An unexpected number of chinook salmon swam up the San Joaquin River last spring, prompting surprise and giddy pronouncements that the river’s long-dead spring-run population had been resurrected. The 500 or so fish were living proof that the 11-year-long river restoration program was a success. A “smashing” success, some advocates...
Notre Dame Cathedral to Miss First Christmas in Centuries
PARIS — Notre Dame kept Christmas going even during two world wars — a beacon of hope amid the bloodshed. Yet an accidental fire in peacetime finally stopped the Paris cathedral from celebrating Midnight Mass this year, for the first time in over two centuries. As the lights stay dim in the...
Remembering Marvin Meyers, a Giant of Ag and Education
California agriculture lost a legend and Valley students — from kindergarten to graduate school — lost one of their best friends when Marvin Allen Meyers died two weeks ago at 85. He was a farmer, philanthropist, and innovator who transformed 2,600 acres west of Mendota into California's first privately funded...
Removal of Notre Dame's Melted Scaffold to Begin 'In Weeks'
PARIS — Melted scaffolding atop fire-ravaged Notre Dame Cathedral will be removed "in the coming weeks" to allow restoration work to begin next year, France's culture minister said Tuesday. It's been six months since an April 15 fire gutted the medieval Paris structure, which was under renovation at the time...
Restored ‘Big Boy’ Locomotive Fires up Crowds for Railroad Anniversary
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — It's longer than two city buses, weighs more than a Boeing 747 fully loaded with passengers and can pull 16 Statues of Liberty over a mountain. The Big Boy No. 4014 steam locomotive rolled out of a Union Pacific restoration shop in Cheyenne over the weekend for...
Last Grants Coming for Endangered Route 66 Restoration Effort
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — An endangered federal program that has helped preserve the historic Route 66 Highway for two decades has issued its last call for grants aimed at saving aging buildings and landmarks. The Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program is accepting grant applications until April 12, and it's not clear if Congress...