If you have a suggestion about how to make the state court system better, a blue-ribbon commission is ready to hear it. The panel is holding a series of 19 public hearings across Kansas and is holding two meetings today (TUE) in Topeka. Ron Keefover is with the Office of Judicial Administration.

But...the panel needs to hear from the public in order to make recommendations on potential reforms. Today's (TUE) meetings will be held at the Topeka Shawnee County Public Library, at 2:30 and at 6:00 p.m. Next week, the panel will hold a hearing in Salina.
Other meetings are scheduled for Wichita, Junction City and Atchison.
The results of the public hearings will be submitted to the Kansas Supreme Court at the end of the year.

University of Kansas officials have announced a major gift to the School of Engineering.

That's Stuart Bell, Dean of the KU School of Engineering, speaking at a news conference earlier today (FRI). The $32 million comes from the estate of Charles E. and Mary Jane Spahr (Spar). The couple had already donated $13 million to KU during their lifetime. Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little said the gift will help meet a growing demand.

News of the donation comes a day after two bills concerning engineering passed the state legislature. One bill earmarks $10.5 million a year from lottery and casino revenue to engineering programs at KU, Kansas State and Wichita State. The other bill allows KU to build a new engineering education building. Both bills have been sent to the governor.

Ben Kirtland, a former athletics department official at the University of Kansas, has been sentenced to nearly five years in prison for his role in the KU ticket scandal. Kirtland received his sentence this (THUR) morning inside a federal courtroom in Wichita. U-S prosecuting attorney Barry Grissom says Kirtland’s sentence closes the book on this case.

Kirtland is the last of seven defendants to be sentenced in the conspiracy to steal and sell KU sports tickets. He was also ordered to pay more than a million dollars in restitution.

Bob Woodward, the investigative journalist who helped break the Watergate story, will give this year's Dole Lecture at the University of Kansas. Bill Lacy, the Director of the Dole Institute of Politics, says Woodward will deliver his remarks Sunday afternoon.

Woodward, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist for the Washington Post, will speak at 2:30 Sunday afternoon. The event is free to the public, but seating is limited. Doors will open at 1:45.

For the first time in its 26 year history, Farm Aid will bring its annual benefit concert to Kansas. Farm Aid 2011 will be held Saturday, August 13 at the newly opened Livestrong Sporting Park in Kansas City, Kansas. Governor Sam Brownback says that like Farm Aid, Kansas is moving towards preserving the legacy of agriculture in the state.

Willlie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews and others will team up for the one day event. Tickets go on sale Friday, May 20.