The Douglas County Courthouse is pictured in September 2018.
A propane gas delivery business wants to build a 30,000-gallon tank in rural Douglas County to help with local deliveries.
The County Commission on Wednesday will consider a site plan for the business, Heartland Propane, to construct the propane bulk plant on land located on the southeast corner of North 300 Road and East 1260 Road. The 3.5-acre property, which is currently zoned for general business purposes, is near the North 300 Road and U.S. Highway 59 intersection, about 3 miles west of Baldwin City.
According to planning documents, Heartland Propane wants to use the property to house the tank, which would serve as a refill station for its trucks that make deliveries in the area. No buildings are slated to be constructed on the property, but it would have an access drive on East 1260 Road and a gravel driveway surrounding the proposed tank, according to the documents. The company also plans to plant four trees along
photo by: Lauren Fox/Journal-World File Photo
An employee at Plastikon Industries in Lawrence s East Hills Business Park oversees the manufacturing of plastic medical vials in this November 2020 file photo.
New efforts to fight COVID-19 appear likely to add more manufacturing jobs at a Lawrence-based plant.
A local economic development official confirmed Tuesday that Plastikon Industries has won a key job that is expected to produce 50 new positions at its high-tech plant in the East Hills Business Park. The plant produces medical vials, and now it is adding a new production line that will fill and cap some medical containers as well. In other words, the plant will have the ability to not only build the packaging, but also put the product in the packaging or container, as well.
Staff Report
Strong Hall on the University of Kansas campus is shown on Sept. 13, 2018.
University of Kansas chancellor Douglas Girod is concerned that proposed cuts to state funding for higher education could cause “irreparable harm” to the university, he wrote in a campus message Tuesday.
Girod wrote that Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly’s budget recommendations include a 5.3% cut to KU’s base appropriation. If those recommendations were approved by the Legislature, Girod wrote, the university’s state funding would fall by $13.6 million $7.6 million at the Lawrence campus and $6 million at the medical center. As a percentage, Girod wrote, it would be the largest cut to KU since 2010, and as a dollar amount it would be the largest cut in KU history.
Strong Hall on the University of Kansas campus is shown on Sept. 13, 2018.
Kansas’ Office of the Attorney General said Friday that the University of Kansas was not breaking state law by keeping the meetings of its pandemic advisory team private.
The nine-member team of medical professionals and KU leaders, known as PMAT, was established in June to help inform the university’s decisions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. In early September, the Journal-World reported that KU declined to answer whether the group’s weekly meetings were open to the public and that the university had not kept any minutes of the past meetings.
KU Endowment, at 1891 Constant Ave., is shown in this Journal-World file photo from Nov. 23, 2016.
Like the University of Kansas, KU Endowment adopted cost-saving measures this fiscal year because of financial uncertainty related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Michelle Strickland, spokesperson for the nonprofit organization, said in an email to the Journal-World that these measures include a 10% operating budget reduction for the current fiscal year, the implementation of a hiring freeze and no salary increases this fiscal year.
Strickland said three employees who serve in officer roles took a 10% reduction in their salaries for six months. Six employees accepted voluntary retirement offers. Additionally, KU Endowment’s offices were closed for 10 days in 2020 six Fridays in the summer and Dec. 28 through Dec. 31. Employees who had paid-time-off hours available could use them on those days, Strickland said.