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Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times/TNS

In California, an abandoned church gets a second life as housing for former foster youths

Health / Lifestyles /

OILDALE, Calif. — The church on Oildale Drive and Minner Avenue has stood on the corner since 1954, built after an earthquake damaged the Oildale Church of Christ's building. Since then, the church has passed through a variety of denominations and congregations until it was abandoned in 2021.

But the Kern County Housing Authority saw another...Read more

Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Some young people planning fewer or no kids because of climate change

Health / Lifestyles /

CHICAGO — Collin Pearsall has friends who have started having children. But he has chosen a different path — due, in large part, to climate change.

Pearsall worries about the greenhouse gas emissions a child would add to a planet already experiencing the effects of rising temperatures.

And he is concerned about the impact climate change ...Read more

Tero Vesalainen/Dreamstime/TNS

Erika Ettin: Navigating political conversations in dating in an election year

Health / Lifestyles /

We've all heard the advice, probably from our friends… or, more likely, grandparents: avoid controversial topics on a first date. While steering clear of discussing exes and past relationships is relatively straightforward (seriously, no ex-talk on a first date!), dodging politics feels nearly impossible, especially with the next presidential ...Read more

E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Massive preservation project underway to save one of the oldest public art pieces in Chicago area

Health / Lifestyles /

CHICAGO — The United Electrical Workers union is teaming up with an art group to save a historic mural — considered one of the oldest public art pieces in the Chicago area — inside its Near West Side meeting hall, a space that will soon be developed into apartments.

The sprawling mural, titled “Solidarity,” spans the building’s two...Read more

Julian Walter/Orfield Laboratories in Minneapolis/TNS

Tour the 'quietest place on Earth,' and see if it quiets your mind

Health / Lifestyles /

MINNEAPOLIS -- Can the Quietest Place on Earth cure the phenomenon known as "popcorn brain"?

The term applies to a scattered attention span, exacerbated by social media use, that sends one's brain flitting from one idea to the next, much like kernels bursting in the microwave. I'm feeling it now, struggling to write a column in the face of so ...Read more

Antonio Guillem/Dreamstime/TNS

The Kid Whisperer: How to deal with a teen driver who never comes home on time

Health / Lifestyles /

Dear Kid Whisperer,

I am so stressed out. My 16-year-old is going to be the death of me. She has her driver’s license, and she has a car, and is pretty much always one to two hours late whenever we give her a time to be home. She doesn’t even answer her cell when we call. I’m at a loss.

Answer: Let’s simplify things right off the bat ...Read more

Monkey Business Images/Dreamstime/TNS

Lori Borgman: Protein shake does not meat expectations

Health / Lifestyles /

Always interested in maintaining good health with the least amount of actual exertion possible, I began drinking protein shakes a few months ago.

One of our sons-in-law, a combat veteran who works out on a rowing machine and treadmill, lifts weights, runs five miles in scorching heat and freezing cold for fun, often grabs a protein shake to tie...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Ex-etiquette: Beware of badmouthing

Health / Lifestyles /

Q. My son comes home from my co-parent’s home and tells me that they say bad things about me. My co-parent is aware of how damaging badmouthing can be, so I’m surprised by this. What’s good ex-etiquette?

A. Years ago, while standing in line at the supermarket, the woman behind me caught my eye. She had a little one in a car seat perched...Read more

Jerry Zezima/TNS

Jerry Zezima: Every pun intended

Health / Lifestyles /

When it comes to wordplay, I’m the pun and only. Or I had been for the past decade.

In 2014, I competed in Punderdome, a contest billed as “New York’s Most Puntastic Competition.”

At the ripe old age of 60, I was the eldest competitor. But I had the ripe stuff because it was my first appearance, I faced 16 other contestants and I beat ...Read more

DREAMSTIME/TNS

Ghosting is ruthless. So why are we all doing it?

Health / Lifestyles /

LOS ANGELES -- Alexis Fischer was excited to jump back into the dating world after being single for two years.

