JUST WHAT HE
Josh Jackson settling into college life. 1D
EXPECTED
In Florida’s crucial county, a fierce battle. 1B
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Tuesday • October 25 • 2016
Racism dominates talk at school board meeting
By Joanna Hlavacek
jhlavacek@ljworld.com
Compared to City Commission, most Lawrence school board meetings are relatively quiet affairs that occur, usually twice a month, with little public participation. Monday evening’s installment, however, proved to be anything but a “typical meeting” for the school board, as local Black Lives Matter organizer Caleb Stephens
‘‘
The people that are here right now don’t have time to be here today. We’re here because this is important, because we prioritize our children.”
— Local Black Lives Matter organizer Caleb Stephens
pointed out to an unusually packed meeting room at the Lawrence district offices that night. “The people that are here right now don’t have time to be here today,” Stephens said. “We’re here because this is important, because we
prioritize our children.” Stephens, along with approximately two dozen concerned citizens and parents, had attended the meeting to voice their unease — and, in some cases, outrage — over the district’s handling of a South Middle School teacher
who last week was accused of making racist comments in class. The teacher, whom the district has declined to name because of confidentiality reasons, is now suspended (with pay) in accordance with the school board’s policy in order “to ensure a fair and complete investigation” of the matter, a district-issued news release said at the time. But that answer, which
> SCHOOLS, 2A
PUBLISHED SINCE 1891
Victim of alleged dorm rapes sues Haskell —
Woman says she was treated unfairly as criminal cases slogged on
City eyes options for new gun law
By Sara Shepherd sshepherd@ljworld.com
By Rochelle Valverde
take effect in July 2017. But city attorneys, as well as the League of Kansas Municipalities, have interpreted the exemption period differently. The city is preparing for the law to take effect in January 2018, in accordance with the language of the law before its most recent amendment, according to Assistant City Attorney Maria Garcia. “Because that language happened after we had our original exemption in 2013, we are still interpreting the previous language that allowed us to have four years after we took it,” Garcia said. “And so, that’s our interpretation, that’s how we read it.” In other regards, matters governing how the law will be handled are clearer. Although KU has drafted policies regulating guns on campus, > GUNS, 2A
rvalverde@ljworld.com
U
nless the city pays to have metal detectors and guards at the entrances, about 50 public buildings will have to allow concealed firearms once a new state law goes into effect. As the date draws closer, city leaders are examining options. “Because of disparate locations that so many of our operations are in, to try to provide security would be an overwhelming and hugely expensive task to accomplish,” said City Manager Tom Markus. “The state has handed us a fairly large challenge in that regard.” The state’s Personal and Family Protection Act was passed in 2013, and allows concealed weapons in public buildings that don’t contain metal detectors and guards. The law included an exemption period, the length of which has been the subject of some debate. The University of Kansas, for instance, is preparing for the law to
Shutterstock and Journal-World File Photos
The Haskell Indian Nations University student fighting to criminally convict two male students she said raped her in a dorm is now suing the university and federal officials under Title IX. As she struggled to stay in school through lengthy criminal court cases against the men — which remain unresolved two years later — Haskell administrators treated her unfairly on campus and also violated her privacy by unlawfully giving her counseling records to one man’s defense attorney without a court subpoena, the lawsuit alleges. The lawsuit also accuses Haskell of allowing the environment that led to the woman being raped, specifically that Haskell employees knew the school’s no-alcohol policies and curfew hours were not being enforced. The assailants, both football players, were drinking heavily that night in November 2014 and had the woman in their dorm room after curfew, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit was filed Monday in federal court, according to the woman’s attorney, Dan Curry of the Brown & Curry law firm in Kansas City, Mo., who provided a copy of the petition. Curry also is representing Angelina Adams, the Haskell counselor who worked with the student after her rape report, in a related federal lawsuit filed earlier this month. The woman, named in the new > HASKELL, 2A
Infant’s death at Eudora day care prompts emergency suspension THE LICENSE FOR SUNSHINE KIDS GROUP DAYCARE HOME, 1307 Chestnut Lane in Eudora, was placed under emergency suspension after a 9-month-old baby under the facility’s care died in September.
By Conrad Swanson cswanson@ljworld.com
The license for a Eudora day care is under emergency suspension after an infant under the facility’s care died last month. On Sept. 29, officers were dispatched to the Sunshine Kids Group Daycare Home, 1307 Chestnut Lane, for a report of an unresponsive infant, said Eudora Police
Conrad Swanson/ Journal-World Photo
Breezy afternoon
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Capt. Daniel Flick. On the scene police found day care staff administering CPR to a 9-month-old boy. The infant boy was taken by ambulance to Lawrence Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Flick said. A preliminary autopsy led investigators to believe the boy’s death was suspicious, Flick said. As the investigation continued, the
department requested help from the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office and the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office. “Eudora is a smaller town department and with the amount of interviews that needed to be done we needed a few more investigators,” Flick said. The Eudora Police
> DAY CARE, 2A
Forecast, 6A
OPINION..........................5A HOROSCOPES, PUZZLES......5B
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