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75 CENTS
45%3$!9 s -!2#( s
Windy, warmer
High: 74
Downtown preparing for events
Low: 53
Today’s forecast, page 10A
INSIDE
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SCHOOL BOARD
School closings to still be addressed By Christine Metz cmetz@ljworld.com
Tournament future up in the air The Phillips 66 Big 12 men’s basketball championship will be held in the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo., this week as well as in March of 2013 and 2014. But after that it remains to be seen whether the popular tournament will return to the arena now that the University of Missouri has defected to the SEC, leaving no Big 12 member institutions from that state. Page 1B STATE
Experts criticize Medicaid changes Experts on states converting to privately managed Medicaid systems on Monday warned of problems Kansas may face as it follows this path, saying it could have life or death consequences. Page 3A POLITICS
Sizing up Super Tuesday The four Republican candidates seeking their party’s presidential nomination compete today for the largest number of delegates so far. Page 6A
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QUOTABLE
The radar didn’t show rotation until it was directly over town. It just makes us sick.” — Chad Omitt, meteorologist in charge of the National Weather Service’s Topeka branch. The only tornado siren in Harveyville was never activated last Tuesday as a tornado hit because rotation in the storm seemed to be weakening and a tornado warning was not extended into Wabaunsee County. Page 4A
Mike Yoder/Journal-World Photo
DAVID KRAUS, SENIOR MAINTENANCE WORKER with Lawrence’s Public Works Department, marks off an area at Eighth and New Hampshire streets that will be transformed into a large shot put arena for the Kansas Relays April 18-21. In the background, city and KU Athletics officials discuss the logistics of the field event. Construction of the arena will take place the week of the relays.
Commission set to approve spring, summer street closings By Chad Lawhorn clawhorn@ljworld.com
A 16-pound steel ball, lots of spandex and a few detours are all on tap for downtown Lawrence. As the temperatures rise, so to will the number of downtown events and associated street closings. Lawrence city commissioners are set to approve four of them at their meeting this evening. Here’s a look:
Kansas Relays shot put competition. At 6 p.m. April 18, a Wednesday evening, city crews once again will convert the intersection of Eighth and New Hampshire streets
into a world-class shot us we had to do this put ring. again. And they all have The event made agreed to participate headlines last year by again.” becoming the first sancDonley said 11 comtioned U.S. shot put petitors are expected event held on a to compete, indowntown city cluding former street, relay ofworld champions, ficials said. The Olympic medalevent attracted ists and several about 2,500 specthrowers who are tators, and orgaexpected to comCITY nizers said it was pete in the Olyman easy decision COMMISSION pic Games in Lonto bring the event don this summer. back to downtown: The event will close Very big men who the 100 block of East throw 16-pound shot Eighth Street and the puts told them to do so. Eighth and New Hamp“The throwers just shire intersection from loved it,” said Milan 6 a.m. April 18 to 6 a.m. Donley, director of the April 19, in order to give Kansas Relays. “Af- crews time to set up and ter the event, they told tear down the shot put
ring. Organizers are asking for city approval to allow alcohol sales on the public right-of-way surrounding the shot put area. Organizers also plan to add bleachers around the ring to accommodate a larger crowd.
Kansas Relays long jump competition. At 6 p.m. April 19, world class long jumpers will take over the 100 block of West Eighth Street. But this year the event will shift from a men’s competition to a women’s competition. Donley expects a field of eight women. The block
LEGISLATURE
Opposing sides of rail-trails square off By Scott Rothschild srothschild@ljworld.com
zation, which has been deeded the land, in order to get compensated for his tax bill. “This committee is simply being asked to right an injustice,” he told the House Transportation Committee. Backing up Nordhus in support of House Bill 2735 were numerous agricultural organizations. The bill would require that land that has been “rail-banked” would be appraised and the taxes assessed on the recreational trail organization that took over the corridor. Leslie Kaufman, with the Kansas Cooperative Council and Kansas Agribusiness Retailers Asso-
ciation, said it wasn’t fair to tax farmers for the rail-trails. “To saddle us with the tax burden for a corridor that you have no control over or receive economic benefit from really adds insult upon injury,” Kaufman said. But rail-trail supporters said the agriculture groups were getting fired up over nothing. No one is paying taxes on rail-trails, they said. They agreed that landowners shouldn’t have to pay taxes on the trails, and they argued the case involving Nordhus hadn’t been finalized yet.
