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Residents evicted as apartments condemned
Late Night lights up the crowd
By Chad Lawhorn clawhorn@ljworld.com
Nick Krug/Journal-World Photo
ENTHUSIASTIC KANSAS UNIVERSITY BASKETBALL FANS in the student section wave lighted hand clappers as the “Dream On” video is played on the big screen during Late Night in the Phog on Friday at Allen Fieldhouse. Late Night is the traditional kickoff to the KU men’s and women’s basketball seasons. At left, KU forward Catherine “Bunny” Willliams gets ready to take the court at Late Night.
Please see CONDEMNED, page 2A
See more from Late Night in Sports on page 1B, and check out a photo gallery at KUSports.com. Richard Gwin/Journal-World Photo
Backed-up sewage, widespread mold and other life-safety issues have caused the city to condemn all 24 apartments in a building in southern Lawrence, leaving more than a dozen households seeking a new place to live. City inspectors began the condemnation process Friday morning at 1821 W. 26th St. Brian Jimenez, code enforcement manager for the city, said 13 of the 24 apartments were occupied, and the city has set a tentative date of Oct. 22 as a date for residents to vacate the apartments. “There are hallways that have mushrooms growing out of the carpets and the baseboards,” Jimenez said. “Overall, the building is in bad shape. It is safe to say in this situation we have a property owner who isn’t taking care of business as he should.” Tax records show the apartment building is
Nick Krug/Journal-World Photo
THE COURT 26 APARTMENTS building at 1821 W. 26th St. has been condemned by city inspectors.
Severe weather, possibly tornadoes, in forecast today By Alex Garrison acgarrison@ljworld.com
The area could see severe storms this weekend, including a slight risk of tornadoes. The National Weather Service predicts thunderstorms will hit Lawrence beginning this morning with increasing chance of severe weather as the day progresses. Forecasts include potential for strong winds and large hail in Douglas, Franklin, Jefferson
and Shawnee counties. Forecasters say high dew points, wind speeds and general instability could create favorable conditions for super-cell thunderstorms and possibly tornadoes. There’s about an 80 percent chance of severe thunderstorms developing today in Lawrence, said Kris Sanders, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Topeka. Those thunderstorms may create a squall line, meaning
that several cells of inclement weather, including high winds, may hit. These storms may bring large hail and winds up to 60 mph. Sanders said Douglas County could get an inch of rain by the end of the event. Having a chance of tornadic activity is “uncommon but not unheard of,” he said. “This happening this time of year is not unlike the transition from winter to spring; it’s a battling of the air masses between
warm and cold,” he said. “Now we have cold air building in Canada as the days get shorter, but still have warm air masses coming in, too.” Those warm-air pockets may settle in over swaths as big as the Mississippi and Missouri valleys, The Associated Press reports, putting almost all of the Midwest in the path of possible super-cells. Super-cells hit before squall lines, so the threat of hail or tornadic activity is replaced
by that of strong winds. The forecast for Sunday is much calmer, with a destabilizing of winds and a temperature prediction in the mid-70s. Concerns about the potential for storms prompted the postponement of Saturday’s Sunflower League Invitational cross country meet at Rim Rock Farm, north of Lawrence. The meet has been rescheduled for Monday. Check LJWorld.com today for severe weather updates.
Brownback’s top staff attorney among appeals court applicants By John Hanna Associated Press
TOPEKA — Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback’s top staff attorney is among 21 applicants for an opening on the state’s secondhighest court amid a debate about giving the governor and legislators more power in selecting appellate judges. Five lower-court judges and 15 other attorneys joined Caleb Stegall, the governor’s chief counsel, in meeting Friday’s
deadline to apply for the Court years for a Court of Appeals of Appeals. The statewide opening, said Ron Keefover, commission that will screen a spokesman for the appellate their applications recourts. The nine-memleased the names. ber nominating commisThe other candidates sion plans to interview included Sedgwick the candidates publicly County District Judge Nov. 13 and 14 and subTony Powell, who served mit three finalists’ names eight years in the Kansas to Brownback. The govHouse before taking his COURTS ernor will then make the judgeship in 2003. appointment, with no The field of candidates is role for the Legislature. unusually large, with about a Brownback and other condozen being typical in recent servative Republicans have
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Today’s forecast, page 10A
advocated eliminating the commission’s role in screening applicants for the Court of Appeals and Kansas Supreme Court and giving the governor a free hand in making appointments, subject to state Senate confirmation. Legislators are likely to consider the issue next year. House Minority Leader Paul Davis, a Lawrence Democrat and attorney who opposes changing the selection process, called Stegall “well-qual-
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ified” for the Court of Appeals. Davis said he wouldn’t be surprised to see Stegall among the finalists. “Caleb is an experienced attorney who’s practiced in a number of different settings,” Davis said. “But there may be people with more experience than he has, and I think we have to trust the people on the nominating commission to do their job.” Please see COURT, page 2A
Suspect denied parole The Kansas Prison Review Board has denied parole to a Kansas inmate currently charged with a Topeka cold case rape for which another man spent seven years in prison. Page 3A
Vol.154/No.287 26 pages