From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for Nov. 15, 1985:

• News of a devastating volcanic eruption in Colombia had reached the U.S. Survivors described the “blazing ash and 15-foot-high wall of mud” that had been unleashed by the Nevado del Ruiz volcano. At least 85 percent of Armero, a coffee-farming town of 50,000, had been destroyed, and at least four nearby towns had been buried by mud. The Colombian Red Cross said that the death toll was expected to be at least 20,000.
• Kansas University Chancellor Gene Budig had recently signed a contract with a private firm to supervise the removal of fuel from the university’s nuclear reactor. The reactor had begun operations on June 23, 1961, but it had not actually operated for more than a year.
• An ad insert for a toy sale at a local hardware store included pictures and descriptions of Tonka dump trucks, “Masters of the Universe” figures, a Barbie “workout center,” Mr. Potato Head, Transformers, Etch-A-Sketch, Care Bears, My Little Ponies (complete with “brush for grooming, ribbon, and pony story”), and a board game with glow-in-the-dark ghosts!