The New York Botanical Garden is an elixir for the soul—a 250-acre eden founded in 1891 and thriving today just 20 minutes northeast of Midtown Manhattan. Standing on the banks of the Bronx River, which runs through the eastern part of the botanical garden, the Stone Mill was built in 1840 by the P. Lorillard Company for its bourgeoning tobacco and snuff business. Having established tobacco fields in Connecticut and offices in Manhattan, the company moved industrial operations to the Bronx at the turn of the 19th century. The water-powered mill functioned until about 1870, when the tobacco company opened a huge manufacturing plant across the Hudson River in New Jersey, and the obsolete stone structure was abandoned. Twenty years later, in April of 1891, the surrounding land became part of the botanical garden when the New York State legislature set aside acreage in the Bronx for "the collection and culture of plants, flowers, shrubs and trees, the advancement of botanical science and knowledge … and for the entertainment, recreation and instruction of the people." In vivid contrast to the Stone Mill, the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden splashes color across the easternmost part of the New York Botanical Garden. Knowledge about roses is not a prerequisite for a visit; you can learn all about the history and cultivation of those showy shrubs if you take the audio tour. Designed in 1916 by the famed American landscape architect Beatrix Farrand and enlarged in phases, the garden didn't assume its current form until 1988, when David Rockefeller made a substantial donation in honor of his wife, Peggy. Then, in 2005, the unexpected happened: The City of New York adopted a public health law prohibiting the use of pesticides in open spaces, presenting the rose garden's caretakers with a new set of challenges. "We were mandated to reduce our chemical usage," explains garden -curator Peter Kukielski, and that meant replacing 2,000 prized but pesticide-dependent bushes in the garden. He began contacting hybridizers around the world to solicit information about roses that didn't depend upon chemicals to grow strong and healthy. And his investigations eventually paid off with the identification and acquisition of 3,659 plants in 607 varieties. The New York Botanical Garden is open year-round, Tuesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., with the exception of Jan. 11-Mar. 4, when it closes at 5 p.m. See more plus pictures at: http://www.preservationnation.org/magazine/2011/may-june/a-growing-concern.html

Students nationwide are still taught cursive, but many school districts are spending far less time teaching it and handwriting in general than they were years ago, said Steve Graham, a professor of education at Vanderbilt University. Sandy Schefkind, a pediatric occupational therapist in Bethesda, Md., and pediatric coordinator for the American Occupational Therapy Association, said that learning cursive helped students hone their fine motor skills. “It’s the dexterity, the fluidity, the right amount of pressure to put with pen and pencil on paper,” Ms. Schefkind said, adding that for some students cursive is easier to learn than printing. “I’m seeing an increase in inconstancy in the handwriting and poor form level — sloppy, semi-legible script that’s inconsistent,” Heidi H. Harralson, a Tucson graphologist she said. Most everyone has a cursive signature, but even those are getting harder to identify, Ms. Harralson said. “Even people that didn’t learn cursive, they usually have some type of cursive form signature, but it’s not written very well,” she said. “It tends to be more abstract, illegible and simplistic. If they’re writing with block letters it’s easier to forge.” http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/28/us/28cursive.html

Q: What do delegates to Congress do? A: One delegate each represents the District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Puerto Rico in the House of Representatives. They may speak on any subject, introduce bills, and serve on committees. But they cannot vote. U.S. Archives.
Q: My church sponsors a monthly recycling program and we have been told several times that if we save the plastic lids from soft drink and water bottles, these can be turned in to somebody somewhere and, when enough are turned in, a kidney patient gets a free hour of dialysis. No one, however, has been able to give us details about the "somebody somewhere" part. Can you?
A: "There's no such thing as a tabs-for-dialysis program," said Bryan Van Steenbergen, public relations manager of the National Kidney Foundation in New York. "It wouldn't ever be necessary because Medicare typically pays for 80 percent of the cost of dialysis time, regardless of the age of the patient. Private insurance and state programs usually pay for the remaining 20 percent," he said. "This has been a rumor that has plagued the National Kidney Foundation ... for decades and has recently resurfaced, perhaps fueled by the Internet," he said. Plastic bottle caps have no value in reycling, unlike aluminum, which Van Steenbergen said may be a fundraising source for other organizations. A similar "cause," plastic bottle caps for chemotherapy, has been exposed as a hoax in New York, West Virginia, and elsewhere in recent years, according to the American Cancer Society. http://www.thecourier.com/Opinion/columns/2011/Apr/JU/ar_JU_042511.asp?d=042511,2011,Apr,25&c=c_13

1987 On 4 May, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that Rotary clubs may not exclude women from membership on the basis of gender. Rotary issues a policy statement that any Rotary club in the United States can admit qualified women into membership. The Board "encourages all clubs in the U.S. to give fair and equal consideration to candidates for membership without regard to gender."
1988 In November, the RI Board of Directors issues a policy statement recognizing the right of Rotary clubs in Canada to admit female members based on a Canadian law similar to that upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.
1989 At its first meeting after the 1987 U.S. Supreme Court decision, the Council on Legislation votes to eliminate the requirement in the RI Constitution that membership in Rotary clubs be limited to men. http://www.rotary.org/en/mediaandnews/news/pages/091001_news_history.aspx

Kiwanis International is an international, coeducational service club founded in 1915. It is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. Current membership is 240,000 members in 7,700 clubs in 80 Nations. The average age is 57, 74% men; 26% women. The name “Kiwanis” was coined from an Otchipew American Indian expression, "Nunc Kee-wanis", variously translated as "we trade," "we share out talents," "we make a noise," or "we meet." This was originally the motto of Kiwanis, translated as "We build." The current motto is "Serving the children of the world". Members of the club are called Kiwanians. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiwanis

Prior to September 29, 1995 to be eligible for membership in the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, an applicant had to be, inter alia, a male citizen of the United States of America. On September 29, 1995 the Grand Lodge amended its constitution to permit women to be eligible for membership. http://ny.findacase.com/research/wfrmDocViewer.aspx/xq/fac.19981008_43403.NY.htm/qx

Lions Clubs International (LCI) is a secular service organization with over 44,500 clubs and more than 1.3 million members in 206 countries around the world. Headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois, United States, the organization aims to meet the needs of communities on a local and global scale. Membership is by invitation, though individuals are rarely turned away, and attendance at meetings is expected on a monthly or fortnightly basis. Due to the hierarchical nature of Lions Clubs International, members have the opportunity to advance from a local club to an office at the zone, district, multiple district and international levels. In 1986 the constitution of Lions Clubs International was amended to allow for women to become members. Since then many clubs have admitted women, but some all-male clubs still exist. In 2003, 8 out of 17 members at the Lions Club in Worcester, England resigned when a woman joined the club. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lions_Clubs_International

The first Exchange Club was formed in Detroit, Michigan in 1911. The second was the Exchange Club of Toledo, Ohio formed in 1913. Subsequently, two others were organized in Grand Rapids, Michigan and Cleveland, Ohio. These four clubs were the first to be chartered by the National Exchange Club after it was organized as a nonprofit, educational organization in 1917 and its headquarters established in Toledo, Ohio. On July 4, 1985, delegates voted to allow women membership in Exchange. http://www.nationalexchangeclub.org/100years/100-years-media.pdf