Rat Island becomes rat free, and more
Alaska’s Rat Island, a 10-square-mile speck of land in the Aleutians that has been infested with rats since 1780, is now rat free.
A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Thank you for signing up to TheWeek. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.
Rat Island becomes rat free
After 229 years, Alaska’s Rat Island is rat free. The 10-square-mile speck of land in the Aleutians has been infested with rats since 1780, when a Japanese shipwreck spilled them there. But last fall, at a cost of $2.5 million, the federal government and two wildlife groups joined forces to bombard the island with poison. Since then, there has been no sign of the rodents, and several of the bird species they had devastated have begun to return. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will continue to monitor Rat Island for vermin for at least two more years.
George H.W. Bush celebrates his 85th
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
President George H.W. Bush celebrated his 85th birthday last week by skydiving from 10,500 feet over Maine. Bush, who took the tandem tumble with a member of the U.S. Army Parachute Team, had previously jumped for his 75th and 80th birthdays, as well as for a 2007 event at his presidential library. “It still feels good,” he said. “Just because you’re old, that doesn’t mean you can’t do fun stuff. And you don’t want to sit around drooling in the corner. And so it’s a wonderful release.” Bush said he plans to take the plunge again when he turns 90.
Antique marble column returned to Israel
A 46-pound chunk of an eighth-century marble column has been returned to Israel after 12 years. The Israeli Antiquities Authority said it received the stone from a New York clergyman, along with a note from
a member of his congregation. The parishioner said he had obtained the fragment as a souvenir from a tour guide while visiting Jerusalem’s Old City in 1997. He later came to suspect it had been stolen, and his guilty feelings finally got the better of him. “For the past 12 years, rather than remind me of the prayer for Jerusalem, I am reminded of the mistake I made when I removed the stone,” he wrote. “I am asking your forgiveness.”
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.
Sign up to our 10 Things You Need to Know Today newsletter
A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
-
6 vibrant homes with art studios
Feature Featuring a six-bedroom home in Vermont and a rustic-modern house in California
By The Week Staff Published
-
Experts are worried about tuberculosis again
Speed Read The deadly disease regained its crown as the world's biggest infectious killer in October 2022
By Devika Rao Published
-
The daily gossip: Beyoncé is bringing the 'Renaissance' tour to movie theaters, Taylor Swift attends another Chiefs game with famous pals, and more
Feature The daily gossip: October 2, 2023
By Brendan Morrow Published