New ten-part series premieres Monday, January 18 at 9pm ET on HISTORY

In the world of antiques, it takes an expert to turn rust into riches...

New York, December 2009 - Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz are on a mission to recycle America. Their job: to dig through junk piles, abandoned barns and neglected garages for hidden memorabilia. Sometimes they make a buck; and sometimes they walk away with little more than the history of an item. They love their work, and the open road is their office.

Part sleuths, part antiques experts, and part cultural historians? Mike and Frank, business partners of Antique Archaeology based in Iowa, are professional "pickers," trolling America's small towns to salvage rare collectibles and good junk from regular folks. AMERICAN PICKERS, a ten-part series from HISTORY, follows the adventures of Mike and Frank, through small towns and back roads for a glimpse at this little-known side of the antiques business. The all new series premieres Monday, January 18 at 9pm ET on HISTORY.

Buddies since 8th grade, Mike and Frank have an entertaining rapport and an instinct for unearthing relics of historical, collectible and pop culture value. Although buying and selling is their livelihood, the thrill is in the chase. Each treasure hunt leads them to fascinating, quirky characters - everyday people with stories about their artifacts and themselves that open a window into American life.

AMERICAN PICKERS follows the highs and lows of the "picking" trade as Mike and Frank get their hands dirty in search of weird and wonderful Americana. It takes amazing expertise to tell good junk from bad. Whether tracking down a one-of-a-kind Ferris wheel or sizing up a vintage Harley-Davidson, they must be prepared to verify an object's history and judge its value. The pressure mounts as they strike the ultimate deal, find just the right buyer and turn around the item fast. It's not uncommon for them to contend with a farmer's physical threats and verbal abuse one minute and laughing with him over a beer the next.

"We're caretakers of treasures and the stories behind them," says Mike.  Traveling along with the duo, viewers will meet an assortment of American originals and watch as a patchwork of history unfolds - one treasure at a time.

AMERICAN PICKERS joins the highly successful series, PAWN STARS, as part of HISTORY's powerful new "National Treasures" programming genre in which relics belonging to everyday people tell a history of America.

Washington, DC - In response to news that a long-standing cable dispute could leave 300,000 Iowans without Orange Bowl coverage, Rep. Bruce Braley (D-Iowa) sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski today encouraging him to step in and protect the interests of Iowa's families before January 5. In a game of significant importance to Iowans, the University of Iowa Hawkeyes will play the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in the Orange Bowl as part of the Bowl Championship Series.

"On behalf of the hundreds of thousands of constituents in my district who would be affected by the Sinclair-Mediacom retransmission rights negotiations, I write to solicit the FCC to protect my constituents and the public good," Braley wrote. "The January 5^th Orange Bowl, in which the University of Iowa is playing their championship game with Georgia Tech, is on FOX.  Mediacom's broadcast area is highly populated with the fans and alumni of the University of Iowa, and hundreds of thousands of Iowans stand to lose their chance to watch their team in the Orange Bowl if the FCC does not take action to referee the Mediacom-Sinclair dispute.

"I do not write to ask the FCC to take sides in this contentious negotiation.  Rather, I ask that the FCC step in and take the appropriate actions to protect the public interest in the event that Mediacom and Sinclair are unable to come to terms on a retransmission consent agreement."

Sinclair Broadcasting Group is currently renegotiating their retransmission rights with Mediacom Communications Corporation.  A similar retransmission negotiation failed to reach a compromise back in 2007 and resulted in Mediacom customers losing Sinclair's Cedar Rapids based CBS station and Des Moines based FOX station. Local media reports have indicated that parties involved are pessimistic that a deal will be reached prior to January 5.

Braley joined other members of the Iowa delegation in sending a letter to Genachowski on November 23.  A full text of the letter Braley sent is attached.

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Due to the extensive time required to make entries,  we are extending opportunities for entries to the following 2 dates below during our regular Independent Scholars' Evenings.

"Life on the Mississippi - the New Millennium" is a manuscript maintained by the Institute.  The manuscript records life along the Mississippi in  various voices and authorship in long-hand and archival ink.

The manuscript is kept safely under lock and key between entries, bringing it out periodically for entries as well as readings.

Please come in to make entries in the manuscript as well as review the recent entries made.

Obviously, when copies of  the manuscript are sold proceeds will be distributed

to contributors on a pro-rated basis.

7.00 p.m. to 9.00 p.m.

December 3rd and  December 10th 2009

in front of  the fireplace on the 2nd floor of  The Moline Club, 513 16th Street, Moline.

Please take this opportunity to visit the Phoenix Art Gallery on the 1st floor enter through the Fifth Ave door : 1530 Fifth Avenue, Moline.

The exhibit and sale going on is ...unattached.... by Talya Arbisser.

* The Independent Scholars' Evenings are sponsored by The Institute for Cultural and Healing Traditions, Ltd a 501©3 at state and federal level since 1996. Please visit www.qcinstitute.org for furt

The second in a trilogy of ghost stories set along Route 66, Ghostly Tales of Route 66: Arkansas to Arizona from Connie (Corcoran) Wilson was published October 2. 2009, from Quixote Press. Volume II is a solo project. Connie was the featured speaker at the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge Second Annual Route 66 Festival on October 3rd in St. Louis, Missouri (see article below). A website (www.ghostlytalesofroute66.com) is up, and the book is available there or by contacting Quixote Press at 1-800-571-2665 ($9.95 plus postage). It should be "up" on Amazon.com soon (I hope) and it will obviously be available on October 24th from 1 to 3 p.m. at Barnes & Noble in Davenport (North Park Mall). It contains 13 ( a lucky 13) different stories and numerous photos, including one that para-normal investigators swear depicts "ghostly orbs."

I took all the pictures myself with a Nikon D90 and I have no explanation for the "ghostly orb" photo on page 47. (Come see for yourself.) It's a very small book (150 pages) and takes almost no time to read. The second volume is much better than the first volume, as it is laid out better and has "real" pictures that Craig and I took while on a 2,000 mile whirlwind trip from Oklahoma City to the coast last November. (The first book started in Chicago and ended in Oklahoma). Lots of stories from the last "Ghost Tour" of the season at Fort El Reno, Oklahoma.) and then moving on to the Cadillac Ranch, New Mexico, etc.

If you are a friend now or a former friend or someone who would like to pretend to be my friend for about 120 minutes: I'll be there at Barnes & Noble on Saturday, October 24, from 1 to 3. This has been a Connie Wilson public service announcement.

The author---"good-and-faithful-friend" material for a lifetime, not just a mere 40 years--- comes with a lifetime guarantee of loyal friendship and a track record of providing same, along with many nice things done for others, voluntarily or by request. Others can vouch for this, if they're being honest.  I'll gladly provide a guarantee of satisfaction on Volume II (although not on Volume I).  If you are dissatisfied with Volume II for any reason after purchase, email me and I will gladly provide you with a FREE copy of Volume I (I'm trying to get rid of them from my basement anyway!).

--- Connie Wilson