From the Lawrence Daily World for Dec. 29, 1908: “John Whitman, former Lawrence resident now of Chicago, discussed his days as a settlement worker to aid the needy in Chicago. He suggested that many of the practices in Chicago could be put to good use for the local needy. … Gov.-elect W.R. Stubbs held some meetings here yesterday with a number of the top labor officials from Topeka to discuss issues before the legislature in the coming session. … It appeared more than 25,000 had been killed in the violent earthquakes in Italy. The town of Messina with 175,000 residents was almost totally destroyed. Twenty other town were destroyed and the island of Sicily appears to have suffered the worst in this horrendous disaster. … The county assessor has received instructions from Topeka to place fraternal orders on the tax rolls without exemptions. Douglas County has a number of such agencies that now must pay taxes.”