Douglas County is accepting applications for the Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge, a competition where students pitch their business ideas. The event will be held from 8:30 a.m. to noon Friday, Feb. 20, at The Dwayne Peaslee Technical Training Center, 2920 Haskell Ave., in Lawrence. The community is invited to attend.

Kansas lawmakers have approved changes to state law that will exempt several categories of personal property from taxation beginning Jan. 1, 2026. 

Douglas County Appraiser Brad Eldridge said about 38% of the county’s personal property assets will qualify for exemption under the new law

Personal property exempt from taxation starting Jan. 1, 2026:

Baldwin City and Douglas County have acquired Black Jack Battlefield and Nature Park, a nationally significant site tied to the events of “Bleeding Kansas” and widely recognized as a precursor to the Civil War.

The 38-acre property, located at 163 E. 2000th Road near Baldwin City, includes the historic Robert Hall Pearson farmhouse, nature trails, Captain’s Creek, restored prairie, picnic areas and sugar maple grove. The park is open daily from dawn to dusk.

Residents and visitors alike now have a source for information related to World Cup activity in Lawrence and Douglas County.

The website lawrence2026.com is designed to be a hub for information about local events, transportation options, business resources and more as the community prepares for the worldwide men’s soccer tournament taking place in Kansas City, Missouri, in summer 2026.

Douglas County Economic Mobility Project will host a community sensemaking session on Monday, Dec. 15, to explore ways to better support low-income and single-parent families. The workshop will be from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the Lied Center Pavilion, 1600 Stewart Drive.

Participants will review data and stories collected through Douglas County Thrives, a community effort that gathered perspectives from low-income and single-parent or caregiver families to inform local policy and practice. This information was collected through a survey circulated this fall.

Douglas and Jefferson counties are updating their joint Solid Waste Management Plan, which outlines how trash, recycling, organics and other materials are managed in both urban and rural areas.

The revised plan will evaluate current systems and facilities, compare existing programs with potential alternatives, identify strategies to improve efficiency and support long-term environmental sustainability.

The Lawrence-Douglas County Housing Authority celebrated the opening of Delmar Place Apartments with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Nov. 6. Located at 2129 Clinton Parkway, the $4.7 million development adds 32 one-bedroom apartments for low-income seniors.

Real estate and personal property tax bills will be mailed by the Douglas County Treasurer’s Office on Dec. 5. These taxes, based on property valuations and tax levies set earlier this year, fund essential community services, including schools, public safety, water, roads and other infrastructure.

The first half payment for both real estate and personal property taxes is due Dec. 22, 2025, with the second half due May 11, 2026.

There are several ways to pay taxes:

Douglas County will host an open house Thursday, Nov. 20, for residents to review and provide input on the developing Wakarusa Vision Plan. The come-and-go event will be held from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Douglas County Public Works, 3755 E. 25th St. Refreshments will be provided.

Metropolitan Energy Center has been awarded a $250,000 Market Building Grant to support planning efforts for potential energy-saving projects that will benefit Douglas County. Securing the award and the forthcoming project is a partnership with the County’s Sustainability Office.

The grant, awarded by the Coalition for Green Capital and supported by ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability USA, will fund the development of financing models and energy-efficiency strategies tailored to the needs of the Douglas County community.

Douglas County GIS Analysts Helen Bontrager and Mattie Wiseman received recognition and awards at the Kansas Association of Mappers annual conference, held Oct. 28-31 in Manhattan.

Bontrager earned first place in the Printed Masterpiece category for her map titled “Patchwork,” which highlights a subset of the layers and spatial data available to county departments to support informed decision-making. Many of these layers are available to the public at https://dgcoks.gov/geoportal.

Today, 105 Inside: Built for Zero Kansas announced that Douglas County has met the rigorous by-name data standards needed to solve homelessness. This makes Douglas County the 88th community in the United States to reach this necessary and catalytic standard needed to measurably solve homelessness. Douglas County is the second community to achieve this standard for at least one population in the state of Kansas.