WASHINGTON—Through history, the Fourth of July has been a day for some presidents to declare their independence from the public. They’ve bailed to the beach, the mountains, the golf course, the farm, the ranch. In the middle of the Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt was sailing to Hawaii on a fishing and working vacation. It’s also…

ST. LOUIS—The Fourth of July is Americana at its core: parades and cookouts and cold beer and, of course, fireworks. Those pyrotechnics also make it an especially dangerous holiday, typically resulting in more than 10,000 trips to the emergency room. Yet fireworks remain at the center of Independence Day, a holiday 247 years in the…

Commentary Housing markets in Canada are really upside down. Recently, Canada’s aggregate housing price index suffered the biggest decline in nearly 20 years. On July 6, CBC News—the Canadian public broadcaster—reported, “The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) said 6,474 homes were sold in the Greater Toronto Area last month, down by 41 percent compared…

NEW YORK—After a year lost to the coronavirus, New York City’s most well-known Fourth of July traditions are back. The traditional Macy’s Fourth of July fireworks show will be back in full form with a display over the East River, with shells being shot from five barges in a televised, choregraphed spectacle. This year, crowds…