Lifestyle related news.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Five years after Brian Spaulding's parents found him fatally shot, his slaying remains a mystery that seems increasingly unlikely to be solved as Portland, Ore., police confront a spike in killings and more than 100 officer vacancies. Portland's homicide rate has surged 207 percent since 2019 and detectives working older cases [...]
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Near-record amounts of seaweed are smothering Caribbean coasts from Puerto Rico to Barbados, killing fish and other wildlife, choking tourism and releasing stinky, noxious gases. More than 24 million tons of sargassum blanketed the Atlantic in June, shattering the all-time record, set in 2018, by 20 percent, according to the [...]
HONOLULU (AP) — In Hawaii, there's a common question posed in the pidgin language of the islands: "Where you went grad?" Knowing where someone went to high school has long been an important identity marker for Hawaii residents and helps connect people in the state's close-knit communities. It's an affiliation that goes far deeper than [...]
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — On a recent, scorching afternoon in Albuquerque, off-road vehicles cruised up and down a stretch of dry riverbed where normally the Rio Grande River flows. The drivers weren't thrill-seekers, but biologists hoping to save as many endangered fish as they could before the sun turned shrinking pools of water into dust. [...]
WASHINGTON — The number of people living in America without health insurance coverage hit an all-time low of 8 percent this year, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced. "Every American has the right to the peace of mind that comes with access to affordable, quality health care," President Joe Biden said in [...]
A new study from The Ohio State University has found that appealing photos of menu items may likely increase sales of those items. The photos, especially those with vibrant colors, increase diners’ willingness to order the menu items, researchers found. Not only may the color saturation, which refers to the intensity of the color in [...]
GARRETT, Ky. (AP) — This tiny sliver of a town off a state highway in eastern Kentucky has been home to Brenda Francis and her husband, Paul, for decades. Paul Francis was born 73 years ago in this house, a yellow and brown one-story home, which, like many dwellings in Garrett, is nestled in a [...]
CHICAGO (AP) — On a recent morning inside Chalmers School of Excellence on Chicago's West Side, five preschool and kindergarten students finished up drawings. Four staffers, including a teacher and a tutor, chatted with them about colors and shapes. The summer program offers the kind of one-on-one support parents love, but behind the scenes, Principal [...]
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Difficulties in finding affordable child care cost Enoshja Ruffin her job three years ago. The mother of six was let go from her position as a counselor for kids with cerebral palsy after she missed three shifts because she had trouble finding babysitters. After three months on a waiting list, though, [...]
GLEN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — Concealed behind trees near Lake Michigan, two scientists remotely manipulated a robotic owl on the forest floor. As the intruder flapped its wings and hooted, a merlin guarding its nest in a nearby pine darted overhead, sounding high-pitched, rapid-fire distress calls. The small falcon dove toward the enemy — and [...]