February 2022

Stop crime: Love your spouse

February 8, 2022

February 14th is known to most Americans as Valentine’s Day. A day for lovey-dovey couples to enjoy a bouquet of flowers, nibble on chocolate candies, take in a dinner for two at a local restaurant, share cherished memories, exchange cards, and purchase tokens of love and appreciation. For some couples on this love-filled holiday, the hope is that Cupid’s arrow would pierce their hearts once again and rekindle the flames of romance, appreciation, and commitment to each other for another year. Perhaps other than a wedding anniversary, there is no better day of the year to communicate to your spouse; I am all in!

Julius Boyd Loving: A pioneer in correction innovation

February 8, 2022

Julius Boyd Loving was one of the first African American deputies in the United States and a pioneer in our nation’s correctional system. He held vital criminal justice positions and influenced progressive law enforcement initiatives. Today he is best known as the father of jail programs. Deputy Loving, also known as “Major,” had a deep Kansas connection by serving as a Buffalo Soldier in the mid-1880s (Stanley).

Edward McCabe – One of the nation’s first elder statesmen

February 8, 2022

Edward P. McCabe was an African American politician and businessman most notable for promoting black settlement in Oklahoma and Kansas. He was born in 1850 near New York, where he attended school until his father’s death. As the eldest son, Edward felt compelled to leave school to support his family by serving as a clerk on Wall Street. At age 26, he moved to Chicago and continued clerking. Then, in 1878, at age 28, McCabe left Chicago and moved to Nicodemus, Kansas, where he eventually became an elder statesman (Anacker).

Kansas orphan rises to become the first African American woman police officer

February 8, 2022

In 1916, Georgia Ann Robinson became what is presumed to be the first African American woman appointed as a police officer in the United States and had a Kansas connection. Officer Robinson was orphaned as an infant in Louisiana, came under the care of her older sister for a few years, and then placed into a Catholic convent. It was through the abbey she made her way to Kansas. Here, Georgia worked as a governess, married a Leavenworth City native, Morgan Robinson, was active in many community organizations, and served as a leader in women’s suffrage in Kansas (Bryan). The Topeka Plain-dealer reported in 1906, the couple had a daughter named Marian (Bricklin).

The Olympics are safer in China from COVID than anywhere else

February 8, 2022

Millions of television viewers are watching the winter Olympics held in Beijing. But had it been held anywhere else on earth at this time, it would very likely become a superspreader event.

February 8, 2022

Reports out of Washington suggest worry over a Russia-China partnership that would facilitate Vladimir Putin’s presumed ambition to absorb Ukraine and undermine the NATO-based European security system. So let’s examine that relationship to assess the US concern.

Anti-wind politics could cost the Kansas economy

February 8, 2022

Conservative politicians across America are promoting state-level legislation aimed at preventing new wind farms from being built in their states. In Kansas, a conservative legislator from urban Johnson County has proposed three bills that would make it difficult to impossible to expand the Kansas wind industry.

Study: New variety will help farmers increase sorghum yields

February 8, 2022

MANHATTAN, Kan. -- Scientists with the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Collaborative Research on Sorghum and Millet (SMIL) have developed a sorghum variety they say will provide natural resistance to pathogens and pests that have crippled the crop in humid, lowland areas of western Ethiopia.