Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. was adding $2.4 million in new equipment to the local telephone network. With the installation of the new “pair gain system,” 10 pairs of copper wires could serve up to 96 customers rather than just 10 customers. The new technology would also allow high-quality data transmission directly between computer systems without the need for modems at each end of the transmission.

Kansas Power and Light Co. and its subsidiary, Gas Service Co. announced a new name for the merged companies: KPL Gas Service. No change in service was expected in Lawrence, where the company would continue to offer only electrical service.

After a national search that lasted nearly a year, Theodore Kuwana was named director of KU’S Center for Bioanalytical Research.

Health Care Plus, the company that brought the first HMO to Lawrence two years previously, was being acquired by Hospital Corporation of American, one of the largest health-related businesses in the nation.