LOS ANGELES -- Under pressure after a conservative group took legal action, the Los Angeles Unified School District will overhaul a $120 million academic program for struggling Black students by eliminating race as a factor in determining which children will be helped.

The decision has outraged supporters of the district's Black Student ...Read more

CHICAGO -- They spent hours gathered with strangers on the concrete steps along Lake Michigan, letting their eyes adjust to the darkness. Shortly after 9 p.m., the starry sky lit up with shimmering waves of green and purple. On cue, amazed gasps and cheers rippled through the crowd as they celebrated having caught from the city a magical sight ...Read more

Dear Kid Whisperer,

This might not be a good question because it isn’t about a specific situation with my 15-year-old, but a general problem. I have to remind her over and over about everything: the way she speaks to me, cleaning up her room, you name it. She is generally cooperative after I tell her something a billion times, but I’m just ...Read more

ADAIR, Iowa — The blue-and-white highway sign for the eastbound rest stop near here displays more than the standard icon of a person in a wheelchair, indicating facilities are accessible to people who can’t walk. The sign also shows a person standing behind a horizontal rectangle, preparing to perform a task.

The second icon signals that ...Read more

There are two sounds that follow natural disasters. The first is an eerie, unnatural silence. No traffic, no car doors slamming, no children’s voices, dogs barking or birds chirping. Just a disquieting quiet.

The second sound is that of motors revving and gears whining, followed by the deafening buzz of chain saws slicing into downed trees.

...Read more

Q. I don’t trust my child’s father. He says one thing and does another—all the time. I get to the point where I think maybe, just maybe, I can trust him and then he pulls something that makes me furious. Most recently I found out he is taping when we exchange the kids to use against me at some point, but last week he was telling our co-...Read more

California wildlife policymakers have opted to protect the diminutive Western burrowing owl as they consider listing the rapidly declining species as endangered or threatened.

The state Fish and Game Commission unanimously voted last week to make the unique avian a candidate for permanent safeguards under state law while acknowledging the ...Read more

I was born during a blizzard, I am all wet even during droughts and, perhaps a contributing factor to global warming, I am full of hot air.

This alone would qualify me to be a television weather expert.

But I have made it official by buying a rain gauge and an outdoor thermometer and hygrometer. I also have the world’s most impressive ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA -- You may not be able to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, but on Thursday at Philadelphia's Reading Terminal Market, sculptors made the Rocky statue, a Philly soft pretzel, and so much more out of scrapple, the often-revered-and-sometimes-feared Pennsylvania Dutch dish made of pig scraps in a congealed loaf form.

Ten people...Read more

DURHAM, N.C. — It’s been 35 years since John Parker died after a pickup collided with the bike he was riding on Cheek Road in east Durham before school. He was 6.

His mother, Deborah Melvin-Muse, doesn’t display photos of him, the second-youngest of six children. His brother’s birthday was the day after the crash — and he hasn’t ...Read more

“Not aspiring to be humble” will make great T-shirts, and I hope someone is designing them as we speak.

It’ll be adorable on a throw pillow. Hilarious as a cross stitch sampler. Perfect on a mug that you give your favorite girl boss. I’d buy one of each, if I’m honest.

Inspired by Kamala Harris’ remarks to Alex Cooper, host of the ...Read more

Four years ago or so, Supertunia Mini Vista Indigo was extensively used in our area and was like the shot heard round the world. We all looked at each other with a sense of bewilderment asking how a Mini Vista could compete with the Vistas for a long, hot summer show of color. With every new variety or addition to the series, it has been the ...Read more

Dear Anna,

I'm a 27-year-old woman, and my boyfriend (31) has always been passionate about political activism. I admire his dedication to causes like climate change and social justice, but lately it feels like our relationship is getting lost in the shuffle. Every conversation turns into a discussion about his latest march or organizing efforts...Read more

Charlene Stepney still thinks about a French-speaking woman who came into her salon years ago, brought by a man who talked on her behalf and watched her closely for the duration of her hair appointment.

“Because I spoke French, and it was strange, I started asking her questions,” Stepney said last week at her business, Stepney Institute of ...Read more

BISHOP, Calif. — Just after dawn last Thursday, I pointed my car up a long, steep hill outside Bishop and climbed through the high desert scrub toward the towering peaks of the Eastern Sierra. For about 15 miles, the land and most everything on it was the same color: a muted sandy gray.

But at about 8,000-feet elevation, I rounded a curve on...Read more

PASADENA, Calif. -- On the south side of the 134 Freeway in Pasadena, amid the brush and the dirt and detritus, there is an empty tub of Dreyer’s vanilla ice cream and an empty drink cup from Subway.

They appear to be litter, perhaps cast out of fast-moving cars by careless freeway drivers.

In fact, they hide strategically placed security ...Read more

In today’s world of dating, it’s easy to get swept up in the excitement of a new connection, especially if you don’t feel one very often. But it’s important to remember that building a genuine relationship takes time and patience. Often, people put too much weight on a potential future before even establishing a present connection.

Just...Read more

Like so many people, I have a deep and personal connection to Asheville, North Carolina, a once-sleepy mountain town grown into an artists’ enclave and vacation haven for people weary of bright lights and big cities.

I grew up 63 miles south of the town of 95,000 in the also once-sleepy berg of Greenville, South Carolina, in the foothills of ...Read more

Q. Every time my ex and I don’t agree, he takes me back to court. This last time we were ordered to go to co-parenting counseling. I really don’t see how that will help. We don’t trust each other, and we don’t agree on anything. I mean anything, from what time the kids should go to bed at each other’s homes to who can pick up the kids ...Read more