Nation Nov 13 The off-season sights and sounds of Acadia National Park For a year, Rich MacDonald cataloged every bird he saw in his home county of Hancock, Maine, which includes the famous Acadia National Park. His so-called ‘big year’ is cataloged in his book, “Little Big Year, Chasing Acadia’s Birds.” MacDonald…
Nation Nov 13 Busy shops, fewer workers: Portland grapples with post-pandemic reality Last year, Portland, Maine, was struggling to prepare for an economic winter of uncertainty. A push of late fall warmth had given downtown restaurants and businesses a boost following a dreadful summer. One year later, the story has changed entirely…
Arts Nov 07 An international mural festival brings art to Cleveland’s walls Over a week earlier this summer, artists descended on a Cleveland, Ohio neighborhood to paint murals on buildings. Part of an international mural festival that has taken place in cities around the world, Cleveland was the first city in the…
Nation Oct 10 Research on the run: How a Cleveland city planner is mapping his city Phil Kidd moved to Cleveland two years ago to work as a city planner. In the midst of the pandemic, he decided to start an ambitious project to better understand his adopted city. Kidd has started a project to run…
Arts Oct 02 What keeps the band ‘They Might Be Giants’ making music 40 years on There have been many ways to enter the orbit of ‘They Might Be Giants’, an eccentric musical group that has been writing and recording together for the last 40 years. From the New York art scene of the early 1980s…
Politics Sep 25 In Michigan, an effort to take politics out of redistricting In a gerrymandered state, it's not unusual to see towns carved in half and shared school districts split into different political districts. This is by no means accidental — the redistricting process has long been conducted behind closed doors, under…
Nation Sep 11 20 years after 9/11, Dearborn market helps unify Arab community The attacks of 9/11 fueled Islamophobia, and increased incidents of hate crimes against Muslims and Arabs. NewsHour Weekend’s Christopher Booker reports on how the events of 9/11 were a catalyst for an Arab community in metropolitan Detroit to unite and…
Education Aug 01 Educators, counselors focus on mental health as students return to the classroom After more than a year of restrictions and online schooling, educators and counselors are focusing on ways to assess the long-term social, emotional and mental impact of the pandemic on school children when they return to the classroom. Christopher Booker…
Nation Jul 24 A ‘Hail Mary’ for Maryland shorebirds pays off On Maryland’s eastern shore, small islands used by birds for nesting are disappearing. That coincides with a steep drop in several species of colonial nesting birds in the state. But this spring, in what's being described as a ‘Hail Mary’,…
Nation Jul 10 This former steel mill used to employ thousands—how the site is adapting and creating jobs now The Bethlehem steel mill in Maryland was once the largest working mill in the world, employing 30,000 people at its peak in the 1950's. The collapse of the American steel industry forced the mill into bankruptcy, closing for good in…