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School district’s enrollment rises 2%
‘Still sitting here waiting’
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If trend continues, building expansion may be considered By Peter Hancock phancock@ljworld.com Richard Gwin/Journal-World Photo
MARK MILLERET, OF RURAL LAWRENCE, shovels through a load of corn Tuesday. Milleret made a test cut Monday and it was too wet. He doesn’t expect to get back into the field for a week or so.
Moisture means late corn harvest By Giles Bruce gbruce@ljworld.com
Mark Milleret started cutting corn this week — to see if it was dry enough for him to cut more. The verdict? Still a week or two away. “It’s a late harvest for me and everybody,” said Milleret, who farms east of Lawrence. “Normally I would be running full tilt right now, but that grain is still high in moisture. Most people are still sitting here waiting.” Because of the delayed start to the planting season and the recent rain,
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It could be a week to 10 days yet before harvest, with this cool and wet weather. It sounds like we’re going to be cool for a while, so that will slow down how fast the crop matures and is harvested.” — Bill Wood, director for Douglas County Extension
the local corn harvest will begin later than normal this year, as much of Douglas County’s nearly 30,000 acres of corn still has some drying-out to do. Area co-ops, such as Baldwin Feed Co. Inc. of Baldwin City, have gotten
some samples in but nothing dry enough to take. Many corn farmers don’t expect to get the crop out of the ground now until October, a few weeks later than they usually begin combining in earnest. Across the state, only 16 percent
of the corn crop has been harvested, compared with 62 percent at the same time last year. “It could be a week to 10 days yet before harvest, with this cool and wet weather,” said Bill Wood, director for Douglas County Extension. “It sounds like we’re going to be cool for a while, so that will slow down how fast the crop matures and is harvested.” But Wood added that this weather is preferable this time of year — for corn and soybean farmers alike
The Lawrence school district counted 10,184 students attending school Sept. 20, an increase of 195 students, or 2 percent, from the year before. That was slightly more than district officials had expected, and if the trend continues, they say it could force the district to consider further expansions to some buildings or even adding another grade school or middle school. “I think there’s probably going to need to be some conversation within the next five to seven years about it,” said Kyle Hayden, the district’s assistant SCHOOLS superintendent for business and operations. All districts take an official head count on Sept. 20 each year and report that number to the Kansas State Department of Education. The number includes both full-time and part-time students. Those numbers are eventually converted into a “full time equivalent,” or FTE, enrollment that is used as the basis for distributing state aid for the rest of the year. Lawrence’s growth this year was more than had been projected by the district’s demographics consultant, RSP and Associ-
Please see CORN, page 5A
Please see SCHOOLS, page 2A
City to craft statement saying it doesn’t plan to use drones By Chad Lawhorn clawhorn@ljworld.com
Lawrence city commissioners aren’t ready to create a policy for drone use in the city limits, but they did commit to compromise with a growing group of residents concerned about the new technology. More than 20 people wearing stickers that read “Protect Privacy Liberty” showed up during the public comment
section of the commission’s weekly meeting urging the city to adopt a policy limiting the city’s ability to add drones to its vehicle fleet or police department. Commissioners said the turnout was remarkable, given that the city doesn’t have any plans to buy or use drones in the future. “I guess this just shows how active people are in the community when there is even a
chance people’s civil liberties would be infringed,” Mayor Mike Dever said. But commissioners balked at the idea of adopting a pro- Dever posed resolution that would have placed a moratorium on city drone purchases until the state comes
up with statewide regulations for the devices. Instead, commissioners said they would be willing to craft a simple statement that said the city has no intention of using drones for the foreseeable future and that if the city does pursue owning a drone it would develop a formal policy before using it. Members of the group Kansans for Responsible Drone Use said they were pleased commissioners were willing to
at least put some safeguards in place. “I think it is a definite step forward,” said Patrick Wilbur, vice chair of the Douglas County Libertarian Party and a member of Kansans for Responsible Drone Use. “What we really wanted to do was create a public dialogue about the issue.” The coalition has a broad Please see DRONES, page 2A
With less money, Student Senate more critical of spending Ben Unglesbee bunglesbee@ljworld.com
Like governments, organizations and families around the world, the Kansas University Student Senate is trying to make do with fewer resources. With funds falling far short of what was available in years past, Senate members have begun
O Student enrollment has declined at KU looking more critically at how money is spent, since 2008. Senate officials say. StuO The student fee used to fund groups and dent Body Vice President Emma Halling describes a activities has been reduced from $19 in 2007 “three-headed beast” be- to $15.50 in 2010. hind the diminished budO Those two trends have reduced the get. For one, student enroll- money at the Student Senate’s disposal. ment figures have been down at the university since 2008. At the same groups and activities have That fee went from $19 in time, past cuts to a student reduced the money at the 2007 to $17.50 in 2009 to fee used to fund student Student Senate’s disposal. $15.50 in 2010.
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Today it stands at $16.25 and has generated $751,400 this school year, most of it given out in blocks to big players like the University Theatre and the Hilltop Childcare Center. The money left over to spend on a per-request basis is about $50,000 this year, a third of what it’s been in years past, Halling said. A third fiscal woe for the Senate is the savings
account that rolls over every year, pooling unspent money. That account has taken a hit because of spending on projects by previous senates. This year the account contains about $83,000, well below the $150,000 that regulations require for the Senate to be able to use the money.
Battling liquidation The financial situation at Tecumseh-based Iwig Family Dairy is souring. The family-owned dairy is turning to an Internet campaign to try to raise $650,000. Page 3A
Please see SENATE, page 2A
Vol.155/No.268 28 pages