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Almanac for Oct. 3, 2026

Today is Saturday, Oct. 3, the 276th day of 2026. There are 89 days left in the year. Today in history: On Oct. 3, 1990, West Germany and East Germany ended 45 years of postwar division, declaring the creation of a reunified country. Also on this date: In 1873, Modoc leader Kintpuash was hanged at Fort Klamath, Oregon, after being convicted of his role in the deaths of U.S. negotiators during the Modoc War, a conflict in which his people resisted relocation. Kintpuash was the only Native American leader charged and convicted of a war crime by the U.S.. In 1944, during World War II, ...

Cutting off a parent can be self-preservation, not cruelty

An in-law, age 95 and on her deathbed, was having some final conversations. She brought up a memory of her own mother, who had lost a 2-year-old daughter to a childhood disease. When she misbehaved as a child, the elderly woman recalled, "My mother would say, 'I wish you had died instead of ...

Almanac for Oct. 2, 2026

Today is Friday, Oct. 2, the 275th day of 2026. There are 90 days left in the year. Today in history: On Oct. 2, 1967, Thurgood Marshall joined the U.S. Supreme Court as its first African American justice; he would serve on the bench for 24 years until his retirement in 1991. Also on this date: In 1919, President Woodrow Wilson had a serious stroke at the White House that left him paralyzed on his left side. In 1942, the RMS Queen Mary, an ocean liner carrying thousands of American soldiers as a converted troop ship during World War II, accidentally rammed and sank the escort ship ...

Always Watching

Do you worry that you're being watched? If you drive, you probably are. My new video covers the cameras that photograph the backs of millions of cars. A company called Flock has 80% of that market. Flock's CEO says the goal is to "eliminate crime." But lots of people hate the ...

Forest management realities in the Upper Peninsula

The 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule was controversial a quarter-century ago, and it appears it remains so today. Environmental advocacy groups are coming out in earnest, no doubt hoping to drum-up memberships with sensationalist boilerplate language that often doesn’t mean much after critical review. Most of the Roadless Area — a federal designation — lies in a handful of western states. Michigan has only 16,000 acres of designated Roadless Area. For the most part, nobody in their right mind would venture into most of it, as more than half is practically an impenetrable ...

Almanac for Oct. 1, 2026

Today is Thursday, Oct. 1, the 274th day of 2026. There are 91 days left in the year. Today in history: On Oct. 1, 2017, in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, a gunman opened fire from a room at the high-rise Mandalay Bay casino hotel in Las Vegas on a crowd of 22,000 fans at a country music concert below, causing 60 deaths and more than 850 injuries. Also on this date: In 1890, Yosemite National Park was established by the U.S. Congress. In 1903, the first modern baseball World Series began, with the National League's Pittsburgh Pirates defeating the American ...