diff --git a/screenless/bureau/bureau.py b/screenless/bureau/bureau.py
index d2f79fa..4479cb1 100644
--- a/screenless/bureau/bureau.py
+++ b/screenless/bureau/bureau.py
@@ -340,23 +340,22 @@ class Bureau(object):
             self.log.debug("got method: " + ref)
 
             if (ref in self.commands) or (ref in self.api):
-                # catch TypeErrors for case of bogus params
-                try:
-                    if ref in self.api:
-                        if data:
-                            data = json.loads(data)
-                            ret = json.dumps(self.api[ref](data))
-                        else:
-                            ret = json.dumps(self.api[ref]())
+                # TODO: cope with data for calls with no params
+                if ref in self.api:
+                    if data:
+                        data = json.loads(data)
+                        ret = json.dumps(self.api[ref](data))
                     else:
-                        if data:
-                            ret = self.commands[ref](data)
-                        else:
-                            ret = self.commands[ref]()
-                    if ret is None:
-                        ret = ""
-                    ret = "0" + ret
-                    self._recv.send_string(ret)
+                        ret = json.dumps(self.api[ref]())
+                else:
+                    if data:
+                        ret = self.commands[ref](data)
+                    else:
+                        ret = self.commands[ref]()
+                if ret is None:
+                    ret = ""
+                ret = "0" + ret
+                self._recv.send_string(ret)
             else:
                 self.log.warning("error! Command/API %s not found", ref)
                 self._recv.send_unicode("Error! Command/API not found.")
diff --git a/screenless/bureau/mailroom/mailroom.py b/screenless/bureau/mailroom/mailroom.py
index 6fb7b45..0a54f11 100644
--- a/screenless/bureau/mailroom/mailroom.py
+++ b/screenless/bureau/mailroom/mailroom.py
@@ -3,9 +3,11 @@ import email.mime.application
 import email.mime.multipart
 import email.mime.text
 from email.header import decode_header, make_header
-import imaplib
+#import imaplib
 import os.path
+import random
 import smtplib
+import string
 
 import code128
 import imapclient
@@ -87,9 +89,9 @@ class MailRoom(Bureau):
         """
         util tidies up message headers deals with encoding
         """
-        internaldate = resp_obj[imap_id][b'INTERNALDATE']
+        internaldate = resp_obj[b'INTERNALDATE']
         
-        msg_data = resp_obj[imap_id][b'RFC822'].decode('utf-8')
+        msg_data = resp_obj[b'RFC822'].decode('utf-8')
         msg_obj = email.message_from_string(msg_data)
 
         # format and tidy header data
@@ -112,7 +114,9 @@ class MailRoom(Bureau):
             # TODO: save interesting attachments to files 
             #       should clean these up on delete
             if part.get_content_type() == "text/plain":
-                msg.content = part.get_payload(decode=True).decode("utf-8")
+                msg.content = part.get_payload(decode=True)
+                print("msg content:", msg.content)
+                msg.content = msg.content.decode("utf-8")
                 msg.content = msg.content.replace("<", "&lt;")
                 msg.content = msg.content.replace(">", "&gt;")
                 msg.content = msg.content.replace("\n", "<br />")
@@ -132,18 +136,19 @@ class MailRoom(Bureau):
         returns a short code for a given IMAP id (creating a new mapping if 
         needed)
         """
-        with self.dbenv.begin(db=self.postdb_rev) as txn:
-            shortcode = txn.get(msgid.encode())
+        msgid = str(msgid).encode()
+        with self.dbenv.begin(db=self.postdb_rev, write=True) as txn:
+            shortcode = txn.get(msgid)
             if shortcode is not None:
                 return shortcode
             else:
                 shortcode = ''.join(random.choice(string.ascii_letters + 
-                                    string.digits) for _ in range(5))
-                txn.put(msgid.encode(), shortcode.encode())
-        with self.dbenv.begin(db=self.postdb) as txn:
-            txn.put(shortcode.encode(), msgid.encode())
-        return shortcode
-
+                                    string.digits) for _ in range(5)).encode()
+                print("saving msgid", msgid, shortcode)
+                txn.put(msgid, shortcode)
+        with self.dbenv.begin(db=self.postdb, write=True) as txn:
+            txn.put(shortcode, msgid)
+        return shortcode.decode()
 
