From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for Dec. 20, 1988:

• A bout of unseasonably warm weather was expected to put a crimp in pre-Christmas sales, according to some local merchants. “Retailers always tell you that this time of year you need cold weather and a little bit of snow,” said Tom Griffo, manager of JC Penney’s on West 23rd Street. “Warmer weather normally hurts us so we’d like to see it get a little colder,” agreed Joe Flannery, president of Weaver’s Department Store. At most stores, sales of outerwear, boots, and winter items such as snow shovels had decreased noticeably.The weather forecast for today called for sunny skies and highs near 50 degrees.
• A front page photograph in today’s Journal-World featured workers welding steel reinforcement bars in a cement form to be part of the parking garage then under construction north of Kansas University’s Allen Fieldhouse. KU Parking Services Director Don Kearns said today there were still numerous complaints about campus parking, much of it from students frustrated in their attempts to find spots in perpetually crowded lots.