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: Lee White at the National Coalition for History
Feb 15, 2011
The Republican leadership in the House of Representatives today brought to the floor a massive continuing resolution (H.R. 1) that would fund the federal government for the remainder of FY ’11. Agencies and programs important to the history and archival communities, such as Teaching American History Grants, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Historical Publications and Records Commission and others
Source: Lee White at the National Coalition for History
Feb 15, 2011
The President’s fiscal year 2012 budget request for the Department of Education once again eliminates Teaching American History grants (TAH) as a separately funded program. As it did in FY ’11 the Administration proposed consolidating history education into a new program called
Source: Lee White at the National Coalition for History
Feb 15, 2011
On February 14, President Obama sent to Congress a proposed Fiscal Year 2012 budget request that calls for $422.5 million for the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). The amount represents an 8.2 percent decrease from the FY 2011 President’s Budget request of $460.2 million.For the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) , the grant-making arm of the National Archi
Source: Lee White at the National Coalition for History
Feb 15, 2011
On February 14, President Obama asked Congress for $146.2 million to fund the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) for fiscal year (FY) 2012, a $21.3 million cut from the FY 10 appropriated level of $167.5 million.The President’s request includes:$102,700,000 for the Endowment’s grant programs in support of research, preservation, public programming, and teaching in the hu
Source: Lee White at the National Coalition for History
Feb 15, 2011
On February 14, President Obama submitted to Congress his proposed fiscal year 2012 budget for the National Park Service. History-related programs were particularly hard hit with the proposed elimination of two preservation programs (Save America’s Treasures and Preserve America) and a 50 percent cut in Heritage Partnership programs.The National Park Service (NPS) would receive $2.9 billion in
Source: Lee White at the National Coalition for History
Feb 15, 2011
President Obama has requested $242.6 million in fiscal year 2012 for the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). This is a $40 million cut from the $282.2 million the agency received in FY ’10. The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s 123,000 libraries and 17,500 museums.Library ProgramsThe President reque
Source: Lee White at the National Coalition for History
Feb 15, 2011
On February 14, the Administration released the proposed fiscal year 2012 budget for the National Intelligence Program (NIP). NIP would receive $55 billion in FY ’12 versus $53.1 billion in FY ’10. The NIP includes funding for most of the non-military spy agencies and is not subject to the President’s freeze on non-security discretionary spending.The $55 billion is the ag
Source: Lee White at the National Coalition for History
Feb 15, 2011
The Administration’s FY 2012 budget request to Congress for the Smithsonian is $861.5 million, an increase from the $761.1 million appropriated to the Institution in fiscal year 2010. The Salaries and Expenses request for FY 2012 is $636.5 million (nearly the same as 2010) and the Facilities Capital budget is $225 million, which includes $125 million for the construction of the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Source: Sky News
Feb 15, 2011
Two thousand-year-old footprints left by a Roman child playing by the side of a road have been found in North Yorkshire.
Archaeologists made the remarkable discovery while excavating a muddy area of a former Roman settlement on the A1 near Leeming.
Helen Maclean of archaeology firm AECOM described the find as very rare.
Photographs show a right footprint clearly visible in soft ground followed by two left prints - suggesting that the boy or girl who made th
Source: Live Science
Feb 15, 2011
Little is known about the archaeology of Saudi Arabia, as the government has historically forbid aerial photographs of the landscape and religious sensitivities have made access tricky. But Google Earth is changing that. Satellite images available via the Web-based 3-D map program show that large portions of the country hold a wealth of archaeological remains that predate Islam and may be several thousand years old.
Researchers recently discovered nearly 2,000 tombs by peering throu
Source: BBC
Feb 15, 2011
Thirty or so people move slowly across a muddy field in the pouring rain - and they think it's fun.
They've each got a metal detector, a small spade and - the most optimistic among them - a bag for treasure.
They don't like to be labelled treasure hunters though. They prefer to call their hobby - quietly searching these bleak, rain-soaked slopes - metal detecting.
There has been a recent rise in interest in the pastime - since David Booth unearthed a hoard
Source: BBC
Feb 15, 2011
Controlled explosions have been carried out on two unexploded World War II shells which were discovered in a quarry in the Mourne Catchment area on Tuesday.
NI Water said the devices were discovered in Percy Bysshe quarry beside the Blue Lough in the Mournes. The quarry was used during the war as an artillery firing range.
Police and Army Technical officers secured the area before two controlled explosions were carried out....
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Feb 15, 2011
A balcony in Rome from which Mussolini gave rabble-rousing speeches to his Black Shirt supporters and declared war on Britain in 1940 is to be reopened to the public after decades of neglect.
Some of the most famous images of Il Duce were taken as he harangued the crowds from the stone balustrade, which overlooks Piazza Venezia, Rome’s answer to Trafalgar Square.
It has been shuttered for decades, partly out of embarrassment for its historical connotations and because
Source: CNN
Feb 15, 2011
Former President George H.W. Bush, slugger Stan Musial and cellist Yo-Yo Ma are among the 15 individuals who will receive America's highest civilian honor Tuesday, the White House announced.
The 15 will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which is "presented to individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors," the
Source: CNN
Feb 15, 2011
Using the available scientific evidence, "it is not possible to reach a definitive conclusion" about the source of the anthrax used in the 2001 anthrax letter attacks which killed five people, according to a report issued Tuesday by the National Academy of Sciences.
The findings come two and a half years after the FBI said that Army microbiologist Bruce Ivins was behind the anthrax mailings, and that the spores could be traced to a flask labeled RMR-1029 in his lab.
Source: Unreported Heritage News
Feb 14, 2011
About 4,200 years ago a series of disasters struck cities and civilizations throughout the Middle East.
In Egypt the central government collapsed. The same state that had built the great pyramids, and kept pharaoh as the supreme authority, could no longer keep the country united. This ushered in an era of powerful provincial leaders (known as nomarchs) and rival claimants to the Egyptian throne.
A similar scenario happened in Mesopotamia where the Akkadian Empire, an entity wh
Source: AP
Feb 14, 2011
CHAMPION, Wis. – The Vatican has named a tiny shrine in a small northeast Wisconsin town as a holy site.
The Catholic Church has recognized the chapel in Champion near Green Bay as the location of an official sighting of the Virgin Mary. WTMJ AM says it is the only site in the country with that distinction....
Source: Ahram online (Egypt)
Feb 14, 2011
After searching the Egyptian museum and its grounds for the eight artifacts that have been missing since the recent break-in, three items have been recovered.
The objects were found on the ground at the eastern side of the museum beside the gift shop. These items are the heart-shaped amulet of Tutankhamun’s grandfather Yoya; one of his missing wooden ushabti figurines and a part of the broken, anthropoid wooden sarcophagus on display in the New Kingdom hall.
Minister of
Source: VoA News
Feb 14, 2011
A campaign is underway to honor Noor Inayat Khan, an Indian woman who spied for Britain during World War II.
Born in 1914, she favored India's independence from Britain. But she put her feelings aside to help the British fight Nazi Germany. She was eventually caught in occupied France and executed at Dachau concentration camp.
Efforts are underway to raise about $155,000 to place a bronze bust of Noor Inayat Khan in the London square where she once lived. The bust would
Source: Lee White at the National Coalition for History
Feb 14, 2011
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently issued a report questioning the completion date, final cost and capabilities of the National Archives and Records Administration’s (NARA) Electronic Records Archive (ERA). Since 2001, NARA has been working to develop an IT system to preserve and provide access to massive volumes and all types of electronic records. NARA has repeatedly revised the program schedule and incre
