Geography in the News: Australia’s Dingos
Posted by Neal Lineback of Maps101.com and Maps.com on June 9, 2013 By Neal Lineback and Mandy Lineback Gritzner, Geography in the NewsTM and Maps.com DINGOES OFFICIALLY BLAMED IN 1980’s INFANT DEATH A doubly tragic story unfolded in Australia in 1980 that’s still making international news 33 years later. Wild dingoes apparently took a 9-week-old baby girl who had been left unattended by her parents during a…
Geography in the News: Grizzlies’ Territory
Posted by Neal Lineback of Maps101.com and Maps.com on May 31, 2013 By Neal Lineback and Mandy Lineback Gritzner, Geography in the NewsTM and Maps.com THE GRIZZLIES’ TERRITORY IS CONTRACTING At the end of July, 2010, a female grizzly bear with her three cubs in tow attacked three different tents near Yellowstone National Park in Montana. The middle-of-the-night maulings, the most brazen attacks in the area since…
Geography in the News: Pike’s Peak
Posted by Neal Lineback of Maps101.com and Maps.com on May 26, 2013 By Neal Lineback and Mandy Lineback Gritzner, Geography in the NewsTM and Maps.com COLORADO’S MOST FAMOUS MOUNTAIN The state of Colorado and relatives of Zebulon Montgomery Pike celebrated the 200th anniversary in 2006 of the historic expedition that put Pikes Peak on the map. Advertised as “America’s mountain,” Pikes Peak is an iconic equivalent to…
Geography in the News: Keystone Pipeline and Canadian Tar Sands
Posted by Neal Lineback of Maps101.com and Maps.com on May 17, 2013 By Neal Lineback and Mandy Lineback Gritzner, Geography in the NewsTM and Maps.com KEYSTONE PIPELINE AND CANADIAN TAR SANDS CONTROVERSY Supporters and protesters continue to lobby both the White House and U.S. Congress for and against the 1,700-mile long (2,736-km) Keystone pipeline running from Alberta, Canada, to the U.S. Gulf Coast. The Keystone XL, as…
Geography in the News: Auschwitz Remembered
Posted by Neal Lineback of Maps101.com and Maps.com on May 9, 2013 By Neal Lineback and Mandy Lineback Gritzner, Geography in the NewsTM and Maps.com Auschwitz Remembered As Ultra-Nationalists Target Minorities Once more, ultra-nationalist parties are becoming more involved in Europe’s politics. The world is watching, as news media focus on right wing parties that recently targeted minorities in Hungary. These events remind us of events in…
Geography in the News: Guantanamo
Posted by Neal Lineback of Maps101.com and Maps.com on May 2, 2013 By Neal Lineback and Mandy Lineback Gritzner, Geography in the NewsTM and Maps.com Guantanamo’s Troubles The U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was selected by President George W. Bush’s administration to house some of the worst of Osamma bin Laden’s al-Queda terrorists and their Taliban supporters from Afghanistan. It is one of the few…
Geography in the News: Hot Chocolate
Posted by Neal Lineback of Maps101.com and Maps.com on April 27, 2013 By Neal Lineback and Mandy Lineback Gritzner, Geography in the NewsTM and Maps.com LOVING HOT CHOCOLATE A new type of chocolate came on the market around 2010. Chocolate makers boasted that acticoa, which is packed with antioxidants, slows the aging process and prevents wrinkles. If true, this is even one more reason to eat this…
Geography in the News: The Caucasus’ Storied Cultural Geography
Posted by Neal Lineback of Maps101.com and Maps.com on April 19, 2013 By Neal Lineback and Mandy Lineback Gritzner Geography in the NewsTM and Maps.com CHECHNYA AND THE CAUCASUS REGION Among the world’s longest-lived hotspots is the Caucasus region, rivaling only the Balkans as a volatile kettle of violent and rebellious ethnic cultures. Attention is now focused on Chechnya and the Caucasus region because of the ethnicity…
Geography in the News: North Korea Threatens Again
