Our favorite kinds of stories to tell — highlighting good things happening in Lawrence and Douglas County.
The image at the top of this page is from the August 2022 Pooch Plunge. Check out the full gallery at this link.
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LATEST GOOD NEWS
Molly Adams / Lawrence Times
Lawrence High’s Maya Smith earns Kansas Student Journalist of the Year award
Lawrence High School senior Maya Smith was named the state’s top student journalist Wednesday by the Kansas Scholastic Press Association.
Molly Adams / Lawrence Times
Lawrence High’s Maya Smith earns Kansas Student Journalist of the Year award
Lawrence High School senior Maya Smith was named the state’s top student journalist Wednesday by the Kansas Scholastic Press Association.
MORE GOOD NEWS
Tom Harper / Contributed Photo
A moment in Lawrence: Community celebrates new mural at Cottin’s Hardware
A crowd gathered Sunday to celebrate the completion of a new mural at Cottin’s Hardware in Lawrence.
Lucie Krisman / The Lawrence Times
Lawrence-based sculptor wins design title in nationwide metalworking competition
Lori Norwood took inspiration from Lawrence’s Pooch Plunge tradition to create a steel sculpture. Her piece was recently selected for a metalworking award.
Danny Caine / Contributed Photo
Raven Book Store cat retires after a decade of service
Ngaio, the 13-year-old resident bookstore cat at the Raven, greeted and accompanied customers for 10 years. She has now retired to a quieter life at a bookseller’s home.
Campbell Ragan/Contributed Photo
Pumpkin seeds, picture book make math engaging for students of homegrown Lawrence teacher
Second graders at Schwegler Elementary learned a fun fact during their recent math unit: A pumpkin’s size doesn’t determine the number of seeds inside the fall fruit.
Jordan Winter/The Lawrence Times
Pastor Verdell Taylor leaves 26-year legacy at Lawrence’s historic St. Luke AME Church
Since 1995, Verdell Taylor has been the pastor at St. Luke AME Church, an East Lawrence entity with a deep history intertwined with the civil rights movement. After his recent retirement, he is “turning the page for the next chapter.”
Contributed
Lawrence donation orchard seeks volunteers to plant ‘giving’ fruit trees
A Lawrence donation garden’s growers aim to end local food insecurity. They’ve shared 7,500 pounds of produce in Douglas County so far this year, and they need help planting fruit trees this weekend.
Matthew Willie Garcia via Wonder Gallery
Wonder Gallery to reopen, featuring Matthew Willie Garcia prints, a ‘Utopian Bookstore,’ and ‘blobby things’
Wonder Gallery will reopen on Final Friday with an expanded focus that includes home items and a Utopian Bookstore alongside rotating artists’ exhibitions.
Tom Harper / The Lawrence Times
Photos: First Nations Student Association makes KU history, raising tipi on campus
As part of Indigenous Peoples Day celebrations this week, students with the First Nations Student Association at KU have made history, raising a tipi on the lawn of Strong Hall.
Tricia Masenthin/The Lawrence Times
Lawrence teens create ‘no judgment’ period supply closet for all who menstruate
A group of Lawrence teens aims to alleviate embarrassment by normalizing the conversation about menstruation while offering free period products to those in need.
Tricia Masenthin / The Lawrence Times
Lawrence school board to consider donation of trees for Cordley Elementary playground
The Lawrence school board on Monday will consider a donation of trees for the playground at Cordley, then meet in executive session to discuss contracts with the PAL-CWA union.
Lawrence Schools Foundation / Contributed Photos
Lawrence Schools Foundation celebrates 4 high school seniors as champions of the arts
Four accomplished young artists — Free State High School seniors Matt Chappell and Devon Janus and Lawrence High School seniors Ashton Rapp and Rachel Schmaus — have been honored as the Lawrence Schools Foundation’s 2021 Student Champions.
KU Black Alumni Network
KU’s Black Alumni Network honors leaders and innovators, emerging leaders
The Black Alumni Network of the University of Kansas has selected the first seven winners of its new biennial Emerging Leaders Award, plus nine winners of the group’s longstanding Leaders and Innovators award.
Mary Costello
Kittens graduate from foster care to forever homes with volunteer support, face time on Mass Street
It’s a jungle inside the window front of Wild Man Vintage, complete with live cats on the weekends. And courtesy of some creative middle school students, their domain includes a climbable tree, too.
Contributed Photos
Lawrence Coalition for Peace and Justice, ECM honor community leaders with peace awards
Three Lawrence leaders were honored with Tom and Anne Moore Peace and Justice Awards during a ceremony this week: Meg Heriford; Dana Ortiz, for Family Promise of Lawrence; and Graham Kreicker.
Tricia Masenthin/The Lawrence Times
Lawrence playground invites children of all abilities to play, thanks to donation from late benefactor
School and business leaders are gearing up to celebrate an inclusive playground for youngsters on Lawrence’s southeast side.
Courtesy of Rising Son Plumbing
From the Caribbean to Kansas: Earl Moise, founder of Rising Son Plumbing, shares his story
Earl Moise, one of the best-known master plumbers in Lawrence, has been passionate about the craft ever since graduating from high school. With each pipe he hand-cut, he fell more and more in love.
Tricia Masenthin/The Lawrence Times
Lawrence garden projects help youth cultivate their futures, serve community
Amid the lush leaves and neatly arranged rows of plants and trees, the orchard and gardens at West Middle School grow a bounty of food. The smells of clematis and lavender float through the air, and wherever you turn, you’ll see colorful fresh fruit and vegetables. But if you dig a little deeper, you’ll also find the project grows people.
Carter Gaskins / Gaskins Photography Collection
Catherine Bell makes supporting local designers Sew Simple
Lawrence native Catherine Bell grew up with 10 siblings, but she was the only one to take up her mom’s passion for sewing and fashion design. Now she’s passing the torch — or needle — to the kids she’s had under her wing since 2019, when she started teaching sewing classes under the name Sew Simple Sewing.
Lucie Krisman / The Lawrence Times
For longtime hobbyist musicians, new instruments strike a chord
Over the last year and a half, the consistency of learning a new instrument has helped some Lawrence musicians in more ways than one.
David Sloan / The Lawrence Juice
Customers make challenges of COVID-19 pandemic bearable for owners of 1313 Mockingbird Lane
Through navigating COVID-19 as both healthcare workers and small business owners, the toy store’s regular customers have made things easier for the owners of 1313 Mockingbird Lane.
