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Marijuana, bathrooms and Airbnb among off-year election issues. 1B
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KC parade draws 500,000 fans. Page 5C
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WEDNESDAY • NOVEMBER 4 • 2015
Regents poised to amend weapons policy Rules would ban open carry, require safe storage
By Sara Shepherd Twitter: @saramarieshep
The countdown is on for concealed carry coming to Kansas college campuses, and until now higher education leaders have not shared any plans for dealing with it. A Kansas Board of Regents committee now has a draft of proposed amendments to its weapons policy and is so-
liciting feedback from respective buildings universities statewide. to equip with security The draft policy clarmeasures to prevent ifies what is and isn’t concealed carry. allowed under the law, The full board tentaorders campuses to protively expects to vote on OF vide secure storage for BOARD the overarching stateREGENTS weapons and instructs wide policy in Decemuniversities to determine ber, with a goal of adopting it which — if any — of their before the end of the calendar
year, Regents spokeswoman Breeze Richardson said. “This is laying the groundwork for the real work, which is at the university level,” she said. “The campuses would then have a year for policy and procedure development.” Please see REGENTS, page 6A
Start the presses
Budget chairman predicts $100M shortfall By Peter Hancock Twitter: @LJWpqhancock
Topeka — The chairman of the House Appropriations Committee said Tuesday that Gov. Sam Brownback and the Kansas Legislature may have to find as much as $100 million in budget adjustments during the current fiscal year to avoid ending the year with a negative balance. “I’m guessing we’ll be about $100 million negative,” said Rep. Ron Ryckman Jr., R-Overland Park. Ryckman spoke by phone Tuesday, the day after the Kansas Department of Revenue reported that tax revenues in October came in $11 million below official estimates. That put the cumulative shortfall for the fiscal year at about $77.9 million, almost the exact amount that state budget ofI think ficials had we’re at expected or below to carry over at the zero end of the (with our year. “I think ending we’re at balance).” or below z e r o , ” — Rep. Ron Ryckman Jr., House Ryckman Appropriations Committee chairsaid, referring to the man
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Mike Yoder/Journal-World Photo
USING A HORSE-POWERED PRESS, JOHN CRAFT, OF LAWRENCE, PRESSES SORGHUM STALKS to make sweet sorghum syrup last week on his East Lawrence Willing Horse Farm. Craft sells the sweet sorghum syrup at the Lawrence Farmers’ Market, and several local restaurants and bakeries use the natural sweetener. Craft will also have the syrup for sale at the Holiday Market, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Dec. 12 at the Lawrence Holiday Inn, 200 McDonald Drive. See a video of the press in action at ljworld.com/sorghum
Lawrence ranks 321st on best small cities list
T
he best type of rankings are those that are determined on a field of play, cause a parade to be held for the victors, and give all of us the opportunity to practice the important art of faking a cough and forging a doctor’s note to give to the HR department. But sometimes you have to settle for a ranking from a financial website, and these most recent ones aren’t necessarily paradeworthy for Lawrence. Just out this morning is a new ranking of the Best Small Cities to Live In. Lawrence checks in at No. 321, according to the folks at the financial website WalletHub. That’s actually not
Town Talk
How other cities fared Here’s a look at the rankings of all the other Kansas communities on the list: l Leawood: No. 5 l Shawnee: No. 54 l Dodge City: No. 156 l Lenexa: No. 223
l Hutchinson: No. 264 l Manhattan: No. 273 l Garden City: No. 278 l Leavenworth: No. 317 l Salina: No. 437 — Source: WalletHub
Chad Lawhorn clawhorn@ljworld.com
bad, considering the website ranked 1,268 cities with populations between 25,000 and 100,000. But, No. 321 probably isn’t worth throwing a parade for. (Building a human pyramid that conveys we’re No. 321 gets very complicated.)
What’s also a bit of a downer is that of all the Kansas communities ranked, Lawrence was second to last in the rankings. We finished ahead of only Salina, which came in at No. 437. The two Kansas communities that might be conducting parade planning
and pyramid practice are Leawood and Shawnee in Johnson County. Leawood checked in at No. 5 in the country, while Shawnee came in at No. 54. In other words, both finished in the top 5 percent of the rankings. Please see LIST, page 2A
projected ending balance now. The Kansas Constitution requires the Legislature to raise enough revenue to pay actual expenses of the state for two-year cycles. But if revenues are not sufficient to cover those costs, statutes give the governor authority to make what are called “allotment” cuts. Under that law, whenever the budget director and secretary of administration certify that they believe the state will end the year with a negative balance, the governor can make targeted cuts to the budgets of executive branch agencies in order to bring the projected ending balance above zero. Lawmakers also gave the governor additional flexibility this year with a provision in the main budget bill that allows him to transfer $100 million from other funds into the state’s general fund in order to shore up its balance. In July, though, Brownback used about $45 million of that authority. Administration officials have not commented on the October revenue Please see BUDGET, page 2A
INSIDE
Low clouds, fog Business Classified Comics Crave
High: 73
Low: 61
Today’s forecast, page 8A
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Endowment figures 5C 1C-4C 8A, 2C 1B-8B
Kansas University Endowment’s record-setting support still falls short of other schools’ endowment associations. Page 3A
Vol.157/No.308 40 pages