Talk volcanoes and national parks and folks usually think of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, and perhaps Lassen Volcanic National Park. In truth, though, there are at least 13 units of the national park system that have a volcanic past in some form or fashion.

Religion in the national parks is a white-hot topic. Just mention that park rangers at Grand Canyon National Park can't discuss the geologic age of that canyon, as PEER suggested late last year, and you'll draw a crowd.

After nearly 30 years with the National Park Service, Patricia Buccello retired last Friday after serving most recently as the agency's top special agent in charge. Yesterday she entered a guilty plea to stealing from the Park Service.

Since at least 1976 an attempt has been made to formally establish the name Sharsmith Peak on a Yosemite National Park summit. In 2003 a group of citizens formed a committee to complete this task. I've asked Bill Jones, the lead member of the 'Name4Carl Committee', to provide for us an update on their efforts. Read on for his report.