An exhausted pygmy whale and her calf washed ashore last week near Charleston, South Carolina, and had to be euthanized. The mother whale was starving because she swallowed a plastic bag tossed from a boat.

You can’t let people jump out of your helicopter anywhere you please. You can’t buzz the crowd on the shore. You can’t endanger other visitors when you land your helicopter on a houseboat. And if you keep doing this kind of stuff at Glen Canyon, law enforcement rangers will make your acquaintance and a federal court will help to shape your future.

Plans for celebrating the Blue Ridge Parkway’s 75th Anniversary in 2010 are moving along well. There's a rich mix of activities and events being planned, including community programs as well as professional seminars.