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Schools show little interest in exemption
A season of wishes
By Peter Hancock phancock@ljworld.com
Mike Yoder/Journal-World Photos
ABOVE, ELIZABETH RICHARDSON, 4, LEFT, WHISPERS HER CHRISTMAS WISHES in Santa’s ear while her 10-month-old sister Mable sits in Santa’s lap on Friday. Santa was rescued by the Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical Department from the roof of Weaver’s Department store Friday night and the downtown Christmas lights were lit in a ceremony. Below, parents hold their children up to see Santa’s rescue.
Families flock to see Santa’s, rooftop rescue, tree lighting By Nikki Wentling nwentling@ljworld.com
People began crowding around the corner of Ninth and Massachusetts streets around 5 p.m. Friday in preparation for Santa’s annual visit to Lawrence. At the stroke of 6 p.m., Mayor Michael Dever flipped the switch to turn on the lights wound around the trees along Massachusetts Street. After counting down from 10, there was a pop of green, red, blue and white lights, signaling the beginning of the holiday season. Moments later, hundreds aimed their phones and cameras in the direction of Weaver’s Department Store. People spilled into the street and parents hefted their kids onto their shoulders to get a better glimpse of the main event: Santa’s rescue. “He’s on top of Weaver’s?” said Richard Renner, emcee of the
A new Kansas law that allows school districts to exempt themselves from most state regulations is attracting little interest so far, according to state officials. According to Gov. Sam Brownback’s office, only three districts have filed applications under the Coalition of Innovative Districts Act, a measure that, among other things, would allow those districts to exempt themselves from collective bargaining requirements and teacher tenure protections. Districts must apply by Dec. 1 in order to be considered for the designation in the Please see DISTRICTS, page 2A
Mike Yoder/Journal-World Photo
CARLI STELLWAGON, LEFT, AND LILIAN KHAN lift weights at Lawrence High School. They wore heart rate monitors during their workout.
started in downtown Lawrence.” With that, kids were led onstage one by one to talk briefly with Santa before getting a cookie and reuniting with their families. Bobby Richardson helped one daughter, Elizabeth, 4, onto the stage Friday evening while holding his other daughter, Mable, 10 months. Both girls sat on Santa’s lap while their event. “No, he did that last year.” mother, Joany, snapped a photo Santa does this every year durfrom below. ing the Holiday Lighting CeremoThe family waited in line so ny. And each year, crowds come Elizabeth could tell Santa what out to see his rescue before kids she wanted for Christmas: “A line up to recite their wish lists. baby doll,” she said. The entertainment continued Sally Zogry, executive director Friday evening as firefighters from of Downtown Lawrence, Inc., esLawrence-Douglas County Fire timated between 1,000 and 2,000 Medical used a ladder truck to people attended the ceremony retrieve Santa. They then escorted Friday evening. him from the roof, down the “We had really good crowds,” ladder and through the hoard of Zogry said. “They came early and frenzied kids. were enthusiastic.” “Let’s make room for the big guy,” Renner said. “Santa is open — Staff intern Nikki Wentling can be reached at for business, and Christmas has
People spilled into the street and parents hefted their kids onto their shoulders to get a better glimpse of the main event: Santa’s rescue.
Innovation grant helps PE students reach right levels By Caitlin Doornbos cdoornbos@ljworld.com
Physical education might be the last class you’d expect to integrate technology into the curriculum, but Lawrence High School PE teacher Amy Hoffsommer would beg to differ. Along with their gym shorts, T-shirts and tennis shoes, her students wear what look like chunky digital watches on their wrists. But these gadgets tell a lot more than just the time — they keep a running calculation of each student’s heart rate during physical activity, from warm-up to cool-down. Hoffsommer said the monitors show her students a quantitative assessment of their Please see GRANTS, page 2A
832-7196.
KU students working on a car prototype to guard your health By Elliot Hughes ehughes@ljworld.com
As the digital revolution races onward, Gregory Thomas sees much of its technology converging on cars. Computers, radar, Wi-Fi, cameras, you name it. Clump it all together, throw in some state-ofthe-art medical technology and cars could go a quite a way toward keep-
ing an eye on a driver’s health or bringing the doctor’s office right to his house. As a professor of design at Kansas University and director of KANSAS UNIVERSITY the school’s Center for Design Research, Thomas is overseeing two groups of students working to make all that a reality.
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too low, providing time to pull over before hypoglycemia sets in. Diabetics face a 12 to 19 percent increased risk in experiencing a car accident, according to the American Diabetes Association. The two projects, both of which kicked off this fall semester, have industry support as well, from Bayer Healthcare, Sprint and others. That means plenty of gadgetry to play
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One group is researching the construction of a prototypical WellCar — an ultramodern vehicle for nurses to use for the retro practice of making house calls to immobile patients living in rural, relatively remote areas. The second is examining how glucose-monitoring technology for diabetics could be placed within a car. The idea: An alarm would sound when the driver’s blood sugar gets
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around with. “All we’re doing is bundling things,” Thomas said one Tuesday afternoon on the Center for Design Research’s mini-campus, retrofitted from an old farmstead, off Bob Billings Parkway. “The only thing we’re inventing is the concept.” The WellCar would primarily function as a way to treat and diagnose patients in areas such as western Kansas and re-
mote areas in Nebraska, Oklahoma and the Texas panhandle, where people may not have easy access to physicians. According to the KU Institute for Policy & Social Research, nine Kansas counties have no working doctor and dozens more have too few. With the WellCar, Thomas said, a healthcare practitioner would arrive Please see WELLCAR, page 2A
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Bizarre Bazaar at the Lawrence Arts Center features experimental and sometimes unusual goods. The show continues today from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Page 3A
Vol.155/No.334 28 pages