From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for March 14, 1987:

• Southwestern Bell Telephone was making a $7 million dollar investment Lawrence. The company was paying for about 70 miles of fiber optic cable to be installed in the area. The new technology was expected to make little difference for ordinary telephone conversations, but the fiber optics would provide data transmissions between computers at a high rate of speed as well as the transmission of “full-motion video” for conference calls.
• Budget cuts were forcing the cancellation of remedial classes at Kansas University. The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences was planning to begin by eliminating Basic Writing Skills and Introductory Algebra, according to Robert Lineberry, dean of the college. “We have to ask ourselves, ‘What’s the best use of available dollars?’ To my mind, junior high mathematics is not the best use,” Lineberry said. He added that the change was part of a larger plan to make it harder to be admitted into KU and harder to stay in the university. “We are trying to reaffirm our commitment to excellence,” he said.