The Kansas Legislature completed a 14-hour special session Monday night by sending Gov. Laura Kelly a bill packed with generous medical, religious and philosophical exemptions to federal COVID-19 vaccination mandates and the potential of state unemployment benefits to people fired for refusing to be inoculated.
Contributed photo and Wikimedia Commons
A Chesty Lion will join voices with the top-rated high school vocalists from across the world in February.
Contributed Image
Lovers of the written word, mark your calendars — the Paper Plains Literary Festival has set dates for 2022 events, which will be in person and livestreamed.
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Riders of Lawrence Transit can now use an app to purchase bus passes.
Anti-vaxxers packed the gallery overlooking the House chamber for this historic special session debate, and were repeatedly admonished for jeering, applauding or coughing on the lawmakers below.
The Kansas Senate struggled with a series of amendments Monday before passing a bill defining wide religious and medical exemptions to federal COVID-19 vaccination mandates and extending state unemployment assistance to people fired for refusing inoculations.
Ken Lassman
This greenish-tinged limestone is full of fossils, including a short seven-segment section of a crinoid stalk, a plant that was quite prolific in oceans where Kansas is now some 250 million years ago.
City of Lawrence and Douglas County government offices will close for the holiday Thursday and Friday, some trash pickup will be delayed, and more tidbits to know for this week.
On the to-do list for the Kansas Legislature’s special session will be laws making it easier for a person to claim a religious exemption to vaccination mandates, and they’ll likely consider granting unemployment benefits to anyone fired for refusing to be vaccinated or to undergo regular testing.
Lucie Krisman / The Lawrence Times
Jungle House owners Jhami and Rachel Guffey hope that when customers walk into their new pop-up shop in downtown Lawrence, they experience “over-the-top holiday magic.”
