Stephen Head, president of Lone Star College-North Harris, asked me not long ago what the sparrow-size, aqua-blue birds were that had shown up in his yard. He wasn't the only one who wanted to know.

Catherine McKinley is the author of Indigo: In Search of the Color that Seduced the World. You probably take the blue in your favorite jeans or denim bean bag chair for granted now, but it was once ...

For many farms in Tennessee, tobacco is still the biggest cash crop in the field. It’s been that way for generations. But farmers are looking for alternatives that aren’t quite so difficult to grow, ...