Charles Apple

Country music legend Dolly Parton has a new Christmas album that debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard holiday album chart and a new book detailing her career as a songwriter. Here’s a look at Dolly’s life and times.

Electoral votes and swing states and poll numbers and turnout and absentee ballots ... it’s all so very much to take in every four years. One big thing to know: It’s quite possible we won’t know the winner on Election Night.

After growing up in Spokane and performing regularly at the Clemmer Theatre – now called the Bing Crosby Theater – Bing Crosby and his pal Al Rinker left Spokane in 1925 to try to make it big in Hollywood. By the end of 1930, Crosby’s path was clear: He set out to become a solo artist. History – and the record-buying public – would take it from there.

A week during the closing stages of a presidential election cycle just isn’t complete until we see what the wiseacres at NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” have to say. Even in its 46th season, “SNL” provides some of the most biting political satire you’ll find anywhere. Today is the 30th anniversary of a non-political skit – an audition for Chippendales dancers in which ... something ... doesn’t seem quite right. In honor of that, here are a dozen great moments from the history of “SNL.”

Fifty years ago Friday, race car driver Gary Gabelich set a new land speed record of 622.4 miles per hour driving a car with a rocket engine powered by peroxide and liquefied natural gas at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. His record stood for 13 years.

Spokane native, journalist and award-winning novelist Jess Walter is publishing his seventh novel this month: “The Cold Millions.” This is in addition to a 2013 collection of short stories and his first book, a 1995 retelling of the Ruby Ridge incident, which Walter covered for The Spokesman-Review.

Eighty years ago Wednesday, Ernest Hemingway’s novel, “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” was published. This was a haunting and tragic tale of a young American man serving as a volunteer, fighting fascists in the Spanish Civil War. America’s entry into World War II was still more than a year away.

In 1951, comedian and actor Lucille Ball and her first husband – Cuban bandleader Desi Arnaz – created the format for today’s television situation comedies, shot on film – rather than videotape – with multiple cameras and in front of a live studio audience.

Ninety years ago, mystery writer Agatha Christie published her first Miss Marple novel. Christie wrote 66 novels – plus a handful of others under another name – 14 collections of short stories and the world’s longest-running play, “Mousetrap.”

On this date 20 years ago, two suicide bombers in a rubber boat rammed into the side of the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Cole as it was refueling in Aden Harbor in Yemen. In addition to the attackers, the blast killed 17 crewmen and injured 39 more.

Not only does President Donald Trump face dire reports of his financial status, stiff opposition from Democrats and ever-growing COVID-19 numbers, he has also dealt with turnover within his administration – the most turnover in the past 40 years, in fact. Here’s a look at the numbers, as compiled by the Brookings Institution:

On this date 25 years ago, the first exoplanet – meaning a planet observed outside our solar system, orbiting a different star from our own – was discovered by Swiss astronomers Michael Mayor and Didier Queloz. Their discovery opened up an entirely new field of study for skywatchers: The hunt for new planets.

After months of downplaying the coronavirus and the use of face masks – and two days after he mocked Democratic Joe Biden for wearing “the biggest mask I’ve ever seen” – and flaunting local rules against large gatherings in order to hold political rallies, President Donald Trump announced late Thursday he and his wife, Melania, had tested positive for COVID-19. He’s just the latest worldwide political leader to contract the coronavirus.

Twenty-five years ago Friday, a jury in Los Angeles found retired football star and Hollywood actor O.J. Simpson not guilty of the brutal double- murder of his estranged wife and her friend, a restaurant waiter. This happened despite the fact that Simpson didn’t have an alibi for the time of the murders and overwhelming evidence suggested he was guilty. Here’s a look back at the entire saga:

Seventy years ago Friday, the “Peanuts” comic strip by then-obscure St. Paul, Minnesota, cartoonist Charles M. Schulz made its debut in just seven newspapers around the world.

Forty years ago today, “Cosmos: A Personal Journey” – a 13-art miniseries dealing with science, physics, the creation of the universe and the possibility of life among the stars – debuted on PBS. The writer and host was Cornell University astronomer and NASA consultant Carl Sagan, whose insight and ability to simplify complex scientific concepts made the show the most widely-watched PBS series until Ken Burns’ “The Civil War,” a decade later. Here’s a look at Sagan’s career:

Pop music is an interesting business. Some bands are painfully authentic. Others are incredibly fake. And some are intentionally fake – like the ones that wind up in movies or TV shows.

Presidential debates offer candidates a chance to match wits in real time in front of a live TV audience. Unfortunately, it’s the wit – rather than command of the facts or their stances on the issues of the day – most viewers remember.

On this date 25 years ago, the feature film “Showgirls” was inflicted upon the American moviegoing audience. It was a truly wretched film containing a wretched plot and wretched performances all around. But was it the all-time worst film ever made? Perhaps. Perhaps not ...

With 42 days left until Election Day, most election experts expect two typically blue states that voted for Donald Trump in 2016 – Michigan and Pennsylvania – to swing back blue again. Even so, a lot will depend on seven states judged too close to call, along with their 105 electoral votes.

The 19th Amendment, guaranteeing women the right to vote, was ratified a century ago last month. However, before 1920, women had already won the right to vote in 15 states, including Idaho, Washington and Montana.

One hundred years ago today, what would become the National Football League was formed in a car dealership in Canton, Ohio.

The Batman has lived through – some might say suffered through – a number of incarnations since his creation by Bob Kane and Bill Finger in 1939. Here’s a look at some of the most iconic:

Twenty-five years ago Friday, the Japanese animated character Sailor Moon and her team of guardians of the solar system made their debut on American TV. The character was already a hit among tween-aged girls in Japan on TV, manga comic magazines and supplemental art books.