From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for Feb. 7, 1989:

• A local group said this week they were intending to file a lawsuit in federal court if federal agencies failed to take steps to protect bald eagles from the planned development along the Kansas River. The group, Protect Our Eagles’ Trees (POETS), described itself as a “grassroots conservation organization” seeking to protect a small group of cottonwood trees by the river which were used by the eagles during the winter. A spokesman for the Chelsea Group, developers who were intending to build a factory outlet shopping center on the riverfront, said steps had already been taken to make sure the development’s impact on the eagles would be minimal.
• A Lawrence hunter this week had found four pounds of an explosive gel in a gallon thermos jug in southern Douglas County. The hunter had also found several booster caps, used to augment explosions, with the gel, which was later identified as aluminum nitrate. The explosives had been discovered about one mile south of Highway 56 and one and a half miles west of Douglas County Road 1029. A sheriff’s official said today an investigation was continuing. Later in the week, the sheriff’s office said it was possible the gel had come from a rock quarry in the vicinity. “It looked like it had been there a week or 10 days, maybe longer,” Sheriff Loren Anderson said. “But in the location where it was found, it could have easily fallen from a vehicle, and nobody knows they’re missing it yet.”