February 2023

The first public notice I have of Frank E. Jerome is a newspaper article from January, 1873. The writer posts the claim that Jerome is “the swiftest compositor in Kansas,” that he had set 2600 ems (a printer’s term, essentially pieces of type) in an hour. This is to say that Jerome was a printing professional who set type for a living. Such people were numerous on the newspaper- rich prairie frontier, and they were legend, for various reasons.

Dear Doctors: I heard there’s finally a good answer for why people get more colds in winter than in the summer. The idea that it’s because we’re indoors more in winter never made sense because we’re indoors a lot in the summertime, too. Is there something about winter that viruses like?

When the 2023 Kansas legislative session began just over a month ago, a new committee was on the agenda — the House Welfare Reform Committee. So far, it’s gone as myself and other advocates expected in Kansas, where lawmakers have tried year after year to add barriers to vital family support programs.