Lawrence Journal-World 10-18-13

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AMERICA REOPENS

A SOLID START

Country back in business after shutdown Nation 5A

Senior safety takes pride in tackling Sports 1B

L A W R E NC E

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Lawrence’s housing market hot, but may cool

Good sports for a good cause

By Chad Lawhorn clawhorn@ljworld.com

Richard Gwin/Journal-World Photo

KANSAS UNIVERSITY MEN’S BASKETBALL COACH BILL SELF introduces his players and addresses hundreds of women attending Self’s Fourth Annual Ladies Night Out Thursday at Allen Fieldhouse. The event is part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month and benefits Jayhawks for the Cure, with proceeds going to Lawrence Memorial Hospital and the KU Cancer Center. Read more about the event in sports, page 1B.

Longtime Ballard CEO resigning By Chad Lawhorn clawhorn@ljworld.com

The longtime chief executive officer of Lawrencebased Ballard Community Services is resigning to focus more on her treatment to recover from breast cancer. Dianne Ensminger, who has served as president and CEO of the social services agency for nearly the past 15 years, will leave the job on Nov. 1, she said Thursday.

“I just love this place,” said Ensminger, who was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer in June. “It needs Ensminger somebody who doesn’t have to deal with doctor’s visits, treatments and who can be here 100 percent of the time.”

Brad Finkeldei, president of Ballard’s board of directors, said a search for a new director will begin after the first of the year. In the interim, Ballard’s existing staff will take on additional duties. “Dianne has given so much of herself to the organization over the last 15 years,” Finkeldei said. “As with any executive director of a nonprofit, it is not an 8-to-5 job. She poured her heart into

evenings and weekends and worked tirelessly. We certainly appreciate she needs to take care of herself.” During Ensminger’s tenure, Ballard became one of the broader social service agencies in the city. The agency provides early childhood education programs for low-income families and assistance with rent, utilities, prescriptions, food and

By one measure, Lawrence’s residential real estate market is the hottest in the state, according to a new report from Wichita State’s Center for Real Estate. Lawrence is on pace to see total home sales increase 16 percent in 2013, topping the other four major real estate markets that WSU studies in the state. “Sales are very, very strong right now in Lawrence,” Stanley Longhofer, director of the WSU center told a gathering of the Lawrence Board of Realtors on Thursday. I think what’s In fact, 2013 sales totals may be driving it is that so strong that the people realize it real estate indus- is really an awetry shouldn’t expect the hot pace some time to buy to continue in 2014. a house with these Longhofer predicts low mortgage that Lawrence sales rates.” totals will continue to grow in 2014, but at a more modest 3 — Nicholas Lerner, an agent with McGrew Real Estate percent rate. “One of the normal things to see after a strong period like this is a little bit of time where the market catches its breath,” Longhofer said. Home sales in Lawrence and Douglas County are projected to hit the 1,500 mark in 2013, up 16.2 percent from 2012 totals. That growth rate puts Lawrence ahead of: Wichita, 12.5 percent; Kansas City, 10.4 percent; Topeka, 8 percent; and Manhattan, 3.3 percent. About 50 Realtors attended Thursday’s

Please see BALLARD, page 2A

Please see HOUSING, page 2A

Prosecutors seek Flack’s mental health and prison records By Stephen Montemayor smontemayor@ljworld.com

OTTAWA — State prosecutors are seeking mental health and prison records of an Ottawa man accused of killing three adults and an 18-monthold child in rural Franklin County earlier this year, according to the defense attorney in the case. Kyle T. Flack, 28, appeared in Franklin County District Court for a brief hearing Thursday. The subpoenas and a rescheduling of the next hearing in the case were the only matters discussed in a hearing that lasted less than three minutes.

Flack previously served four years in prison for attempted murder in another case. He is being held in the Franklin County Jail in lieu of a $10 million bond. Flack, who wore a thick beard and short hair, is charged with capital murder, first-degree murder, rape and criminal possession of a firearm in the deaths of Andrew Adam Stout, 30, Steven Eugene White, 31, Kaylie Kathleen Bailey, 21, and Bailey’s

KYLE T. FLACK appears Thursday in Franklin County District Court for a hearing in the murder case stemming from four homicides last spring near Ottawa.

18-month-old daughter, Lana-Leigh. Prosecutors on Thursday filed subpoenas under seal for undisclosed business records. But defense attorney Ron Evans, head of the Kansas Death Penalty Defense Unit, told the Journal-World he understood those to be Flack’s mental health and prison records. Meanwhile, a spokesman for the state’s attorney general’s office said on Thursday the state would not make public comments about motions filed under seal. Flack previously served four years in prison for attempted murder in

Stephen Montemayor/ Journal-World Photo

Please see FLACK, page 2A

Journal-World to move printing to Kansas City in January Officials of The World Company, the parent company of the Lawrence Journal-World, announced Thursday that for the first time in 122 years, the Journal-World will be printed at an off-site location. The current production plant at 608 Massachusetts St. will be closed Jan. 14, 2014, with the paper to be printed at the Kansas City Star in Kansas City, Mo. Dan Simons and Dolph C.

Simons III, co-presidents of The World Company, in a joint statement said: “This decision to move the production site was prompted by several factors. First, The Gannett Company notified The World Company it would end its 30-year USA Today printing relationship with the Journal-World in January. Also there is a steady trend in the newspaper business to move printing to larger

Business Classified Comics Deaths

Low: 35

Today’s forecast, page 10A

viduals affected by this move and consider them our good friends. “There is no way to sugarcoat this; it is painful. However, for the sake of the rest of the employees, we must continue to adapt to the changing business environment.” The move is not in any way expected to affect the delivery time of the Journal-World. The World Company’s four weekly newspapers, The Shawnee Dispatch, Tonganoxie Mir-

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plants with expanded printing and production facilities.” The closing of the newspaper’s production/press operation will mean the elimination of 33 jobs. The Simons brothers said, “It is rare in today’s times a company can maintain a core technology for 122 years but the business model of printed news distribution has definitely changed and in many ways, it is unfortunate. We grew up with many of the indi-

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ror, Baldwin City Signal and the Chieftain of Basehor and Bonner Springs, will be printed at The Examiner printing facility in Independence, Mo. The company’s commercial printing clients have been notified of the pending closure and alternative arrangements have been suggested for other daily newspaper customers. Editor’s note: Please see a related editorial on Page 8A.

Lied candidate visits Hollis Ashby visits Lawrence from Berkeley, Calif., to make her pitch for the job of executive director of the Lied Center. Page 3A

Vol.155/No.291 32 pages


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