The growth rate of the world’s population had declined for the first time in modern history, but a record 80-90 million people were still being added to the human race each year, said United Nations statisticians.

The announcement that the Stokely-Van Camp processing plant would be closed and that some 125 would be out of jobs by Sept. 30 had hit a lot of families hard. The cannery in East Lawrence had operated under several companies since 1900 and the closing marked the largest shutdown in Lawrence since Lehigh Kansas Color Press closed its doors on about 300 workers 11 months earlier. Quaker Oats had bought the plant and there long had been rumors about the closing.

A local developer’s plans for a light industrial complex in North Lawrence got a boost when the city commission approved issuing $1 million in industrial revenue bonds for the work. Rob Phillips said he was planning to put up 13 buildings, one at a time as the pace of development dictated, just west of North Second Street near Riverfrot Road. The buildings would be designed for “incubator space” to help new startups, Phillips said.