THE LATEST LIFE AND ENTERTAINMENT HEADLINES FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Lifestyle

With green and glee, major US parades mark St. Patrick’s Day — a little early

NEW YORK (AP) — People across the United States celebrated Irish heritage at several major St. Patrick’s Day parades Saturday, marking the holiday a day early at events that included a big anniversary in Savannah, Georgia, and honored a pioneering female business leader as grand marshal in New York. The holiday commemorates Ireland’s patron saint […]
3 days ago

It’s not just ‘hang loose.’ Lawmakers look to make the friendly ‘shaka’ Hawaii’s official gesture

KANEOHE, Hawaii (AP) — A pinky and thumb extended with the remaining fingers curled down: That’s the “shaka” in Hawaii. The gesture is sometimes known outside the islands as the “hang loose” sign associated with surf culture, but it was a fixture of daily life in the islands long before it caught on in California, […]
5 days ago

Oklahoma’s push to weaken penalties for cockfighting is frustrating opponents of the bloodsport

WILSON, Okla. (AP) — Before Oklahoma became one of the last places in the U.S. to outlaw cockfighting in 2002, it wasn’t uncommon to see hundreds of spectators packed into small arenas in rural parts of the state to watch roosters, often outfitted with razor-sharp steel blades, fight until a bloody death. More than 20 […]
5 days ago

Women blast through gender barriers in Colombia’s emerald mines, but struggle to emerge from poverty

COSCUEZ, Colombia (AP) — Deep inside mountain tunnels where the heat is so intense it causes headaches, women with power tools are chipping away at boulders in search of gems. They have opened a difficult path for themselves in Colombia’s emerald industry, a sector long dominated by men. The lack of job opportunities, combined with […]
5 days ago

Trader Joe’s $3 mini totes went viral on TikTok. Now, they’re reselling for hundreds

NEW YORK (AP) — Trader Joe’s mini canvas tote is the latest item to cause a stir on social media, so much so that resellers are taking advantage of the hype. The mini totes are offered in four colors — blue, red, green, and yellow — and they are all in high demand. The bags, […]
6 days ago

Kate, Princess of Wales, apologizes for altering family photo that fueled rumors about her health

LONDON (AP) — Kate, Princess of Wales, apologized Monday for “confusion” caused by her altering of a family photo released by the palace — an image of Kate and her children that was intended to calm concern and speculation about the British royal’s health, but had the opposite effect. Several news agencies that initially published […]
8 days ago

Florida rivals ask courts to stop online sports gambling off tribal lands

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The state of Florida and the Seminole Tribe of Florida will be raking in hundreds of millions of dollars from online sports betting this decade, thanks to a compact between the tribe and Gov. Ron DeSantis that gave the tribe exclusive rights to run sports wagers as well as casino gambling […]
8 days ago

The US is springing forward to daylight saving. For Navajo and Hopi tribes, it’s a time of confusion

TUBA CITY, Ariz. (AP) — Melissa Blackhair is not eager to spring forward Sunday. “I’m dreading it. I just don’t want to see how much we have to adjust,” Blackhair said while sitting in her home office in Tuba City on the Navajo Nation, the only area in Arizona that follows daylight saving time. With […]
10 days ago

Civil rights activist Naomi Barber King, a sister-in-law to the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., dies

ATLANTA (AP) — Naomi Barber King, a civil rights activist who was married to the younger brother of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., has died at age 92. She died in Atlanta on Thursday, according to family members who issued a statement through the A.D. King Foundation. Naomi King established the organization in May […]
11 days ago

Rare 2-faced calf born last month at a Louisiana farm is flourishing despite the odds

ABBEVILLE, La. (AP) — A rare calf born with two faces — four eyes, two noses, two mouths and two ears — continued to flourish Thursday, eight days after its birth at a southwest Louisiana farm. The owners of Breaux Farms LLC in Cossinade, a community about 90 miles (145 kilometers) west of Baton Rouge, […]
11 days ago

Cole Brauer becomes 1st American woman to race sailboat alone and nonstop around world

A CORUNA, Spain (AP) — Alone, Cole Brauer braved three oceans and the elements as she navigated her sailboat for months. When she and her 40-foot (12.2-meter) sailboat arrived Thursday in A Coruña, Spain, the 29-year-old became the first American woman to race nonstop around the world by herself, traveling across about 30,000 miles (48,280 […]
12 days ago
Alyona Fedorchenko, vice president for global gum and mints in the Mars Snacking division stands fo...

To revive stale US sales, candy companies pitch gum as a stress reliever and concentration aid

Candy companies want to know: What will make Americans start chewing gum again? Gum’s bubble burst during the COVID-19 pandemic, when masks and social distancing made bad breath less of a worry and fewer people spent on impulse buys. The number of packages of gum sold dropped by nearly a third in the United States […]
12 days ago
FILE - Electric Time Co. employee Walter Rodriguez cleans the face of an 84-inch Wegman clock at th...

