KU BESTS TEXAS PRESCHOOL WAITING LISTS Clutch hit wins game in 12th Sports 1B
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Wetlands set ablaze in rite of spring
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ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
$750K budget OK’d, but private funds called crucial By Chad Lawhorn clawhorn@ljworld.com
Richard Gwin/Journal-World Photos
FRIDAY’S CLEAR WEATHER ALLOWED THE ANNUAL BURNING of the Baker Wetlands. BOTTOM RIGHT: Roger Boyd, director of natural areas and emeritus professor of biology at Baker University, lights a fire line that will burn the old grasses off and encourage new growth. BOTTOM LEFT: Stan Roth, a retired teacher, volunteers to keep watch over the burn.
Please see FUNDING, page 2A
KU seeks OK for name of building housing ‘Rules of Basket Ball’ By Scott Rothschild srothschild@ljworld.com
cial-events venue with a total budget of $18 million in private donations. At Wednesday’s regents meeting, the board also will consider authorizing KU to raze Burt Hall as part of the expansion of the School of Engineering. Burt Hall was originally constructed as a nuclear reactor facility for teaching and research, but the reactor was shut down in the 1970s, according to Mike Russell, KU’s director of Environmental Health and Safety. The reactor was dismantled, decommissioned and removed, and the building has been used as office space. The plan is to start demolition of the building this summer, Russell said.
TOPEKA — Kansas University is seeking approval from the Kansas Board of Regents for the name of the proposed addition to Allen Fieldhouse that will house James Naismith’s original “Rules of Basket Ball.� At this point, KU is not revealing what name it has picked. The regents will take up the issue Wednesday. The approximately 31,000-squarefoot addition will be constructed on the northeast corner of Allen Fieldhouse to establish a museum alongside the Booth Family Hall of Athletics. David Booth, an Austin, Texasbased investor, purchased Naismith’s original rules of basketball for $4.3 million three years ago and donated them to KU.
What would you name it? On The project is part of a bigger spe- the Street, page 5A.
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Today’s forecast, page 8B
Court won’t shorten sentence of felon in KU tickets case By Roxana Hegeman Associated Press
WICHITA — A federal judge refused Friday to shorten the sentence of a former Kansas University athletics consultant caught up in a $2 million ticket scalping conspiracy, rejecting defense claims that Thomas Blubaugh’s former attorney did a poor job representing him. U.S. District Judge Monti Belot ruled that Blubaugh is not entitled to a reduction in his 46-month prison term. Blubaugh was sentenced in 2011 after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States through wire fraud, tax obstruction and
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A $750,000 budget for the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce’s economic development division won the blessing of a key citycounty board on Friday. But members of the new Joint Economic Development Council said a recently launched private fundraising campaign by the chamber will be critical to future economic development efforts. “The direction you are heading right now is spot on, in terms of engaging the community with this campaign,� Mike Gaughan, a council member and Douglas County commissioner told chamber leaders Friday. Gaughan “But it is crucial that you are successful with the campaign. Otherwise, we are going to have a more difficult conversation in the future.� One possibility: a special local sales tax to pay for economic development efforts. But officials said that idea is premature. The proposed 2014 budget for the chamber’s economic development division includes a projected $275,000 from the recently launched three-year fundraising drive.
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interstate transportation of stolen property. Blubaugh’s new defense attorney, Jim Pratt, said in an email Friday he had not yet spoken with Blubaugh about the decision and did not have authority to make any statements on his behalf. The U.S. attorney’s Blubaugh office declined comment. The 25-page ruling comes after evidentiary hearings earlier this year to determine whether his former attorney, Stephen Robison, gave Blubaugh
bad legal advice about whether to accept a plea deal in the case. Blubaugh claimed his attorney assured him prosecutors would file a motion that would have enabled him to receive a more lenient sentence, such as probation. Blubaugh and his wife, Charlette, were among seven people convicted in a scheme involving tickets to football and basketball games that cost the university athletic department $2 million. At issue is seemingly contradictory wording in the plea agreement. One portion indicates prosecutors agreed to file a motion seeking a lower
Water issues on tap
Please see COURT, page 2A
Vol.155/No.103 22 pages
A conference at Kansas University examines the many problems the Midwest facing in regard to one of its most important resources: water. Page 2A
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