country in recent years, including North Carolina, Indiana and Colorado. Mark Desetti, a lobbyist for the Kansas National Education Association, said that ending tenure would limit teachers’ ability to advocate for their students’ best interests. The union also believes depriving teachers of the administrative preme Court ruling last month districts. The measure is now due process provided by tenthat ordered the state to in- on Gov. Sam Brownback’s desk. ure puts their jobs in jeopardy. crease funding to poor school The tenure provisions are Desetti said while there had
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been hostility in the air toward teachers in recent years there was no indication that the tenure issue was coming until it was sprung on the Senate floor during debate of the funding bill. “I think it has become much more common in recent years,” he said. “This is political retribution by people who believe they have an unfettered right to run roughshod over people who disagree with them.”
KU parking costs The university is looking to raise revenue and make needed repairs by increasing parking rates. Page 3A
Please see TENURE, page 6A
Vol.156/No.98 36 pages