The global Internet now boasts more than 40 million users, a figure that has stunned the technology industry's most optimistic forecasters. Analysts say the network has become a daily fixture in American homes.

"We are witnessing something unprecedented," said Dr. Harold Finch of MIT. "The telephone took forty years to reach this level of adoption. The Internet has done it in four."

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The Theobald City Council voted 6–1 Tuesday to fund a twelve-station computer lab at the Main Street Public Library. [More...]

An estimated 14,000 visitors attended last weekend's annual Theobald Championship Chili Cook-Off — a new record. [More...]

Chicago completes another dominant postseason run behind Holloway. [More...]

Old Hector Baumgartner sends the town's final Western Union message, not knowing it would change three lives. [Read...]

Our correspondent finds that the Emerald Isle rewards the patient traveler. [More...]

A northbound Blue Line train jumped its track near the O'Hare terminal Tuesday morning during the peak rush hour, injuring 22 passengers. [Read...]

The small town of Kettle Falls, population 412, woke up Wednesday to find that sixth-grader Danny Preis had won the mayoral race. [Read...]

400 workers returned to the Youngstown Consolidated Steel plant Monday under new German ownership. [Read...]

After a decade and $4 billion, state officials declared the harbor recovery nearly finished. Striped bass have returned to waters not seen since 1962. [Read...]

Mel's Silver Cup Diner in Queens served its one-millionth breakfast Wednesday morning. Owner Mel Antonakis has not raised egg prices since 1988. [Read...]

The 1847 Millford Covered Bridge withstood a 200-year flood event with only minor structural damage to its north approach. [Read...]

Seattle now has more coffee shops per capita than any city on Earth, according to a new University of Washington study released this week. [Read...]

Sacramento lawmakers unveiled a proposal this week to levy a $400 annual surcharge on gasoline-powered vehicles that fail state emissions tests. [Read...]

Residents of Saguaro Flats, AZ passed a referendum banning new golf course construction in a 74% vote, citing aquifer depletion. [Read...]

Marcus Holloway and the Millhaven Thunderheads captured their fifth league championship Sunday night, defeating the Ridgecrest Hornets 87–75 in Game 6. [Full Story...]

New York parted ways with head coach Dave Whelan Monday following a collapse that dropped the team to 22–36. [Read...]

Riverton Field fan Gerald Koss returned a foul ball to an eight-year-old girl who dropped it. The Mudhens organization responded by mailing him a lifetime seat. [Read...]

The Ironmen locked up their franchise signal-caller through 1999 in a deal reportedly worth $21 million, the largest in franchise history. [Read...]

Twenty-two-year-old Robbie Ferris of Waveland posted a course-record 64 at the Waveland Municipal Links on Saturday. Two PGA Tour representatives were in attendance. [Read...]

Left-hander Cal Fontenot, 21, dazzled the Harbor Dome crowd in his first major league start, retiring 21 consecutive batters before being removed in the eighth. [Read...]

Microsoft Corp. Wednesday released a public beta of Internet Explorer 3.0, featuring Java applet support and inline video — a direct challenge to Netscape. [Read...]

InfoFind Inc. secured venture funding to digitize every Yellow Pages directory in the country and make them searchable by 1998. [Read...]

Theobald resident Chester Alvarado has opened what he believes is the parish's first online store. "One of them bought a cast iron Dutch oven last week from Ohio," he said. [Read...]

The Iowa Tri-County Grain Co-op became one of the first agricultural organizations in the Midwest to convert all supplier communications to a fax-to-email hybrid system. [Read...]

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 5,778 on Friday, setting its third consecutive weekly record as tech sector enthusiasm continues to drive equity markets. [Read...]

The CTIA reported that U.S. cellular subscriptions surpassed 44 million this quarter, with analysts now projecting 200 million by the turn of the millennium. [Read...]

Despite rising expectations of American travelers, Ireland's west coast remains one of the great affordable destinations in the world. Our correspondent spent two weeks on less than $600 total. [Read...]

The leaves won't peak until October but smart travelers book Vermont lodging now. Our guide covers seven towns, three covered bridges, and the best cider mill in the Northeast. [Read...]

From the lakefront to the deep dish, Chicago rewards the spontaneous visitor. A local's insider guide to the city's neighborhoods, jazz clubs, and forgotten diners. [Read...]

Most tourists make the mistake of driving north to south and chasing the sun. Our writer explains why the southbound approach reveals Big Sur at its most dramatic. [Read...]

Five days, four beach towns, and $300. The Gulf Coast is the most underrated road trip in America. We drove it so you don't have to guess. [Read...]

Old Hector Baumgartner sends the town's final Western Union message, not knowing it will change three lives and bring a prodigal daughter home after eleven years. [Read...]

When Delphine Morrow's bees begin following her neighbor's mail truck every morning, she finally decides it's time to open the letter she's been hiding under the floorboards. [Read...]

At 2 a.m. on a Tuesday, Connie Stroud meets a man who is washing the same shirt for the sixth time. He won't say why. She's pretty sure she already knows. [Read...]

A clerical error leads the small town of Dunmore, Iowa to hold its municipal election twice in one week. Nobody admits they voted differently the second time. [Read...]

A retired geologist returns to the Montana creek where she found her first fossil at age nine, and discovers it has been dammed. She considers what she has also dammed up inside herself. [Read...]

Mabel Fontenot has won the parish fair's pie contest for eleven straight years. This year, her granddaughter has entered for the first time — using Mabel's own recipe. [Read...]