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Dear Abby: Safety issues a heavy burden for pool owner

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:14 GMT

Dear Abby: I married a widower eight years ago, and we are very happy. However, his three grown daughters were angry that he moved on with his life after the death of their mother. To keep peace in the family, I have tried to “kill them with kindness,” and while we’ve made progress, I feel they take advantage of me and sometimes treat me with disrespect.Although we don’t swim often, we go to the expense of opening our pool every summer so the children and grandchildren can swim. Frequently when I check the pool after they leave, I find my pool floats have been damaged or destroyed. All three of his daughters are very large women. Not once have they mentioned that they damaged the floats or offered to replace them.I bought a new chair for my deck recently and noticed that it has a weight limit of 250 pounds. At least two of his daughters — maybe all three — exceed the weight limit. I’m considering selling the chair because I’m afraid so...

Boy George to perform in San Diego

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:14 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Boy George and Culture Club will be making a stop in San Diego as part of their 2023 tour "The Letting It Go Show," concert officials announced.The performance is scheduled for Aug. 19 at the North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre, according to Live Nation Entertainment.Tickets will be available to the general public starting Friday at 10 a.m. Frank Ocean steps away from Coachella Weekend 2: reports Known for their iconic hits “Do You Really Want To Hurt Me,” “Karma Chameleon,” and “Church of the Poisoned Mind,” the band's 25-city run kicks off July 13 with stops in Atlanta, GA, Nashville, TN, Toronto, ON, Concord, CA and more locations.Special guests to make an appearance with the popular '80s band include British musician Howard Jones and the American band BERLIN.

Hong Kong bishop hopes for closer ties with Beijing diocese

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:14 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Hong Kong’s Roman Catholic bishop said in a historic trip to Beijing that he hopes the dioceses of the two cities will have more exchanges and cooperation, local media reported Thursday amid signs of Sino-Vatican strains.Bishop Stephen Chow made the remarks during a Mass that was also attended by his counterpart in Beijing, Hong Kong’s public broadcaster RTHK said. Chow later told reporters he was encouraged to visit other dioceses. “I hope that this is not the last time,” Chow said. His five-day trip is the first visit to Beijing by Hong Kong’s bishop in nearly three decades and came two weeks after Vatican News, the news portal of the Holy See, reported that China had unilaterally appointed a new bishop to Shanghai. China’s ruling Communist Party closely controls organized religion, which it sees as a potential threat to its monopoly on power. People are allowed to worship in institutions that abide by party rules. Some Christians have set up underground...

Severe storms with tornadoes move through central U.S.

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:14 GMT

COLE, Okla. (AP) — Strong storms including tornadoes, strong winds and hail moved through parts of the Central U.S. on Wednesday, killing at least one person, causing injuries, destroying homes and leaving thousands without power.The National Weather Service began issuing tornado and severe thunderstorm warnings Wednesday evening in Oklahoma, Kansas and Iowa with forecasters warning people to find shelter. Central Oklahoma saw multiple tornadoes, including one that raced through the communities of Shawnee and Cole Wednesday night. Authorities said at least one person was killed in the small town of Cole in McClain County and there also were injuries ranging from cuts and bruises to some requiring hospitalization, although the numbers weren’t immediately clear as hundreds of people fanned out in search operations.Power lines also were torn down, trees toppled and homes and other buildings badly damaged or destroyed. Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee and an airport received...

‘Awesome’ solar eclipse wows viewers in Australia, Indonesia

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:14 GMT

Around 20,000 eclipse chasers gathered under a cloudless sky in the northwest Australian coastal town of Exmouth to enjoy a rare total solar eclipse that plunged the region into darkness for about a minute late Thursday morning.The remote tourist town with fewer than 3,000 residents was promoted as one of the best vantage points in Australia to see the eclipse that also crosses remote parts of Indonesia and East Timor.An international crowd had been gathering at Exmouth for days, camping in tents and trailers on a red, dusty plain on the edge of town with cameras and other viewing equipment pointed skyward.In Indonesia’s capital, hundreds came to the Jakarta Planetarium to see the partial eclipse, obscured by clouds.Azka Azzahra, 21, came with her sister and friends to get a closer look by using the telescopes with hundreds of other visitors.“I am still happy to come even though it is cloudy. It is happy to see how people with high enthusiasm come here to see the eclipse, beca...

