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Explosions kill at least 3 at Boston Marathon had finished but near the time when the bulk of the about 27,000 runners BOSTON — Two bombs shattered were laboring toward the finish line. the celebratory mood of the Boston Two bombs hundreds of yards Marathon Monday, turning the fin- apart went off within seconds of each ish line into a zone of carnage that Please see MARATHON, page 7A left at least three dead and more than 140 injured. The explosions hours into the KU soccer coach’s wife, who 117th running of the iconic 26.2-mile ran marathon, talks with Sports race came well after the elite runners Editor Tom Keegan. Page 1B
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Runners with local ties relate tales from chaotic scene By Jesse Newell jnewell@ljworld.com
Kansas University graduate Patrick Mathay said he was a half-mile from the finish at Monday’s Boston Marathon when he noticed
the middle-aged man running step-for-step with him. Without saying a word, the two knew an informal race was on. A few hours later, in a friend’s third-story apartment on Newbury Street
Changes ahead for bus system
in Boston, Mathay couldn’t help but wonder what might have happened had he not been pushed to run faster by that man — the one he’d never met. Please see LOCAL, page 2A
Questions abound on Obama’s visit to KU By Matt Erickson merickson@ljworld.com
Richard Gwin/Journal-World Photo
RIDERS COME AND GO ON CITY BUSES MONDAY AFTERNOON at Ninth and New Hampshire streets. Several changes are in store for the bus system, including the addition of late-night rides, summer passes for students and the relocation of the city’s main transfer station.
City to begin late-night transit service; concerns grow over passes for shelter By Chad Lawhorn clawhorn@ljworld.com
How to schedule a late-night bus ride
Lawrence’s late-night bus experiment is set to begin June 1. City officials have finalized the details of a new overnight public transit service that will provide bus service from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. Monday through Saturday. What city officials don’t know is how many people will use the service. Figuring that out is a major point of the new program that received city funding last year as a one-year pilot project. “This is a question I want to get answered,� said Robert Nugent, the city’s public transit administrator. “The community has long said
Late-night riders can call a city number, 312-7054, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, to schedule a ride. Fares for the service will be $2 each way, which is double the standard fare for the city’s standard transit buses. that if we provided service at night, the public really would use it. I don’t know what the demand will be. There’s a lot of buzz about it. I hope the ridership is as big as the buzz.� Using the new service, however, will require some planning. The service will operate with a “demandresponse� system, meaning it will provide rides only to people who call ahead and schedule a bus to pick them up.
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When commissioners last year approved $250,000 in funding for the pilot project, they said they wanted the system to focus on providing service to third-shift workers who needed a way to get to their jobs. They didn’t want to create a service that competed with Kansas University’s SafeRide program, which provides late-night transportation to students. Nugent said the premium fare and the need to sched-
ule rides well in advance of the pick-up should make it unlikely the service will be used by late-night partiers. “If you have to call in before 5 p.m. to schedule a ride, I would think it is going to be pretty tough to know where you are going to be at 2 a.m.,� Nugent said. Riders of the system will be allowed to call and create a standing appointment, such as a bus picking them up to go to work at the same time each day, Nugent said. Appointments will be filled as they are taken. The $250,000 in funding will allow for two buses to operate during the nighttime hours Nugent said.
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For what might be the first time in more than 130 years, a sitting U.S. president is on his way to Kansas University. And the reaction from KU students, as far as sophomore Rachel Hagan can tell, has been a resounding, “Huh?� “A lot of people are saying, just, why?� Hagan said as she Obama sat around a table with some friends at the Underground eating space in Wescoe Hall at lunchtime Monday. “But aside from all the ‘whys,’ I’m excited it’s happening.� Other students, too, reported their enthusiasm about the imminent visit from President Barack Obama on Friday, which KU announced this past weekend. But their excitement was followed quickly by questions: When, exactly? Why is he coming? Where will he be? Can I go? None of this information was contained in the KU announcement, and both KU and Please see OBAMA, page 6A
Another tax year, another scramble to make deadline By Giles Bruce gbruce@ljworld.com
When asked why he waited until April 15 to do his taxes this year, Lawrence factory worker Victor Roman didn’t procrastinate in giving his answer. “Procrastination,� he said. Roman wasn’t alone. Many Americans put off filing their tax returns until Tax Day, which was Monday, and even then, many apply for extensions. According to the Internal Revenue Service, about one-third of tax filers don’t even begin the process until April, with the majority of those waiting to file until the final few days. It’s not always because of laziness or forgetfulness, though. As Jerry Coatney, of Liberty Tax Service, 1530 W. Sixth St., explained Monday, taxpayers often wait to find out what their tax liability is before deciding whether to open an individual retirement account to try to reduce it. Also, he said, many businesses spend Please see TAXES, page 2A
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