Lawrence Journal-World 01-18-13

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HANGING ON

KU LOSES ROLE MODEL

LHS advances in Topeka tournament Sports 1B

Francis Heller was influential in many areas Lawrence & State 3A

L A W R E NC E

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Turnpike merger plan runs into vocal critics

Things looking up downtown

By Scott Rothschild srothschild@ljworld.com

Mike Yoder/Journal-World Photo

AMANDA PETTER, CONSTRUCTION MANAGER for Francesca’s, 742 Massachusetts St., works inside the recently renovated space in preparation for opening in a little more than two weeks. The store will be a women’s clothing boutique.

Retail vacancy rates improving By Chad Lawhorn clawhorn@ljworld.com

As downtown Lawrence gets ready for a major year of construction, it already has had a bounce-back year, according to a new report released Thursday. Retail vacancy rates in downtown fell to 4.4 percent at the end of 2012, according to a new survey

from the Lawrence commercial real estate office of Colliers International. Last year at this time, the survey found downtown had a vacancy rate of 7.4 percent after several high-profile closings. “Last year everybody thought the sky was falling in downtown,” said Kelvin Heck, a broker with the Lawrence Colliers office.

But Heck speculates that several pending multimillion-dollar projects — including a new hotel building at Ninth and New Hampshire and a $19 million expansion of the Lawrence Public Library — have caused businesses to take another look at the downtown area. The fact that the completed 901 Building — a multistory apartment and

office building at Ninth and New Hampshire — is fully leased also has spurred confidence. “The amount of housing that is being added in downtown is catching people’s attention,” Heck said. “I think it is still very clear that when people come to visit Lawrence, downtown Please see VACANCY, page 2A

KU student puts school on hold to compete for Miss America title By Meagan Thomas mthomas@ljworld.com

Special to the Journal-World

MISS KANSAS, Sloane Lewis, plays piano for the talent portion of the Miss America Pageant in Las Vegas.

Sloane Lewis didn’t plan to delay her graduation from Kansas University. But the 22-year-old seniorto-be had other things to do over the past few months. Like compete for the title of Miss America. Lewis was crowned Miss Kansas last June, putting her final year at KU on hold while she fulfilled the duties of her state title and prepared for the national competition, which

Business Classified Comics Deaths

Low: 32

Today’s forecast, page 10A

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Events listings Horoscope Movies Opinion

10A, 2B Puzzles 9B Sports 4A Television 8A

Please see TURNPIKE, page 2A

Regents applaud budget proposal, but say higher ed could still suffer By Scott Rothschild srothschild@ljworld.com

for the talent portion of the competition and worked out to get in “swimsuit shape” for the Miss America pageant. Even after Lewis arrived in Las Vegas for the pageant on Jan. 3, she wasn’t done preparing. Days began with breakfast at 6:30 a.m. and were spent rehearsing for the show and filming commercials. After dinner as a group, the 53 contestants would review the next day’s schedule until 10 p.m.

TOPEKA — Gov. Sam Brownback’s flatfunding budget proposal for higher education is a far cry from what the Kansas Board of Regents wanted. But the regents praised the governor on Thursday, considering the state’s tight financial situation. “The important point here is the governor has made a policy decision that he is not going to support cuts to higher ed,” said Regent Vice Chairman Fred Logan Brownback of Leawood. “He recognizes that there is no better pro-growth strategy than having a strong system of higher education,” Logan said.

Please see PAGEANT, page 2A

Please see REGENTS, page 2A

INSIDE

Pleasant

High: 52

took place in Las Vegas last weekend. “As soon as you win you’re handed these responsibilities, but the biggest is to prepare for Miss America,” she said. Lewis began her summer with a Miss America photo shoot and filled out paperwork to send in for the pageant. She worked on her platform of empowering at-risk youth and spoke at schools, juvenile detention centers and to foster children. She practiced the piano for two hours every day

TOPEKA — The latest version of the turnpike tussle has started in the 2013 legislative session. Gov. Sam Brownback’s State of the State address earlier this week pointed to the existence of the Kansas Turnpike Authority and Kansas Department of Transportation as “one of the clearest examples of duplication in state government.” The governor proposed merging the two under KDOT Secretary of Transportation Mike King. King But the merger idea hit a speed bump Thursday when King appeared before the Senate Transportation Committee. “I have reservations about why we should fix something that really isn’t broken,” said Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, D-Topeka. He said he believed Brownback

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Alcohol accidents down

Vol.155/No.18 28 pages

For the second straight year, Douglas County saw a reduction in alcoholrelated traffic accidents, according to data from the Kansas Department of Transportation. Page 3A

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