Category Archives: History

A crowd huddled around Bevil Cohn bright and early Saturday outside Bells Hill Elementary School as she told the story of the man who pioneered the early tourist destination that led Waco to be known as Geyser City, centered partly around what is now the site of the school where the Cohn worked as principal for 33 years.

More than a century before the fame that came from Chip and Joanna Gaines hit renovation show, Fixer Upper, and the Magnolia empire that soon followed, Waco had a run as a famous tourist attraction for something else. It was the subject of a Waco Walks event Cohn led Saturday in the neighborhood.

In 1889, Joseph Daniel Bell, who was previously involved in mining activities, drilled the first in a series of artesian wells that produced hot water until the 1920s. Tales of the waters ability to miraculously cure a range of ailments led people from far and wide to travel to Geyser City, making the small town of Waco prosperous. Bell also supplied the city with water for drinking and other municipal purposes.

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He built 16 wells, including three where Bells Hill Elementary School now stands at Cleveland Avenue and 22nd Street. The water ran at about 104 degrees, it had to be cooled before usage, and shot upward from about 1,830 feet below the surface. It was reported that one of the wells produced about 1.5 million gallons of water a day, according to records in the Texas Collection at Baylor University.

Although the days of Geyser City have come and gone, Bells Hill is a neighborhood still filled with rich culture, interesting people and stories, Cohn said. Se said she wants more people to know more about Bell, who she kindly refers to as My Bell, and his influence on the early days of Waco.

I think my passion at this particular time is the history of Waco and sharing that history with young adults and even the children while I was at Bells Hill, Cohn said.

Wacoan Diane McDaniel said she had been to a few other walks hosted by Waco Walks prior to the pandemic.

I grew up in Waco, but I had never heard about the geyser so I was just interested to learn about it, McDaniel said.

The event Saturday also highlighted some of neighborhoods more-recent history and a few of its notable residents, from a former yo-yo champion to twin sisters Ramona and Winona Diamond, singers who performed as the Diamond Twins.

Paul Holder discussed his familys deep history in the Bells Hill community. The McLennan Community College government professor grew up in Bells Hill, and his parents owned and operated a hamburger restaurant, Stadium Drive-In, out of their garage until 1994. Holder reminisced on the range of people who would visit the drive-in near the former Floyd Casey Stadium, including Baylor University football coaches and players, such as running back Ronnie Bull. Jeff Holder, Pauls son, made the crowd laugh with his tales of his grandpa, who he called Pawpaw.

My Pawpaw would always give me a dollar, every time I hugged him, Jeff Holder said. Even when I was a freshman at Baylor I would come around and hug him.

Cohn said the house that serves as Historic Waco Foundations office on Fourth Street was formerly relocated from Bells Hill, where it was owned by the Hoffman family. A concrete company wanted to destroy the home, but the foundation was able to have it moved, Cohn said. The Hoffman family contained three children, two girls and one boy. The two girls, Fay and Bird, studied dance in New York and came back to Waco to teach classes and they were soon nicknamed the Hoffmanettes, Cohn said.

Anyone that took dance lessons, generations of Wacoans, took them from the Hoffmanettes, Cohn said.

Waco Walks organizer Ashley Bean Thornton said Saturdays walk was only able to cover a portion of the neighborhoods history and a second walk is already in the planning process.

Thornton said the rich history is one of the many things she enjoys about living in Waco.

Any aspect of American history, certainly from the Civil War until now, theres something you can still see in Waco that reflects that, Thornton said. Waco is a small enough place, but a big enough place, that you can really learn about it. I feel like my understanding of American history is so much more enriched from knowing this in-depth information about Waco history. It just puts a familiarity to it that you just dont get from reading about it.

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Waco Walks dives into history of early Waco tourist attraction, culture of Bell's Hill area - Waco Tribune-Herald

After the Dubs loss in Game One, here are some notes to help you participate in mass anxiety while maintaining an air of (fake) confidence.