Why are clocks set forward in the spring? Thank wars, confusion and a hunger for sunlight

DALLAS (AP) — Once again, most Americans will set their clocks forward by one hour this weekend, losing perhaps a bit of sleep but gaining more glorious sunlight in the evenings as the days warm into summer. Where did this all come from, though? How we came to move the clock forward in the spring, […]
12 days ago
FILE.- In this Sunday, Aug. 11, 2019, photo an iPhone displays the apps for Facebook and Messenger ...

For social platforms, the outage was short. But people’s stories vanished, and that’s no small thing

NEW YORK (AP) — Once upon a time, there was a brief outage on some social media platforms. It got fixed. The end. On the face of it, kind of a boring story. But the widespread attention given to the blanking of Meta’s Facebook, Instagram, Threads and Messenger platforms on Tuesday suggests another, perhaps less […]
12 days ago
New TSA screening equipment at Harry Reid International Airport is displayed, Wednesday, March 6, 2...

Correction: Airport Self-Screening Prototype story

LAS VEGAS (AP) — In a story published March 6, 2024, about the debut of a prototype Transportation Security Administration self-screening system at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas, The Associated Press erroneously reported the agency had plans to test it for use in other cities. TSA officials say they have no plans to […]
13 days ago

Antoine Predock, internationally renowned architect and motorcycle aficionado, dies at 87

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Known for his ability to tap into the spirit of any landscape and weave its characteristics into his designs, internationally renowned architect and avid motorcyclist Antoine Predock is being remembered for his rare brand of creativity. He died Saturday at his home in Albuquerque, according to longtime friends and colleagues. He […]
13 days ago
Chassity Coston, left, and Charity Wallace pose outside Harvard Yard at Harvard University, Saturda...

Black women struggle to find their way in a job world where diversity is under attack

BOSTON (AP) — Regina Lawless hit a professional high at 40, becoming the first director of diversity and inclusion for Instagram. But after her husband died suddenly in 2021, she pondered whether she had neglected her personal life and what it means for Black woman to succeed in the corporate world. While she felt supported […]
15 days ago

Fans gather to say goodbye to Flaco the owl in New York City memorial

NEW YORK (AP) — Dozens of mournful fans of Flaco the Eurasian eagle-owl gathered in New York City on Sunday to say goodbye to the beloved celebrity creature who became an inspiration and joy to many as he flew around Manhattan after someone let him out of his zoo enclosure. A memorial featuring speeches, songs […]
16 days ago
Doris Milton, 63, stands for a portrait at the Bethel New Life holistic wellness center Thursday, F...

Head Start preschools aim to fight poverty, but their teachers struggle to make ends meet

WASHINGTON (AP) — In some ways, Doris Milton is a Head Start success story. She was a student in one of Chicago’s inaugural Head Start classes, when the antipoverty program, which aimed to help children succeed by providing them a first-rate preschool education, was in its infancy. Milton loved her teacher so much that she […]
16 days ago
Musher Dutch Johnson, a kennel manager at The August Foundation for Alaska Racing Dogs, runs a dog ...

Alaska’s Iditarod dogs get neon visibility harnesses after 5 were fatally hit while training

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The Iditarod, the annual sled dog race celebrating Alaska’s official state sport, got underway Saturday with a new focus on safety after five dogs died and eight were injured in collisions with snowmobiles while training on shared, multi-use trails. For the first time, mushers who line up for the competitive start […]
17 days ago
FILE - Music fans relax during a break in the entertainment at the Woodstock Music and Arts Fair, A...

Peace, music and memories: As the 1960s fade, historians scramble to capture Woodstock’s voices

BETHEL, N.Y. (AP) — Woodstock didn’t even happen in Woodstock. The fabled music festival, seen as one of the seminal cultural events of the 1960s, took place 60 miles (96.5 kilometers) away in Bethel, New York, an even smaller village than Woodstock. It’s a fitting misnomer for an event that has become as much legend […]
17 days ago

With trash bins now required in NYC, only the rats are sorry to see the garbage piles go

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City’s tradition of piling garbage bags on the sidewalk for pickup is going the way of the dinosaur. As of Friday, all 200,000 businesses in the Big Apple are required to put out their bags of trash in garbage bins, as communities across the county and world have long […]
18 days ago
David and Stephanie Joiner pose by part of an artwork, called Greenwood Pond: Double Site, Sunday, ...

Artists outraged by removal of groundbreaking work along Des Moines pond

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A Des Moines arts organization is preparing to rip out a groundbreaking artwork that lines a pond in a historic city park, surprising the New York artist who created the work decades ago and leading to an outpouring of opposition by other artists and local residents. The decision to remove […]
18 days ago

Some doorbell cameras sold on Amazon and other online sites have major security flaws, report says

NEW YORK (AP) — Some doorbell cameras sold by Amazon and other online retailers have security flaws that could allow bad actors to view footage from the devices or control them completely, according to an investigation published Thursday by Consumer Reports. Researchers from the product-review organization said they found major vulnerabilities in cameras manufactured by […]
19 days ago