About 50 local construction workers from nine companies joined forces and poured the foundation for the new Penn House building at 1035 Pa. Work was to continue through the weekend on a “building blitz” to provide new quarters for the local agency.

Frank S. Pinet, associate dean for external affairs in the Kansas University School of Business, announced he would retire from the post at the end of the school year and devote his time to teaching in the field of business administration. He was to be replaced by H. Gordon Fitch, a business professor of organization and administration.

The nation’s unemployment rate hit a six-year high of 8.4 percent as a new round of recession-triggered job layoffs darkened for many any prospects of a bright holiday. In Kansas, the jobless rate was about 4 percent and in Douglas County it remained about 3.9 percent.