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WEDNESDAY • APRIL 20 • 2011
Robinson faces battery charge from club incident By George Diepenbrock and Andy Hyland gdiepenbrock@ljworld.com; ahyland@ljworld.com
Lawrence police have cited Kansas University basketball player Thomas Robinson to appear in municipal court on a misdemeanor battery charge in
Robinson
Some sun
High: 60
connection with an altercation outside a Lawrence nightclub, city prosecutor Jerry Little said Tuesday morning. Little said officers informed him that they had cited Robinson, 20, in connection with an April 10 incident outside The Cave, a nightclub inside The Oread Hotel, 1200 Oread Ave.
Police have said two suspects were accused of hitting bouncers at 2:05 a.m. April 10 outside The Cave after bar staff said they broke up a large fight inside the club. Capt. Paul Fellers in a statement said that police were called about a f ight and that one bouncer, a 25-year-old Lawrence
man, alleged that one suspect had struck him and then spit on him. A witness alleged a second suspect had hit another bouncer, a 23-year-old Lawrence man, Fellers said. According to a police report, the two victims were not injured. Police did not identify the two suspects, but Sgt. Matt
Support sought for school consolidation
Low: 39
Today’s forecast, page 10A
INSIDE
Sarna, a police spokesman, said Tuesday morning that only one person has been ticketed. Adam Lauridsen, a bouncer at The Cave who worked the night of the incident, told the JournalWorld that several members of the basketball team were outPlease see ROBINSON, page 2A
Care facility cited for violations ——
Windsor of Lawrence accused in choking incident
Some how-to advice on cooking with tofu Intimidated by tofu? Don’t know where to begin? Check out these tips and recipes for creating a delicious tofu feast. Page 10B
By Karrey Britt kbritt@ljworld.com Nick Krug/Journal-World Photo
BASEBALL
FSHS pitcher throws no-hitter Cody Kukuk, Free State High School’s 6foot-4 senior pitcher, struck out 13 and no-hit Shawnee Mission East, leading the Firebirds to a 3-0 victory on a chilly Tuesday night at FSHS. Page 1B
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QUOTABLE
It’s great for the department, and hopefully it allows the department to carry on the legacy of my work.” — Val Stella, Kansas University pharmaceutical chemistry professor. Gilead Pharmaceuticals announced a $1 million gift to help create a new endowed professorship in Stella’s name in KU’s School of Pharmacy. Page 3A
COMING THURSDAY We'll do a report from Kansas University, where a panel discussion is being held on sexual assault.
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INDEX Business Classified Comics Deaths Events listings Food Horoscope Movies Opinion Poll Puzzles Sports Television Vol.153/No.110
10A 1C-8C 9A 2A 10A, 2B 10B 7C 5A 8A 2A 7C 1B-7B 5A, 2B, 7C 28 pages
Energy smart: The Journal-World makes the most of renewable resources. www.b-e-f.org
FIRST-GRADERS REAGAN HASKELL, left, and Olivia Wood play on the monkey bars during recess Tuesday at Pinckney School.
Bond issue would need to be OK’d to combine elementaries By Mark Fagan mfagan@ljworld.com
As members of the Lawrence school board continue making plans to form a community-minded process for consolidating elementary schools during the next several years, they’re finding support from folks who some may see as unlikely advocates. Even people from one of the schools targeted say they want to remain on the consolidation list, even after several members of the Lawrence school board suggested taking their building — Pinckney School — off the list of six potential candidates. “We don’t want to be out there as the school that is left out … and becomes the next (closure) target,” said Andrew Lees, who lives in Old West Lawrence. Adds David Unekis: “We don’t
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This is the one chance we have, this one brief moment, to do this in a way that actually brings the community together instead of tearing it apart. If we blink at this one, then it won’t come back again for a long, long time.” — Scott Morgan, a board member who served as co-chairman of the Lawrence Elementary School Facility Vision Task Force want to be the next tiny school that every year is sweating this out.” Such support is considered key to board members as they pursue the most divisive and potentially enduring recommendation from the Lawrence Elementary School Facility Vision Task Force: Consolidate six elementary schools into four or possibly three schools within three to five years. To turn the recommendation into
reality, the board would need to propose and win approval for a bond issue that would be designed to address the needs of all elementary schools in town, whether that’s by adding new classrooms, expanding libraries or even building entirely new schools. And to get to that point, board members agree that they’d need to Please see CONSOLIDATION, page 2A
KU picks alumna as new business dean By Andy Hyland ahyland@ljworld.com
Kansas University leaders have hired a marketing professor from Ohio State University who earned her doctorate from KU to lead KU’s School of Business. Neeli Bendapudi, 47, will become dean of business on Aug. 1. She said she looked forward to the opportunity to give back to the school that had given so much to her and her family. All together, her family members have earned seven degrees from KU, she said. She earned her doctorate from KU in 1994. “I’m a true-blue Jayhawk,” she said. “It sounds corny, but I’m completely serious.” KU Provost Jeff Vitter said she came highly recommended by her superiors at Ohio State, including President Gordon Gee. “She is an extremely energetic person and a person full of ideas,” Vitter said. “She is just a bundle of energy.” He said she had a unique skill set, blending academic experience with work in the corporate world. She served as the chief customer officer and executive vice president of Huntington National Bank from 2007 to 2008.
