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Government

TFK Explains: The Government Shutdown

January 4, 2019

What is a government shutdown? Government agencies depend on funding from Congress to operate. A government shutdown happens when lawmakers are not able to pass a federal budget. The budget funds these agencies. During a shutdown, some parts of the…

Government

A Leader Dies

December 7, 2018

Former president George H.W. Bush died on November 30 at age 94. Bush was the 41st president of the United States, serving from 1989 to 1993. He also served as vice president to Ronald Reagan and as director of the…

Earth Science

Alaska Shakes

December 7, 2018

Earthquakes jolted Anchorage, Alaska, on November 30. Roads crumbled and buildings shook. Sheila Bailey works in a school cafeteria near Anchorage. “It sounded like the school was breaking apart,” she said. A magnitude 7.0 quake hit first, at about 8:30…

People

Visiting Day

December 5, 2018

FOLSOM, California — Most kids are asleep at 2:45 in the morning. But on a Saturday this past summer, two sisters were up past their bedtime. They were waiting for a bus. When it pulled up outside Saint Columba church,…

Weather

Fire Alarm

November 30, 2018

Massive wildfires swept through parts of California in November. They destroyed tens of thousands of homes and left many people dead or missing. On November 8, fire broke out in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, in Northern California.…

Government

A Shift in Congress

November 9, 2018

American voters turned out in unusually high numbers for the 2018 midterm elections. The result: Democrats won a majority in the House of Representatives while Republicans maintained their hold on the Senate. Power in Congress is now split between…

Government

State Races

November 9, 2018

In the midterm elections, 36 states elected a governor. At press time, Democrats had won 16 governorships. Seven were elected in states that currently have Republican governors. But Republicans are projected to win in Florida and Ohio. Those are states…

History

Happy Trails

November 2, 2018

The chalk-white bluffs rose 300 feet high. To explorer Meriwether Lewis, they looked like the ruins of an ancient city. “It seemed as if those scenes of visionary enchantment would never have an end,” Lewis wrote in a journal from…

Video

Young Game Changers

A Teen's Tribute

November 2, 2018

On Veterans Day 2015, Preston Sharp, then 10 years old, went to visit his grandfather’s grave at a cemetery in Redding, California. George Sharp was a U.S. Navy veteran. Preston placed flowers and a U.S. flag on his grave. He…

Government

Decision Time

October 26, 2018

On November 6, Americans will vote in midterm elections. Midterms are held about halfway through a president’s four-year term. The purpose is to elect members of Congress. This year, there are also state and local elections. The midterms will decide…

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