| Seeing the 'real' London and Two passengers injured during turbulent flight |
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Brendan Francis Newnam hosts a national public radio show called The Dinner Party Download produced by American Public Media. He's the author of CNN.com travel column "The State I'm In." Follow him on Twitter @bnewnam.I remember seeing that scrawled in graffiti years ago. The idea being that it took a video camera, an act of brutality and subsequent riots to show the world that Los Angeles wasn't just palm trees and fake breasts.Instead, it's a real place with heaps of dysfunction just like anywhere else. That Rodney King quote came to mind when I fired up my laptop last night to file a completed column on London only to find that there were riots in London -- a place I had visited just last week.Of course London in 2011 is much different than Los Angeles in 1992, but both events started around the police's treatment of minorities and, less importantly, both events can tell us something about the limits of travel. [Read the full article] Boulder lies along the Front Range of the Rockies, the stretch from Fort Collins down to Pueblo that contains the vast majority of the state's population. Even in the centers of the state's biggest cities, surrounded by modern civilization, the scenic vistas still demand attention. The Pearl Street Mall is the heart of Boulder, a downtown shopping area that's always congested with street musicians playing Neil Young, families with strollers and college kids out for a good time. Even there, the mountains to the west still dominate the landscape. From this vantage point, I'm looking at the mountains from beneath. And from here, the border of the plains, there's a second wonder to rival the Rockies: the sky.The phrase "Big Sky" -- attached to Montana, applicable to the entire American West -- sounds obvious. Of course the sky is big. But get out there under it and see the panoramas and the meaning becomes clear. It's just larger there. [Read the full article] New York (CNN) -- The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island will undergo renovations totaling more than $27 million beginning in late October, according to Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar.Liberty Island, where the iconic statue is located, will remain open during the yearlong project and views of Lady Liberty will remain largely unobstructed."Two years ago, when we reopened Lady Liberty's crown to visitors for the first time since the September 11 attacks, I promised that we would continue to upgrade the interior to make it safer and more accessible for all," Salazar said Wednesday. "With today's announcement, we are taking a major step in bringing a 19th century icon into the 21st century."The National Park Service will keep the monument open to the public through the October 28 celebration of the 125th anniversary of the statue's dedication. It will be closed the following day as work commences. [Read the full article] 
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