TOPEKA — Hikers and farmers squared off on Monday before a House committee over the sometimes contentious rails-to-trails issue. Facebook.com/LJWorld Marty Nordhus, a farmer from Twitter.com/LJWorld Marshall County, said a decision by the Kansas Board of Tax Appeals could force him to pay property taxes on abandoned railway right-of-way that went through his property but had become a public trail. Business 6A Nordhus said he would then Classified 5B-10B would have to sue the trail organiComics 9A Deaths 2A Events listings 10A, 2B Horoscope 9B Movies 4A Opinion 8A By Christine Metz as the organizers like Puzzles 9B Event details cmetz@ljworld.com to say, it’s the negative Sports 1B-4B, 10B The Pi Day Gala third Pi Day CelebraTelevision 4A, 2B, 9B with the Alferd Why settle for a bas- tion (but we’ll get to that Vol.154/No.66 20 pages Packer Memorial ketball autographed by math joke later). Bill Self when you can String Band will be For those who don’t at 7 p.m. March 14 at have a pair of sneak- remember high school Theatre Lawrence, ers worn by Apple co- math, the Greek letter pi Energy smart: The founder Steve Wozniak is the symbol used to de1501 N.H. Cost is $10 Journal-World for adults and $3.14 during a game of Segway note the ratio of the cirmakes the most of renewable for students. Those polo. cumference of a circle. resources. So thinks Matt Kirby, An irrational number, pi who bring a pie for www.b-e-f.org the pie contest get a member of The Al- goes on forever and nevin free. ferd Packer Memorial er repeats, which helps String Band, the group explains the fascination organizing a local Pi Day with it. Gala for 7 p.m. March “It develops for peoWhen kept to two 14 at Theatre Lawrence. ple a sense of the nature decimals pi is 3.14, makThe event is the first of of the world and a sense ing March 14 the perits kind in Lawrence, or, of depth,” Kirby said. fect day to celebrate the
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Please see EVENTS, page 2A
Please see RAILS, page 2A
Members of the Lawrence school board agreed that they would have to vote on whether or not to consolidate the district’s elementary schools. They just weren’t ready to vote on the issue Monday night and don’t expect to be at the next meeting. A week after receiving two recommendations from a group that had been tasked with looking at how to best close the district’s smallest elementary schools, board members rattled off questions they wanted to have answered before making any decisions. At the top of the board’s concerns are the future of the district’s English as a Second Language program, and which schools are wellsuited for expansions and which ones aren’t. “At some point, we are going to have to get to point of are we doing this or not. I don’t think we can beg away from it,” board member Bob Byers said on the decision to close schools. For six months the boardassigned Central and East Lawrence Elementary School Consolidation Group studied ways to reduce six elementary schools — Cordley, Hillcrest, Kennedy, New York, SCHOOLS Pinckney and Sunset Hill — down to three or four within the next two years. In the end, the group split in half. One side believed the negative costs of consolidating outweighed the benefits. The other group recommended to keep school closures as a valid option, but they didn’t want to name which buildings to close. For Byers, there were three possible outcomes: to consolidate and expand current schools, build nothing and update the current schools, or consolidate and build new schools. Before making those decisions, some board members said they would like to see more information about the cost of upgrading buildings. “We need to have a detailed look, not a cursory look,” Randy Masten said. But others said some kind of decision would have to be made before architects Please see SCHOOL, page 5A
Pi Day Celebration: It’s not just for math nerds number and the fields of math and science it represents. The Lawrence celebration will incorporate the many sides of pi with a “nerdmorabilia” auction, a pi reciting contest and short acts by some of Lawrence’s best-known performers. There will also be the most delicious kind of “pi”: the baked version. Wozniak’s sneakers
are just one of the many “nerdmorabilia” items being collected for the auction. The tan sneakers decorated with the pi symbol come with a photo of Wozniak wearing a number 3.14 jersey and standing with his Segway polo teammates. “How awesome is Please see PI DAY, page 2A