Simply put, the Mission Bay Dubs (aka Golden State Warriors), played Thursday nights fourth quarter like they were San Franciscos Department of Public Works: sloppy, disrespectful, late and let the trash pile up. Dubs fans could do little more than avert their eyes and hold their noses.

A history lesson

In their previous five Finals appearances, the Dubs lost Game One just one time, in 2019 on the road to Toronto. They lost the series in 6.

In that Toronto game, the Dubs (and Draymond Green in particular) did not respect a role player named Pascal Siakam, who scored 32 points. Thursday night they (particularly Green) did not respect role players Al Horford and Derrick White. And wow, did that dynamic duo make them pay, especially in the fourth quarter. Horford and White out-splashed the Splash Brothers making 11 3-point shots ( also called 3 balls and 3s) on 16 attempts.

Despite their record, the Dubs have had Game One problems in the past. In 2015, they benefited from an injury to a key player, Kyrie Irving, late in overtime, which the Dubs won 108-100. They subsequently lost Games 2 and 3, but ultimately survived.

In 2016, the Dubs won Games One and Two, but in both those games, Curry and Thompson were pushed around by a pugnacious Cleveland defense, a pattern that persisted through the 7 game series.

The worst Dubs playoff Game One defeat came at the hands ofthe Oklahoma Thunder in the 2016 Western Conference Finals. After being ahead most of the game, they scored only 14 points in the 4th quarter and lost not unlike their showing on Thursday night.

The Thunder were big, long, and athletic. They played a physical in-your-face defense, though not as good as Boston.

The Dubs won Game Two of that 2016 series at home, then got shellacked twice in Oklahoma City. Down 3-1 in the series, the Dubs easily won Game Five at home. But they had to return to Oklahoma for Game Six.

Entering the fourth quarter, the Thunder led 83-75. Less than a minute into the quarter, Klay Thompson hit a 25-foot 3-point shot and never looked back. He scored 19 of his game-high 41 points in that quarter, leading the Dubs to a tight 106-100 win. Thats when Thompsom was christened Game Six Klay.

Back in what was then the Golden State, the Dubs won and advanced to the Finals.

Stop giving the Celtics wide-open shots when playing defense and put the ball in the basket when playing offense. For all the media coverage and endless chatter, basketball is a fairly simple game; conceived to keep kids busy, not make adults rich.

Including Thursdays loss, the Dubs have only lost five games over the course of these playoffs, never losing two games in a row. At their best, the Finals are roller coaster rides and we have learned, watching the Dubs over these years, what goes down usually goes back up. Enjoy the ride.

William Reutter contributed to this report.

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NBA Finals: Some history on how NBA finals evolved over 4 to 7 games - Mission Local

This week in history as reported by The Summit County Journal the week of June 3, 1922.

1stherd of cattle crosses range Thursday

A herd of about 230 head of cattle crossed Hoosier Pass Thursday. They came in from South Park country and were on their way to Yampa in Routt County. The cattle made the trip over the pass in good shape and experienced no difficulty in crossing the divide.

The large herd from the Hanks brothers, consisting of about 2,000 head of cattle, is due to cross Hoosier Pass sometime today and should arrive in Breckenridge by evening. They left Villa Grove on last Sunday morning and have been on the way ever since.

Thomas case in district court

The case of the People v. J.W. Thomas in an alleged cattle rustling and killing affair was in district court this week. The people were represented by District Attorney W.H. Luby and Thomas was defended by John T. Bottom of Denver.

Guy Dowling, a son-in-law of Thomas, was the main witness for the state, having implicated himself in the cutting and preserving of the meat and giving it away. He stated that he knew the time that the steer was killed and that the brand, which was Guy Henrys, was cut from the hide.

He took other witnesses to the place where the removed hide was buried and uncovered it. The hide was not in any condition to present as evidence, so the jury had to draw conclusions from verbal evidence.

The cross examination lasted three or four hours, calling for many ranchmen from the lower Blue River Valley as witnesses, some even coming from Kremmling. The prosecution was carried on by the Blue Valley Stockgrowers Association in interest of the cattle industry.

