July 25, 2025

The Strum Heard Round the World

When Bob Dylan took the stage at the Newport Folk Festival 60 years ago this weekend, he was the leading light of the folk music scene. His songs had provided the soundtrack to a turbulent era marked by the American civil rights movement, making Dylan a hero to the folk crowd...until he wielded an electric guitar that night in Rhode Island. After three songs the band left the stage to a mix of claps and boos—and both rock and folk music were never the same again.

His Early Years, from Minnesota to Stardom

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Bob Dylan plays a Fender Stratocaster electric guitar for the first time on stage as he performs at the Newport Folk Festival on July 25, 1965 in Newport, Rhode Island.

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News and Notes

Cycling’s most prestigious and challenging race wraps up this weekend, while the United States Postal Service celebrates its semiquincentennial.

The big loop

The 112th Tour de France ends this weekend, the culmination of a three-week, roughly 2,235-mile (3,600-km) race, with a finish line at the Champs-Élysées. Last year’s winner, Tadej Pogačar of Slovenia—who also won in 2020 and 2021—is this year’s heavy favorite, followed by Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard, who won it all in 2022 and 2023. Meanwhile, as this year’s cyclists jockey for position, check out this interactive graphic showing the fastest times throughout the tour’s long history.

Jumbo-Visma team's Danish rider Jonas Vingegaard (3rd from right) wearing the overall leader's yellow jersey cycles with the pack during the 19th stage of the 109th edition of the Tour de France cycling race, 188,3 km between Castelnau-Magnoac and Cahors, in southwestern France, on July 22, 2022. (cycling)

Neither rain nor sleet...

This weekend marks the 250th anniversary of the United States Postal Service, which was established thanks in large part to Benjamin Franklin. A postal service for all of the American colonies was attempted in 1692, but little progress was made until 1753, when Franklin was named joint postmaster general, along with William Hunter, postmaster of Williamsburg, Virginia. Remaining in that post for 21 years—until being dismissed by the crown for actions viewed as disloyal—Franklin oversaw the development of speedier, more frequent, and more extensive mail service. Having built a solid foundation for the service, Franklin was appointed America’s first postmaster general by the Continental Congress on July 26, 1775.

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AHMEDABAD, INDIA- JUNE 12, 2025: Members of the investigation team examine the site of the Air India flight crash on June 12, 2025, in Ahmedabad, India. An Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner operating as Flight AI171 from Ahmedabad to London's Gatwick Airport crashed shortly after takeoff carrying 232 passengers and 10 crew members. The plane crashed on a resident doctors' hostel in Ahmedabad, which suffered major damage in the accident. India, Asia, Crash, Accident,

Air India Flight 171

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