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
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Latest Douglas County drug court graduates celebrate completing this step of their journeys
Three new graduates of Douglas County drug court can now start with a clean slate and continue to build on the people they’ve grown to be throughout their time in the program.
MORE GOOD NEWS
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Raven regular’s debut collection of sci-fi short stories to launch from ‘bookstore of her heart’
For as long as she can remember, Izzy Wasserstein aspired to write. Now 41, she recalled the rush of hope and feelings books stirred within her early in life.
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Lawrence Public Library’s Kids’ Action Club members take the lead on art, bake sale fundraiser
One of the defining features of the Lawrence Public Library’s Kids’ Action Club is that it allows kids to put ideas into action. Its latest project is a fundraiser for Ukraine.
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A fun day for floofs: Pooches take the plunge
Lawrence’s Outdoor Aquatic Center is now closed for the season, but not before dozens of doggos got to make their annual splash. The Pooch Plunge was a hit Monday: numerous participants gave 5-wag reviews.
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Contributions from community members in Lawrence and beyond make couple’s wedding ‘amazing’
Ryan Selleck and his bride, Amanda, had settled on getting hitched at the courthouse. But his mother wanted more for them, and community members in Lawrence and a “beautiful savior” states away made their wedding possible.
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Haskell Indian Nations University wins $20M award for Indigenous science hub project
Haskell Indian Nations University has earned a $20 million award to create a knowledge hub that a faculty member says will be “a game changer for Indigenous peoples.”
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Young artists of Van Go unveil benches commissioned for clients
When Ian Hoopes pulled the cover off of his 2022 Van Go Benchmark piece, he wasn’t just unveiling a piece of art — he was unveiling a piece of himself.
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Youth make money, flex entrepreneurial skills at Douglas County fair
There were chores galore on Friday as 4-H club members and other youth tended to their booths during the Douglas County Fair.
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B.L.A.C.K. Lawrence to celebrate 5-year anniversary as a collective
B.L.A.C.K. (Black Literature & Arts Collective of Kansas) Lawrence this Saturday will host an anniversary show to celebrate five years of being a community collective of Black artists. The group aims to elevate and celebrate Black art, promote Black artists, and foster local education on Black issues.
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Sunrise Project’s ‘Lit & Local’ event to offer young creators a platform to sell handmade work
A festival this Saturday in Lawrence will give young entrepreneurs a platform to showcase and sell their unique, handmade work.
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Eudora teen with a passion for patient care earns $5,000 college scholarship
Eudora High School graduate Ling Clobes knows the scary feelings that can accompany a child’s hospital stay. Born with a cleft lip and palate, the teen has undergone a dozen procedures, including double jaw surgery.
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Couple’s ‘little pocket prairie’ beckons butterflies to Indian Hills neighborhood
Call it a pollinator’s delight, a butterfly haven, a nectar buffet. This Monarch Waystation is the pride of longtime Lawrence gardeners Dena Podrebarac and Heidi Rios.
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Tragic Comedy to center queer, femme, BIPOC comedians in Lawrence
A new comedy troupe in town is bringing parody, musicals, sketch comedy, and standup in a space with room for all who love comedy to showcase their authentic selves and their jokes.
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Lawrence High student wins $10K scholarship to support her dream of becoming a restaurateur
Victoria Bell remembers peanut butter cookies and cornbread as the first recipes she ever made by herself. Now, as a rising high school senior, she can see her dream career of one day owning a restaurant or bakery in close reach.
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Lawrence PRIDE parade and party return
Two days of Lawrence PRIDE celebrations culminated in a gathering at South Park, a parade down Massachusetts Street and a party at Abe & Jake’s.
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Free State student invited to National Youth Wind Ensemble, prestigious youth band experience
Trumpeter Keith Popiel said he doesn’t usually get jitters before performing, but when he found himself sitting on a historic stage in the nation’s capital among some of the best youth musicians in the country, he realized his musical career had come to a pinnacle moment.
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Meet the first Mass Street Kitten Academy recruits of 2022
Jupiter, Luna, Nova and Orion are the first Mass Street Kitten Academy recruits of 2022. This morning, they got to be the first to try out the academy’s stellar new window display, hosted at Love Garden Sounds.
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Lawrence Juneteenth celebration unites community, honors people who make a difference
“It’s a celebration of freedom; of how far Black people have come,” said Janae Colter, of Lawrence, cradling her two-week-old daughter, Zya, at Saturday’s Juneteenth celebration.
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Students persevere to overcome obstacles and graduate from Lawrence’s adult education program
A gymnasium filled with friends, families and supporters on Thursday evening celebrated the accomplishments of local students who overcame adversity to graduate this year from the Lawrence school district’s Adult Learning Center and Diploma Completion Program.
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Liberty Memorial Central students create unique multimedia poetry project with Lawrence Arts Center
Call it a colossal community collaboration featuring the creativity of nearly 150 seventh-graders. The Zinn Writers of Liberty Memorial Central Middle School once again have partnered with the Lawrence Arts Center, resulting in a multimedia literary project called “I Hope You Know.”
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Lawrence High’s 148th class graduates to life’s ‘next chapter’
The sun set Friday evening on the high school careers of 375 Lawrence High Chesty Lions as family members, friends and faculty filled the outdoor stadium to celebrate the class of 2022’s accomplishments.
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