Posted by Neal Lineback of Maps101.com and Maps.com on April 18, 2013 By Neal Lineback and Mandy Lineback Gritzner Geography in the NewsTM and Maps.com North Korea’s Threats At the end of March, 2010, North Korea launched a torpedo that sank a South Korean warship, the Cheonan, killing 46 service members. More recently throughout the spring of 2013, North Korea’s youthful leader launched a tirade against South…
Geography in the News: Dengue Fever Threat Much Greater
Posted by Neal Lineback of Maps101.com and Maps.com on April 11, 2013 By Neal Lineback and Mandy Lineback Gritzner, Geography in the NewsTM and Maps.com DENGUE FEVER Reports of dengue fever were rare in Florida until 2009 when physicians began diagnosing cases around Key West in individuals who had not traveled outside the state. National Public Radio recently reported that, with mosquito season under way in 2011,…
Geography in the News: Maple Syrup Time
Posted by Neal Lineback of Maps101.com and Maps.com on April 7, 2013 By Neal Lineback and Mandy Lineback Gritzner, Geography in the NewsTM and Maps.com SUGAR TIME IN NEW ENGLAND Sugar maple are tapped in New England and 2013 may be a better year for the maple syrup industry after several declining years. Maple syrup, that sweet sticky syrup that makes mere pancakes incredibly delicious, is threatened…
Geography in the News: Golan Heights
Posted by Neal Lineback of Maps101.com and Maps.com on April 1, 2013 By Neal Lineback and Mandy Lineback Gritzner, Geography in the NewsTM and Maps.com GOLAN HEIGHTS AND THE DMZ In early November 2012, three Syrian tanks entered the demilitarized zone (DMZ) of the Golan Heights. The move by Syria is the first violation of the zone in 40 years and concerns countries of the region. Since…
Geography in the News: Monarch Butterflies Struggle
Posted by Neal Lineback of Maps101.com and Maps.com on March 26, 2013 By Neal Lineback and Mandy Lineback Gritzner, Geography in the NewsTM and Maps.com DECLINING MONARCHS THIS YEAR Near the end of February each year, scientists studying monarch butterflies at their overwintering sites in Central Mexico witness signs that the butterfly colonies were “breaking up.” This separation of tens of thousands of butterflies clustered together on…
Geography in the News: Iconic Route 66, An Adventure
Posted by Neal Lineback of Maps101.com and Maps.com on March 21, 2013 By Neal Lineback and Mandy Lineback Gritzner, Geography in the NewsTM and Maps.com (This is an abbreviated version of a Geography in the News article, GITN 1122 “Route 66: A Pop Culture Icon” for Maps.com, first written in 2011 and modified with an abbreviated version for posting here on David Braun’s NGS NewsWatch blog.) On…
Geography in the News: In Thin Air, The Highest Peaks
Posted by Neal Lineback of Maps101.com and Maps.com on March 16, 2013 By Neal Lineback and Mandy Lineback Gritzner, Geography in the NewsTM and Maps.com May is the month that high elevation climbers focus on Mt. Everest and other high mountains of the Himalaya. Many have been planning for years and will be journeying to Nepal shortly to adjust to the elevation and prepare base camps for…
Geography in the News: Iditarod, The Race of Arctic Champions
Posted by Neal Lineback of Maps101.com and Maps.com on March 3, 2013 By Neal Lineback and Mandy Lineback Gritzner, Geography in the NewsTM and Maps.com THE PULL OF THE IDITAROD, 2013 One of the world’s most grueling races, Alaska’s Iditarod Dog Sled Race, began today, March 3rd. The history and geography of this magnificent race excite followers all over the world as the race is one of the…
Geography in the News: Breadfruit, Food Source for the Tropics
Posted by Neal Lineback of Maps101.com and Maps.com on February 22, 2013 By Neal Lineback and Mandy Lineback Gritzner, Geography in the NewsTM and Maps.com WHAT IN THE WORLD IS BREADFRUIT? Although obesity is in the news in the West, starvation and malnutrition are prevalent in many parts of the world. Scientists continue to search for new food sources. One of the most promising foods gaining interest…
