Kansas University received a $500,000 grant from the Henry Luce Foundation Inc., New York, for a major six-year study of Christianity in China.

Kansas Public Service, Lawrence’s privately owned natural gas utility, was seeking a rate increase that would have raised the average gas bill about 45 cents per month.

Lawrence native and former Journal-World staffer Rich Clarkson was named director of photography and senior assistant editor of National Geographic Magazine. Clarkson, after having graduated from Lawrence High School and Kansas University, had started his newspaper photography career with the Journal-World in the early 1950s.

Motorcycle drag races were planned at the Lawrence Dragway, located on Wakarusa Drive, just outside the city limits. About 100 motorcycles were expected to enter the race, and more than 1,000 spectators were expected. No special permit was required for the races. The dragway, which had started operating in 1952, was grandfathered in as a legal use because it existed before adoption of county zoning regulations in 1966.