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Author, lecturer and activist Nic Stone writes about a variety of issues facing young Americans today: systemic racism, the need for greater mental health care, living with grief and inequities in the juvenile justice system — and has even written about the rarest of fictional characters: a black female superhero.

Success story

On Feb. 16, Mandi Price will return home to Spokane to talk about her budding Hollywood career and her transformation from local high school student to Gonzaga student to KHQ-TV video news editor to TV series and miniseries post-production supervisor and producer. Find more info here: spokesman.com/northwest-passages/

‘It’s A Wonderful Life’

Seventy-five years ago Monday, Frank Capra’s classic Christmas feel-good film “It’s a Wonderful Life” starring James Stewart, Donna Reed, Henry Travers and Lionel Barrymore premiered in New York City. It’s now regarded as a classic, and one of the greatest films ever made. At the time, however, not quite so much.

Plugged into the future

Electric powered vehicles — either fully electric or a hybrid electric/gas mixes — aren’t just coming your way: They’re already here and are selling in greater numbers every year. Three states — California, Massachusetts and New York — plan to phase out sales of gas-powered vehicles entirely within 15 years. Here’s what you need to know about electric cars.

Future Trek

Here’s a look at the technological and sociological advances predicted — some accurately and some not quite so much — by the 55-year-old “Star Trek” television and movie franchise.

Katy Perry’s ‘Friday Night’ turns 10

Ten years ago today, singer and songwroter Katy Perry scored yet another No. 1 hit with “Friday Night (T.G.I.F).” This was the fifth track from Perry’s “Teenage Dream” album to hit No. 1, which tied Michael Jackson’s “Bad” for most No. 1 hits from a single album.

Another Brick In The Wall

On this date 60 years ago, the Soviet-backed government of East Germany began building a wall around West Berlin which was cut off from the rest of West Germany but controlled and occupied by Western countries. The reason given, at the time, for the wall was to keep the Western fascists out of East Germany. The real reason was to stem the tide of thousands of East German citizens defecting to the West.

The biggest blockbusters of the past 46 summers

It’s that time of year again – time for baseball, heading to your favorite vacation spot, relaxing ... and sitting in an air-conditioned theater watching that summer blockbuster everyone can’t stop talking about. Will this summer’s great flick be the “Space Jam” sequel The “Black Widow” movie delayed from last summer? Or the musical “In the Heights”? Let’s go see ’em all, just in case ...

Operation Crossroads and the era of high-stakes nuclear proliferation

Seventy-five years ago today, the United States tested an atomic bomb on a tiny island in the Pacific Ocean. It was the world’s fourth atomic explosion – after the first test in New Mexico in August 1945 and then the bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But Operation Crossroads kicked off an era of high-stakes nuclear proliferation and Cold War one-upmanship.

What you can find at Resorts World Las Vegas

Resorts World Las Vegas opened Thursday featuring more than 3,500 guest rooms and suites via three Hilton hotels, a mammoth casino, 100,000 square feet of nightclubs, restaurants, retail stores, a spa and a 5,000-seat concert venue. Here’s a look at what guests will find there:

12 things you might not have known about “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”

Here’s your “do you feel old yet?” moment for today: The original “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” movie starring Gene Wilder was released a halfcentury ago Wednesday. To celebrate, here are 12 things you might not have known about Willy, his little pal Charlie Bucket and Willy’s Oompa Loompa work force.

The life and work of Alan Turing

While others were working on computing machines before Alan Turing’s heyday before and during World War II, Turing was one of the first to consider computers more than just souped-up calculating machines and more of a way of solving real human problems.

What’s gone wrong with Brexit?

Five years ago Wednesday, the British people shocked the world and the European community – and a large part of themselves – by voting to leave the European Union. What came to be called Brexit would take four years to pull o and, even now, there are still aspects of the union that have yet to be dissolved.

All-time highest-grossing video game franchises

Thirty years ago this week, Sonic the Hedgehog made his debut – or, at least, he did for gamers who used the Sega Genesis as opposed to the brand-new Super Nintendo. And 40 years ago next month, Donkey Kong first appeared in video games around the world. The result of all this would be an awful lot of gaming fun.

The sometimes questionable art of album covers

Growing up in the 1970s, I became fascinated with what appeared to be a wonderfully creative field: Rock and roll album cover design. Some album covers featured photos of the artist. Some used abstract art. Some were amusing. Some were deadly serious. They all had one thing in common, though: To entice a music buyer into picking up the album and then buying it. Which brings up the question: How on Earth did any of these albums sell a single copy?

History of Apartheid in South Africa

In America, it was called Jim Crow. In South Africa, the term was apartheid: strict racial segregation enforced by law that began in the late 1940s and early 1950s and didn’t end until, under tremendous pressure from the international community, South African leaders decided apartheid had to go. That happened on June 17, 1991: Thirty years ago today.