Ken Nilsestuen, current treasurer for the American Philatelic Society, announced his candidacy for APS president at the APS Stamshow held Aug. 20-23 in Grand Rapids, Mich. In mid-September, Nilsestuen and five others posted candidate statements on the Stamp Collecting Forum and the Virtual Stamp Club, two websites devoted to stamp collecting.

The show intends on being one of the larger ones in the world. Competitive exhibits in traditional, postal history, thematic, revenue, postal stationery, aerophilately, open, literature, and youth classes will all be available for show-goers to enjoy.

Hank Williams, born Sept. 17, 1923, was an early superstar in the world of country music, with hits like Your Cheatin' Heart, and Hey, Good Lookin'.

Each stamp has its own means of demonstrating the sense, from flavoring, to texture, to changinging colors. Designed by Zinc Design of Dublin, the stamps are available in sheets of 16.

For all its travel, a total of 14,231 miles by air (not counting a possible side-trip to Yokohama) during two months, there is no evidence that the cover ever reached the intended recipients.

Two stamps honoring Francis Parkman were issued eight years apart in the Prominent Americans series of 1965-78.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., the only 2016 presidential candidate to address postal issues in his campaign, has been acting without public attention on another important postal issue. The Vermont senator single handily has forced the United States Postal Service board of governors out of business, two individuals familiar with the issue have told Linn’s.

Postal inspectors appear to have made some progress managing a program that allows law enforcement agencies to monitor the mail of criminal suspects, according to a report by the Office of Inspector General of the United States Postal Service.

The United States Postal Service will not issue a religious-themed stamp for the 2015 holiday season. This issue was brought to the forefront in the national press when the online conservative news and opinion site the Daily Caller published the article “Is the Postal Service Declaring War On Religion?” by reporter Rick Pollock.

The newest study unit of the ATA, the Halloween Spooktacular Stamps and Stuff Unit, formed just a few months ago, issuing the first issue of its quarterly newsletter, The Bubbling Cauldron, in June. The unit received its charter at the National Topical Stamp Show held July 31 through Aug. 2 in Portland, Ore.

Ken Lawrence resumes his story about how the U.S. Army Air Transport Command and its contract carriers, mainly Pan American Airways, built the world’s longest and most important airmail route during World War II, employing land-based aircraft over routes that have seldom been fully understood and appreciated by airmail collectors.

I often receive questions that go something like this, “There is a nice pair of stamps I have that is almost imperf and I think I should get it expertized as such.” Or sometimes the writer says that the stamp is missing almost all the black, or another color.

When Queen Elizabeth II became the longest-reigning British sovereign at 63 years, 217 days on Wednesday, Sept. 9, Royal Mail changed the color of its most-used stamp, the nondenominated first-class Machin-head definitive, from red to amethyst purple.

Postal tax stamps are similar to semipostal stamps in that some or all of the proceeds from their sale goes to a charitable cause. They differ from semipostals stamps in that their use is mandatory for stated classes of mail for a set period.

The British colony of Montserrat in the Leeward Islands was never very prosperous, and an 1890 postal policy decreeing uniform stamp designs in the Leewards reduced the islands’ philatelic income. A 1903 set marked a return to distinctive stamp designs for the colony’s postal issues.

For the second consecutive Christmas season, the United States Postal Service is drawing from an animated television special for the subject of its holiday forever stamps. This year, Americans will see 10 different stamps commemorating A Charlie Brown Christmas, the popular family program that was first televised 50 years ago.

Online petitions have cropped up in recent months proposing stamps for various subjects. One petition urges visitors to the website to sign a proposal for a stamp for American entrepreneur and distiller Jack Daniels, who is best known for the whiskey that bears his name. Another petition seeks signatures for a stamp to honor Earl F. Lloyd, the NBA’s first African-American player.

The first United States stamp to honor the nation’s 27th president, William Howard Taft, was issued June 4, 1930, less than three months after Taft died on March 8. After serving as president from 1909 to 1913, Taft was appointed chief justice of the United States by President Warren G. Harding in 1921, and served in that office until he resigned in 1930, one month before his death.

In Geneva, the firm of David Feldman held its summer auction June 22-25. The big surprise was the result obtained for a series of 19th-century revenue stamps from the Australian state of Victoria.

In 1939, Paraguay issued 12 stamps of similar design but for different postal purposes (Scott 351-54, C122-C123 and O99-O104) to honor the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Universidad Nacional de Asuncion. Paraguay’s oldest university was established in 1889 during the presidency of Patricio Escobar.