From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for May 8, 1986:

• Organizers of Independence Days, Lawrence’s annual Fourth of July celebration, announced that they had recorded several versions of a new song to use for radio and television advertisements for the festival. The song, “Independence Days (Lawrence in July),” had been written by Jim Stringer, with lyrics by John Clifford.
• It was no surprise to attendees that at the first of a series of “town meetings,” the proposed Lawrence bypass drew the most public comments. At the two-hour Baldwin meeting, first of the series held by Douglas County commissioners in each of the county’s four incorporated cities, about 25 residents were in attendance.
• “This is the year of the safety belt,” announced federal traffic safety expert Michael Brownlee in his keynote address at the Kansas Traffic Safety Conference. At the meeting, held at the Lawrence Holidome, about 140 law enforcement personnel, lawyers, judges, and state lobbyists learned that safety belt use was up and traffic fatalities down across the United States.