From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for Jan. 20, 1974:

• The front page of the Journal-World this week carried a bulletin saying that Kansas Footwear, Inc., a distribution center located northwest of Lawrence, was to close in late September, 1974. The facility, located in the Santa Fe industrial tract, had been operated by Converse Rubber Co. since mid-1972 under a short-term leasing agreement with B. F. Goodrich Co. When B. F. Goodrich had decided to cease footwear operations, Converse had taken over the Lawrence facility. About 78 hourly, clerical, and managerial personnel were to be affected by the closing.
• Police in Wichita this week reported a section of that city’s Second Street Bridge collapsing into the Arkansas River, apparently due to the pounding it had received from ice floes. This had raised concerns in Lawrence about the safety of the Kaw River Bridge. City staffer Leonard Hoover said there did not appear to be any danger of damage to Lawrence’s river bridge at this point and that “the bridge piers are so substantial, with the arches sitting on top of them, that we don’t anticipate any difficulty. It’s a well-built bridge, mainly set in rock and as of now there seems to be no problem.”