Influenza Pandemic (1918)

 WASHINGTON — In May 1918, with America embroiled in the First World War, Iowa’s Gov. William Lloyd Harding dealt a blow against Germany. His Babel Proclamation — that was its title; you cannot make this stuff up — decreed:...

BELLE FOURCHE, S.D. (AP) - The city of Belle Fourche has spent about $22,000 to buy a ground-penetrating radar unit to uncover unmarked gravesites.   The Black Hills Pioneer reports that the city purchased the radar in January and started using it...

It was warm in my room the morning I prepared for sleep after working the night shift.  I was unaware that an influenza virus was in the final stage of taking over my body, about to make me sick, about to awaken me, causing me to burn with a fever in...

"Advent" by James Treadwell, Atria/Emily Bestler Books, 464 pages, $26.   In 1537, Johann Faust, a great magician, carries a box in a snowstorm. It contains a portion of his soul and a small ring that holds all the magic in the world.   Present day...

Eleanor A. Laun, a combat nurse who served with the Army in North Africa and Europe during World War II, died Jan. 10 of complications from a stroke at the Charlestown retirement community. The longtime Ten Hills resident was 94. Eleanor A. McNelis...

As a past president of the Thursday Club, I am privy to bits of its history. The club, according to our records, began like this: “Upon invitation sent by Mrs. Jesse Knight, interested women of our valley met at her home in October 1912 and formed...

"Engineered Doomsday." "Mutant Bird Flu." These may sound like the names of disaster movies, but they are headlines on recent news reports about experiments involving the H5N1 influenza virus. The H5N1 virus is known as a "bird flu" because it mainly...

Joanne Dissette Zinn, age 99, passed away peacefully in her sleep on Aug. 17, 2011. At the time of her death, she was a resident of the Saline Evangelical Nursing home in Saline, Mich. Joanne was born on Oct. 4, 1911, in Indianapolis, Ind., to James...

It is fitting today to pause to offer a final salute and quiet reflection on the remarkable life of Frank Woodruff Buckles, America’s last living World War I veteran, who passed away this week in Charles Town, W.Va., at the age of 110. When Buckles...

"Like the Willow Tree: The Diary of Lydia Amelia Pierce" By Lois Lowry Scholastic, $12.99, ages 9-12 The newest versions of the "Dear America" books, a series of fictional diaries, offer a personal way into important American moments. The focus here is...

Women in large swaths of America are dying younger than they were a generation ago, reversing nearly a century of progress in public health and underscoring the rising toll of smoking and record obesity. Nationwide, life expectancy for American men and...