PHILADELPHIA — The pumpkin king is proud and boastful, hellbent on a dynasty of huge gourds, year after year, after ascending to the world's throne last week.

Dave and Carol Stelts, giant pumpkin growers from Western Pennsylvania, won the much-coveted "Grower of the Year" (GOTY) at the 29th annual Ohio Valley Giant Pumpkin Growers Weigh-off ...Read more

If you’re retired or planning to retire soon, it’s important to have a plan for your retirement income. For most people, Social Security will play a significant role in this plan, so staying up to date on the latest benefits information is crucial.

The Social Security Administration recently announced several key changes to the program for ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- Every week, Caitlin Scuttio stops by Target and piles her cart with pureed food pouches for her 4-year-old and twin 18-month-olds sons.

In goes a 24-pack of unsweetened applesauce. Then a 24-pack of the fruit and veggie blend. And finally, the yogurt pouches for her oldest son's breakfast. "He'd eat six apple sauce pouches a day ...Read more

Q. My bonus daughter and I get along very well and many people who meet us just assume I am her mother. I believe I should always support her mother, so I am quick to correct the assumption. Even though she has never said anything, I can tell by my bonus daughter’s expression that she is disappointed by my clarification. Is it necessary to ...Read more

Dear Kid Whisperer,

I attended your Behavioral Leadership training two years ago and have found many great successes with your strategies in my classroom.

I used to use a system for tracking kind acts in the classroom and using class-wide rewards, and I’m thinking about returning to a similar one that I saw on Facebook. The goal is to keep ...Read more

I learned about the trad wife trend last year when a friend, on the cusp between Gen X and millennial, told me about these beautiful women who make videos of themselves cleaning the house, cooking elaborate meals or playing with their kids. All of these tasks are accomplished while the women are dressed in stylish clothing and wearing a full ...Read more

23andMe is facing scrutiny, with some experts calling it the beginning of the end for the popular genetic testing company. It's been a rocky year for the saliva-based DNA testing brand, including a high-profile data breach and resignations from the company's board last month.

Users are wondering what's next — and if their personal data (...Read more

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Exhausted, though relieved to have survived, is how Dr. Meghan Martin summarized her Hurricane Milton experience in her first post-storm update to her more than 2 million TikTok followers last week.

“These hurricanes, man, like, back to back like this,” she said as she ruffled her short, wavy hair and exhaled.

The ...Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Summer may be over, but there’s a hot debate brewing that’s becoming more intense and thought provoking by the day, and it’s all about — grass?

Yes, grass. As school districts look to resurface their athletic fields and cities consider how to update public parks, local leaders must decide what kind of play surface ...Read more

DIXON, Calif. — Deep inside one of the world's largest corn mazes, where the tri-tip sandwiches and soft-serve ice cream purchased at the concession stand have become but a memory and all that can be seen in any direction are dirt paths and dead-end walls of green plants whispering in the breeze, people tend to reveal themselves.

From humble...Read more

Maybe it’s because my best friend and her sisters just helped their parents empty and sell the house they (we) grew up in.

The house where we baked cookies and figured out makeup (kind of) and celebrated birthdays and talked about boys and got in some trouble and made some amends and hosted wedding showers and nursed our babies and grieved ...Read more

At age 66, South Carolina physician Paul Rousseau decided to retire after tending for decades to the suffering of people who were seriously ill or dying. It was a difficult and emotionally fraught transition.

“I didn’t know what I was going to do, where I was going to go,” he told me, describing a period of crisis that began in 2017.

...Read more

As I look back at this gardening year, one of the plants I enjoyed the most was the Upscaled Red Velvet monarda or beebalm. I am in my third year growing the fairly new variety, and it is just getting better and better. Like countless others before me have said, the third year is like magic.

It was like magic with the bees and butterflies too. ...Read more

Americans across the nation have undoubtedly felt the impact of inflation on their wallets over the last few months. Bankrate’s Credit Card Debt Survey found that 50% of cardholders are carrying a balance month-to-month — the highest percentage since 2020. Many others have student or personal loan debt.

For those struggling with debt, debt ...Read more

I've read that doing puzzles helps keep your brain sharp as you age.

I don't like to brag, but I can often solve the Jumble puzzle at a glance. After years of making millions of typos at the keyboard, I'm accustomed to seeing words with letters in the worng odrer.

A granddaughter brought over a new game called Mobi. It's like Scrabble but all ...Read more

Dear Anna,

One of my closest friends has been pulling away from our friendship over the last few years. It’s nothing overt or dramatic, but there’s a subtle withdrawal happening. She barely texts me anymore, and it used to be daily. She’s stopped initiating plans, and in the rare instances when we do hang out, she seems kind of distracted...Read more

Fourth-grader Naiya White knows what you think about her twice-daily beauty regimen and her Sephora shopping trips.

"I heard all you guys were freaking out about 10-year-olds using skin care," she says in a TikTok video posted last month, standing outside a Sephora store in Grand Junction, Colorado. "So let's go pick some out!"

Moments later, ...Read more

I did something a few years ago that I don’t usually do — I tried to prove myself wrong. What? I know! Let me explain…

As a dating coach who works with people in both the online dating space and dating in general, the advice I give is what I know to work based on both my 13 years in the business (and, since I’m a former economist, I ...Read more

According to an old saying, which can probably be attributed to my neighbors, the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.

But now that my neighbors have installed a new fence, and a landscaper has worked turf magic on my once-barren property, I can happily say that the grass is green on my side, too.

For the past several years,...Read more

SAN DIEGO — A pair of flamingos have become first-time parents at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park after hatching an egg together. And they’re both dads.

The male foster parents — both in their 40s — are raising one of six chicks born this year at the North County park, which cares for nearly 100 lesser flamingos with their distinctive ...Read more