Lifestyle

FILE - A traveler removes his shoes at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Wednesda...

Travelers may no longer be required to remove shoes before boarding a plane

For the first time in almost 20 years, travelers may no longer be required to take off their shoes during security screenings at certain U.S. airports. The Transportation Security Administration is looking to abandon the additional security step that has for years bedeviled anyone passing through U.S airports for, according to media reports. If implemented, […]
1 year ago
FILE - An Amazon Prime delivery person lifts packages while making a stop at a high-rise apartment ...

Amazon extends Prime Day discounts to 4 days as retailers weigh tariff-related price increases

NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon is extending its annual Prime Day sales and offering new membership perks to Generation Z shoppers amid tariff-related price worries and possibly some consumer boredom with an event marking its 11th year. The e-commerce giant’s promised blitz of summer deals for Prime members starts at 3:01 a.m. Eastern time on […]
1 year ago
Hayley Bosworth, back, and Simon Ball, foreground, cut tree branches during clean-up efforts after ...

After Texas floods that killed campers, here’s what to consider when sending your kids to camp

Death and destruction at a venerable Texas summer camp might have parents wondering about the risks of sending their kids away to any camp, even if it’s in a much different setting and less vulnerable to a natural disaster. The stunning flood that killed more than two dozen campers and counselors along a river at […]
1 year ago
FILE - State Rep. Laurel Libby, R-Auburn, speaks with a colleague, Feb. 14, 2023, at the State Hous...

Maine and a GOP lawmaker who ID’d a transgender athlete online agree lawsuit is now moot

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Attorneys for the state of Maine and a conservative lawmaker who identified a transgender teen student athlete online now agree that the lawmaker’s appeal over her loss of voting rights for her post is now moot. Republican state Rep. Laurel Libby identified the athlete in a February social media post that […]
1 year ago
Participants in an antique car prepare to take part in the Independence Day Parade in Santa Monica,...

Photos of protests and celebrations mark a different Fourth of July for many Americans

The Fourth of July is a celebration of all things American with parades, backyard barbecues and the night sky lit up with fireworks. This Independence Day may feel different for many Americans. Around the country, there are protests planned against Trump’s polices, and in places like Southern California, where immigration raids have rattled communities, some […]
1 year ago
FILE - Portraits of a red-headed Thomas Jefferson, left, and John Dickinson, right, by by Charles W...

A year before declaring independence, colonists offered ‘Olive Branch’ petition to King George III

NEW YORK (AP) — Alarmed by the policies of President Donald Trump, millions turned out last month for protests around the United States and overseas. Mindful of next year’s 250th anniversary of American independence, organizers called the movement “No Kings.” Had the same kind of rallies been called for in the summer of 1775, the […]
1 year ago
Billy Hazelwood, 90, dances with Hillary Fretland, 32, as a band plays on stage at American Legion ...

Veterans and civilians bond over beers and bluegrass at Nashville’s American Legion Post 82

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Matthew “Moose” Musquiz was working as a diesel mechanic in the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, when his physical therapist told him about a bar in Nashville, Tennessee, that he might like. Musquiz loves the Texas dance hall style of venues popular there, but he hadn’t really […]
1 year ago

How people are celebrating, protesting and traveling for July Fourth

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Recent polls will tell you there’s been a drop in national pride among Americans, particularly Democrats in the Trump era, with some questioning whether to celebrate July Fourth at all this year. But Scott Allen, a registered Democrat in southern California, isn’t one of them. He planned to commemorate the nation’s […]
1 year ago
fireworks Gas Works Fourth of July western Washington...
Paul Holden

Where to celebrate the Fourth of July in western Washington

Discover top spots in Western Washington for a memorable Fourth of July celebration with fireworks and festivities.
1 year ago
FILE - People enjoy the summer day in the pool on Wednesday, June 24, 2020, in Omaha, Neb. (Anna Re...

Why hosting a July Fourth pool party may cost less this year

NEW YORK (AP) — Americans have one more reason to celebrate this Fourth of July: getting all the gear needed to host a pool party costs less than it has in years, according to a market research company’s preliminary data. The total price to buy beach towels, a beverage cooler, bathing suits and other accountrements […]
1 year ago

Pope Leo XIV’s hometown approves the purchase of his childhood home in hopes of reviving the village

CHICAGO (AP) — Pope Leo XIV’s hometown is poised to buy his childhood home after the south Chicago suburb’s board voted unanimously Tuesday to purchase the property, hoping it will breathe new life into a village saddled with financial woes. Since white smoke billowed in May from the Sistine Chapel and Pope Leo XIV was […]
1 year ago
Tanisha Tucker Lohse, right, and Maria Francisco, both of the Tohono Oʼodham nation, harvest fruit...

PHOTO ESSAY: Tohono O’odham families carry on sacred saguaro fruit harvest in Arizona borderlands

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — The saguaro cactus is the iconic plant of the Arizona borderlands, and in June and early July, its thorn-covered small fruit ripens. For members of the Tohono O’odham Nation, whose ancestors have lived in this hot desert for thousands of years, harvest time for the “bahidaj” is sacred. The towering saguaros […]
1 year ago
The Rev. Aro Varnabas starts the St. John the Baptist's feast day Mass in Saguaro National Park nea...

