This page features brief excerpts of stories published by the mainstream
media and, less frequently, blogs, alternative media, and even obviously
biased sources. The excerpts are taken directly from the websites cited in
each source note. Quotation marks are not used.
Source: Huntsville Times
April 5, 2011
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- Former Gov. George Wallace loomed large Monday in a federal trial over Alabama's property tax system.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs sought to show that Wallace's mix of power and racist politics helped create a property tax system that leaves Alabama schools underfunded, particularly poor, largely black schools.
Lawyers for the State of Alabama, the defendant in the case, cited Wallace's diminishing power in his second term as governor and his even
Source: Murfreesboro Post
April 3, 2011
The most famous soldier of World War I, Tennessee born and bred Sgt. Alvin C. York, was a reluctant fighter and a humble hero. Yet most Volunteer State residents might be surprised to know his most personal legacy was a commitment to education.
And while the school he built in Jamestown, Tenn., York Institute, has been saved from demolition, the struggle to preserve and restore the structure remains an uphill battle.
Rev. George Edward York, the 87-year-old son of Sgt.
Source: BBC
April 7, 2011
An archaeological discovery by the University of Reading is set to shed new light on the history of farming.
Dr Gabor Thomas and his team have found a 7th Century iron plough coulter during excavations at Lyminge, Kent.
Unlike the small fields associated with earlier light ploughs they cultivated the land in long narrow strips making the large open fields which would become a standard feature of the medieval countryside.
Previously it was believed heavy p
Source: BBC
April 6, 2011
A fake ancient Egyptian statue has returned to the museum in Greater Manchester which was tricked into paying £440,000 for it.
Bolton Council bought the Amarna Princess in 2003 after Christie's and the British Museum authenticated the figurine as 3,300 years old.
But the statue of the granddaughter of King Tutankhamun was created by Shaun Greenhalgh in his shed in Bolton.
It, and other fakes, will go on display at Bolton Museum from 16 April.
G
Source: BBC
April 7, 2011
A large gap in pre-history could signal that Britain underwent an economic downturn over 2,500 years ago.
In history lessons, the three ages of pre-history - Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age - seem to flow together without a gap.
But there is a 300-year period in British history between around 800 BC and 500 BC where experts still struggle to explain what happened, where bronze is in decline and iron was not widely used.
The difficult thing for historian
Source: BBC
April 6, 2011
Researchers will attempt to identify the woman who sat for Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, by digging up the remains of an Italian noblewoman.
Art historian Silvano Vinceti believes that by locating the remains of Lisa Gherardini, he can prove whether she was the artist's model.
A recently discovered death certificate suggests she died in 1542 and is interred in a convent in Florence.
The excavation will begin at Saint Orsola later this month.
U
Source: BBC
April 7, 2011
A state apology is being sought for the actions of Hanoverian forces following the Battle of Culloden in April 1746.
Members of A Circle of Gentlemen plan to march from Derby to London to deliver a petition to 10 Downing Street backing their call.
The group has its roots in a secret society which remained loyal to Bonnie Prince Charlie after Culloden.
Following the battle, Jacobite supporters were executed and imprisoned and homes in the Highlands were burn
Source: BBC
April 7, 2011
Archaeologists are excavating early medieval remains from a cemetery before they are washed away by the sea.
It is known the site at St Bride's Bay in Pembrokeshire contains graves that date back to the 9th and 10th Centuries.
The graves are close to the edge of low cliffs, and Dyfed Archaeological Trust is keen to analyse their contents before they disappear.
Thursday is the last day of excavation work before the site is refilled....
Source: BBC
April 7, 2011
A burka worn by BBC world affairs editor John Simpson and a bullet that grazed Kate Adie's leg in Beirut are to go on display for the first time.
Simpson wore the burka as a disguise to enter Taliban-controlled Afghanistan before the US-led attack in 2001.
His fellow BBC correspondent Kate Adie was scratched by a stray bullet in Lebanon and kept it as a lucky charm.
The items will be part of an exhibition on war reporting at the Imperial War Museum North in
Source: Telegraph (UK)
April 7, 2011
Alessandra Mussolini, the granddaughter of the Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, has been known for her controversial remarks in the past.
Miss Mussolini, a right-wing politician and former actress and model, resigned from the Italian political party National Alliance in 2003 following a visit of the party leader to Israel where he denounced fascism as "the absolute evil" and apologised for Italy's role during the Second World War.
