- ILMain Street
Repairs begin on Princeton's 163-year-old Red Covered Bridge
Crews began initial repairs on Princeton's 163-year-old Red Covered Bridge on November 9, 2026.
- FLMain Street
Hastings gets a new library and community center on Main Street
The new Hastings Community Center and Library opens on North Main Street on Friday, November 13, 2026.
- LAWildlife
It's a boy: a baby mandrill for first-time parents at Audubon Zoo
Audubon Zoo in New Orleans has welcomed a male baby mandrill born on October 30, 2026.
- IAGalleries
Iowa's Stanley Museum puts plants at the center of a new exhibition
The University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art opens a wide-ranging botanical exhibition on November 17, 2026.
Coming up on the almanac
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Where the wire is filing from
19 dispatches from 15 states and D.C. Lit tiles have stories; tap one.
Every dispatch, every state
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- DCZooLights returns to the National Zoo on November 20
- ILRepairs begin on Princeton's 163-year-old Red Covered Bridge
- FLHastings gets a new library and community center on Main Street
- LAIt's a boy: a baby mandrill for first-time parents at Audubon Zoo
- IAIowa's Stanley Museum puts plants at the center of a new exhibition
- VAA Smithsonian-raised shrike turns up 30 miles from where she was released
- IDThe People's Tree from Idaho is rolling east on a whistlestop tour
- CAVolunteers head back to the groves for the mid-season monarch count
The Season
Trees, lights and parades: the holiday calendar as it fills in across the country.
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DCUSAZooLights returns to the National Zoo on November 20
The Smithsonian's National Zoo brings back its annual ZooLights tradition this November, inviting guests to explore glowing wildlife lanterns and seasonal pathways across select evenings.
IDUSAThe People's Tree from Idaho is rolling east on a whistlestop tour
A 76-foot Engelmann spruce from Idaho has begun its journey across the country, heading toward the national lawn for the coming holiday season.
NYUSANew giant balloons take a test flight before the 100th Thanksgiving parade
Giant inflatables took to the skies during weekend practice runs ahead of the historic hundredth edition of the annual Thanksgiving Day Parade in Manhattan.
Wildlife
New arrivals at zoos, birds coming home and the volunteers who count them.
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LAUSAIt's a boy: a baby mandrill for first-time parents at Audubon Zoo
A healthy male baby mandrill has arrived at Audubon Zoo in New Orleans, where first-time parents Lucy and Obi are caring for him.
VAUSAA Smithsonian-raised shrike turns up 30 miles from where she was released
A young eastern loggerhead shrike hatched in Front Royal, Virginia, was spotted in Ontario, marking the start of her journey south.
CAUSAVolunteers head back to the groves for the mid-season monarch count
Community scientists across California and neighboring regions are preparing for the mid-season monarch count after early tallies showed nearly five thousand overwintering butterflies.
Outdoors
Trails, refuges and open country: what reopened, what is coming back and where to go next.
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NCUSAA Smokies trail section washed out by Helene is open again
Trail crews have restored a damaged section of Caldwell Fork Trail in the Cataloochee Valley, welcoming hikers back after repairs from Hurricane Helene.
NMUSASandhill cranes are back, and the Festival of the Cranes is filling up
The annual gathering in New Mexico's Middle Rio Grande Valley returns this December with dozens of guided tours, workshops, and wildlife lectures.
AZUSAGrand Canyon reopens inner-canyon trails after rockslide repairs
Hikers can once again travel key inner-canyon routes at Grand Canyon National Park following trail work completed after recent rockslides.
Finds
Fossils, field notes and small discoveries that change the picture a little.
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COUSAA Yale junior names a 50-million-year-old sawfly from a Colorado quarry
A Yale undergraduate studying ancient insects has identified and described a 50-million-year-old fossil sawfly collected from lake deposits in western Colorado.
UTUSAA new dig near Arches may hold a never-before-seen armored dinosaur
Researchers working near Arches National Park have begun uncovering an early Cretaceous bonebed containing turtle remains and what appears to be a new armored dinosaur species.
Galleries
New shows at American museums, described plainly and without the wall-text fog.
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IAUSAIowa's Stanley Museum puts plants at the center of a new exhibition
An expansive new botanical exhibition at Iowa's Stanley Museum explores plants as subjects, materials, and methods across fifty diverse artworks and installations.
COUSADenver Art Museum opens its largest show of Indigenous Latin American modern art
The Denver Art Museum presents a major gathering of modern and contemporary works created by more than fifty Indigenous Latin American artists across generations.
Kitchen
Harvests, holiday cooking and the people who keep the table running.
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NCUSAThe Turkey Talk-Line picks up for its 45th season
For its forty-fifth season, the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line is open to guide cooks through thawing, roasting, serving and using holiday leftovers.
MAUSAUMass Cranberry Station brings in its second-largest harvest on record
Growers at the UMass Cranberry Station have gathered their second-biggest crop on record, collecting thousands of barrels across southeastern Massachusetts this autumn.
Main Street
Libraries, bridges and the everyday places that hold a town together.
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ILUSARepairs begin on Princeton's 163-year-old Red Covered Bridge
Work is underway on the historic Red Covered Bridge in Princeton, Illinois, where a two-phase repair project will protect the 163-year-old crossing for drivers.
FLUSAHastings gets a new library and community center on Main Street
A 10,000-square-foot community center and full-service public library will open its doors on Main Street in Hastings, Florida, this Friday morning.
The morning wire
Five calm dispatches, before 7 a.m. Eastern, on weekdays. One email, no tracking pixels, leave any time.