The second power outage in one day proved to be more than just an inconvenience for the Lawrence Paper Co. at 2801 Lakeview Road. “It was a catastrophe,” said firm president Alan Hill, who was clearly perturbed. Hill said the company might sue a trucking firm it believed was responsible for the outage that occurred after a truck hit a power pole. Lawrence Paper said it wanted to recover more than $30,000 it estimated it had lost during the outage. The trucking firm, W.A. Dunbar, denied any wrongdoing.

The 1982 Kansas Legislature, facing a long list of unresolved issues, returned to work after a recess. The biggest question was whether lawmakers could put aside the divisiveness that had split the House and Senate in the first 89 days of operation and do something of importance on such matters as an oil-gas severance tax and congressional redistricting.