The shift in weather that multiplies the signs of spring takes place within a week of Cross Quarter Day, the day on which the sun reaches halfway to spring equinox, February 18th.

Three or four good thaws, sometimes lasting a week apiece, have already come up from the south before then. Bulbs made progress during each of them, foliage rising ever so slowly though the soft ground.

In November of 1978 the Reverend Jim Jones instigated the mass suicide of over 900 of his followers at Jonestown in the remote jungles of Guyana in South America. Twenty years later Deborah Layton who had been a member of the cult leader's inner circle published a memoir about her experiences in the People's Temple.

In this edition of WYSO Weekend:

Last week we told you how, some Dayton groups, including Rainbow Elder Care, Public Health Dayton and Montgomery County, and Boonshoft Pride are collecting data to gauge the unique needs of the older LGBT community. Our story featured three people who had genuine concerns about their futures as they get older. In our conversations we also talked about other aspects of their lives….. Coming out to family and friends, and to themselves. We talked about the ideals of community and culture, and so we wanted to share just a little bit more of their stories with you. This segment features Janice James, Joyce Gibbs and Dickie Wilson.

WYSO is partnering with Stats and Stories, a podcast produced at Miami University.

Public health researchers have a lot of information to manage. Beyond simply tracking how health issues spread, there's environmental information to gather and decipher as well as socio economic or infrastructural data to analyze. The mapping of such information can help researchers and medical professionals better manage a public health issue. Rosemary Pennington is joined by regular panelist John Bailer and guest is Lance Waller. Waller is Rowland's professor and chair of the department of biostatistics and bioinformatics in the Roland School of Public Health at Emory University.