MINNEAPOLIS -- If you’ve ever spent 12 hours in a gym watching 8-year-olds play primitive basketball on a glorious June weekend in Minnesota, you may have wondered why you submitted yourself and your family to the all-consuming vortex of youth sports.

And Johnny Tauer is right there with you.

Tauer can see the good, the bad and the ugly of ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- Los Angeles is a place that feels physically and emotionally fractured these days. For tens of thousands who are displaced, routine is a near impossibility. Others carry on with little visible change to their daily life.

Yet that doesn't mean there isn't a heavy inner struggle.

How do you grasp the fact that a sizable part of ...Read more

Online dating can be a wild ride full of unexpected situations, awkward moments, and yes, the occasional cringe-worthy encounter. But you know what? So can face-to-face dating... and life in general. Whether you’re meeting someone online or in person, there’s no escaping the occasional bump in the road.

It happens all the time: Someone ...Read more

Dear Anna,

I'm a florist, and every Valentine's Day I help hundreds of people celebrate their love while working 16-hour days. This year, for the first time, I'm actually in a relationship, but I'll be too exhausted to celebrate. My boyfriend is understanding but disappointed. How do I make Feb. 14 special when I'll be covered in rose thorns ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA -- When Michiko Quinones saw the framed, oval-shaped 1864 watercolor of a tiny Black man peacefully fishing near a mill for the first time, she cried.

It wasn’t the serenity of the running water or easy sway of the branches that put Quinones in her feelings. Nor, was it the image of a Black man enjoying a moment of peace at a ...Read more

Often called the “winter blues,” the period in January after all the holiday festivities are over is hard for a lot of people to get through. For young children, the added confusion of the sharp change in their emotions make for an especially fraught season.

Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta’s Jody Baumstein, a Strong4Life licensed ...Read more

Dear Kid Whisperer,

My 4-year-old does not play well with other children. It’s not even a general problem, it’s mostly one specific thing: He takes things from other kids. If a kid has something, he’ll take it. It started with him taking things he wanted in daycare, at the playground, and from his sister at home. Now I think he just takes...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Dropping temperatures and the prospect of snow looming in the forecast have Philadelphians crunching through layers of road salt that keep ice and snow from settling on sidewalks and streets.

But what if a sidewalk could melt ice on its own?

That's the goal of a three-year-long project at Drexel University to develop self-...Read more

Q. My fiancé has a 2-year-old son and due to alternate work schedules, the child spends the days with my fiance and then nights with his mother. His ex-wife uses his mother as the main babysitter, even asking grandma to watch the child at her house because she is now attending law school and won’t be home until after bedtime. Is it wrong of ...Read more

I say that I am married to a collector because pack rat sounds unkind. My husband comes from a long line of collectors.

When they closed out the farmhouse his father lived in all his life, the lead auctioneer kicked off the three-ring, two-day auction under the main tent bellowing, "Ladies and gentlemen! The same family has lived in this house ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — The Chat, as everyone refers to it, started with just a handful of moms. It was for the terrifying, thrilling moments of new motherhood: for grappling with breastfeeding, venting about in-laws and partners and sex, tracking milestones. It was especially for 3 a.m., when even in a city of 1.5 million people, it could feel like no...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- With containment of the Palisades and Eaton fires improving, some residents are now returning to their neighborhoods to sift through the rubble. But the thousands of victims whose homes or businesses have burned down or been damaged are now facing a thicket of post-fire paperwork.

That may include navigating confusing web portals...Read more

As the very model of the modern medical marvel, I have survived an aortic aneurysm, a terrible bout of COVID-19 and, worst of all, a nasty paper cut.

Not to be outdone, my wife, Sue, lived through a heart attack, came down with COVID, too, and underwent painful hand surgery.

But we recently had to deal with the most daunting of medical ...Read more

As Fernando Lopez Sr. watched live footage of the wildfires raging across Southern California last week, he immediately thought of horses.

The 47-year-old is general manager of the Pico Rivera Sports Arena, the rodeo ring next to the San Gabriel River that has been a shrine to Mexican horse culture for decades. Lopez's extended family, who run ...Read more

MIAMI -- On a recent Saturday at a sneaker convention in Fort Lauderdale, Jay Samuels stood behind a table full of Nike and Adidas sneakers he was hoping to sell.

“Hey, $50!” he yelled as he held up a slightly worn pair of Kanye West Yeezys, now relics of a bygone era following the musician’s acrimonious split from Adidas. After failing ...Read more

January started off cruel and stayed there.

At least 14 people were killed and dozens more were injured in the early morning hours of New Year’s Day when a driver intentionally slammed his truck into a crowd of people in New Orleans. The suspect died in a shootout with police, leaving families forever shattered and a nation rattled.

...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS -- John O’Sullivan was surrounded by studio lights, a gigantic screen and professional cameras. Producers fiddled with them, giving him just a minute before filming.

But a minute is all O’Sullivan needs.

Without warning, without rehearsal, he pulled out his cellphone and filmed a “sneak peek” that he’d later post to his ...Read more

Richard Weber III proudly comes from a long line of Western Slope ranchers, and on a recent bluebird day with subfreezing temperatures, he looked the part. Standing amidst a crowd at the Ouray County Fairgrounds, Weber wore a red button-down shirt and blue jeans with a sparkling silver belt buckle.

On his feet, however, were a pair of ski boots...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- After 90 years of breeding and selling rare camellias and azaleas to customers all over the world, Nuccio's Nurseries in Altadena is expected to close by the end of 2025. But the ongoing Eaton fire and its ashy aftermath don't appear to be offering the ending the nursery's owners had in mind.

The Eaton fire swept into the Chaney ...Read more