All attorneys presented good arguments, with Bottom evidently making the strongest argument. The jury returned a verdict in less than one hour and Thomas was acquitted. It was not the aim to convict this one man, but to prove that the cattlemen are willing and ready to defend their interests.

Hoosier Pass now easily travelled

Several cars have crossed the range via Hoosier pass this week from both sides, and each day brings in reports of an improved condition in the road. The Park County side has been worked with a grader and is rather soft, but no trouble is experienced getting over the road.

On this side of the range, the snow and ice has entirely disappeared from the road and the shoveled-out drifts have been greatly widened by the quickly melting snow. With only a couple of exceptions, the road is drying up rapidly to the top.

Word of the opening of the pass has spread rapidly and many are now taking advantage of the fact by coming this way. People anxious to get into Grand and Routt counties have been coming through and others who are going to Denver from the Western Slope are now being routed over this way.

Berthoud pass still remains closed and the latest reports are that it will not be opened until sometime the latter part of next week. Efforts will be made to get a team across Sunday, which, if successful, will mean that it may be opened earlier in the week.

Local news notes from all around Summit County

Jefferson Geiger is the arts and entertainment editor for the Summit Daily News and managing editor for Explore Summit. Email him at jgeiger@summitdaily.com.

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This week in history June 3, 1922: Cattle, courts and cars - Summit Daily

BAY CITY, MI -- A look at the 2022 high school baseball regionals involving teams in the MLive Bay City coverage area. Follow along here for the pairings, schedules and results as they update throughout the tournament. Below is a historical list of past regional champions from the Bay City area.

DIVISION 2

Wednesday, June 8

Regional Semifinals

4:30 p.m. Clare vs. John Glenn at Gladwin

4:30 p.m. Fruitport vs. Howard City Tri-County at Whitehall

5 p.m. Allendale vs. Forest Hills Eastern at Ionia

5 p.m. Cheboygan at Petoskey

Saturday, June 11

Regional Finals at Clare

10 a.m. Allendale/Forest Hills Eastern vs. Cheboygan/Petoskey

12:30 p.m. John Glenn/Clare vs. Fruitport/Tri-County

3 p.m. Quarterfinal

Winner advances to state semifinals at MSU

DIVISION 3

Wednesday, June 8

Regional Semifinals

4 p.m. Beaverton at Standish-Sterling

4 p.m. Houghton at Gladstone

4:30 p.m. LeRoy Pine River vs. Reed City at Mason County Central

4 p.m. Boyne City at Traverse City St. Francis

Saturday, June 11

Regional Finals at Harbor Springs

10 a.m. Houghton/Gladstone vs. Beaverton/Standish-Sterling

12:30 p.m. Pine River/Reed City vs. Boyne City/St. Francis

3 p.m. Quarterfinal

Winner advances to state semifinals at MSU

DIVISION 4

Wednesday, June 8

Regional Semifinals

4 p.m. Bay City All Saints vs. Harbor Beach at USA

4 p.m. Plymouth Christian at Riverview Gabriel Richard

4 p.m. Marine City Cardinal Mooney vs. Kingston at Mayville

4:30 p.m. Royal Oak Shrine vs. Waterford Our Lady at Parkway

Saturday, June 11

Regional Finals at Uticas Jimmy Johns Stadium

9:30 a.m. All Saints/Harbor Beach vs. Plymouth Christian/Gabriel Richard

Noon Cardinal Mooney/Kingston vs. Shrine/Our Lady

2:30 p.m. Quarterfinal

Winner advances to state semifinals at MSU

Regional titles won by the 26 schools in the current MLive Bay City coverage area and consolidated schools

All Saints 78-81-91-99-00-02-03-04-05-08-09-14

Au Gres 86

Bangor John Glenn 12-17

Bay City Handy 75-82-87

Bay City Western 06-09-13-14

Beaverton 07-08-19

Clare 79-94-00-02-13

Essexville Garber 93-02-19

Gladwin 14-21

Laker 15

Mio 90

Ogemaw 90

Pinconning 71-73-79-98-99-03-05-07-09-10-14

Reese 97-01-14

Roscommon 89-05

Sebewaing 72

Standish-Sterling 76-07-16-18

Tawas 86

Unionville-Sebewaing 02-06-07-16-17-18

Whittemore-Prescott -- 13

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Bay City area baseball regional pairings, schedules, results and history - MLive.com

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Ranking the top-ten teams in the 127-year history of the Oklahoma football is no easy task, especially considering that the program has won seven national titles and delivered seven Heisman Trophy winners as one of college footballs elite blue bloods.

