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Douglas County first in state to offer Smart911 By George Diepenbrock gdiepenbrock@ljworld.com
About 76 percent of 911 calls to Douglas County dispatchers last year came from mobile phones. Instead of being able to see the exact address of the call,
National safety database provides crucial emergency information like they can from a land line, dispatchers can view only the cellphone number and wireless carrier. The call is tied into the county’s mapping system, so they can get the tower where
the call was placed, but not an exact location for the person in distress. It can take up valuable time in an emergency. “Often we have to do a lot
of research to figure out where they are or who they are,” said Scott Ruf, director of Douglas County Emergency Communications. On Wednesday, county offi-
cials touted their participation in a national safety database, called Smart911 that allows residents to voluntarily submit information,
Home burglary suspect charged
WATER WOES
Drought is likely culprit in pipe breaks
By George Diepenbrock gdiepenbrock@ljworld.com
Tellefson said. “I think I’m in the best position to do that. And get us further down the road.” Redistricting had placed Brown, who was first elected to the House in 2004 from the 38th District, in the same House district as another Republican incumbent, TerriLois Gregory, causing him to ponder a leap to the Senate (Gregory has since
Douglas County prosecutors filed two counts of aggravated burglary and two other charges on Wednesday against a 31-year-old Lawrence man accused of entering two northern Lawrence homes early Tuesday while residents were sleeping. Lawrence police have said they also are trying to determine whether the suspect, Ronald Kenneth Brooks Jr., can be linked to dozens of other similar burglaries in the city in recent months. A s s i s tant Douglas County District Attorney James McCabria said Brooks Wednesday that Brooks had a significant criminal history, including a 2008 assault of a mail carrier in Topeka. Prosecutors charged Brooks on Wednesday with two counts of aggravated burglary, accusing him of entering two local homes through unlocked doors. In the first burglary, police were called at 4:15 a.m. Tuesday to the 300 block of Northwood Lane. Police said another incident was reported in the same block later Tuesday morning after a resident discovered someone had attempted to open a sliding glass door. Prosecutors did not file any formal charges in connection with that incident. The second burglary was
Please see PRIMARY, page 2A
Please see SUSPECT, page 2A
By George Diepenbrock gdiepenbrock@ljworld.com
Utilities crews are busy again as dry conditions have led to several water main and water line breaks, including one that flooded a lower floor of Kansas University’s Spencer Museum of Art on Wednesday morning. “It’s picking back up again because of the weather, soil conditions and drought that’s going on,” said Jeanette Klamm, a city utilities programs manager. Some rain last week helped ease conditions that led to dry soil and broken pipes, but city and other local crews have had their hands full this week, with a major break Tuesday near 19th and Harper streets and the one on the KU campus on Mississippi Street behind Dyche Hall. Klamm said city crews on Wednesday repaired two other
Richard Gwin/Journal-World Photos
EMERGENCY WATER-REMOVAL PERSONNEL enter Spencer Museum of Art on Wednesday on the Kansas University campus. A water main break on Mississippi Street caused water to seep into the two bottom floors of the museum. line breaks, including one on Hilltop Drive near Hillcrest School. The Mississippi Street break, which occurred at 2 a.m., caused water to seep into two bottom floors of the Spencer Museum, said Joe Monaco, a KU spokesman, and KU closed the museum Wednesday. Water that flooded into the street caused a bulk of the damage on the building’s bottom floor, which houses the Murphy Art and Architecture Library, Monaco said. A smaller amount of water entered Please see WATER, page 2A
WORKERS AT KU DON rubber boots as they carry wet items Wednesday from the basement of the Spencer Museum of Art.
Republicans vie to unseat Sen. Holland in 3rd District By Matt Erickson merickson@theworldco.info
Rep. Anthony Brown and J.C. Tellefson think the newly drawn Kansas Senate 3rd District needs new blood and hope to unseat Democratic Sen. Tom Holland of Baldwin City. Brown was motivated by his sense that voters in the 3rd District were unhappy with their current state senator.
“They felt who lives in for the last four Leavenworth, years they had thinks he better been underrepresents the represented,” district, which Brown said of includes small his interactions communities with voters in and two college Leavenworth and towns: Lawrence Tellefson Douglas coun- Brown and Baldwin ties. City. Tellefson, a former Leaven“It’s my job to listen to and worth County commissioner represent all the constituents,”
INSIDE
Strong storm Business Classified Comics Deaths
High: 100
Low: 74
Today’s forecast, page 10A
Please see SMART, page 2A
7A 5B-10B 9A 2A
Events listings Horoscope Movies Opinion
10A, 2B Puzzles 9B Sports 4A Television 8A
9B 1B-4B 4A, 2B, 9B
Explaining Obamacare
Vol.154/No.215 20 pages
Kansas Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger answers questions about the Affordable Care Act and what it means for Kansans. Page 6A
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