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U.S. Army aims to cut 40,000 soldiers over next two years. 1B Delayed delivery Delivery of today’s edition of the Lawrence Journal-World was delayed in order to provide readers with exclusive coverage of Kansas University’s basketball game versus Serbia in South Korea. The game tipped off at 10 p.m. central time on Tuesday.
Selden leads USA over Serbia, Chile
See a recap of all the action from S. Korea in Sports, 1C, 4C and 5C
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WEDNESDAY • JULY 8 • 2015
Brownback order shields clergy on gay marriage Meanwhile, Kansas opens state employees’ health plan to same-sex spouses
that they can’t punish ministers or religious groups for opposing same-sex marriage, and critics said he is Topeka — Gov. Sam sanctioning discrimination Brownback told Kansas gov- even as the state extends ernment agencies Tuesday new benefits to gay and les-
By John Hanna
Associated Press
Brownback
bian couples. Brownback issued an executive order in response to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling last month legalizing same-sex marriage across the nation. Brownback’s or-
der said the “imposition” of gay marriage could lead to “potential infringements” of religious liberties. The conservative Republican governor’s action is designed to shield churches,
clergy, religious leaders and religious groups refusing to perform same-sex weddings or provide goods, services or accommodations for Please see MARRIAGE, page 2A
City leaders seek ways to avoid tax hike in ’16 budget
‘It all happened so fast’
By Peter Hancock
“
A mill levy increase is something I Lawrence city commis- definitely do not want sioners appeared to agree to do.” Twitter: @LJWpqhancock
Richard Gwin/Journal-World Photo
JOHN GREEN, AN EMPLOYEE WITH THE CITY OF EUDORA, HELPS CLEAN UP STORM DAMAGE near a broken gravestone at the Eudora City Cemetery, on Tuesday. Monday night’s damage was caused by an EF1 tornado, according to a preliminary damage assessment Tuesday by the National Weather Service in Topeka.
Eudora cleans up after EF1 tornado
“
Just about every tree I have has been damaged. I’ve got a 65-year-old maple tree out front that got completely leveled.” — Eudora resident Dave Warmker
Twitter: @conrad_swanson
As Eudora resident Dave Warmker heard Monday night’s tornado warning, he and his wife looked outside and decided to grab their child and head for the crawl space under their home. “The wind hit right as we were crawling under,” he said. “I don’t know if it was a tornado per se,
Please see STORM, page 8A
INSIDE
Stormy Business Classified Comics Crave
High: 69
it felt like straight-line winds to me, but it all happened so fast and it was so loud.” After the storm passed and the couple crawled out from under their home, they assessed the damage to their property. “Just about every tree I have has been damaged. I’ve got a 65-year-old maple tree out front that got completely leveled,” he
By Conrad Swanson
Low: 56
Today’s forecast, page 8A
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Tuesday that they want to explore all options that would avoid the need to raise property taxes next year. “A mill levy increase is something I definitely do not want to do,” Commissioner Leslie Soden said during a two-hour study session to review the 2016 budget proposal. Tuesday’s study session was the first opportunity comCITY missioners COMMISSION had to delve into the details of the proposed budget since interim city manager Diane Stoddard unveiled it last week. It calls for raising the city’s property tax rate by a little more than 3 percent, or 1.057 mills, which translates to $19.45 in additional tax on a home valued at $160,000.
— City Commissioner Leslie Soden That would bring the city’s total property tax rate to 32.531 mills, or $598.57 in tax on a $160,000 home. That does not include the taxes that property owners pay to school districts, Douglas County, the state of Kansas and other local units of government. Stoddard said the city has made significant investments in recent years, with projects such as Rock Chalk Park, a new technical education training center, expansion of the Lawrence Please see BUDGET, page 6A l City commissioners
open to helping community shelter with emergency funding. Page 6A
Vol.157/No.189 38 pages
Locally Sourced In his new column, chef Rick Martin discusses the benefits of eating local. In Crave
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