And you also have to consider that there have been many other great Sooner teams that didnt win it all.

Lets start with a couple of disclaimers. Championships take the cake. This means that all of the Oklahoma teams that captured college footballs most coveted prize will be ranked ahead of those who didnt. Secondly, the sport of football has changed so much over 127 years that its impossible to know if the Wishbone offenses of the previous century would be able to hang with the spread offenses of the last decade and a half.

So, without further ado, here are the top-ten teams in OU Football history.

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Oklahoma football: The Top-10 teams in Sooner gridiron history - Stormin' in Norman

When was MLBs last perfect game? A look at the history of perfectos originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington

Two New York Yankees pitchers came oh so close to perfection this week.

Jameson Taillon retired the first 21 Los Angeles Angels hitters he faced on Thursday night. But Jared Walsh ended the former No. 2 overall picks bid at history when he led off the eighth inning with a double up the middle that shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa couldnt come up with.

The following night, ace Gerrit Cole nearly matched Taillons feat. Cole sat down the first 20 Detroit Tigers batters he faced before Jonathan Schoop singled up the middle past a diving DJ LeMahieu with two outs in the seventh.

The Yankees became the first team in the expansion era (since 1961) to carry a perfecto beyond the sixth inning in back-to-back games. But, while they made some history, Cole and Taillon failed to end a near-decade-long drought in Major League Baseball

King Felix last pitched in 2019, but he still owns MLBs most recent perfect game. On Aug. 15, 2012, Felix Hernandez tossed a perfecto against the Tampa Bay Rays. The 2010 AL Cy Young winner struck out 12, including the final batter, to record the first perfect game in Seattle Mariners history.

Hernandezs outing was actually the last of three perfect games in the 2012 season. Matt Cain of the San Francisco Giants (vs. Houston on June 13) and Philip Humber of the Chicago White Sox (vs. Seattle on April 21) also threw perfectos that season. Hernandez, Cain and Humber combined for the most perfect games ever in the same season, topping the previous record of two.

There have been 23 perfect games in MLB history, with the first two coming just days apart all the way back in 1880 courtesy of Lee Richmond and John Ward. Twenty-one perfect games have occurred in the modern era (since 1900) and 17 have come within the last 60 years.

For context, Angels rookie Reid Detmers no-hitter last month was the 316th no-no in MLB history, showing just how difficult perfection is to achieve for a pitcher.

MLB is currently in the midst of the longest perfecto-less droughts in the modern era. There have been just three other times over that span where at least nine years went by without one happening.

MLBs 23 perfect games were thrown by 23 different pitchers, meaning no player has ever recorded more than one and there has never been a combined perfecto.

The Yankees and White Sox are tied for the most perfect games with three apiece. Meanwhile, the Rays, who were founded in 1998, and Dodgers have each been on the wrong side of a perfect game three times, the most of any team.

Heres a look at all the perfect games in MLB history:

