Tuesday Headlines: Yellowstone explosion, Holiday happiness, Nashville tix

Here's a quick look at our top stories for Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025:

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TOP HEADLINES:

Butte elementary students bring Christmas joy to shelter animals with toys and

Bozeman fans face travel challenges getting to Bobcats championship game in Nashville

Hydrothermal explosion rocks Yellowstone's Black Diamond Pool again

Bozeman nonprofit Hope and the Holidays serves more than 1,500 children this Christmas

THAT’S INTERESTING:

Notable events for December 23rd

• 1783 — George Washington resigns his military commission before Congress in Annapolis, returning to civilian life (a landmark act of republican statesmanship).
• 1672 — Giovanni Cassini discovers Rhea, a moon of Saturn.
• 1888 — Vincent van Gogh, amid worsening mental distress, cuts off part of his left ear (commonly dated to Dec. 23).
• 1893 — Engelbert Humperdinck’s opera Hansel and Gretel premieres in Weimar (conducted by Richard Strauss).
• 1913 — President Woodrow Wilson signs the Federal Reserve Act, creating the U.S. Federal Reserve System.
• 1928 — NBC establishes a permanent coast-to-coast radio network in the United States.
• 1954 — The world’s first successful kidney transplant (between identical twins) is performed.
• 1968 (mission Dec. 21–27) — Apollo 8 becomes the first crewed spacecraft to leave Earth orbit and travel to the Moon; the crew’s Christmas Eve broadcast and the “Earthrise” photos became iconic.
• 1933 — Marinus van der Lubbe is sentenced in connection with the Reichstag fire (notable in the lead-up to Nazi consolidation of power).

Notable births

• 1805 — Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement.
• 1867 — Sarah Breedlove (Madam C. J. Walker), entrepreneur and philanthropist; often cited as the first female self-made millionaire in the U.S.
• 1902 — Chaudhary Charan Singh, Indian politician and later Prime Minister (observed in India as Kisan Diwas / National Farmers Day).
• 1933 — Akihito, former Emperor of Japan (Emperor’s Birthday was observed on Dec. 23 during his reign).
• 1929 — Chet Baker, influential American jazz trumpeter and singer.
• 1943 — Harry Shearer, American actor/comedian (Saturday Night Live, The Simpsons).
• 1955 — Carol Ann Duffy, British poet (U.K. Poet Laureate 2009–2019).
• 1964 — Eddie Vedder, American singer-songwriter (Pearl Jam).

Notable deaths

• 1950 — General Walton Walker (died in a jeep accident during Korean War period).
• 1926 — Swami Shraddhanand, Indian educationist and social reformer (assassinated).
• 2007 — Oscar Peterson, Canadian jazz pianist virtuoso.
  

Holidays & observances, trivia

• Kisan Diwas (National Farmers Day) — observed in India on Chaudhary Charan Singh’s birthday (Dec. 23).
• Festivus — a secular, tongue-in-cheek “holiday” popularized by the TV show Seinfeld (celebrated Dec. 23).
• During Emperor Akihito’s reign (until 2019), Dec. 23 was Japan’s official Emperor’s Birthday public holiday.

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