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FRIDAY • JUNE 5 • 2015
Impasse over taxes drags on to today
‘It is still very much a mystery’
House fails to strike agreement Thursday after Senate goes home By Peter Hancock Twitter: @LJWpqhancock
Mike Yoder/Journal-World Photo
ABOUT A DOZEN LARGE OAK TREES, like these leafless ones in the foreground, appear to be stressed and dying in Oak Hill Cemetery in eastern Lawrence. Parks and Recreation officials are hoping the trees simply were shocked by some odd weather events late last year but have sent tissue samples to be tested. The city notes that there have been signs of distressed trees all over the city.
City concerned that massive oaks at cemetery may be dying By Chad Lawhorn
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We’re still holding out hope. Those A mystery is brewing would be a huge at Oak Hill Cemetery that loss.” Twitter: @clawhorn_ljw
may result in the death of about a dozen large oak trees that have been fixtures at the property for more than 50 years. “We’re not ready to call them dead yet,” said Mark Hecker, assistant director of parks and recreation. “We’re still holding out hope. Those would be a huge loss.” The trees, which are near the entrance to the
— Mark Hecker, assistant director of parks and recreation cemetery in eastern Lawrence, are showing many of the signs of dead trees, including a lack of leaves during this growing season. But Parks and Recreation officials said they hope the trees simply
were shocked by some odd weather events late last year. Some signs of green have emerged on the trees. Hecker said his department asked the Douglas County Extension office for help in determining what’s going on with the large oaks. Hecker said one theory is that the trees were actively growing in the fall, and then there was a sudden and early freeze in November. That was followed by a very dry winter. The Journal-World has received
I
t’s the summer of the cicada here in Lawrence, in case you hadn’t heard — and with all that gosh darn buzzing, how could you not have? A rare kind of the insect hatches only once every 17 years, and tens of millions of them started appearing in Lawrence in late May. In honor of this rare occurrence, two local bands — The Greenhouse Culture Band and CS Luxem — joined forces last week after being challenged by the Lawrence Public Library and Lawrence Magazine (which, like the Journal-World, is owned by The World Company) to write, perform and record a theme song to honor the insects. The result of the musicians’ collaboration was released online
Low: 66
Today’s forecast, page 8A
2015 session Today is Day 106 Previous record: 107 (set in 2002) Taxes: Current taxes leave roughly a $400 million gap between anticipated spending and revenue. Budget: Planned spending for schools and judiciary passed. Remaining budget passed by House, awaiting Senate action.
Please see TREES, page 2A
By Karen Dillon Twitter: @karensdillon
Douglas County Administrator Craig Weinaug said Thursday that he would recommend the county hire an independent, third-party reviewer to determine whether building inspectors took actions outside the county’s authority regarding a house Secretary of State Kris Kobach is building. Weinaug also would like the independent reviewer to determine how to improve the county’s code enforcement process. Weinaug said it was clear to a number of people the county had made mistakes after an inspector learned Kris
Courtesy of Sara Taliaferro
Thursday, and you can listen to “Song to the Cicadas” at lawrence. com/cicadasong. You can also check it out (literally) on the library’s Lawrence Music Project website, lawrencemusicproject.org. — Jon Ralston
Kobach was building a house inside a barn in north Douglas County last year. “There are clearly some things we could have handled differently given the experience that we have had,” Weinaug Weinaug said. “It’s clear that mistakes were made by me in terms of the penalty.” Weinaug had waived a code-required penalty fee for Kobach, who violated the rules by beginning the residential building process without a permit. The county also gave Kobach a certificate of occupancy although he has no approved water source. Weinaug was speaking at a
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Thunderstorm Business Classified Comics Deaths
Please see TAXES, page 8A
Third-party reviewer likely to be called in for Kobach building case
Song celebrating cicadas released
High: 84
calls from some readers reporting problems with oak trees in other parts of the city as well. “There have been a lot of funny weather patterns,” said Crystal Miles, the city’s horticulture manager. “Sometimes that catches the trees off guard. But it is still very much a mystery.” Miles said some people even have speculated that the crop of cicadas has had an impact on the trees’ health.
Topeka — House and Senate tax negotiators went back to work Thursday night after the first compromise plan they produced went down in overwhelming defeat on the House floor. That brought the state another day closer to the deadline at midnight Saturday, when tens of thousands of state employees, including about 9,600 at Kansas University, will be LEGISLATURE furloughed because the state will not have legal authority to issue their paychecks after July 1. The bill was similar to the package Republican Gov. Sam Brownback proposed late last week. It would have raised the state sales tax by half a cent, to 6.65 percent, while lowering the tax rate on food purchases to 5.9 percent. “That would bring the sales tax rate in
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meeting of the Douglas County Board of Construction Codes Appeals on Thursday. On Wednesday the County Commission, during its regular meeting, had opted not to change the county’s building code to make the penalty fee optional instead of mandatory. Weinaug said Thursday he would recommend to the commissioners as early as June 17 that they consider his proposal for a third-party reviewer. Commissioners expressed some interest in that on Wednesday, but delayed
Treading water Recent cold, rainy weather has put a damper on opening season for Lawrence pools, but that should change soon, organizers say. Page 3A
Please see BUILDING, page 2A
Vol.157/No.156 34 pages