She also led the formation of the Initiative for Marketing Services at OSU, a consortium of companies that partner with the college on teaching, research and outreach regardBendapudi ing service management. “We’re just really excited about Neeli because she just hits on all cylinders,” said James Guthrie, a KU business professor who co-chaired the search for a new dean. “And she’s got that KU connection, which is a real bonus.” She said she would work to make the business school “an incredible place for students to learn” and a “great place for faculty and staff to work.” Working to lead through influence — and not just authority — is important, Bendapudi said, and she was looking forward to working with donors, faculty, students and other stakeholders. Bendapudi will earn $350,000 in her new role, which would make her the highest-paid dean on the Lawrence campus. Her salary will include $60,000 in private funds to
supplement $290,000 in state funds. She will replace Dean William Fuerst, who announced in October that he would step down as dean and return to the full-time faculty. Fuerst had originally said he would step down effective June 30, but KU officials said on Tuesday no decisions had been made as to how the school would handle the gap between that time and Aug. 1, when Bendapudi will take over. Fuerst, who had been making $308,000 as dean, will earn $195,962 in his new role. He stepped down soon after several MBA students raised concerns about how the school was spending additional course fees charged to business students. An audit report later said the school spent 99.8 percent of the funds appropriately. Bendapudi said she had fielded a few questions on the differential tuition fees at a public forum at the school, but said she hoped everyone could move forward. “My communication with them is we need to move ahead,” she said. “What we need to focus on is what’s coming up next.” — Higher education reporter Andy Hyland can be reached at 832-6388. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/LJW_KU.
A Lawrence assisted living facility was cited by the state last month for endangering one of its residents who had Alzheimer’s. The Windsor of Lawrence was cited for having 17 deficiencies during a seven-day inspection that was completed March 23 by the Kansas Department on Aging. The most serious said that a resident, who was on a pureed diet, was allowed to consume solid SURVEYS food and ONLINE choked. Emergency workers The Kansas were called to Department on the scene and Aging's two latest the resident surveys of The was taken to Windsor of the hospital. Lawrence are Before the inci- available for dent, the resi- viewing at dent was able WellCommons/ to use a walker documents. and feed him or herself. Following re-admission to the facility, the resident required total assistance and was on hospice care. “It’s appalling,” said Mitzi McFatrich, Kansas Advocates for Better Care executive director. “I just can’t imagine that you are entrusting your loved one to somebody who is professionally capable of taking care of him or her, and that’s the result. That’s a huge concern to me.” Other citations noted in the 60-page report centered on improper paperwork, improper medication storage, and failure to report incidents to KDOA. “Every one of these that I read through, you can say, ‘They just didn’t have the documentation,’” Please see WINDSOR, page 2A
Have a complaint? To file a complaint about a nursing home or assisted living facility, contact the Kansas Department on Aging at 800-842-0078. Call 911 if it’s an emergency situation. Facilities are required by law to post surveys where the public can view them. If you can’t find the survey, contact Sara Arif at 785296-6154 or sara.arif@aging.ks.gov. For information about senior care, Kansas facilities or surveys, contact Kansas Advocates for Better Care at 800-525-1782 or visit www.kabc.org.