Lawrence Journal-World 04-11-2016

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‘STRONG’ WOMAN Algebra teacher competes on fitness reality show. Page 3A

Former NFL star killed in apparent road rage. 1B

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MONDAY • APRIL 11 • 2016

STORIES OF HOPE

A BLITZ AGAINST CANCER

City asked to approve $250,000 for rehab of elevators By Nikki Wentling Twitter: @nikkiwentling

Earl Richardson/Special to the Journal-World

MIKE GROSSNER IS PICTURED AT LISTON STADIUM AT BAKER UNIVERSITY, where he is head football coach. Among Grossner’s biggest cheerleaders during his fight against cancer were his youngest son, Ryker, and his team.

Baker football coach inspires team with strength off the field By Matt Tait

Stories of Hope

Twitter: @mctait

There’s a stigma attached to football coaches that says tough guys aren’t supposed to cry. Baker University football coach Mike Grossner, who has completed his 12th season leading the Wildcats, knows that unwritten rule well, but was not about to sweat it when he was diagnosed with stage 4 head and

neck cancer in August 2014. A few weeks after discovering a lump on his neck that he irritated every time he shaved — a nurse at Baker dubbed his lump “The Thing” — the BU football coach shared with his team the hell he was about to embark upon. “It was pretty emotional,”

recalls Grossner, 50, of the preseason meeting. “I just told them, ‘Here’s what’s going on, I’m not planning on missing any time and this is the last we’re going to talk about it.’” Just like that, another season of Baker football was underway. Please see COACH, page 2A

This profile provided by the Lawrence Memorial Hospital Endowment Association is one in a series of 12 about area cancer heroes. These survivors’ stories and photographs hang in the hallway leading to the LMH Oncology Center, offering hope to patients being cared for at LMH Oncology and their families. For more in the series, visit WellCommons.com.

Something is broken at Lawrence City Hall: the elevators. The 36-year-old, on-again, offagain elevators inside City Hall are due for rehabilitation, according to a city memo from facility division manager Jason Stowe. On Tuesday, city commissioners will be asked to approve their replacement, which comes with a price tag of up to $250,000. “The reality is that these elevators are six years past their normal life expectancy and need rehabilitated,” Stowe’s memo states. The two elevators were installed when the building was constructed in 1980. There have been intermittent outages, and they were recently out of service for two CITY weeks. When their COMMISSION parts were replaced, they operated for one full day before going down again. The main concern, Stowe wrote, is City Hall employees and others getting trapped. One elevator remains out of service and is irreparable, and they can’t wait until 2017 to be fixed, the memo states. The city is asking that it be allowed to request proposals from firms to design, engineer and construct the elevators. It’s also seeking updates to the elevator’s security cameras and interior. Funding for the work would come from the capital equipment reserve fund. The issue is on the commission’s consent agenda, so Please see ELEVATORS, page 2A

KU initiative aims to get humanities grads out of the ‘ivory tower’ By Sara Shepherd Twitter: @saramarieshep

Meaghan Kelly was giving pitches only an academic could love. She was looking for a job outside academia. But the Kansas University graduate student

was speaking the language of a world traditionally focused on shaping scholars and feeding them directly into other institutions of higher education as professors: the humanities. “During networking events with potential employers or contacts, I used to have a terrible tendency of giving

by an increasing number of humanities master’s and doctoral degree holders — is the impetus behind the Hall Center for the Humanities’ new Applied Humanities Initiative. Like professional schools such as business or law have long been doing, KU’s Applied Humanities Initiative directly

INSIDE

Cooler Classified Comics Deaths Events listings

High: 60

long-winded explanations of my research that effectively elicited looks of confusion, or, worse, complete disinterest,” Kelly said. “I had a fundamental problem with simply describing how my current skills could benefit an organization’s mission.” Kelly’s conundrum — shared

Low: 30

Today’s forecast, page 8A

6C-9C 10C 2A 8A

Horoscope Opinion Puzzles Sports

6A Television 7A USA Today 6A 1C-5C

6A, 8A 1B-8B

connects graduate students with leaders, employers and jobs in what some would call “the real world.” The effort includes panel discussions, a weeklong Applied Humanities Boot Camp and a paid internship program. Please see HUMANITIES, page 2A

Will top recruit commit to KU?

Vol.158/No.102 26 pages

No. 1-rated high school basketball player Josh Jackson is expected to announce today if he’ll be coming to KU. Sports, 1C

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