There is a lesson for all tourism destinations in the elimination of Chicago as a possible host of the 2016 Summer Olympic Games by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) despite President Barack Obama’s high profile personal appeal in Copenhagen. The IOC rejected Chicago in the very first...

[Ginny Prior's hot-air balloon story ran on contracostatimes.com on Oct. 29, 2009.] Beer-stein hot-air balloon at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta (photos © Ginny Prior) It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s the balloon boy. If ever a story captured our collective imagination — the recent...

[Sandy Sims' delightful story first about San Francisco's Cartoon Art Museum appeared in California Life.] It was 1914. Winsor McCay bet his friends he could bring his cartoon character Gertie the Dinosaur to life. He sketched between 5 and 6 thousand Gerties. Then he figured out how to project the cartoon...

[Bob Ecker's commentary about raising revenues for airlines first appeared in Examiner.com.] With airline revenue dropping and the industry in a tizzy about staying in the air, airlines have tacked on all kinds of additional passenger fees to maintain profitability. Most carriers today charge you extra...