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Ask Amy: A landmark birthday isn’t cruising along

Published Fri, 14 Feb 2025 18:50:49 GMT

Dear Amy: My husband will be turning 80 next year and I suggested to my daughter that, since everyone in our family loves Disney, the 10 of us should spend the week of his birthday in Orlando. (My husband’s birthday falls during a holiday week, and the children are not in school.)She said she thought this was a fun idea, but now she wants to go on a cruise, instead.Our daughter is well aware that my husband does not wish to go on a cruise.So she and her family have planned a week-long cruise for that week, which means they won’t be with us for the birthday or any part of that holiday week.I am very hurt by their decision and find that this is bringing up a long list of past hurts that I have never verbalized.It’s pretty much all I think about.In your opinion, should I tell her how hurt I am, or should I let it go?— Sad Mother and GrandmotherDear Sad: Recently I was talking with another parent who has adult children (also with grandchildren), and she offered that elder parents ...

The valuable process of interviewing prospective seller’s agents

Published Fri, 14 Feb 2025 18:50:49 GMT

Question: We are about to sell a house for the first time. The buyer’s agent who represented us on the purchase retired. It is a shame. We wanted our buyer’s agent to sell our home as a seller’s agent. His education on homebuyer mistakes was impressive. He had unswayable due diligence regarding aspects of homebuying aimed at protecting our best interest — his guidance as our buyer’s agent was eye-opening.Last week, we had conversations with potential candidates to be our seller’s agent. The agents overtly promoted themselves. That is understandable. They all steered away from discussing home-seller mistakes. It was surreal. We know home selling is problematic. What home-selling proactive safeguards did we need to hear while interviewing a prospective seller’s agent? Answer: First: If you are a potential home seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, a prospective seller’s agent should have described the advantages of having presale seller inspections such as roof, chimney, termite,...

Word Game: Aug. 26, 2023

Published Fri, 14 Feb 2025 18:50:49 GMT

TODAY’S WORD — LAMPREY (LAMPREY: LAM-pree: An eel-like freshwater fish.)Average mark 40 wordsTime limit 60 minutesCan you find 52 or more words in LAMPREY? The list will be published Monday.YESTERDAY’S WORD — GRADUATE gate gated gear grad grade grate great guar guard rate read reata rude rued adage agar agate aged ager ague area argue auger aura dare dart data date dear drag drat dreg drug duet urea urge tare tear trade tread trudge trueTo purchase the Word Game book, visit WordGameBooks.com. Order it now for just $5 while supplies last!RULES OF THE GAME:1. Words must be of four or more letters.2. Words that acquire four letters by the addition of “s,” such as “bats” or “dies,” are not allowed.3. Additional words made by adding a “d” or an “s” may not be used. For example, if “bake” is used, “baked” or “bakes” are not allowed, but “bake” and “baking” are admissible.4. Proper nouns, slang words, or vulgar or sexually explicit words are not allowed.Contact Word...

Bridge: Aug. 26, 2023

Published Fri, 14 Feb 2025 18:50:49 GMT

“Simple Saturday” columns focus on basic technique and logical thinking.Speaking of “focus,” maintaining your concentration is 50 percent of doing well. A vast knowledge of technique won’t help someone who is thinking about where he will go for dinner.In today’s deal, West led the king of clubs against South’s four spades, and East overtook with the ace and returned a club. When West won and led a third club, declarer ruffed with dummy’s ten of trumps. East overruffed with the jack and exited with a diamond.SETTING TRICKSouth then drew trumps, led a heart to his ace and returned a heart for a finesse with dummy’s jack. East produced the queen, winning the setting trick.Whatever South had his mind on, it wasn’t winning 10 tricks. On the third club, South should discard a heart from dummy instead of ruffing. He wins West’s diamond shift, draws trumps, takes dummy’s second high diamond and discards another heart fr...

Spanish football federation threatens legal action against star player in kiss controversy

Published Fri, 14 Feb 2025 18:50:49 GMT

The uproar over a post-victory embrace is escalating, with Spain’s football federation threatening to take legal action over star player Jenni Hermoso’s latest statements over the incident.Luis Rubiales, president of the Spanish football federation, is defying calls to resign over accusations that his celebratory kiss with Hermoso, a member of Spain’s World Cup-winning women’s team, happened without her consent. Hermoso and 80 other Spanish football players said late Friday that they would not play for the national team as long as “the current leaders continue.”  In a statement published in response to the players’ announcement, the Spanish football federation (RFEF) said it would pursue “all legal actions … in defense” of Rubiales. The statement, dated Friday, includes photos which the RFEF claims support his version of events. Rubiales “clearly and simply explained how the events” occurred, according to the statement.The fresh round of claims and counterclaims app...

