The Antiquities Act of 1906, (Pub.L. 59–209, 34 Stat. 225, 16 U.S.C. § 431–433), is an act passed by the United States Congress and signed into law by Theodore Roosevelt on June 8, 1906.  This law gives the President of the United States the authority to, by presidential proclamation, create national monuments from public lands to protect significant natural, cultural or scientific features.  The Act has been used over a hundred times since its passage.  Its use occasionally creates significant controversy.  The Act was intended to allow the President to set aside certain valuable public natural areas as park and conservation land.  The 1906 act stated that it was intended for:  ". . . the protection of objects of historic and scientific interest."  These areas are given the title of "National Monuments."  It also allows the President to reserve or accept private lands for that purpose.  The aim is to protect all historic and prehistoric sites on United States federal lands and to prohibit excavation or destruction of these antiquities.  With this act, this can be done much more quickly than going through the Congressional process of creating a National Park.  The Act states that areas of the monuments are to be confined to the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects to be protected.  The United States Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld presidential proclamations under the Antiquities Act, ruling each time that the Act gives the president nearly-unfettered discretion as to the nature of the object to be protected and the size of the area reserved.  Some areas designated as National Monuments have later been converted into National Parks, or incorporated into existing National Parks.  The first use of the Act protected a large geographic feature--President Roosevelt proclaimed Devils Tower National Monument on September 24, 1906.  President Roosevelt also used it to create the Grand Canyon National Monument--the first step in protecting that place of great historic and scientific interest.  At 140,000 square miles, Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument is the largest protected area proclaimed.  The smallest, Father Millet Cross National Monument, was a mere 0.0074 acres. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antiquities_Act  According to Nature Conservancy magazine, June-July 2016, President Obama has used the Antiquities Act 23 times, more than any other president.

Emma Donoghue was born in Dublin in 1969, and lives in Canada.  Her first feature film, Room, directed by Lenny Abrahamson and starring Brie Larson, was nominated for four Academy Awards for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Director, Best Actress and Best Picture. Most recently she published Frog Music, a literary mystery inspired by a murder in San Francisco, 1876.   Other books are the historical novels The Sealed Letter, Life Mask, Slammerkin, and contemporary ones Landing, Hood and Stir-fry; short-story collections Astray, Three and a Half Deaths (UK ebook), Touchy Subjects, The Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits, and Kissing the Witch; and literary history including Inseparable, We Are Michael Field, and Passions Between Women, as well as two anthologies that span the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries.  http://www.emmadonoghue.com/

If I leave anything out, the editor fills it in--what we term the news is something of a crazy quilt of fact and fiction.  Paraphrase from Frog Music, a novel by Emma Donoghue  Song notes by chapter and a French glossary in order of use appear at the end of the book.

May 17, 2016  You're probably never seeing Hamilton, the blockbuster, critically-praised Broadway musical from wunderkind Lin-Manuel Miranda, but the New York Historical Society's upcoming exhibit about the Founding Father will be plenty accessible.  The exhibit, Summer of Hamilton, promises to welcome everyone to the "the room where it happens."  The NYHS acknowledges the "fervent popularity" around Alexander Hamilton Hamilton, thanks to the musical (and Ron Chernow's biography, which inspired the show) will cover Hamilton's relationship with New York and his legacy in the U.S. government.  Among the highlights that will be on view during the Summer of Hamilton are life-size bronze statues depicting Hamilton and Burr in the midst of their deadly duel, pistols drawn and aimed at one another. The statues, created by sculptor Kim Crowley, were previously on loan to The Public Theater and were displayed in its lobby during the off-Broadway run of Hamilton.  Also featured will be the monumental tall case clock presented to Hamilton in 1796 by the Bank of New York, which will return to the New-York Historical Society after a years-long loan to the Bank.  Hamilton’s desk, at which the prolific writer penned his correspondence, will be exhibited on loan from the Museum of the City of New York.  Displayed with these items, an exhibition by the Gilder Lehrman Institute will present nine key documents from Hamilton’s life, including his famous “nut brown maid” love letter to his fiancée, Elizabeth Schuyler; the infamous pamphlet admitting to his affair with Maria Reynolds; the plan for the federal government that he proposed during the Constitutional Convention; the first federal budget printed in his Report on Public Credit; and a letter supporting Thomas Jefferson over Aaron Burr in the Election of 1800, which stated “In a choice of Evils let them take the least―Jefferson is in every view less dangerous than Burr.”  Above these documents will hang New-York Historical’s portrait of the statesman by John Trumbull, painted shortly after Hamilton’s untimely death in 1804.  Select video clips from the Broadway show will also be shown, enhancing the connection between Hamilton the musical and these historical items.  On view in the Patricia D. Klingenstein Library, additional documents from New-York Historical’s collection will help answer the question posed in the musical―“who tells your story”―by focusing on Hamilton’s relationships with other Founding Fathers and his widow’s attempt to secure his place in history.  Later in 2017, the Library will showcase documents highlighting Hamilton’s impact on public policy in the early republic.  Replicas of the dueling pistols used by Hamilton and Burr, on loan from the JPMorgan Chase Historical Collection, continue to be exhibited as part of New York Rising, a permanent installation on a 42-foot wall in the Museum facing Central Park West, which illustrates New York’s critical contribution to the founding of the U.S.  The installation also features the marble cenotaph marking where Hamilton was wounded; a bust of Hamilton by Giuseppe Ceracchi depicting him in the guise of a Roman Senator; a gold mourning ring set with a lock of Hamilton’s hair that Elizabeth Hamilton gave to Nathaniel Pendleton, Hamilton’s second in the duel; Pendleton’s statements about the regulations of the duel; portraits of Aaron Burr and his gifted daughter Theodosia Burr painted by John Vanderlyn; various correspondence written in the aftermath of the duel; and Burr’s death mask.  Jen Chung  http://gothamist.com/2016/05/17/ny_historical_society_plans_sumer_o.php  See also http://www.nyhistory.org/explore/alexander-hamilton and http://www.biography.com/people/aaron-burr-9232241