Geography in the News: The Everglades’ Python Solution
Posted by Neal Lineback of Maps101.com and Maps.com on February 14, 2013 By Neal Lineback and Mandy Lineback Gritzner, Geography in the NewsTM and Maps.com* Florida’s famous Everglades National Park is experiencing one of its greatest ecological threats. Burmese pythons, which are native to Southeast Asia, are devastating the native wildlife of the Everglades. How the pythons reached South Florida and became a reproducing population of thousands that…
Geography in the News: Shakespeare’s Geography
Posted by Neal Lineback of Maps101.com and Maps.com on February 9, 2013 By Neal Lineback and Mandy Lineback Gritzner, Geography in the NewsTM and Maps.com SHAKESPEAREAN ENGLAND Summertime brings dozens of Shakespeare festivals to cities and towns around the United States. During the festivals, actors perform both Shakespeare’s most famous plays and some of his more obscure work. While festivals occur in states from Alabama to Utah,…
Geography in the News: The Great White Shark’s Habitats
Posted by Neal Lineback of Maps101.com and Maps.com on February 3, 2013 Many secretly fear the presence of one of the fastest and most dangerous fish in the ocean—the great white shark—the largest predatory fish in the world. The 1975 Steven Spielberg film “Jaws,” starring Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw and Richard Dryfuss, did a great deal to strike the fear of great white sharks in the general public. Now Ocearch Global Shark Tracker is helping followers keep track of Mary Lee, a 3,546-pound white shark swimming off Long Island.
Geography in the News: Aquamarine and Diamonds
Posted by Neal Lineback of Maps101.com and Maps.com on January 29, 2013 
By Neal Lineback and Mandy Lineback Gritzner, Geography in the NewsTM & Maps.com AQUAMARINE AND DIAMONDS A new gem at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History is upstaging what is likely the world’s most popular gem exhibit—the Hope Diamond. The Dom Pedro Aquamarine, at 10,363 carats (2.1 kg), is the largest cut and polished…
Geography in the News: The Races to the Pole
Posted by Neal Lineback of Maps101.com and Maps.com on January 22, 2013 
By Neal Lineback and Mandy Lineback Gritzner, Geography in the NewsTM and Maps.com A little more than 100 years ago, Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen reached the South Pole. While the feat was an amazing story in itself, the races that preceded it to reach the southernmost point on the Earth are even more fascinating—and heartbreaking.…
Geography in the News: A Flu Diffusion Model
Posted by Neal Lineback of Maps101.com and Maps.com on January 17, 2013 
This post describes where influenza viruses originate, how they are transmitted between animals and humans, and how a geographic diffusion model for the flu virus can help reduce its spread.
Geography in the News: Al Qaeda and Tuareg in Mali
Posted by Neal Lineback of Maps101.com and Maps.com on January 15, 2013 
By Neal Lineback and Mandy Lineback Gritzner, Appalachian State University In March 2012, members of Mali’s military staged a successful coup d’état in the capital, Bamako. As the situation for the ruling government disintegrated, Tuareg rebels immediately rushed to take advantage of the country’s instability and secure towns in Mali’s northern region. The Tuareg and…
Geography in the News: Australian Fires Out of Control
Posted by Neal Lineback of Maps101.com and Maps.com on January 9, 2013 
By Neal Lineback and Mandy Lineback Gritzner, Appalachian State University Raging Australian Wildfires Australia is under siege by raging out-of-control wildfires. The fires are being blamed on the continent’s long droughts. Most of its climates are relatively dry ones anyway, but Australia’s long series of droughts has created dry conditions even in its humid climatic…