NFL notes: 4 potential Patriots trades before cutdown day, including a blockbuster

Published Fri, 14 Feb 2025 18:50:49 GMT

Like every other NFL team, the Patriots must trim their roster to 53 players by Tuesday at 4 p.m.More than 1,000 players will be released in the coming days, and a few more should be traded. The Patriots have swung cutdown-day trades in the past, acquiring ex-Chiefs offensive tackle Yasir Durant two years ago for a seventh-round pick. Considering their O-line struggles this preseason, another deal could soon be in the works.On that note, here are four trades to boost the Patriots’ current roster, including a blockbuster that would shake the league at large.Hello, old friendPatriots acquire: Falcons RB/WR Cordarrelle PattersonPatriots trade: RB Kevin Harris, 2024 seventh-round pickRemember him?Patterson left New England after winning a Super Bowl in his only season with the Patriots in 2018. Back then, the Pats became the first team to deploy Patterson at running back for entire games, beating Buffalo and Green Bay with him serving as an emergency starter. Nowadays, the Patriot...

Live Blog: 2023 Clear the Shelters event today

Published Fri, 14 Feb 2025 18:50:49 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — A dozen Central Texas animal shelters are participating in an annual event to adopt out as many furry felines and precious pups as possible Saturday — include waived or discounted fees.KXAN and these groups are part of the Clear the Shelters effort, NBCUniversal's nationwide pet adoption and donation campaign.See the local shelters participating and follow along with updates from the day below:Austin Animal Center7201 Levander LoopAustin, TXAustin Pets Alive!1156 W Cesar Chavez StAustin, TXBastrop County Animal Shelter589 Cool Water DriveBastrop, TXFriends of Gonzales Animal Shelter110 W L Walden DrGonzales, TXGeorgetown Animal Shelter110 W L Walden DrGeorgetown, TXLampasas Animal Shelter301 College StLampasas, TXPAWS Shelter Of Central Texas2965 FM 165Dripping Springs, TXPAWS Shelter Of Central Texas500 FM 150 EastKyle, TXSan Marcos Regional Animal Shelter750 River RoadSan Marcos, TXTexas Humane Heroes10930 E. Crystal Falls ParkwayLeander, TXWaggin' Tailz Rescue And...

VIDEO: Car crashes through Texas donut shop, narrowly misses customer

Published Fri, 14 Feb 2025 18:50:49 GMT

ABILENE, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) — A car crashed through a Texas donut shop Friday morning. Surveillance video shows a car plowing through the front window of AM Donuts on South Willis Street in Abilene, Texas.The owner said a driver hit the gas when she meant to hit the brakes, causing the collision. There were two children in her car, as well as multiple customers inside the donut shop. The video shows one customer jumping out of the way just as the car enters the building. Thankfully, no one was injured.According to the owner, two customers who come in every morning and usually sit right in the area of impact decided to sit somewhere else the morning of the crash. Insurance is taking care of the damages, and no further information has been released.

3M fined $6.5M for trying to hide payments to Chinese officials

Published Fri, 14 Feb 2025 18:50:49 GMT

Maplewood-based 3M Co. will pay more than $6.5 million to settle Securities and Exchange Commission allegations that it tried to hide payments to send Chinese government officials on overseas vacations and shopping sprees.The SEC claimed that 3M’s China subsidiary spent $1 million to send officials from state-owned health care facilities and their spouses to U.S. and Australian cities. The company paid for about 24 trips — which were ostensibly to attend educational events — between 2014 and 2017, according to the order.Employees of the Chinese unit sent “alternate itineraries” using private WeChat accounts or hand-delivered them to the officials, the SEC said Friday. They also asked the travelers “to keep the agenda hidden, and falsified internal compliance documents that affirmatively denied and/or omitted mention of the Tourism Activities that were planned as part of the overseas trip,” according to the complaint.3M-China employees tracked whether the travel junkets benefited the...

Panic at high school football game prompts evacuation amid rumors of shots fired

Published Fri, 14 Feb 2025 18:50:49 GMT

ST. LOUIS -- In a recent turn of events, fear spread through the crowd at a football game between Pattonville and Ritenour High Schools. Rumors of shots being fired led to the incident, which caused the stadium to be cleared out, leaving people scared and worried about their safety. Students ran from the stands when they thought there was a threat, and the scene was caught on video. It looks like cops told some students to leave, which set off a chain reaction of fear that spread through the crowded stadium and made others run for safety.  Deputy shot in Lincoln County; suspect found dead The school district's superintendent, Barry Nelson, talked about what happened. He said that after working with the cops carefully, it had been decided that no real gunshots had been fired at the event. This was a relief, since the first accounts of shots being fired had made a lot of people worried. Nelson said that it shows how important it is to review and improve safety procedures. The g...