Felix Hernandez, Mariners: 2012: vs. Rays

Matt Cain, Giants: 2012 vs. Astros

Philip Humber, White Sox: 2012 vs. Mariners

Roy Halladay, Phillies: 2010 vs. Marlins

Dallas Braden, As: 2010 vs. Rays

Mark Buehrle, White Sox: 2009 vs. Rays

Randy Johnson, Diamondbacks: 2004 vs. Braves

David Cone, Yankees: 1999 vs. Montreal Expos

David Wells, Yankees: 1998 vs. Twins

Kenny Rogers, Rangers: 1994 vs. Angels

Dennis Martinez, Montreal Expos: 1991 vs. Dodgers

Tom Browning, Reds: 1988 vs. Dodgers

Mike Witt, Angels: 1984 vs. Rangers

Len Baker, Cleveland: 1981 vs. Blue Jays

Catfish Hunter, As: 1968 vs. Twins

Sandy Koufax, Dodgers: 1965 vs. Cubs

Jim Bunning, Phillies: 1964 vs. Mets

Don Larsen, Yankees: 1956 World Series vs. Dodgers

Charlie Roberston, White Sox: 1922 vs. Tigers

Addie Joss, Cleveland: 1908 vs. White Sox

Cy Young, Boston: 1904 vs. As

John Ward, Providence Grays: 1880 vs. Buffalo Bisons

Lee Richmond, Worcester Ruby Legs: 1880 vs. Cleveland Blues

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When Was MLB's Last Perfecto? A Look at the History of Perfect Games - NBC New York

By The Associated Press

Todays Highlight in History:

On June 4, 1942, the World War II Battle of Midway began, resulting in a decisive American victory against Japan and marking the turning point of the war in the Pacific.

On this date:

In 1812, the U.S. House of Representatives approved, 79-49, a declaration of war against Britain.

In 1919, Congress approved the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which said that the right to vote could not be denied or abridged based on gender. The amendment was sent to the states for ratification.

In 1939, the German ocean liner MS St. Louis, carrying more than 900 Jewish refugees from Germany, was turned away from the Florida coast by U.S. officials.

In 1940, during World War II, the Allied military evacuation of some 338,000 troops from Dunkirk, France, ended. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill declared: We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.

In 1944, U-505, a German submarine, was captured by a U.S. Navy task group in the south Atlantic; it was the first such capture of an enemy vessel at sea by the U.S. Navy since the War of 1812. The U.S. Fifth Army began liberating Rome.

In 1967, Mission: Impossible won outstanding dramatic series, The Monkees outstanding comedy series at the 19th Primetime Emmy Awards.

In 1984, Bruce Springsteen released the album, Born In The USA, which became the best-selling album of 1985 in the United States (and also Springsteens most successful album ever). The album produced a record-tying string of seven Top 10 singles (tied with Michael Jacksons Thriller and Janet Jacksons Rhythm Nation 1814).

In 1985, the Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling striking down an Alabama law providing for a daily minute of silence in public schools.

In 1986, Jonathan Jay Pollard, a former U.S. Navy intelligence analyst, pleaded guilty in Washington to conspiring to deliver information related to the national defense to Israel. (Pollard, sentenced to life in prison, was released on parole on Nov. 20, 2015; he moved to Israel after completing parole in December 2020.)

In 1989, a gas explosion in the Soviet Union engulfed two passing trains, killing 575.

In 1990, Dr. Jack Kevorkian carried out his first publicly assisted suicide, helping Janet Adkins, a 54-year-old Alzheimers patient from Portland, Oregon, end her life in Oakland County, Michigan.

In 1998, a federal judge sentenced Terry Nichols to life in prison for his role in the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.

In 2020, in the first of a series of memorials set for three cities over six days, celebrities, musicians and political leaders gathered in front of George Floyds golden casket in Minneapolis.

Ten years ago: With President Barack Obama standing off to the side, former President Bill Clinton warned during a fundraiser in New York that a Mitt Romney presidency would be calamitous for the nation and the world. Al-Qaidas second-in-command, Abu Yahya al-Libi (ah-BOO yah-HEE-ah ahl LIH-bee), was killed in a U.S. drone strike in North Waziristan, Pakistan.

Five years ago: Alfredo del Mazo of the governing PRI (pree) party was elected governor of the state of Mexico in a hotly disputed contest marred by charges of irregularities. Elite rock climber Alex Honnold became the first to climb alone to the top of the massive granite wall known as El Capitan in Yosemite National Park without ropes or safety gear.

