MICHIGAN STATE STORMS BACK IN FINAL MINUTES TO BEAT KU, 67-64 Page 1B
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City takes step toward committing to rec center
Dreaming of America
‘I like the freedom, people able to do whatever they want.’
By Chad Lawhorn clawhorn@ljworld.com
Tayler Tolefree, a middle blocker on Kansas University’s nationally ranked volleyball team, grew up playing the sport in Topeka. The problem is, she told Lawrence city commissioners Tuesday night, she grew up in Lawrence. City commissioners at their weekly meeting took their biggest step yet toward committing to a $25 million city recreation center/ youth fieldhouse in northwest Lawrence after about 35 KU student-athletes and a host of other community members told stories of how the comCITY munity’s indoor recreation COMMISSION spaces were sorely lacking. “I really became excited when I heard about this project,” Tolefree said, “because I know it can represent the heart of sports activity in Lawrence.” A majority of Lawrence city commissioners also agreed the project may end up representing something else: a great deal.
FORMER KU STUDENT Egor Agafonov in summer 2011 on Russky Island, Vladivostok City, Russia.
Back in Russia, former KU athlete longs to return to his beloved Kansas By Tom Keegan
his resume. He did all that in his second language — and still had He left his home in Russia for time to tutor members of the Kansas, speaking English more football team during his senior broken than the average skidyear at KU. Last month, he was row dream. inducted into the Kansas AthletFour years later, Egor Agaics Hall of Fame. fonov left Kansas University Now, Agafonov wants more. with track and field records in A 2009 KU graduate now multiple throwing events, two residing in Russia, he wants a national indoor championships, permanent home in Kansas for a degree in economics and his family. Based on his track reAll-American and Academic cord of setting goals and reachAll-American honors decorating ing them, chances are good tkeegan@ljworld.com
Please see CITY, page 5A
Agafonov will get his wish, but given the bureaucratic hurdles he has to get over, he knows there is no guarantee that he’ll achieve his American dream. “There are so many people willing to help me here, but sometimes it’s tough,” Agafonov said in a recent interview over lunch in Lawrence during a visit to Kansas. “It’s complicated, going through these procedures.”
KU Hospital’s revenue exceeds $1B for first time By Matt Erickson merickson@ljworld.com
Please see RUSSIAN, page 7A
Not loving the U.S. right now, thousands want to leave it By Scott Rothschild srothschild@ljworld.com
Now that the election is over, apparently a lot of people, including some in Kansas, want to secede from the United States. As of Tuesday evening, nearly 4,600 people had signed a petition urging that the state of Kansas withdraw from the United States and create its own government.
The online secession petitions, which number about 20 so far, were prompted by the re-election of President Barack Obama. The petitions appear on a White House website called “We the People,” which the administration uses to hear from people on what policies they would like to see. If a petition gets 25,000 signatures within a month, the White House staff will
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review the issue. Legally, the U.S. Constitution doesn’t allow states to secede. The Texas petition had reached more than 70,000 signatures, but Texas Gov. Rick Perry said he doesn’t support the petition. In Kansas, Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, D-Topeka, joked that maybe the petition started after Gov. Sam Brownback
refused to join the federal government to put together a health insurance exchange under the Affordable Care Act. House Minority Leader Paul Davis, D-Lawrence, said he didn’t think much of the petitions. “I think we settled this issue back in the early 1860s. I don’t think anyone in their right mind wants to have a secession debate,” Davis said.
WESTWOOD — Kansas University Hospital’s continuing growth was on display with the release of its most recent annual financial numbers Tuesday. The hospital’s total revenue grew by 22.2 percent during the 2012 fiscal year, eclipsing $1 billion for the first time. Also during the fiscal year, the hospital’s capital expenditures totaled $117.1 million, a decrease of about $24 million from the year before but still a marked increase over previous years’ totals. The fiscal year ran from Page July 2011 to June 2012. The hospital announced figures for the year as the KU Hospital Authority board of directors met Tuesday. The hospital’s revenue, which reached $1.06 billion, was bolstered by its merger with the Kansas City Cancer Center, which was completed in June 2011. Bob Page, the hospital’s president and CEO, said its ever-growing revenue has also been helped by the broader base of patients Please see HOSPITAL, page 7A
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Educational opportunity Lawrence economic development leaders are actively recruiting an area community college to locate a branch campus in the county. Page 3A
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