From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for April 6, 1974:

• Kansas University student Dan Wessel, who had experienced a bit of local fame the previous year for crashing his homemade “flying machine” on the slopes above Potter Lake, was working on a new idea. At noon on April 26, Wessel was planning to climb inside a plexiglass sphere three feet in diameter and then be shot down 150 feet of raining toward the lake. On its way, the sphere was to crash through barriers which would emit confetti, glitter, and flowers, and then pass through hoops of fire. “Sure, I consider it art,” Wessel said. “It’s a continuation of my search for art.”
• City workers this week were removing the baseball backstop in South Park. The former baseball field was to be seeded and left as an all-purpose field, with trees screening it along North Park Street, according to city park superintendent George Osborne. The small backstop at the northwest corner of the field was to be left. The bleachers, lights, and some of the fencing from South Park were to be moved and installed at Lyons Park.
• Automakers in Detroit this week announced the model year 1975 would represent a big comeback for automobiles, as new gasoline mileage improvements were expected to be unveiled. Officials with the Environmental Protection Agency had originally estimated a 7 percent average improvement overall and 11 to 13 percent for General Motors cars, but they now considered those estimates “too conservative.”