One year ago: A federal judge overturned Californias three-decade-old ban on assault weapons, calling it a failed experiment that violated peoples constitutional right to bear arms. Facebook said former President Donald Trumps accounts would be suspended for two years, following a finding that Trump stoked violence ahead of the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol. Prince Harry and Meghan welcomed their second child, a girl born in California and named Lilibet Diana in a tribute both to Queen Elizabeth II and to the princes late mother, Princess Diana. Actor Clarence Williams III, who played undercover cop Linc Hayes on the TV series The Mod Squad, died in Los Angeles at 81.

Todays Birthdays: Sex therapist and media personality Dr. Ruth Westheimer is 94. Actor Bruce Dern is 86. Musician Roger Ball is 78. Actor-singer Michelle Phillips is 78. Jazz musician Anthony Braxton is 77. Rock musician Danny Brown (The Fixx) is 71. Actor Parker Stevenson is 70. Actor Keith David is 66.

Blues singer-musician Tinsley Ellis is 65. Actor Eddie Velez is 64. Singer-musician El DeBarge is 61. Actor Julie White is 61. Actor Lindsay Frost is 60. Actor Sean Pertwee is 58. Former tennis player Andrea Jaeger is 57. Opera singer Cecilia Bartoli is 56. R&B singer Al B. Sure! is 54. Actor Scott Wolf is 54. Actor-comedian Rob Huebel is 53. Comedian Horatio Sanz is 53. Actor James Callis is 51. Actor Noah Wyle is 51. Rock musician Stefan Lessard (The Dave Matthews Band) is 48. Actor-comedian Russell Brand is 47. Actor Angelina Jolie is 47. Actor Theo Rossi is 47. Alt-country singer Kasey Chambers is 46. Actor Robin Lord Taylor is 44. Rock musician JoJo Garza (Los Lonely Boys) is 42. Model Bar Refaeli (ruh-FEHL-lee) is 37. Olympic gold medal figure skater Evan Lysacek is 37. Americana singer Shakey Graves is 35. Rock musician Zac Farro is 32.

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Today in History: Today is Saturday, June 4, the 155th day of 2022. - wausaupilotandreview.com

Sue Wasserman| Word from the Smokies

This spring, I finally began my stint as the 2022 Steve Kemp Writer-In-Residence. Coordinated and funded by Great Smoky Mountains Association, the residency allows writers to live near, work in, and draw inspiration from the Great Smoky Mountains for a period of six weeks.

Beginning this residency, at least for me, is like being a kid in the proverbial candy store. My eyes pop, thinking of all the delicious possibilities. The only challenge, given the brief time frame, is choosing what to focus on.

That thought was behind my request to use the Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage, a park event held every year at the end of April, as a jumping off point. Given the diverse offerings, Id be able to dabble not only in nature, but in the parks history as well. I thought if I could get a quick taste, I could hone in on places and topics that resonated most.

Thanks to Ranger Brad Free, Elkmont has become one of those places. Prior to the pilgrimage, I knew absolutely nothing about what existed beyond the turn here sign.

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But the avid history buff, who loves wearing his cool ranger hat, immediately piqued my curiosity when he told our group, Elkmont is not lost, nor is it the ghost town you might have read about on the internet. As we walked, he proceeded to tell the story of William Bailey Townsend, who amassed close to 80,000 acres for his Little River Lumber Company and the town that sprung up around it.

Elkmont came to life through Frees stories of the loggers who worked six days a week for meager pay, of railroad engineer Rooster Williams who bought one of the earliest airplanes and crashed it while showing off for the community, of the professional ringers brought in to win company baseball games, of the exclusive Daisy Town community, which emerged as a getaway for Knoxvilles elite and whose structures the park is currently bringing back to life.

It was with a more powerful sense of place that I arrived back a few mornings later for a wildflower walk along the Cucumber Gap Trail. As much as I thought I wanted to learn more about each plant, I realized we would never see much of the trail at the rate our group leaders were botanizing. A new pilgrimage friend named Lisa and I sensed it was time to set out on our own.