‘Too much to learn’: Schools race to catch up kids’ reading

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:14 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — Michael Crowder stands nervously at the front of his third grade classroom, his mustard-yellow polo shirt buttoned to the top.“Give us some vowels,” says his teacher, La’Neeka Gilbert-Jackson. His eyes search a chart that lists vowels, consonant pairs and word endings, but he doesn’t land on an answer. “Let’s help him out,” Gilbert-Jackson says.“A-E-I-O-U,” she and the students say in unison.Michael missed most of first grade, the foundational year for learning to read. It was the first fall of the pandemic, and for months Atlanta only offered school online. Michael’s mom had just had a baby, and there was no quiet place to study in their small apartment. He missed a good part of second grade, too. So, like most of his classmates at his Atlanta school, he isn’t reading at the level expected for a third grader.And that poses an urgent problem. Third grade is the last chance for Michael’s class to master reading with help from teachers before they face...

An end to the reading wars? More US schools embrace phonics

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:14 GMT

Move over “Dick and Jane.” A different approach to teaching kids how to read is on the rise. For decades, two schools of thought have clashed on how to best teach children to read, with passionate backers on each side of the so-called reading wars. The battle has reached into homes via commercials for Hooked on Phonics materials and through shoebox dioramas assigned by teachers seeking to instill a love of literature.But momentum has shifted lately in favor of the “science of reading.” The term refers to decades of research in fields including brain science that point to effective strategies for teaching kids to read.The science of reading is especially crucial for struggling readers, but school curricula and programs that train teachers have been slow to embrace it. The approach began to catch on before schools went online in spring 2020. But a push to teach all students this way has intensified as schools look for ways to regain ground lost during the pandemic — and as parents of ...

Movie theaters and streamers may end up friends, after all

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:14 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — After Ben Affleck and Matt Damon test screened their Nike drama “Air,” the film executives at Amazon Studios threw them a curveball.“They said, ‘What do you guys think about a theatrical release?’” Damon says. “It wasn’t what we expected when we first made the deal.”“Air,” about Nike’s pursuit of a shoe deal with Michael Jordan, went over so well with early audiences that Amazon, despite acquiring the film for its Prime Video streaming service, wanted to launch it in theaters. And in its first two weeks, “Air” has been a hit.After a strong five-day debut of $20.2 million — especially good for an adult-skewing drama — “Air” dipped only 47% in its second weekend. Reviews have been stellar. When “Air” does arrive on Prime Video, the studio and its filmmakers expect an even better showing than if they hadn’t launched in theaters.“It should function as free advertising to create this halo effect which in turn creates more viewers on the service,” says Affleck, who directe...

Biden’s labor secretary nominee faces doubts in Senate

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:14 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s nominee to be the next labor secretary, Julie Su, will testify to the Senate Thursday with key Democrats unwilling to voice support for her confirmation, creating uncertainty about her prospects in the narrowly divided chamber.A handful of moderate Democrats have not publicly stated whether they will vote for Su’s nomination ahead of her confirmation hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Biden in February picked Su, a civil rights attorney and the current deputy labor secretary, to replace Marty Walsh, the former mayor of Boston, to lead the Department of Labor.The daughter of an immigrant mother who arrived on a cargo ship, Su would be the first Asian American in the Biden administration to serve in the Cabinet at the secretary level. Biden called her path proof of the “American dream” and that “she’s committed to making sure that dream is in reach for every American.”Su was previously confirme...

More say Trump broke law in Ga. case than NY’s: AP-NORC poll

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:14 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump has emerged largely unscathed politically from his New York indictment. But a new poll suggests that investigations in Georgia and Washington could prove more problematic.Only 4 in 10 U.S. adults believe Trump acted illegally in New York, where he has been charged in connection with hush money payments made to women who alleged sexual encounters, according to the new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. More — about half — believe he broke the law in Georgia, where he is under investigation for interfering in the 2020 election vote count.The poll finds about half feel similarly about his role in the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and his handling of classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago, which are both under investigation by the Justice Department.The findings suggest potential future charges in those cases against Trump may resonate more deeply with the American public than his allege...