     @add_command("fax", "Send a Document Camera Image via Email")
     def fax(self, data):
@@ -293,15 +298,25 @@ class MailRoom(Bureau):
         msgs = []
 
         for msgid, data in resp.items():
-            msg = self._make_msg_object(msgid, data)
-            shortcode = self._imap2shortcode(msgid)
+            #msg = self._make_msg_object(msgid, data)
+            msg = Message()
+            shortcode = self._imap2shortcode(msgid).decode("utf-8")
+            envelope = data[b"ENVELOPE"]
+
+            msg.msgid = str(msgid)
+            sender = envelope.from_[0]
+            msg.fromaddr = sender.mailbox + b"@" + sender.host
+            msg.fromaddr = clean_header(msg.fromaddr.decode("utf-8"))
+            msg.fromname = clean_header(sender.name.decode("utf-8"))
+            msg.date = data[b"INTERNALDATE"].strftime("%d. %B %Y %I:%M%p")
+            msg.subject = clean_header(envelope.subject.decode("utf-8"))
 
             # make action barcodes
-            msg.d_bc = code128.svg("POd." + shortcode).encode()
-            msg.sp_bc = code128.svg("POsp." + shortcode).encode()
-            msg.r_bc = code128.svg("POr." + shortcode).encode()
+            msg.d_bc = code128.svg("POd." + shortcode)
+            msg.sp_bc = code128.svg("POsp." + shortcode)
+            msg.r_bc = code128.svg("POr." + shortcode)
 
-            msgs.append(msg)
+            msgs.append(msg.__dict__)
 
         return msgs
 
diff --git a/screenless/bureau/publications/news.html b/screenless/bureau/publications/news.html
index 345f2e6..f5af043 100644
--- a/screenless/bureau/publications/news.html
+++ b/screenless/bureau/publications/news.html
@@ -3,9 +3,17 @@
   <title>NEWS</title>
   <meta charset="utf-8">
   <style type="text/css">
+    @media print {
+      @page {
+        size: A4;
+      }
+    }
+    html {
+      font-size: 120%;
+    }
     body {
       font-family: "CMU Serif";
-      font-size: 13pt;
+      font-size: 24pt;
       line-height: 1;
     }
     h1 {
@@ -22,12 +30,13 @@
       column-count: 4;
       text-align: justify;
       clear: both;
+      margin-top: 1em;
     }
     #masthead {
       font-family: "Fold";
       font-weight: 400;
       text-transform: uppercase;
-      font-size: 12vw;
+      font-size: 50mm;
       text-align: center;
       margin: 0;
     }
@@ -37,6 +46,7 @@
       padding: 5px;
       clear: both;
       font-variant: small-caps;
+      font-size: 24pt;
     }
     #motto {
       float: left;
@@ -65,10 +75,12 @@
     }
     .entry .barcode{
       text-align: left;
+      margin-top: 0.25em;
     }
     .entry .barcode svg {
-      width: 100%;
-      height: 7mm;
+      width: 130%;
+      margin-left: -15%;
+      border: 1px solid black;
     }
     .entry .summary{
       text-align: justify;
@@ -79,7 +91,7 @@
   <h1 id="masthead">Yesterday's Tomorrows</h1>
   <div id="edition">
     <div id="motto">Semper Contemporarius</div>
-    <div id="date"> DATE_HERE</div>
+    <div id="date">${date}</div>
     <div class="clearfloats"></div>
   </div>
   <div id="columns">
@@ -101,11 +113,11 @@
     
     % for msg in inbox:
     <tr>
-      <td>${msg.fromstr}</td>
-      <td>${msg.subject}</td><td>${msg.date}</td>
+      <td>${msg["fromname"]} ${msg["fromaddr"]}</td>
+      <td>${msg["subject"]}</td><td>${msg["date"]}</td>
     </tr>
     <tr><td> </td><td>READ</td><td>DELETE</td><td>MARK AS SPAM</td></tr>
-    <tr><td> </td><td>${msg.r_bc}</td><td>${msg.d_bc}</td><td>${msg.sp_bc}</td></tr>
+    <tr><td> </td><td>${msg["r_bc"]}</td><td>${msg["d_bc"]}</td><td>${msg["sp_bc"]}</td></tr>
     % endfor
     </table>
   </div>
diff --git a/screenless/bureau/publications/publications.py b/screenless/bureau/publications/publications.py
index f16998d..2de21cc 100644
--- a/screenless/bureau/publications/publications.py
+++ b/screenless/bureau/publications/publications.py
@@ -101,11 +101,11 @@ class Publications(Bureau):
         news = self._get_news()
         # TODO: get weather
         # TODO: get finance
-        print("news", news[0])
         inbox = self.send("PO", "unread")
+        date = datetime.today().strftime("%A %B %e, %Y")
         if inbox is None:
             inbox = []  # if IMAP times out just move on...
-        self.print_full("news.html", news=news, inbox=inbox)
+        self.print_full("news.html", news=news, inbox=inbox, date=date)
 
     @add_command("r", "Print a web page for reading")
     def print_url(self, data):