The last day of operations at an asphalt plant at 345 Michigan had been Sept. 19, and it was therefore no longer emitting smoke, odor or noise. Nearby residents had been complaining about the plant since June, but the Kansas Department of Health and Environment’s ruling, which was still as much as a week away, would come too late to have any direct impact on this plant. However, it was possible that the KDHE ruling, when it came, could serve as a precedent for future cases, which might ultimately help prompt state legislation to tighten air quality regulations.

City officials were planning to force tenants out of Pinecrest Apartments unless the building owner successfully made improvements to bring the complex up to local electrical, plumbing, and housing code standards. A building inspector had informed the Journal-World that a remodeling project begun during the summer had never been completed and that the buildings were “unsafe for human habitation.”