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Almanac for Aug. 29, 2026

Local columns

Today is Saturday, Aug. 29, the 241st day of 2026. There are 124 days left in the year. Today in history: On Aug. 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck the U.S. Gulf Coast in southeast Louisiana, breaching levees and spurring floods that devastated New Orleans. Katrina caused nearly 1,400 deaths and an estimated $200 billion in damage. Also on this date: In 1814, during the War of 1812, Alexandria, Virginia, formally surrendered to British military forces, which occupied the city until Sept. 3. In 1825, the Treaty of Rio de Janeiro was signed by Portugal and Brazil, officially ending ...

Sayonara, my friend. It was so good to meet you

Local columns

“My transistor radio comes from far away; and when it's night over here, over there, it's breakin' day,” – Bob Morris and Faye Morris It was evening, about an hour or so before dark would descend, when I set out on a walk to enjoy the natural experience around me. I was with our recent ...

Trump may overplay his hand with economic threats

Editorial

Three moves in the last week have exposed the limits of Donald Trump’s economic bullying. The US slapped 50% tariffs on another $20bn of Canadian goods – then threatened the same rate on the cars, trucks, parts and steel that America Inc depends on. On Monday, the Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, menaced Iran’s trading partners with exclusion from the US financial network, hoping that coercion can deliver what months of war have not. And as the costs of war, tariffs and pro-billionaire tax cuts helped send US bond yields higher, the Treasury stepped in to tame long-term rates. ...

Use of Flock cameras amounts to surveillance

Editorial

The more we hear about Flock cameras, the less we like them. These cameras, positioned along roadways across the state and country, read license plate numbers in passing vehicles, reporting that and other information in real time to centralized data bases that law enforcement and others can access and share. Some police -- certainly not all -- neighborhood associations and private property owners argue the cameras, often powered by an attached solar cell, help find the bad guys and that they are, in essence, no different than an officer sitting on the side of the road keeping an eye on ...

Ditching Net Zero

Local columns

What a difference a few years make. Not long ago, politicians said climate change was going to kill us, so we must move to "net zero" emissions. This is theoretically possible. Since vegetation removes carbon, we could get to net zero by burning fewer fossil fuels. Governments everywhere ...

Almanac for Aug. 28, 2026

Local columns

Today is Friday, Aug. 28, the 240th day of 2026. There are 125 days left in the year. Today in history: On Aug. 28, 1963, during the March on Washington, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech before an estimated 250,000 people in front of the Lincoln Memorial. Also on this date: In 1845, the first issue of Scientific American magazine was published; it remains the oldest continuously published magazine in the United States. In 1862, the Second Battle of Bull Run began in Prince William County, Virginia, during the Civil War; the Union army retreated ...