David Tristan

(WHTM) — The U.S. Navy got started twice. The first time was on October 13, 1775, when the Continental Congress passed a resolution calling for “a swift sailing vessel, to carry ten carriage …

Science Classrooms Across the Nation (WHTM) — February 7 is National Periodic Table Day, when we celebrate the efforts of scientists over the centuries to figure out how different elements ar…

GETTYSBURG, Pa. (WHTM) — At the Gettysburg National Military Park Museum and Visitor Center, the famous cyclorama painting depicting the climax of Pickett’s Charge is getting cleaned up…

Baltimore, MD (WHTM) Meet Mirasol, one very, VERY large rat. “She’s about 1.7 kilograms,” says Jenny Egan, the Senior Area Manager for the Maryland Zoo at Baltimore. “She is…

PALOMARES, Spain (WHTM) — It was called Operation Chrome Dome. On January 17, 1966, a USAF B-52G bomber, which flew from Seymour Air Force Base in North Carolina to somewhere near the Soviet Union’s border with Europe, was preparing to perform its second mid-air refueling of the mission with a KC-135 tanker over the Mediterranean […]

HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) — The Hilton Hotel in Harrisburg hosts many conferences and meetings. But today’s conference has an unusual topic: bats. It’s the annual meeting of the Nort…

(WHTM) — It’s 1781 in Yorktown, Virginia, a British army under the command of Major General Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis, surrenders to a combined force of Americans under Majo…

HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) — With the snip of a ribbon, on December 8, 2023, the new Pennsylvania Archive Building opened for business. Building the new building took years, and so did planning t…

(WHTM) — Iceland is a nation of near-compulsive literacy. The island’s population as of 2024 is 388,790, subject to change without notice. The literary rate is about 99 percent. In 2013, Icel…

(WHTM) Krampusnacht (Krampus Night) takes place every December 5. This is the day before the Feast of St. Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, and the patron saint of children and gift-giving. So what is a Kr…

(WHTM) — World War I was notable for many reasons — brutal slaughter being the foremost. But it’s also the first war to be extensively recorded on motion picture film. During the …

(WHTM) — World War I was notable for many reasons — brutal slaughter being the foremost. But it’s also the first war to be extensively recorded on motion picture film. During the …

TACOMA, Wash. (WHTM) — The construction workers called it “Galloping Gertie.” Construction of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge started in 1938, and it opened to traffic on July 1, 1940. …

Baltimore, MD (WHTM)  The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore has the largest population of African penguins (Spheniscus demersus) in North America – and it just got bigger. The Zoo announced on N…

(Updated October 9, 2023) (WHTM) — The short answer? A lot of people. To say that Christopher Columbus is somewhat controversial is kind of like saying the planet Jupiter is somewhat large. T…

This was by no means the first Thanksgiving to be declared. In fact, answering the question of “When was the first Thanksgiving in America?” can be a horrendous muddle.

(WHTM) — On September 30, 1980, The DIX Consortium, a cooperative venture of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), Intel, and Xerox, published a technical paper that made the Local Area Networ…

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fl. (WHTM) — It launched second but reached its target first. On September 5, 1977, the Voyager 1 spacecraft blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on its way to planet Jupiter and points beyond. Voyager 2 launched a few weeks earlier, on August 20, 1977. The Voyager mission took advantage of a rare […]

Sit back and relax: the rocks of Gettysburg

GETTYSBURG, Pa. (WHTM) — Gettysburg National Military Park has posted an update on their road repaving work, effective August 8: Daytime roadwork—6 am to 6 pm—that will affect normal visitati…