In 1895, lightning ignited a massive West Virginia gas well, sending flames 200 feet into the sky as crowds gathered to witness one of America’s most extraordinary fires
Lightning ignited a massive West Virginia gas well, sending flames 200 feet into the sky (Image Credit: West Virginia Explorer) In 1895, a lightning strike turned an already uncontrollable natural gas well in West Virginia into a spectacular column of…
Mississippi teen Madalyn Sullivan wrote an autism-acceptance book inspired by her sister and sent it to libraries in all 82 counties; she has now finished second at Miss America’s Teen
As Miss Mississippi’s Teen, Sullivan planned to use her platform to support families affected by autism. Madalyn Sullivan, Miss Mississippi’s Teen and an Oxford native, has finished as first runner-up at Miss America’s Teen. The high school student…
Eight-time Grammy winner Art Garfunkel says Trump presidency has him considering leaving US: ‘I don’t like America’s position at all’
Music icon Art Garfunkel/Image: Getty Images Art Garfunkelthe eight-time Grammy-winning singer, says he is considering leaving the United States because of his opposition to President Donald Trump’s administration.“I don’t like America’s position at…
CNN founder Ted Turner’s New Mexico ranch helped save North America’s rarest large tortoise, growing its population from 30 to about 800
For thousands of years, the Bolson tortoise had been missing from the grasslands of New Mexico. Then a private ranch offered the species something it had not had in generations: space to start again. What began with just 30 captive tortoises grew into a…
60 years after Dutch elm disease devastated America’s 100 million iconic trees, now scientists have infected 6,000 young elms in a radical bid to bring them back
Six decades ago, Dutch elm disease swept across the United States, killing an estimated 100 million American elms that once shaded streets, parks and college campuses from coast to coast. The fungus, carried by bark beetles, turned majestic, vase-shaped…
This 240-mile stretch on Dalton highway in Alaska with no petrol stations, restaurants or hotels is one of America’s remotest roadways that tests every driver to the limits
Dalton Highway south of the Continental Divide in the summer. Image Credit: Bureau of Land Management The Dalton Highway cuts through some of the most remote country in the United States, running 414 miles from Livengood in northern Alaska to Deadhorse…
In the early 1970s, Virginia Beach compacted 640,000 tons of garbage into a 60-foot hill; the dump became America’s first landfill park and now spans 165 acres
Mount Trashmore Park (Image Credit: Wikipedia) In Virginia Beach, one of the city’s most recognisable parks began with something most communities would rather hide: a mountain of garbage. According to the City of Virginia Beach, a 640,000-ton pile…
America’s Lake Powell reaches record low, experts warn against propping; Utah Governor says it’s not time to let the lake go
Lake Powell reaches historic low in August Lake Powell has fallen to a record-low elevation, 20 feet lower than it was at the beginning of 2026. The decline is not unexpected as scientists have been warning against this approaching doom. Lake Powell is…
In 2002, New Mexico began one of America’s largest native-fish restoration projects; more than two decades later Rio Grande cutthroat trout had returned to 120 miles of streams
A major conservation effort launched in 2002 has restored New Mexico’s official state fish to more than 120 miles of connected mountain streams, marking one of the largest native fish restoration projects in the United States. For more than two decades,…
In 1966, a 71-year-old woman donated nearly 100 acres of her Virginia farm and money for an amphitheatre; the land became America’s only national park dedicated to the performing arts
Wolf Trap remains the only national park in the United States devoted to the performing arts, advancing the concept Shouse first put forth more than six decades ago Before it became a stage beneath the stars, Wolf Trap was simply a Virginia farm. But in…