How to find a seder around the globe

April 5, 2009 at 12:00a.m.

NEW YORK — More than 1,500 Passover seders are being organized in 600 cities around the world by the Chabad Lubavitch organization.

If you’re on the road, on vacation or away at college, you can find a seder near you at www.Chabad.org/Seders.

Chabad seder locations range from resort areas to farflung cities. The organization also sponsors seders in many U.S. college towns and most major cities.

Passover commemorates the exodus of Jews from slavery in ancient Egypt. Seders are ritual communal meals that celebrate the holiday.

Road to Grand Canyon’s North Rim to reopen

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz. — The main road leading to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon is set to reopen for the summer season May 15.

Grand Canyon National Park officials closed Arizona State Route 67 on Dec. 1 for the winter season. Most facilities at the North Rim closed Oct. 15.

All of the facilities, including the historic Grand Canyon Lodge North Rim, will also reopen May 15.

For more information, visit Grand Canyon National Park at www.nps.gov/grca.

Crystal Cruises offers new concierge service

LOS ANGELES — Crystal Cruises is offering help for the gadget-challenged: An onboard tech concierge.

The concierges will be available to help guests with all types of personal electronics.

The concierges will provide consultations at no charge to anyone onboard. They’ll be located in the ships’ computer centers, where guests can check e-mail and use the Internet, beginning in April aboard Crystal Symphony and in May aboard Crystal Serenity.

Associated Press

Acadia National Park closes hiking trails

ACADIA NATIONAL PARK, Maine — Officials at Acadia National Park have closed hiking trails on and around the Precipice Cliff to protect peregrine falcons that have been showing pre-nesting behavior.

The closure of the popular Precipice Trail on the side of Champlain Mountain is expected to last until late July or early August. That’s about five weeks after the newborn peregrine chicks are expected to take their first flights.

If the birds’ nesting attempt fails, the trail could open sooner.

Acadia National Park was selected in the 1980s to be one of the reintroduction sites for a peregrine falcon recovery program. Since 1991, more than 80 chicks have fledged on Mount Desert Island.

Clinton childhood home could be historic site

HOPE, Ark. — A bill that would make Bill Clinton’s first home in Hope a National Historic Site has passed the House and needs only the president’s signature to become law.

The House of Representatives voted 285-140 on the measure that included the wording that would bring the Clinton home on Hervey Street under the National Park Service as one of 33 presidential historic sites.

The Senate earlier passed the bill, which now heads to President Barack Obama. U.S. Rep. Mike Ross, D-Ark., who has worked for years to help Clinton’s first home attain federal status, said Obama is expected to sign the bill.

The site is owned by the Clinton Birthplace Foundation, which has operated the home as a museum.

The home has drawn visitors from all 50 states and dozens of other nations.

Restoration of the home began in 1995 and it opened to the public in 1997.