THE LATEST LIFE AND ENTERTAINMENT HEADLINES FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Lifestyle

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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 […]
1 month 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 […]
1 month 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 […]
1 month 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 […]
2 months 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 […]
2 months 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 […]
2 months 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 […]
2 months 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 […]
2 months 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 […]
2 months 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 […]
2 months 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 […]
2 months ago
Anne D'Innocenzio shows a portrait of herself, right, with her sister, Donna Burke, left, and mothe...

A blender from the 1960s, a restored 1936 piano. What I learned from clearing out my childhood home

NEW YORK (AP) — It’s been eight months since I closed the door for the last time to my childhood home in suburban New Jersey and said goodbye to more than a half century of memories. I sometimes still struggle to let it go. Mom passed away in February 2023 after a brief battle with […]
2 months ago
FILE - An airline employee transfers a wheelchair to her station at O'Hare International Airport in...

Airlines could face more fines for mishandling wheelchairs under a Biden administration proposal

The Biden administration is proposing to make it easier for the government to fine airlines for damaging or misplacing wheelchairs by making it an automatic violation of a federal law on accessible air travel. The U.S. Transportation Department is also on Thursday calling for airlines to provide annual training for employees who handle wheelchairs or […]
2 months ago

What would happen without a Leap Day? More than you might think

NEW YORK (AP) — Leap year. It’s a delight for the calendar and math nerds among us. So how did it all begin and why? Have a look at some of the numbers, history and lore behind the (not quite) every-four-year phenomenon that adds a 29th day to February. BY THE NUMBERS The math is […]
2 months ago
A calendar shows the month of February, including leap day, Feb. 29, on Friday, Feb. 23, 2024, in S...

What would happen without a Leap Day? More than you might think

NEW YORK (AP) — Leap year. It’s a delight for the calendar and math nerds among us. So how did it all begin and why? Have a look at some of the numbers, history and lore behind the (not quite) every four year phenom that adds a 29th day to February. BY THE NUMBERS The […]
2 months ago
This image provided by Tyler Watts shows Florida Man Games competitors, from left, Joshua Barr, Mic...

At the Florida Man Games, big crowds cheer competitors evading police, wrestling over beer

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. (AP) — They rose up by the dozens from across Florida, caricatured competitors in tank tops and cutoff shorts, for a showdown that treats evading police and wrestling over beer like Olympic sports. Promoted as “the most insane athletic showdown on Earth,” the Florida Man Games poke fun at the state’s reputation […]
2 months ago
Andie Nelson, right, embraces Brian Jaskot, both of Virginia, after their race during the 25 meter ...

‘Totally cold’ is not too cold for winter swimmers competing in a frozen Vermont lake

NEWPORT, Vt. (AP) — Plunging into a frozen lake and swimming laps may not be everyone’s good time but for winter swimmers who return year after year to a northern Vermont lake near the Canadian border, there’s nothing better. The 10th annual Memphremagog Winter Swimming Festival kicked off Friday with the 200-meter (218-yard) freestyle race […]
2 months ago

Kayakers paddle in Death Valley after rains replenish lake in one of Earth’s driest spots

DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) — Kayakers have been paddling in one of the driest places on Earth after a series of record rainstorms battered California’s Death Valley and replenished Lake Manly. Park Ranger Nichole Andler said Badwater Basin at Death Valley National Park, which runs along part of central California’s border with Nevada, […]
2 months ago

Tennessee free-market group sues over federal rule that tightens worker classification standards

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee free-market nonprofit group on Wednesday joined the ranks of organizations challenging a new Biden administration labor rule that changes the criteria for classifying workers as independent contractors or employees. The Beacon Center of Tennessee filed its federal lawsuit in Nashville on behalf of two freelance journalists, Margaret Littman and […]
2 months ago
CORRECTS SENTENCE TO UP TO 30 YEARS, NOT 60 YEARS - Defendant Ruby Franke looks on during court Tue...

YouTube mom Ruby Franke apologizes at sentencing in child abuse case

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Ruby Franke, a Utah mother of six who gave parenting advice to millions via a once-popular a YouTube channel, shared a tearful apology to her children for physically and emotionally abusing them before a judge delivered a sentence that could put her in prison for years, if not decades. Franke […]
2 months ago
The Matthew J. Perry, Jr. Courthouse in Columbia, S.C., is seen on Friday, Feb. 9, 2024. The first ...

First federal trial for a hate crime based on gender identity starts over trans woman’s killing

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The first federal trial over a hate crime based on gender identity began Tuesday in South Carolina, where a man faces charges that he killed a Black transgender woman and then fled to New York. The U.S. Department of Justice alleges that in August 2019, Daqua Lameek Ritter lured the woman […]
2 months ago
Retired Army Col. Farrell Patrick, 91, wears a Mynd Immersive virtual reality headset at John Knox ...

‘Soaring’ over hills or ‘playing’ with puppies, study finds seniors enjoy virtual reality

POMPANO BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Retired Army Col. Farrell Patrick taught computer science at West Point during the 1970s and then at two private universities through the 1990s, so he isn’t surprised by the progress technology has made over the decades. But when the 91-year-old got his first virtual reality experience recently, he was stunned. […]
2 months ago
In this photo provided by the National Archives, Japanese Americans from San Pedro, Calif., arrive ...

Solemn monument to Japanese American WWII detainees lists more than 125,000 names

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Samantha Sumiko Pinedo and her grandparents file into a dimly lit enclosure at the Japanese American National Museum and approach a massive book splayed open to reveal columns of names. Pinedo is hoping the list includes her great-grandparents, who were detained in Japanese American incarceration camps during World War II. “For […]
2 months ago
A mockup of a book by Rose Valland satnds in the background during an interview with Anna Bottinell...

WWII Monuments Men weren’t all men. The female members finally move into the spotlight

DALLAS (AP) — After World War II, the U.S. Army’s art experts set out to find and return millions of works stolen by the Nazis. Known as the Monuments Men, they included Mary Regan Quessenberry, who from her base in Berlin traveled to examine stolen works, tracked looting cases and investigated suspicious art dealers. Decades […]
2 months ago