Comings and goings - Green Bay Press-Gazette
National Zoo marks 40 years of pandas
The National Zoo is celebrating 40 years of giant pandas.
This month marks the 40th anniversary of when pandas Hsing-Hsing and Ling-Ling landed at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland. The pandas were gifts to the United States from China following President Richard Nixon's historic visit to that country.
The pandas were presented to the zoo officially on April 20, 1972. They were the first pandas in U.S. zoos in modern history. Now 11 pandas are at four American zoos.
Ling-Ling lived at the National Zoo until 1992, when she died. Hsing-Hsing died in 1999.
The zoo's current two pandas, Tian Tian and Mei Xiang, arrived in December 2000.
NPS launches Civil War website
The National Park Service has launched a website that provides an overview of the Civil War and a guide to more than 1,700 sites around the nation related to the war that divided the nation.
Among those 1,700 sites are more than 100 national parks with Civil War themes. The narrative on the war examines its root causes; biographies of major players, military and civilian; and places within the national park system that help illuminate the war.
You can also follow the adventures of a fictional Civil War-era correspondent whose daily reports are streamed to the website by Twitter.
Tokyo skyscraper shows off views
A Tokyo developer took visitors up the world's tallest freestanding broadcast structure last week, a 2,080-foot tower with special technology meant to withstand earthquakes that often strike Japan.
The Tokyo Skytree is the world's second-tallest structure behind the 2,717-foot Burj Khalifa in Dubai, according to owner Tobu Tower Skytree Co.
The needle-like radio and television tower opens to the public on May 22.
It takes about 50 seconds in a high-speed elevator to zip up to the lower observation deck at 1,148 feet, and another 30 seconds to reach the higher deck at 1,476 feet. The Skytree has a restaurant and two cafes on the observation decks, a vertigo-inducing glass floor that allows visitors to look straight down, and an emergency staircase with 2,523 steps.
Owners hope the building will become a new tourist destination in Tokyo.
Indy airport opens three walking paths
Travelers and employees at Indianapolis International Airport have three new walking paths to stretch their legs and improve their health.
Visitors to the airport can traverse a quarter-mile path around the ticketing hall. Travelers who've passed through security checkpoints can walk half-mile laps around each concourse or a 1.1-mile lap around both concourses.
More than 20,000 travelers pass through the airport on an average day and about 10,000 people work there.
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