Since neither of us had intended to wander off, we hadnt looked at a trail map. When we came to a fork in the trail, we invoked eeny-meeny-miny-mo, and turned left up the hill.

It worked. Thanks to two gents who passed us, we discovered Cucumber Gap was a loop. And, oh, what a loop it was.

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Clearly, the trail earned its name for the abundance of Indian cucumber root blossoming everywhere we looked. Having sampled the root over the years in other locations, I knew it was not only edible, but delicious. I wondered if the loggers had stumbled on them and added them to their diets. Given their meager pay and excessive cost of living, I imagined foraging and hunting must have played a role in their lives.

Did they, I wondered, have the opportunity Lisa and I had to ooh and ahh over patches of umbrella leaf or large flowered trillium? Were they blown away by the excess of showy orchis that blossomed in clusters, the likes of which Ive never seen along the Little River? Or was the ooh-ing and ahh-ing, if it indeed even happened, left to the wealthier Daisy Town residents who had nothing but free time when they arrived at their vacation homes?

When we reached the Little River turnoff, I was curious about how flat the trail now seemed. It dawned on me that the train tracks were probably housed here along the river. This was just an educated guess, however, until a passerby ranger confirmed it.

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Despite being whipped as we closed in on our fifth mile, my step felt lighter for having made that connection. Having a little sense of history helped me to better appreciate the bits and pieces of old structures we encountered on this last section of trail. Lisa and I wondered who had lived here. Were these vacation properties or lumber company structures? Were the wildflowers scattered across the grounds now, scattered across the grounds then?

The only thing of which Im certain is theres so much more to learn, both about the flowers currently thriving on the trail and the people who once thrived in the community. I have a strong hunch I will be richer for understanding both.

Sue Wasserman is the 2022 Steve Kemp Writer-in-Residence in Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the author ofA Moments NoticeandWalk with Me: Exploring Natures Wisdom.She has also written for theNew York TimesandSouthern Living. She currently lives in Bakersville.

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Word from the Smokies: Discovering the intersection of history, nature - Citizen Times

This weekend, listen to a collection of narrated articles from around The New York Times, read aloud by the reporters who wrote them.

Written and narrated by Mark Yarm

In spring 2015, the documentary filmmaker Bobbi Jo Hart came across a short profile of June Millington, the singer and lead guitarist for the pioneering 1970s all-female rock group, Fanny. Despite growing up in a hippie household in California, Hart had never heard of them or that Fanny was the first all-female rock band to release an album on a major label.

When she first learned about Fanny online, she had a visceral reaction: It really pissed me off, she said. It was just another example of amazing women that we dont know about. Hart reached out to former band members about the possibility of a documentary but determined at the time that the Fanny story didnt have the forward-momentum narrative she was looking for.

Then, in January 2017, Hart spotted June Millington at the Womens March on Washington. The sighting spurred Hart to call Millington, who had some news: Three members of Fanny were about to make a new album on an indie label. The moment for a film had arrived.

Top Gun: Maverick turns and burns its way into theaters this week, landing 36 years after the 1986 original.

Thats a lot of time to form a lot of questions about the new film and its relationship to its predecessor: How similar are the stories? Whos back? Do we hear Danger Zone?

Here are the answers.

Written and narrated by Molly Young

The culture has an enduring fascination with sharks: Jaws and its sequels; the Discovery Channels Shark Week; the movie where Samuel L. Jackson gets eaten by a shark; the movie where Blake Lively almost gets eaten by a shark; the movie where Ian Ziering dives into a sharks mouth with a chain saw and then chainsaws his way out.

I have shielded myself from shark information under the logic of What I dont know might be able to hurt me, and thats precisely why I dont want to know it, Molly Young writes.

Molly waded into unwanted territory thanks to the gentle guidance of David Shiffman, a marine conservation biologist at Arizona State University, whose new book is called Why Sharks Matter: A Deep Dive With the Worlds Most Misunderstood Predator.

Written and narrated by Jesse McKinley

He is a postdoctoral fellow from Pittsburgh, a bartender turned political mapmaker. Now, Jonathan Cervas is suddenly New Yorks most unforeseen power broker.

