Google celebrates Yosemite's anniversary with a Doodle while the government shuts it down

Google's latest Doodle celebrates an important moment in American environmental history: the 123rd anniversary of Yosemite National Park. But if you were planning to visit and celebrate, that Doodle may be as close as you'll get. US parks and monuments are being shuttered until Congress and the White House are able to resolve a budgetary deadlock that shut down the federal government this morning. That means that Yosemite — usually open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year — will be completely closed for the first time since 1996, the year of the last government shutdown. The National Parks Conservation Association says that two decades ago, closing Yosemite put 25 percent of Mariposa County, where parts of the park are located, out of work. And the Yosemite-based economy, it says, has only grown since then. Besides Yosemite, the shutdown has eviscerated large parts of the American public sector, closing large portions of most agencies and halting science and technology work in several areas.