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Amtrak

(Encyclopedia)Amtrak, the National Railroad Passenger Corp., authorized to operate virtually all intercity passenger railroad routes in the United States. Amtrak was created by Congress in 1970 in response to more ...

Abbott, Tony

(Encyclopedia)Abbott, Tony (Anthony John Abbott), 1957–, Australian political leader, b. London, England. His family moved to Australia in 1960. Educated at the Univ. of Sydney and, as a Rhodes scholar, at Queens...

Weaver, James Baird

(Encyclopedia)Weaver, James Baird, 1833–1912, American political leader, b. Dayton, Ohio. Reared in frontier areas of Michigan and Iowa, he practiced law in Iowa. He served in the Union army in the Civil War and ...

Stern, David Joel

(Encyclopedia)Stern, David Joel, 1942–2020, American basketball executive, b. New York City. A lawyer, he worked (1966–78) as outside counsel to the National Basketball Association (NBA) before he became NBA ge...

Netanyahu, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Netanyahu, Benjamin or Binyamin bēnˈyəmēnˌ nĕtənyäˈho͞o [key], 1949–, Isr...

Hearst, William Randolph

(Encyclopedia)Hearst, William Randolph, 1863–1951, American journalist and publisher, b. San Francisco. A flamboyant, highly controversial figure, Hearst was nonetheless an intelligent and extremely competent new...

Beard, Charles Austin

(Encyclopedia)Beard, Charles Austin, 1874–1948, American historian, b. near Knightstown, Ind. A year at Oxford as a graduate student gave him an interest in English local government, and after further study at Co...

census

(Encyclopedia)census, periodic official count of the number of persons and their condition and of the resources of a country. In ancient times, among the Jews and Romans, such enumeration was mainly for taxation an...

prison

(Encyclopedia)prison, place of confinement for the punishment and rehabilitation of criminals. By the end of the 18th cent. imprisonment was the chief mode of punishment for all but capital crimes. At that time, la...

organized crime

(Encyclopedia)organized crime, criminal activities organized and coordinated on a national scale, often with international connections. The American tradition of daring desperadoes like Jesse James and John Dilling...
 

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