Modal verbs are a type of auxiliary verb which express the mood of another verb.  They are used to express ideas such as:  possibility, prediction, speculation, deduction and necessity.  Find concepts, characteristics and examples of can, could, may, might, must, ought to, shall, should, and will at http://www.learn-english-today.com/lessons/lesson_contents/verbs/modals.html

A federal court upheld net-neutrality regulations designed to ensure an open internet, handing a victory to the Obama administration and a defeat to telephone and cable providers.  The Washington-based U.S. Court of Appeals June 14, 2016 acted after a decade of debate over web access that pitted Silicon Valley against companies that provide internet access to homes and businesses.  The court likened internet service providers to utilities, saying they “act as neutral, indiscriminate platforms for transmission of speech.”  The ruling is a triumph for the  Federal Communications Commission’s Democratic majority that passed the rules last year.  It is a win for Alphabet Inc.’s Google, online video provider Netflix Inc. and others who championed the notion of an open internet where internet service providers are prevented from offering speedier lanes to those willing to pay extra for them.  “The open internet rules are here to stay,” Pantelis Michalopoulos, an attorney who represented Netflix and Dish Network Corp. in the case, said in an e-mail.  “There is no doubt who is the winner:  the open internet.  The gatekeepers may not block or throttle our information.  They may not ask information to pay tolls.”  Challengers including AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and Comcast Corp. said the rule would discourage innovation and investment.  AT&T said it would appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.  http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20160614/TECHNOLOGY/160619927

The $5 Billion Battle For The American Dinner Plate by Elizbeth Segran   The meal kit is a relatively recent innovation.   It was born in Stockholm, Sweden, when Kicki Theander, a mother of three, observed that many families wanted to eat home-cooked dinners but struggled to manage the logistics of meal planning, purchasing, and cooking.  In 2007, she launched Middagsfrid (roughly translated: "dinner time bliss"), a service that brought bags of groceries to people’s doors.  It was an instant hit.  Theander’s brand quickly spread to Denmark, Germany, Belgium, and Switzerland, and spawned a range of competing companies.  At least 10 different meal-kit companies now operate in Sweden alone, and the country's population is under 10 million people.  In the U.S., boxed-meal services were initially adopted by millennial urbanites.  Plated, Blue Apron, and HelloFresh are all headquartered in New York and although they are available nationwide, they tend to do particularly well in cities like New York and San Francisco where grocery shopping can be a challenge because many people don’t have cars.  "Our customers are primarily living in and around major metro areas," Nick Taranto, Plated’s co-CEO and cofounder tells Fast Company.  "They are largely college-educated, dual-income families with no kids."  Big-city dwellers are also used to spending a lot of money on food, since the cost of living tends to be high where they live.  This is another reason they might be more amenable to boxed meals, which are an expensive proposition.  Taranto says that while $12 a meal is a costly dinnertime time option for many, it is a reasonable expense to a segment of consumers whose alternative options include eating out, either at fast casual chains like Panera Bread or at fine dining establishments, or buying groceries from upmarket grocery stores like Whole Foods."  http://www.fastcompany.com/3046685/most-creative-people/the-5-billion-battle-for-the-american-dinner-plate

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1485  June 17, 2016  On this date in 1631, Mumtaz Mahal died during childbirth.  Her husband, Mughal emperor Shah Jahan I, will spend the next 17 years building her mausoleum, the Taj Mahal.  On this date in 1673,  French explorers Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet reached the Mississippi River and became the first Europeans to make a detailed account of its course.  Word of the Day:  chyron  noun  A set of graphics or words at the bottom of a television screen, sometimes unrelated to the current viewing content.  Quote of the Day:  The ultimate sense of security will be when we come to recognize that we are all part of one human race.  Our primary allegiance is to the human race and not to one particular color or border.  I think the sooner we renounce the sanctity of these many identities and try to identify ourselves with the human race the sooner we will get a better world and a safer world. -Mohamed ElBaradei, diplomat, Nobel laureate (b. June 17, 1942)