FORTY YEARS AGO.  The Milwaukee Bucks became the fastest expansion team to win a league title, sweeping the Baltimore Bullets, who conveniently eliminated Clyde Frazier and the New York Knicks, in four.  The title remains the Bucks' only title, although the same team took Boston to a game seven in 1974.  (And how long ago was it that the professional basketball season ended before May?)

The Chicago and North Western Railroad ended its intercity passenger service, linking Chicago with Clinton, Iowa (by way of DeKalb) and Green Bay, Wisconsin (by way of an easterly route through Sheboygan, at the end Sundays only; and a westerly route through Fond du Lac).  Northern Illinois University, the University of Wisconsin, and Boise State University were among the institutions of higher learning to lose their train service with the startup of Amtrak.

DeKalb briefly had an experimental extension of commuter train service in the early 1970s, and Boise had Amtrak service in the form of the Pioneer for much of the 1980s and early 1990s.  Madison has not seen scheduled passenger trains since, and the proposed extension of the Hiawatha service has been cancelled.