Free Republic

Did a Comet Trigger The Great Chicago Fire? By Irene Mona Klotz, Discovery News The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 March 5, 2004 — Perhaps it was not Mrs. O'Leary's cow kicking over a lantern that sparked the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, which destroyed the downtown area and claimed 300 lives. New research lends credence to an alternative explanation: The fire, along with less-publicized and even more deadly blazes the same night in upstate Wisconsin and Michigan, was the result of a comet fragment crashing into Earth's atmosphere. The comet theory has been around — and most often discarded...

Government would clear Manistee National Forest land to help butterfly survive WZZM 13 ONLINE OTTO TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WZZM) -- The U.S. Forest Service is seeking public input on a proposal to clear a portion of the Manistee National Forest to give a butterfly a greater chance of survival. The plan would also call for closing motorized access to portions of the forest. Leaders in Otto Township in Oceana County were to hold a community meeting Thursday night to discuss the proposal with neighbors. "Otto Township alone is made up of over 50% Manistee National Forest and state land," says township...