Q: The Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) is one of the few dozens of United States environmental laws passed in the 1970s, and serves as the enacting legislation to carry out the provisions outlined in The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). The ESA was signed into law by President Richard Nixon on December 28, 1973, it was designed to protect critically imperiled species from extinction as a "consequence of economic growth and development untempered by adequate concern and conservation." The U.S. Supreme Court found that "the plain intent of Congress in enacting" the ESA "was to halt and reverse the trend toward species extinction, whatever the cost." The Act is administered by two federal agencies, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

One species in particular received widespread attentionthe whooping crane. The species' historical range extended from central Canada South to Mexico, and from Utah to the Atlantic coast. Unregulated hunting and habitat loss contributed to a steady decline in the whooping crane population until, by 1890, it had disappeared from its primary breeding range in the north central United States. It would be another eight years before the first national law regulating wildlife commerce was signed, and another two years before the first version of the endangered species act was passed. The whooping crane population by 1941 was estimated at about only 16 birds still in the wild.

Answer the following questions:
1. What year was the Endangered Species Act instituted?
2. Were there many laws such as this passed in this time period?
3. What animal received lots of attention?
4. Name something that caused their population to decline?
5. And what else?
6. What year did is vanish from its main range in the U.S.?
7. In what section of the U.S.?
8. How many years passed before first national law concerning regulation of wildlife commerce was instituted?
9. How much additional time before an act concerning endangered species was enacted?
10. What was the number of whooping cranes in the wild in 1941?
11. Did a President enact a certain law associated with endangered species?
12. What was it called?
13. In what year was it made law?
14. What month?
15. What day of the month?
16. What court made a finding about the ESA?
17. Were federal agencies involved in carrying out the act?
18. Name of one of them?
19. And the other?
20. What abbreviation is it known by?
A: 1. 1973
2. Yes
3. the whooping crane
4. Unregulated hunting
5. habitat loss
6. 1890
7. the north central
8. another eight years
9. another two years
10. about only 16 birds
11. Yes
12. The Endangered Species Act
13. 1973
14. December
15. 28
16. The U.S. Supreme Court
17. Yes
18. the United States Fish and Wildlife Service
19. the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
20. NOAA
Q: (RealSimple.com) -- A lengthy separation -- and a surprise trip to Paris -- caused this husband and wife to realize that their marriage could be saved.

Mary L. Tabor and Del Persinger Washington, D.C. Married 26 years

Mary was still in her nightgown and robe, sipping a cappuccino in the kitchen of the Washington, D.C., brownstone she shared with her husband, Del, when he walked in and announced he wanted to live alone. They had been married for 21 years.

"I didn't know what had hit me," Mary, 64, recalls of that fall morning in 2005. "I wondered, does he have a girlfriend? A boyfriend? I had no idea what was wrong."

Although the couple's relationship had been strained for a few months, Mary simply assumed they were going through a rough patch. She attributed Del's loss of interest in sex and his suddenly quick temper to stress from his high-pressure job as a financial analyst.

"Del was so on edge that he would yell at me about every little thing -- like a knife accidentally placed in the dishwasher with the point up," says Mary, a writer and a teacher. Still, she figured that things would soon return to normal.

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For Del, the decision had been a long time coming. Increasingly restless within his marriage, he wondered whether it was holding him back from leading a more exciting life. "I knew the problem wasn't Mary -- it was me," he says. "And I felt I needed to work through my mixed emotions alone."

Answer the following questions:
1. What caused the couple to not separate?
2. What were their names?
3. How long had they been married for?
4. What state were they in?
5. How did Mary react when Del told him he wanted to live alone?
6. Had their relationship been strained for a while?
7. What did Mary assume?
8. What was Mary's profession?
9. How would Del react towards Mary?
10. What year was it when Del told her he wanted to live alone?
11. Did Del blame Mary?
A: 1. a trip to Paris
2. Mary L. Tabor and Del Persinger
3. 26 years
4. Washington, D.C.
5. she had no idea what was wrong
6. yes
7. they were going through a rough patch
8. a writer and a teacher
9. he would yell at her
10. 2005
11. no
Q: ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- The United States knows that the leader of Pakistan's Taliban is dead because he has not appeared in public to prove that he is alive, the top U.S. envoy to the region told CNN on Monday.

Baitullah Mehsud, right, and a bodyguard arrive at a meeting in South Waziristan, Pakistan, in 2004.

Richard Holbrooke said that the Pakistani Taliban have not confirmed the death of Baitullah Mehsud because of an ongoing power struggle over his successor.

"The reason it's clear he's dead is that if he weren't dead, he'd be giving TV and radio interviews to prove he's not dead," Holbrooke told CNN's Cal Perry.

Mehsud rarely gave news conferences or appeared before the media. There has been conflicting information from the Pakistani Taliban about whether Mehsud died in a suspected U.S. missile strike earlier this month. Watch Holbrooke say Mehsud is dead "

Last week, Pakistani Taliban spokesman Maulvi Umar told CNN that Mehsud is alive, but ill, and will speak to reporters when he feels better.

Other media reports have quoted another spokesman for the group as saying Mehsud is dead and a mourning period is underway.

U.S. and Pakistani government officials have said they are confident that Mehsud was killed in the August 5 strike.

DNA tests were reportedly being conducted to back up those claims, but U.S. officials have expressed doubt that enough genetic material would be left behind, considering the enormity of the strike.

Holbrooke said Mehsud's death has sparked "a succession crisis" among the Pakistani Taliban.

Answer the following questions:
1. Who is known to have died?
2. How do they know?
3. Has the death been confirmed?
4. Why not?
5. What was the leader's name?
6. When was Mehsud allegedly killed?
7. How is the government testing the claim?
8. Does the government think they'll be successful?
9. Why not?
10. Does anyone claim Mehsud isn't dead?
11. Who?
12. Who is he?
13. What does Umar say about Mehsud?
14. Did Mehsud often go on tv?
15. How did he allegedly die?
16. What's the name of the U.S. envoy making the claim?
17. What does he say the death has caused?
18. Does any other Taliban spokesman disagree with Umar?
19. Who?
20. What does the other spokesman say?
A:
1. the leader of Pakistan's Taliban
2. because he has not appeared in public to prove that he is alive
3. No
4. because of an ongoing power struggle over his successor
5. Baitullah Mehsud
6. August 5
7. DNA tests
8. No
9. not enough genetic material would be left behind
10. Yes
11. Maulvi Umar
12. a spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban
13. he is alive, but ill
14. No
15. in a U.S. missile strike
16. Richard Holbrooke
17. a succession crisis
18. Yes
19. unknown
20. Mehsud is dead and a mourning period is underway