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Menards likely to face split City Commission
Building touted as symbol of success
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Store looking to build near 31st and Iowa, but some officials aren’t sold By Chad Lawhorn clawhorn@ljworld.com Richard Gwin/Journal-World Photo
VAL STELLA, A KANSAS UNIVERSITY DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR in pharmacy, left, KU Chancellor Bernadette GrayLittle and Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback attend the groundbreaking ceremony Friday for the $10 million addition to the Bioscience and Technology Business Center at KU.
KU breaks ground on expansion of bioscience and tech center By Matt Erickson merickson@ljworld.com
It was a bit of déjà vu Friday morning for Kansas University Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little. One of the first things she did after coming to KU in 2009, she remembered, was to stick a shovel into a hillside on the university’s West Campus to mark the groundbreaking for a new business incubator. On Fri-
The 30,000-square-foot addition will more than double the space available at the BTBC’s main facility at KU, which is currently about 21,000 square feet. It will provide space for nine to 15 more business tenants in addition to the nine there already, a mix of startups and more established firms.
ahead of schedule. That’s why Gray-Little and other state, city and KU officials were on that hillside again Friday for a groundbreaking ceremony for a new $10 million addition. “This is just a very short time,” Gray-Little said, “and great progress has been made since then.” day, she was there again to ence and Technology BusiThe 30,000-square-foot do much the same thing. ness Center at KU has filled addition will more than Since that day less than up completely with busiPlease see CENTER, page 2A four years ago, the Biosci- ness tenants — three years
With two approvals already in its tool belt, home improvement retailer Menards will try to hammer out a deal with Lawrence city commissioners on Tuesday for a 31st Street store just east of South Iowa Street. Store officials likely will face a split commission. “I am concerned that this development will put some stress on our neighborhood retail centers that are only Schumm marginally full right now,” said City Commissioner Bob Schumm. “There are only so many dollars to be spent in a community, and when you stretch it out too much, something has to give, and usually it is the older retail centers.” But Menards’ plans Dever for an approximately 160,000-square-foot home improvement center on property just east of Home Depot near 31st and Iowa streets, has some support on the commission. Please see MENARDS, page 2A
KCC executive director departs on heels of agency controversy By Peter Hancock phancock@ljworld.com
Patti Petersen-Klein is no longer executive director of the Kansas Corporation Commission, but agency officials would not say whether she resigned or was fired. The commission on Thursday also reversed a decision made last week and opted to seek an
external consultant’s opinion about various KCC processes that have come into question. Petersen-Klein’s departure comes on the heels of news stories that cited a confidential report in which she criticized the agency as “inefficient and overstaffed.” KCC spokesman Jesse Borjon said Friday that during a public meeting on Thursday, Commis-
sioner Tom Wright made a motion to relieve Petersen-Klein of her duties, but that motion died for lack of a second. However, on Friday morning,
regulates public utilities, the trucking industry, common carriers and the oil and gas industry in Kansas. That group hires the executive director, who supervises the agency staff. Petersen-Klein was hired as Borjon said Petersen-Klein “is executive director in June 2011. no longer employed by the Kan- Before that, she had served as a staff attorney for the KCC since sas Corporation Commission.” The corporation commission Please see KCC, page 2A is a three-member body that
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Muggy Business Classified Comics Deaths
High: 85
Employees described the work environment under Petersen-Klein’s management as “hostile,” “unhealthy,” “combative,” “confusing,” “closed” and “unproductive.”
Low: 71
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Jefferson Co. mistrial
Vol.155/No.166 26 pages
For a second time, a Jefferson County jury has been unable to reach a verdict in a case in which a Valley Falls landowner is accused of attempted murder of his neighbor. Page 3A
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