She did, however, defend
Source: Telegraph (UK)
April 7, 2011
Grigory Rasputin, whose life and times is to be the subject of a new Franco-Russian film, led a life less ordinary.
Born in a small village in Siberia in 1869, he first came to the attention of the Russian aristocracy in 1903 when he arrived in the imperial capital St. Petersburg and set himself up as a holy man who claimed to be blessed with supernatural healing powers.
When the Tsarina, Alexandra, became desperate to find a cure for her haemophiliac son Alexei she t
Source: NYT
April 6, 2011
LOS ANGELES — This was once a place for the famous, or at least those who wanted to be. There were ballroom dances and Champagne toasts, a welcoming place for the star-struck ladies who lunch.
But those glory days were a long time ago.
Now, the glamour of the Woman’s Club of Hollywood has been replaced by squabbles and lawsuits. The membership has dwindled and some members say the club has been subject to a hostile takeover by a couple of women who, under the guise of
Source: Guardian (UK)
April 5, 2011
The novel prompted one of the most famous heterosexual sex scenes in film history, with Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr clasping each other passionately on a beach amid the foaming waves. But an uncensored text of James Jones's 1951 novel From Here to Eternity has revealed that the author originally intended to include frank references to homosexuality considered too scandalous to be published at the time....
From Here to Eternity is the story of first sergeant Milt Warden, who has
Source: National Security Archive at GWU
April 7, 2011
Confidential internal memos from Chiquita Brands International reveal that the banana giant benefited from its payments to Colombian paramilitary and guerrilla groups, contradicting the company's 2007 plea agreement with U.S. prosecutors, which claimed that the company had never received "any actual security services or actual security equipment in exchange for the payments." Chiquita had characterized the payments as "extortion."
These documents are among thousa
Source: NYT
April 6, 2011
On Sunday morning, before the ancient doors of McSorley’s Old Ale House opened once again to spill that beer-and-sawdust aroma upon an East Village sidewalk, the owner took on a sorrowful job that in good conscience he could not leave to any of his employees. Too close to tempting the fates.
But it had to be done. The New York City health department was dropping hints as loud as the clatter of mugs on a Saturday night.
So, with heavy heart, the proprietor, Matthew Mahe
Source: NYT
April 6, 2011
Growing up in the tiny town of Ephrata, Wash., Tom Washington and his older brother Nat, blood relatives of George (yes, that George) were surrounded by family lore. There were more tangible connections as well: family papers going back to 1662, tools George Washington used in his early years as a surveyor, even bits of his coffin. Now, after generations of safekeeping, the family is selling its treasures at auction starting Thursday, creating a buzz of excitement among Americana experts.
Source: The Leamington Observer
April 5, 2011
Warwickshire's earliest known African resident, believed to have been living in Stratford some 1,700 years ago, has sparked
the interest of boffins over the possible impact on British and European DNA.
Earlier this year Warwickshire County Council’s Archaeology Warwickshire team revealed the skeleton of the African man had been found in a Roman cemetery in Tiddington, which revealed people of African descent had been living in the county for far longer than previously t
Source: The Four Shires (UK)
April 5, 2011
Archaeologists will be delving into layers of Tudor soil untouched for 400 years as they resume the 'Dig for Shakespeare' on the site of the playwright’s last home at New Place, Stratford-upon-Avon. For the next seven months, visitors to Nash’s House and New Place will be able to watch the team of archaeologists and volunteers as they dig deeper every day into the mysteries of Shakespeare’s later years.
The live archaeological project will explore foundations and other remains thought to
Source: NY Times
April 5, 2011
An archaeologist digging in the rubble of a distant past counts on the conqueror’s havoc, nature’s upheavals and plain human negligence to have left legacies of unintended value — like a fragment of a clay tablet bearing archaic writing from an early period of state formation in Greece, more than 3,400 years ago.
Had it not been for some inadvertence, the tablet would almost certainly have disintegrated in the rain in a year or two and scattered with the wind as so much illiterate d
Source: Ahram online (Egypt)
April 5, 2011
A storehouse of Coptic, Islamic and some ancient Egyptian artefacts was raided on the American University in Cairo’s (AUC) campus, beneath Ewart Hall at the end of March.
An inventory was carried out by the ministry of state of antiquities affairs immediately after the discovery, which reveals that a total of 145 authentic pieces and 50 replicas are missing, Egyptian Minister for Antiquities Affairs, Zahi Hawass tells Ahram Online.
“AUC is deeply disturbed by what appea
