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HOLIDAY SHOPPING

Drain on aquifer driven by drought ———

Groundwater survey likely to show another decrease as irrigation draws levels lower By Peter Hancock phancock@ljworld.com Richard Gwin/Journal-World Photo

MARY LOU LAFAUCE AND HER SON, Adam, 11, of Kankakee, Ill., play with Q-Ba-Maze, a new marble game, at the Toy Store on Massachusetts Street on Thursday. Christmas shoppers have been busy looking for the right gifts downtown, and there’s still time left.

Cold snap can’t break hot streak for downtown businesses By Sara Shepherd

HOT GIFTS

sshepherd@ljworld.com

About 10 percent of you will still be shopping for gifts on Tuesday (yep, that’s Christmas Eve), a National Retail Federation holiday survey estimates. As for the rest of us, local retailers can tell we’ve been checking off our lists. Businesses in downtown Lawrence, the city’s local retail hub, say it’s been a good season — maybe not a blockbuster, but definitely good. “This Christmas season compared to the previous three or four has been excellent,� said Jan Brocker, owner of ToToTrains at 1031 Vermont St. Downtown Lawrence Inc. director Sally Zogry said Black Friday and Small Business Saturday sales were brisk but that traffic seemed sparser than usual during

Need ideas? For you last-minute shoppers, here are a few items that have been selling well at downtown Lawrence stores. The Toy Store, 936 Massachusetts St.: Rainbow Loom friendship bracelet maker, Kinetic Sand and Q-Ba-Maze, a kit to create your own marble runs. The Etc. Shop, 928 Massachusetts St.: Brighton and Hobo brand leather handbags and antique Native American jewelry. (Etc. Shop also lets customers fill out wish lists, a big help to many husbands.)

Phoenix Gallery, 825 Massachusetts St.: Ceramic vegetable steamers and other cooking vessels, artisan jewelry and handmade watches. Wild Territory Science and Nature Store, 942 Massachusetts St.: Science T-shirts, insects in shadowboxes, rocks, stones and science kits for kids. Sunflower Outdoor and Bike Shop, 802 Massachusetts St.: SmartWool socks, fleece pullovers, winter bicycle riding apparel and — a classic Christmas gift — kids’ bikes. ToToTrains, 1031 Vermont St.: Battery powered trains for kids 3 and up, starter sets and HOscale military items.

Last year, when researchers from the Kansas Geological Survey traveled to western Kansas to measure groundwater levels in the High Plains Aquifer, they found those levels had dropped by an average of about 3 and a half feet. It was the second largest single-year decline they had ever recorded, exceeded only by the one the year before, when water tables had fallen an Average groundwaaverage of 4.25 feet. ter levels in the High Now those rePlains Aquifer have searchers are predropped almost 8 feet paring to head out in the past two years. again for another round of measurements, and they don’t expect to see Decrease in 2012 any change in those trends. “I’ve only been do- Decrease in 2011 ing this about eight years, and historically it’s declined year after year,� said Brett Wedel, manager of the KGS water-level-data acquisition program. “Some areas are worse than others. Two years ago was definitely the most drastic drop I’ve seen.� Weather permitting, KGS crews and the Kansas Division of Water Resources plan to measure 1,407 wells in the aquifer region of central and western Kansas this winter, from Colby and Goodland in the north, down to

RUNNING LOW

3.5 FEET

4.25 FEET

Please see SHOPPING, page 2A

Please see DROUGHT, page 2A

Pay isn’t key benefit of college education, students say By Ben Unglesbee bunglesbee@ljworld.com

Against a backdrop of rocketing college costs and mounting student debt, many experts, policymakers and families are reassessing the value of a college education. Just how exactly you judge the value of higher educa-

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been studied by economists. For decades the wide differences between college and high school — Pat Eland, KU grad who now works for Spurs Sports and Entertainment in San Antonio graduate incomes helped justify public investment in higher education. With college costs ristion, though, has never been clear. a prominent, if controversial, ing and job opportunities more In both national and state- place: the incomes of college scarce for new grads since the level discussions among policy graduates. recession, those numbers have makers, one measure has taken Graduate earnings have long come under closer scrutiny by

I come to work every day with a smile on my face.�

INSIDE

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Today’s forecast, page 10A

politicians at all levels. This fall, President Barack Obama proposed a ranking system of colleges that could factor in, among other data, the graduate earnings from each college. Closer to home, Kansas state legislators scrutinized survey Please see COLLEGE, page 2A

New Family Fun Center?

Vol.155/No.357 20 pages

Plans have been filed at Lawrence City Hall for a Family Fun Center near the corner of Clinton Parkway and Inverness Drive with go-karts, mini golf and batting cages. Page 5A

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