An article from Elizabeth M. Gillespie, for the Associated Press, Panel vows to fight for access to records, gets into an issue that is going to be cropping up a lot more as time goes by, access to public records. The article is about the American Society of Newspaper Editors’ Freedom of Information Committee, and their fight to keep access open.

Schelly Talalay Dardashti has a very interesting article, It’s All Relative: Getting down to it in Ynetnews, if you happen to be into Jewish genealogy. It’s about an upcoming Jewish genealogy conference that is huge.

In yet another acquisition, MyFamily.com, Inc., has acquired another company to help expand their services. They’ve acquired Encounter Technologies, which came out of the Georgia Institute of Technology Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC).

Joseph Hall has an article, History is in your genes, about the Genographic Project - the ambitious 5-year plan to use DNA and map out global migration patterns, that is being sponsored/handled by National Geographic and IBM.

Paula Story has a story (hah!) in the Union-Tribune (San Diego), Knowing your relatives’ medical history can help you identify health risks and develop a personalized prevention program, that gets into an area that some don’t want to confront or think about, or that, on the flip side, actually got some peole into genealogy and their family history.

Kevin Leininger has an article in the News-Sentinenel (Fort Wayne, IN), Groups unite to restore 160-year-old cemetery near Monroeville about a genealogist and county coming together to help clean up a cemetery.

A very interesting article in The Herald Bulletin, by Melanie D. Hayes, about a genealogist receiving a civil war medal that an ancestor had earned, and that nobody in the family had heard about. His great-great-grandfather was killed in action in Virginia in 1864, and was awarded a medal as a result.

The article mentions that just for West Virginia Civil War soldiers alone, there were over 5,000 medals that went unclaimed.

The Daily Telegraph has an article by Ben Fenton about Tony Robinson (Baldrick in Blackadder, as well as Time Team) and his family’s history. Those of you who follow him, know that he’s now become well-known for helping to popularise archaeology, but surprisingly, he hasn’t looked into his family history all that much. That’s changed recently.

A very intersting article, and worth reading, but I’m a bit worried that people with only a mild interest in genealogy will read it and come away thinking that genealogy is just as easy as the click of a mouse button.