Lawrence Journal-World 05-04-2016

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M O M R O F S L MEA IN CRAVE

Cruz ends bid for GOP presidential nomination. 1B

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WEDNESDAY • MAY 4 • 2016

MAN WITH A PLAN Brownback: Eudora planning Financial strain commissioner stepping down ahead for state after 45 years By Peter Hancock

By Elvyn Jones

Twitter: @LJWpqhancock

Twitter: @ElvynJ

Topeka — Gov. Sam Brownback said Tuesday that there were a number of big items on his legislative agenda this year that lawmakers did not address, namely changing the way Supreme Court justices are chosen and enacting a new school funding formula. But he said the biggest challenge facing the state over the next year will be lagging state finances, which he blamed on a

Kurt von Achen remembers it was an unwelcome development next door that prompted his family’s move to the “sleepy little farm town” of Eudora. “There was about a 5-acre open area behind our house in Kansas City, Mo.,” he said. “We didn’t own it, but we and the neighborhood children played there all the time. The people who owned it built houses on the property. My father said, ‘That’s it. We’re moving to the country.’ He found this place when I was in the sixth grade.” The place his father, Kenneth von Achen, found was east of Eudora on old Kansas Highway 10. It is now the residence of his sister and home of the office where every weekday morning the

Nick Krug/Journal-World Photo

Markus: City needs to enforce sidewalk repair law Twitter: @nikkiwentling

In response to a task force’s request that Lawrence sidewalks be better maintained, City Manager Tom Markus said Tuesday that city leaders should have more “courage” in imposing what

has been called a trian-Bicycle Is“politically unensues Task Force forceable” sideon challenges with walk maintenance Lawrence pedespolicy: property trian and bicycle owners paying for infrastructure and repairs. recommendations The discuson how to deal sion came up as Markus with them. The part of the final task force didn’t report from the Pedes- propose a solution for ill-

Please see BROWNBACK, page 2A

Moody’s changes credit outlook for Kansas to negative

KURT VON ACHEN IS STEPPING DOWN after 45 years with the Eudora Planning Please see PLAN, page 6A Commission.

By Nikki Wentling

bad economy in rural Kansas. “We’ve got a lot of financial strain that’s going to be Brownback continuing just because of oil and gas, and agriculture in particular, because that has property tax implications to it,” he said. Brownback spoke briefly with reporters

maintained sidewalks but said the issue needed to be discussed and a new maintenance program put in place by 2017. Please see SIDEWALKS, page 7A l City leaders receive

‘dire’ budget forecast. Page 3A

Topeka (ap) — An international rating agency revised its credit outlook for Kansas to negative on Tuesday and criticized the two biggest financial moves the state expects to use to keep its budget balanced through June 2017. The announcement by Moody’s Investors Service came a day after the Republican-

dominated Legislature approved a plan that dumps most of the budget-balancing work on GOP Gov. Sam Brownback. The plan is designed to eliminate projected shortfalls totaling more than $290 million in the current state budget and the one for the next fiscal year beginning July 1. Please see CREDIT, page 2A

Lawrence school district decides not to ban Confederate flag ‘Micro-aggressions’ might be included in revised harassment policy By Rochelle Valverde Twitter: @RochelleVerde

The Lawrence school board’s policy advisory committee has decided not to recommend an

outright ban of the Confederate flag. Instead, committee members plan to draft a policy recommendation that broadens the school district’s definition of discrimination and harassment to in-

that a less specific policy will protect students from multiple forms of discrimination. “I think that’s inclusive without excluding potentially other kinds of hate speech that we may not

INSIDE

Nice Business Classified Comics Crave

High: 70

clude symbols that convey hate messages. In addition to protecting the district from being sued by students claiming a violation of their freedom of speech, committee members say

Low: 39

Today’s forecast, page 10A

2A 1D-8D, 10D 9D 1CR-2CR

Deaths Events listings Horoscope Opinion

be able to anticipate yet,” school board President Vanessa Sanburn told fellow committee members at their meeting Tuesday. Currently, the district’s discrimination and harassment policy protects against physical, verbal and written discrimination

and harassment. Sanburn is on the policy advisory committee along with board member Shannon Kimball and Dave Cunningham, director of human resources and legal services for the district. Please see FLAG, page 2A

Self lauds top recruit

2A Puzzles 10A, 2C Sports 8A Television 9A USA Today

8A 1C-4C 8A, 10A, 2C 1B-6B

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Vol.158/No.125 44 pages

KU basketball coach Bill Self says that incoming freshman Josh Jackson has the talent to make a huge impact on the Jayhawks next season. Page 1C

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