From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for Dec. 31, 1970:

• Douglas County Commissioners had received a free offer for 20 acres of land to be used as a park. The hilltop acreage, located south of Lawrence about one-half mile west of Hwy. 59 on the Sibleyville Road, or 1 1/2 miles southeast of Shank Hill, was offered by William Wells of Topeka on the condition that the county install a fence around the land and that it preserve existing terraces to prevent soil erosion.
• Paul McCartney had brought a court action against the other three Beatles demanding that the group be legally dissolved. The suit came after months of rumor of a breakup. As of this date, the Beatles had not played in public together for more than two years.
• Wayne Dunafon, a Westmoreland, Kansas, rancher who had portrayed the “Marlboro Man” in 22 TV commercials, was lamenting the loss of income he would be facing as of Jan. 1, when a ban on broadcast cigarette advertising would go into effect.