From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for Dec. 8, 1988:

• Lawrence city officials attending the National League of Cities Conference in Boston this week had the opportunity to attend sessions on homelessness, inner-city drug problems, and relationships between local and federal governments, but some attendees were especially looking forward to the sessions on waste management and curbside recycling. Recycling programs were still fairly new to cities nationwide, but “there are a lot of programs up and running,” said City Commissioner Sandy Praeger. “We can look to those for some advice.”
• Cases of mumps were still on the increase in Lawrence, and medical investigators were trying to puzzle out why the virus had seemingly isolated itself to the city, which had a relatively high rate of vaccinations against the illness. The Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department this week reported 96 cases, a 57 percent rise in the number of cases in the past week and a half.
• Soviet president Mikhail S. Gorbachev cut short his visit to the United States today after receiving word of a devastating earthquake in Armenia. Initial news reports said that the quake had wiped out villages and leveled cities, and reports of deaths ranged from thousands to tens of thousands.