Law

Monarch butterflies are well-known and beloved migratory pollinators in North America.

Monarch Butterflies Might Soon Be Listed as Threatened Under the Endangered Species Act

If a new proposal is adopted, the insects would become the most commonly seen species to be the subject of federal protection under this law

The five women—Marie-Jose Loshi, Monique Bitu Bingi, Lea Tavares Mujinga, Simone Ngalula and Noëlle Verbeken—took legal action against the Belgian state for the suffering they endured as children.

Belgium Has Been Found Guilty of 'Crimes Against Humanity' for Kidnapping Thousands of Children in Congo

A Brussels court has ordered Belgium to pay damages to five women, now in their 70s and 80s, who were abducted from their parents when they were young children

An interpretation of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet by Salvador Dalí

Stunning Artworks Seized From the Mafia Go On Display at a New Exhibition in Milan

"Save Arts: From Confiscations to Public Collections" features more than 80 works recovered by Italian authorities, including pieces by Andy Warhol and Salvador Dalí

Lake Tahoe's Emerald Bay is one of the sites where telephone cables were recently removed from.

Crews Remove Miles of Abandoned, Lead-Coated Telephone Cables From the Bottom of Lake Tahoe

The cables have been resting on the lakebed for decades, raising fears from environmentalists and residents about possible lead contamination

American civil rights leader Susan B. Anthony

When Susan B. Anthony and 14 Other Women Were Arrested for Voting Illegally in a Presidential Election

After her detainment on this day in 1872, Anthony was found guilty by a federal court. She refused to pay her "unjust" $100 fine

A sperm whale swims away, leaving a cloud of feces.

Scientists Are Crafting Fake Whale Poop and Dumping It in the Ocean

The artificial waste could fertilize the ocean and sequester carbon

James J. Walker Park consists of soccer fields, pickleball courts, playground equipment and a community garden.

This New York City Park Was Built on Top of a Cemetery

In the late 19th century, city officials turned the final resting place for 10,000 souls into what's now Greenwich Village’s James J. Walker Park

John Larson's original polygraph, a gift to the Smithsonian from the Berkeley Police Department, where Larson was the first rookie cop with a PhD.

Why the Creator of One of the First ‘Lie Detectors’ Lived to Regret His Invention

The early polygraph machine was considered the most scientific way to detect deception—but that was a myth

The Marco Polo sheep is a subspecies of argali, the largest living wild sheep.

Montana Rancher Who Created Giant, Hybrid Sheep Sentenced to Six Months in Prison

Arthur “Jack” Schubarth cloned illegally imported genetic material from the Marco Polo argali to create hybrid sheep that would draw higher prices from hunting preserves

Lindor Mehmetaj, the manager of London's Grove Gallery, with Banksy's Girl With Balloon

See Footage of a Thief Breaking Into a London Gallery and Stealing Banksy's Iconic 'Girl With Balloon'

Officials launched an investigation and recovered the $360,000 print less than a week after it vanished from Grove Gallery. Two men have been charged for the crime

Mariska Hargitay on the "Law & Order: SVU" set in Midtown Manhattan on August 5, 2024

The National Museum of American History Collects Mariska Hargitay's Costume From 'Law & Order: SVU'

The Smithsonian museum accepted a detective suit and badge worn by the actress' character, Olivia Benson, on the long-running procedural

Stella Stimson, a suffragist and temperance crusader, led an all-women campaign to document fraud at the polls and bring down a corrupt mayor.

When a Trailblazing Suffragist and a Crusading Prosecutor Teamed Up to Expose an Election Conspiracy

An unlikely duo exposed political corruption in Terre Haute, Indiana, in 1914—and set a new precedent for fair voting across the country

Start dates at schools across American range from mid-July to early September.

When Do Kids Go Back to School? It Depends on Where They Live

In some districts, students returned to their classrooms weeks before Labor Day

The anonymous sender secured the artifacts in foam cut-outs inside a cardboard flapjack box.

The Mystery of the Bronze Age Ax Heads Mailed Anonymously to an Irish Museum Has Been Solved

A farmer stumbled upon the 4,000-year-old artifacts while working in his field in central Ireland

The Wentworth brothers campaigned ceaselessly for the liberty of free speech in the House of Commons. They were driven by the ongoing succession crisis, which they felt Elizabeth was ignoring, placing England in danger of civil war or foreign invasion.

The Brothers Who Asserted Their Right to Free Speech in Tudor England

Peter and Paul Wentworth called on Elizabeth I to name an heir to the throne, wielding Parliament's free speech privileges to urge the queen to take action

A 1959 photograph of William "W.R." Saxon, who is standing third from left

This Little-Known Civil Rights Activist Refused to Give Up His Bus Seat Four Years Before Rosa Parks Did

William "W.R." Saxon filed a lawsuit against the company that forced him to move to the back of the bus, seeking damages for the discrimination and mental anguish he’d faced

The explosion at Port Chicago on July 17, 1944, killed 320 people and injured 400 more.

Black Sailors Exonerated 80 Years After Deadly World War II Disaster

The Navy secretary officially cleared the 256 Black service members who were punished in connection with the explosion in Port Chicago, California

The sender carefully secured the ax heads inside a cardboard flapjack box.

Someone Anonymously Mailed Two Bronze Age Axes to a Museum in Ireland

Officials are asking the donor to come forward with more information about where the artifacts were discovered

An 18th-century illustration of a jury of matrons

How All-Female 'Juries of Matrons' Shaped Legal History

Courts called on these jurors to determine whether women sentenced to death were pregnant or faking it to avoid execution

A woman named Evelyn Thaw dodges a camera, 1909

How the Rise of the Camera Launched a Fight to Protect Gilded Age Americans' Privacy

Early photographers sold their snapshots to advertisers, who reused the individuals' likenesses without their permission

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