25 years ago in 1978

Ending a six-month investigation, the National Transportation Safety Board approved a report in which the Kansas Public Service Co. of Lawrence was blamed for a fatal explosion and fire the past Dec. 15. KPS, the retail distributor of natural gas in the city, owned a pipeline and coupling that leaked gas which ignited and exploded beneath a building on the northwest corner of Eighth and Massachusetts, the board said. The firm was labeled responsible for what occurred, which included the deaths of two young men.

Two Kansas City men drowned at Perry Lake after a father leaped into the water to save his son. The father was 39, the son 20. Neither body had been recovered.

40 years ago in 1963

The Kansas Board of Regents approved the appointment of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Douglas Stuart Moore as a visiting professor at Kansas University in 1966. He was commissioned to write an opera to celebrate the university’s 100th anniversary. (The piece later was titled “Carry Nation.”)

100 years ago in 1903

From the Lawrence Daily World of June 23, 1903: “‘Man overboard’ rang clear and strong over the river last night when it was discovered that Jack Edmunds had been capsized in a boat and was struggling for dear life to hold on to a rope. Jack is a fat man but he put up a fight that indicated he thinks his life is worth about as much as anybody’s. He came near drowning before being rescued and was hauled out in an exhausted condition. … A car load of Italians went through on the Santa Fe yesterday to be put to work in Kansas City (to help repair the recent flood damage).