HISTORY

Apr 22 2026RELIGION

Michigan Muslims Share Their Story at Library Talk

A friendly evening will take place on May 7 when Imam Robert Shaheed talks about the history of Islam in Michigan. The talk starts at 6:30 p. m. in the Hoyt Library and is free for anyone who wants to learn. Imam Shaheed has been a leader at the Islamic Center of Saginaw for more than four decades.

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Apr 22 2026CRIME

A Los Angeles Mystery Tour: Re‑thinking the Black Dahlia

The story begins in a cramped hearse, not on a glamorous stage but stuck in the ordinary traffic of Los Angeles. A guide who calls herself a “dark storyteller” narrates the 1947 murder of Elizabeth Short, better known as the Black Dahlia. The guide’s voice is theatrical, but she quickly loses focus

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Apr 22 2026SCIENCE

A Scientist and His Shifting Legacy

Hans Lauber was a respected eye doctor from Switzerland who spent most of his career in Austria and Poland. He wrote many books and papers on eye diseases and even invented his own medical tools. For a while, he was a well-known figure in eye science. But his reputation changed after World War II.

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Apr 22 2026ENTERTAINMENT

A Big Studio Changes Hands in Hollywood

Netflix is close to adding a historic movie lot to its empire. The Radford Studio Center, a 55-acre land in Los Angeles, might soon belong to the streaming service. This place isn’t just any studio—it’s where many famous TV shows were made over the years. Think of classics like “Leave It to Beaver”

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Apr 21 2026BUSINESS

Pioneer seeds turn 100: how a small Iowa experiment grew into global farming change

Back in 1926, a farm kid from Iowa named Henry Wallace bet big on a new idea. He planted 40 acres near Johnston with hybrid corn seeds—something most farmers then saw as risky. That gamble didn’t just work; it rewrote the rules of agriculture. Today, those same fields (now home to one of the world’s

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Apr 20 2026OPINION

From Sea Captain’s Son to Record Breaker: The Long Life of Geert Boomgaard

Geert Boomgaard’s life spanned more than a century, starting in 1788 when France was still a monarchy and ending in 1899 when the world was on the brink of the 20th century. He grew up in Groningen, a Dutch town where survival was tough, and his father worked as a struggling sea captain. Large famil

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Apr 19 2026ENTERTAINMENT

Movies for Kids That Really Matter

Kids’ films can be more than just fun. A new look shows that many of the stories we grew up with have clever ideas and deep feelings, even if they were made for families. The first film on the list is a classic that changed color movies forever and still feels fresh today. Next comes a recent

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Apr 19 2026HISTORY

Local heroes: How St. Louis shaped the nation

St. Louis may be known for its iconic arch and deep-fried foods, but its real claim to fame might be the people who grew up there and went on to leave a mark on the whole country. From scientists to artists, this city has produced individuals who didn’t just blend into the background. Take Chuck Ber

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Apr 18 2026SCIENCE

Rocket Dreams from the 1600s

Cyrano de Bergerac, a French writer of the 1600s, imagined rockets long before scientists or filmmakers did. In his 1657 story about a journey to the Moon, he described a machine that could lift a person into space by attaching fireworks to it. Although the idea was fanciful, he also tried to explai

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Apr 18 2026ENTERTAINMENT

How a Bold FX Show Redefined TV Heroes

"The Shield was a shocker when it first aired in 2002. It made viewers see police as possible villains, not just heroes. This was a big risk because most people still admired real cops after 9/11. The show’s lead, Vic Mackey, was a cop who did terrible things. His crew, the Strike Team,

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