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Charles Apple

Charles Apple

Current Position: designer editor

Charles Apple joined The Spokesman-Review in 2019 as a design editor. He designs weekly Further Review pages that cover subjects such as the history of comics, William Shatner, Tiger Woods, autism spectrum disorder and even how to get your Spokesman-Review aboard the International Space Station. Apple has worked for papers across the nation, large and small. He is considered an informational graphics guru, winning countless international awards and his work consulting and training newsrooms around the world.

Email
charlesa@spokesman.com

Recent Front Pages

All Stories

A&E >  Music

Musicians who left us too early

Forty years ago today, Bob Marley died of a rare form of melanoma. He was 36 years old. July 3 will be the 50th anniversary of the death of Jim Morrison (age 27), and July 16 will be the 30th anniversary of the death of Harry Chapin (age 38).
News >  Further Review

Alan Shepard and the Mercury astronauts

"The clock has started." Those were the words Alan Shepard used 60 years ago Wednesday to note his cockpit timepiece had begun running. This meant his Redstone rocket booster had left the ground sending him and his one-man Mercury spacecraft for America’s first trip into space.
News >  Further Review

The truth about cats and dogs

While we, as a people, are divided by things like politics, vocation, money, personal preferences, favorite sports teams and so on, there’s one thing that binds most of us together: Our love for our pets. About 67% of U.S. households own pets, the American Pet Products Association says – that translates into 84.9 million homes.
News >  Further Review

Journey of the ‘Freedom Riders’

Sixty years ago this week, a group of Black and white activists boarded buses for a journey in and around the Deep South. The intent of the group, which called itself “Freedom Riders”: To protest segregated bus terminals and “whites-only” facilities at bus terminals – facilities that were supposed to be integrated after a 1960 Supreme Court ruling.
News >  Further Review

Horse racing’s Triple Crown

Saturday’s Kentucky Derby is just the first of three huge horse racing events in the U.S. that make up the Triple Crown. In 102 years, only 13 horses have won that Triple Crown.
News >  Further Review

The creation of ABC’s ‘Wide World of Sports’

Any sports fan who grew up in the 1970s or 1980s could watch baseball or football on TV multiple times a week. But it was on Saturday afternoons that we were exposed to some of the lesser-known sports like boxing or bowling or track and field or auto racing or ski jumping. This was thanks to an anthology program that debuted 60 years ago today: ABC’s “Wide World of Sports”
News >  Further Review

The development of heart surgery

These days, the medical world has a number of ways to treat a heart that’s not functioning properly. But the path to developing those methods has been one that’s taken at least 130 years. Here’s a look at the development of heart surgery and healthy hearts.
News >  Further Review

The explosion at Chernobyl and other nuclear accidents

Thirty-five years ago Monday, April 26, a reactor at a Soviet nuclear power station 60 miles from Kiev exploded. Much of the radioactive core was vaporized, thrown into the atmosphere and spread across Europe. Nearly a quarter-million people were forced to resettle elsewhere from land that will be poisoned for centuries.
News >  Further Review

The ultimate computer accessory: the mighty mouse

Computers have been around since the end of World War II. In order to use most of them, you had to learn fancy computer languages or use stacks of cards with holes punched into them or reel after reel of coded magnetic tape. All that changed 40 years ago, when an obscure experimental gadget was turned into the ultimate computer accessory that just about anybody could use.
News >  Further Review

Cartoon Network series ‘Dexter’s Laboratory’ turns 25

Here’s your ‘Do you feel old yet?’ moment: The Cartoon Network series “Dexter’s Laboratory” – featuring an 8-year-old mad genius with a strange accent running all sorts of high-tech experiments in his secret lab tucked away behind his bedroom – turns a quarter-century old Wednesday.
News >  Further Review

Notable names and numbers of the Academy Awards

It’ll be two months after its usual time of year – thanks again, coronavirus – but the 93rd annual Academy Awards will be awarded Sunday. Here’s a look at some of the most notable numbers and oddities in the long history of Oscar:
News >  Further Review

A reluctance to jab: Who has issues with the COVID-19 vaccine

At what point did getting vaccinated for COVID-19 become a political issue? Rumblings about who’s lining up for jabs and who’s running away from them solidified last week when three different national polls showed that more than a third – and nearly half – of Republicans said they don’t plan to be vaccinated. This could have a negative impact on efforts to guide the nation toward “herd immunity.”
A&E >  Music

The stories behind the hits of Three Dog Night

Three Dog Night – fronted by vocalists Danny Hutton, Chuck Negron and Cory Wells – didn’t write any of their 21 Top 40 hit songs. Instead, the band excelled by tweaking and perfecting material written or performed by other artists.
A&E >  Books

The books of Paul Theroux

Paul Theroux – who the Daily Mail of London once called “the world’s most perceptive travel writer” – published his 52nd book on Tuesday, a novel set among the surf culture of Hawaii. Few have traveled the world as extensively as Theroux.
News >  Further Review

Fake news: When the news wasn’t

While the term “fake news” might be a recent invention, the concept itself is not. At various times throughout history, news reports have been manipulated, stolen or falsified for various reasons: to push a political agenda, to enrich the journalist or win respect among peers or just out of downright laziness. Here’s a look at nine times when the news – or the ethics behind the reporting – really was fake:
News >  Further Review

You’re fired: How Truman relieved MacArthur of command

Gen. Douglas MacArthur was a hero from two World Wars who had served as the supreme commander of the Allied forces in the Pacific. But after he was put in command of the Allied effort to liberate South Korea, MacArthur learned a difficult lesson: When you work for the president of the United States, you might disagree with him. But if you disagree with him publicly and repeatedly, be prepared to lose your job.
A&E >  Books

Everything’s Archie: Archie Comics adaptations

Twenty years ago this spring, the Archie comics spinoff movie “Josie and the Pussycats” was released in theaters. To this day, “Josie and the Pussycats” is the only big-screen release of characters from Archie Comics and one of the few comic book-related films that do not feature characters who wear capes. Here’s a look at other Archie Comics adaptations:
A&E >  Movies

The state of movies

2020 will go down in cinematic history as the year disaster flicks were replaced by a real life disaster: COVID-19. The pandemic did a real number on our movie consumption and our favorite theaters. Perhaps the industry will bounce back as major blockbusters are released as this year rolls on.
News >  Further Review

The games of summer: the Olympics

One hundred and twenty-five years ago, the modern Olympic movement began when 241 athletes from 13 European countries plus the United States gathered in Athens, Greece, for 10 days of competition, fellowship and a celebration of the spirit of athletics.
News >  Further Review

Tale of the tape: Gonzaga vs. Creighton

Today’s huge Sweet 16 matchup pairs off the undefeated, ferocious Gonzaga Bulldogs and the dainty little songbirds of Creighton University. We don’t need to talk much pregame smack, however. We’ll let the numbers do that.
A&E >  Books

The adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit”

Brace yourself for your “Do you feel old yet?” moment for today: Peter Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” was released in theaters 20 years ago this December. Here’s a look at all the film and video adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien’s tales of elves and orcs, sorcerers, intrigue, vast armies and some mighty fancy jewelry.
News >  Further Review

A look at the types of coronavirus vaccines

Have you had your jab yet? Your Fauci ouchie? Your first or second dose of coronavirus vaccine? If not, don’t worry too much: Officials have bought more doses and are getting better at spreading them around the country. Here’s a look at the three vaccines being used now and a couple more that may be on the way.