Last month, a New York State judge chose Mr. Cervas to create new district maps in New York for the House and State Senate after maps approved by state Democratic leaders were declared unconstitutional.

Mr. Cervass new maps radically reshaped several districts, scrambling the future of the states political establishment for the next decade.

Written by Dan Barry and Karen Zraick | Narrated by Dan Barry

In 2018, Marco Martnez, a teenager newly arrived from Ecuador, died after being crushed against a ceiling by a mechanical lift. A year later, Michael Daves, who was living in a mens shelter and struggling with substance abuse, died after falling through a hole.

And now Yonin Pineda, a 29-year-old from Guatemala, lies unconscious and gravely injured. His diligent Mexican foreman, Mauricio Snchez, 41, is sprawled dead beside him, his face mangled, his chest torn open, his blood staining broken concrete.

The men were transforming a century-old Bronx ice house into a charter school.

No other construction site in New York City has had this many separate fatal incidents since at least 2003, when the Department of Buildings began keeping electronic records. But despite the pattern of deaths, the consequences have been negligible.

The Timess narrated articles are made by Tally Abecassis, Parin Behrooz, Anna Diamond, Sarah Diamond, Jack DIsidoro, Aaron Esposito, Dan Farrell, Elena Hecht, Adrienne Hurst, Elisheba Ittoop, Emma Kehlbeck, Marion Lozano, Tanya Prez, Krish Seenivasan, Margaret H. Willison, Kate Winslett, John Woo and Tiana Young. Special thanks to Sam Dolnick, Ryan Wegner, Julia Simon and Desiree Ibekwe.

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The All-Female Band That Made History and More: The Week in Narrated Articles - The New York Times

Baxters Where Everybody Knows You Name

GREEN BAY, Wis. (WFRV) Let Me Be Frank Productions show troupe based in Green Bay will present the new comedy musical, Baxters Where Everybody Knows Your Name, starting next week at the Meyer Theatre in downtown Green Bay. Info: meyertheatre.org.

Performances are at 7:30 p.m. June 10, 11, 17, 18; 1 and 7:30 p.m. June 23; 7:30 p.m. June 24; and 1 and 7:30 p.m. June 25.

The show is a takeoff on a real place that operated in the 1970s and 80s at the corner of Dousman Street and Broadway in Green Bay.

The press release says, Welcome to Baxters restaurant, where everybody knows your name! Mr. Broberg manages the establishment with the assistance of the cooks, Pat and Tom. Waitresses Amy, Lisa and Sarah, keep customers happy with their innovative team serving strategy. With this crew of characters, Baxters is definitely the place to be in the 1980s. The restaurant features new dishes never seen in Wisconsin, like cheese and bacon skins, zucchini sticks and even margaritas. Are they original recipes or rip-offs of another establishment perhaps TGI Fridays? Like everything else in the world, the best ideas are the ones that are stolen. Imitation is the highest form of flattery, right? It may only be a matter of time until Baxters is called out for corporate espionage.

One fateful evening, Paul and Kasey Friday enter the doors of Baxters. The couple snoops in undercover, posing as customers, to research Baxters. Where are they from, what do they want, and when will their cover be blown?

The June 10 performance is a benefit for Discover Green Bays new visitors center.

In the cast are Frank Hermans, Pat Hibbard, Tom Verbrick, Paul Evansen, Amy Riemer, Lisa Borley, Sarah Hibbard and Kasey Schumacher,

The band consists of Dennis Panneck (guitar), Pat Hibbard (bass), Tony Pilz (keyboards), Andrew Klaus (drums), with Ross Loining on lights and Kelly Klaus on sound.

Song selections include Where Everybody Knows Your Name (Cheers Theme), No Time, You Really Got Me, Call Me, Its a Heartache, Jack & Diane and a Lady medley.

This show was first scheduled before the COVID-19 pandemic gained a grip.

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Franks show group to visit Green Bay pub history - WeAreGreenBay.com