A Tohono O’odham family integrates Catholic and Native beliefs in the Arizona desert

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — On St. John the Baptist’s feast day in late June, an extended Tohono O’odham family attends Mass out at their desert camp, where they gather to harvest saguaro fruit in a process sacred in their Native spirituality. “When you’re raised as being a Catholic and raised as being an O’odham, you […]
1 year ago
Tanisha Tucker Lohse, of the Tohono Oʼodham nation, picks a ripe saguaro cactus fruit during a har...

In Arizona borderlands, a sacred saguaro harvest marks the Tohono O’odham’s new year

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Cousins Tanisha Tucker Lohse and Maria Francisco set off from their desert camp around dawn on most early summer days, in search of ripe fruit from the towering saguaro cactus, an icon of the Southwest that is crucial to the Tohono O’odham Nation’s spirituality. One plucks the small, thorn-covered fruits called […]
1 year ago
FILE - Children from Yazidi families, displaced by Islamic State group militants, look at a smartph...

He pioneered the cellphone. It changed how people around the world talk to each other — and don’t

DEL MAR, Calif. (AP) — Dick Tracy got an atom-powered two-way wrist radio in 1946. Marty Cooper never forgot it. The Chicago boy became a star engineer who ran Motorola’s research and development arm when the hometown telecommunications titan was locked in a 1970s corporate battle to invent the portable phone. Cooper rejected AT&T’s wager […]
1 year ago
In this March 7, 2012 photo, visitors walk along the boardwalk in downtown Myrtle Beach, S.C. (AP P...

Once known as ‘Dirty Myrtle,’ Myrtle Beach is now the fastest-growing US metro for seniors

A South Carolina beach town once nicknamed “Dirty Myrtle” because of its rowdy nightclubs and strip joints has become a magnet for retirees in a nation that continues to age. The number of residents age 65 years and older in the Myrtle Beach metropolitan area grew by 6.3% last year, making it the fastest-growing metro […]
1 year ago
FILE - Revelers walk along Market Street during a Pride Parade, June 30, 2024, in San Francisco. (A...

NYC, San Francisco and other US cities capping LGBTQ+ Pride month with a mix of party and protest

NEW YORK (AP) — The monthlong celebration of LGBTQ+ Pride reaches its rainbow-laden crescendo as New York and other major cities around the world host major parades and marches on Sunday. The festivities in Manhattan, home to the nation’s oldest and largest Pride celebration, kick off with a march down Fifth Avenue featuring more than […]
1 year ago
Tim Kalke, general manager of Sustainable Energy for Galena Alaska, poses for a portrait Monday, Ma...

In words and photos, rural Alaska residents reflect on their village’s sustainable practices

GALENA, Alaska (AP) — In rural central Alaska, a village is in the midst of a clean energy transformation that locals say will boost savings, build resilience and provide jobs. Galena wants to curb its reliance on expensive, imported diesel that when burned is one of the largest contributors of planet-warming emissions. Nearly 10 years […]
1 year ago
FILE - The Supreme Court is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington, Dec. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott A...

The Latest: US Supreme Court to rule on birthright citizenship

The U.S. Supreme Court will issue decisions on the final six cases left on its docket for the summer, including those that are emergency appeals relating to U.S. President Donald Trump’s agenda. Cases on the court’s emergency docket are handled swiftly, and decisions often come without explanations of the justices’ reasoning. Decisions released today will […]
1 year ago
Seattle summer activities...
Paul Holden

Pride, pirates, and car shows: Seattle summer activities in full swing

Discover the best Seattle summer activities as June wraps up and the fun begins.
1 year ago

Supreme Court meets Friday to decide 6 remaining cases, including birthright citizenship

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is meeting Friday to decide the final six cases of its term, including President Donald Trump’s bid to enforce his executive order denying birthright citizenship to U.S.-born children of parents who are in the country illegally. The justices take the bench at 10 a.m. for their last public session […]
1 year ago
Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani appears on stage with his family including his wife, Ra...

Zohran Mamdani’s wife Rama Duwaji is an animator, illustrator and ceramicist. And they met on Hinge

NEW YORK (AP) — Rama Duwaji’s Election Day post on Instagram was only four words long, but said all it needed to say: “couldn’t possibly be prouder.” It was accompanied by a photo-booth strip of happy poses with her husband, Zohran Mamdani, and a voting selfie that would presage a momentous night: The 33-year-old state […]
1 year ago
This April 2016 photo provided by Rick Hodges shows Jim Obergefell, left, and Rick Hodges posing fo...

Once named opponents in the Supreme Court case that legalized same-sex marriage, now they’re friends

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The case behind the U.S. Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide a decade ago is known as Obergefell v. Hodges, but the two Ohio men whose names became that title weren’t so at odds as it would seem, and are now friends. One year after the Supreme Court’s June 26, […]
1 year ago
Sarah McDonner, a volunteer for Wild Tunes, which aims to soothe stressed shelter animals with live...

Volunteers use the universal language of music to soothe stressed shelter animals

DENVER (AP) — It is often said music is the universal language of humanity. Now a 12-year-old Houston boy is putting that to the test among an unlikely audience — man’s best friend. Yuvi Agarwal started playing keyboard when he was 4 and several years ago noticed his playing soothed his family’s restless golden doodle, […]
1 year ago
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