The professional dancer-turned-entrepreneur took time to heal from her breakup with her ex-boyfriend of nearly four years. She also wanted to focus on building her business, the Move by Lexfish app, where she teaches virtual Pilates, ...Read more

Dreamstime/TNS/DREAMSTIME/TNS

Ask Anna: Caught in the act? How to bounce back from awkward encounters with parents

Health / Lifestyles /

Dear Anna,

I've been dating my boyfriend for about six months now. He's at college in Ohio while I'm stuck in our small town in Iowa. We've been trying to make the long-distance thing work and keep the connection and, y'know, the spark. So last night, we were video chatting. With miles between us, things started to get a bit...well, heated, if ...Read more

Andy Lyons/Getty Images North America/TNS

Heidi Stevens: 'Someone on TV wears a ponytail just like her and is doing amazing things.' Dad explains appeal of his viral Caitlin Clark essay

Health / Lifestyles /

Asitha Jayawardena is a pediatric ear, nose and throat surgeon at Children’s Minnesota, which means he spends his days (and nights and weekends) helping young patients overcome all manner of obstacles.

He’s also the dad of two young girls, one of whom, at age 5, is a huge fan of Caitlin Clark, the Iowa Hawkeyes basketball phenom and all-...Read more

Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Threatened in their homeland, feral Mexican parrots thrive on LA's exotic landscaping

Health / Lifestyles /

LOS ANGELES — During a walk through the Huntington Botanical Gardens with her mother one morning, Brenda Ramirez was alarmed by the sudden squawks, warbles, and screeches of troops of parrots flying overhead at great speed in tight, precise formations.

“I asked my mom what they were,” Ramirez recalled of that day 14 years ago. “She said...Read more

Sarinya Pinngam/Dreamstime/TNS

Distress soars at small US colleges as enrollment declines

Health / Lifestyles /

A growing number of small US colleges are under pressure, according to a Bloomberg analysis of the latest federal data that shows more higher education institutions facing enrollment declines and other strains.

About 200 schools met at least three of the five metrics that Bloomberg used to identify rising pressure on non-profit higher-education...Read more

Ernest Akayeu/Dreamstime/TNS

To make peace with becoming an empty-nester, I had to be at peace with myself

Health / Lifestyles /

This column is the latest in a series on parenting children in the final years of high school, "Emptying the Nest."

____

Over Presidents' Day weekend, my eldest daughter took her 17-year-old sister to tour a few colleges in Northern and Central California. A part of me desperately wanted to go with them — my youngest's first real college ...Read more

Christopher Knight/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Sculptor Sargent Claude Johnson's core commitment to self-love was a foundation for collective Black pride

Health / Lifestyles /

LOS ANGELES — An unusual pose marks figures in three of the 40-plus works by Sargent Claude Johnson in a modest but illuminating survey exhibition of the Bay Area artist, the first since 1998, newly opened at the Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens. The pose speaks volumes.

Two are slightly different versions of a terracotta ...Read more

NORMAN WINTER/TNS

On Gardening: To avoid mixed-container stress, go mono-a-mono

Health / Lifestyles /

The Garden Guy sees a lot of needless garden stress when it comes to choosing plant partners for your containers. After watching the excitement that Andrea Owens Schnapp created with a shared photo on my Facebook page the answer to this stress may just be to go mono-a-mono.

Obviously, I am taking a gardener approach to mono-a-mono, but Andrea ...Read more

Alexandra Wimley/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Eclipse chasers head to southern Illinois for 2nd total solar eclipse in 7 years: 'You get hooked'

Health / Lifestyles /

In 1999, Michelle Nichols saw her first total solar eclipse on a cruise in the Black Sea. It would be many years before she witnessed another one during a visit to southern Illinois in 2017.

“It seemed so far in the future,” she said.

Now, Nichols, an astronomer, educator and the director of public observing at the Adler Planetarium, is ...Read more

Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times/TNS

The Wild Flower Hotline is returning ... but will 2024 give us a superbloom?

Health / Lifestyles /

LOS ANGELES -- Come spring in California, after even a little bit of rain, people start asking the big questions: When does the Wild Flower Hotline start up and will this year be a superbloom?

The first question is easy: Theodore Payne Foundation's Wild Flower Hotline resumes on March 8, and updates every Friday into June. You can access the ...Read more