CHICAGO -- As Chicago-area shoppers hesitate to reach into grocery coolers when they see the price of eggs, Jim Irwin enjoys going out to his backyard chicken coop on Chicago’s Northwest Side, and Annie Lawson gathers freshly laid eggs in her suburban Grayslake yard.

Winfield, Illinois, resident Sheena Tovt wishes she were so fortunate.

In ...Read more

Dear Kid Whisperer,

I have a very loud daughter. Her volume is always turned all the way up. I find myself telling her she needs to be quiet, but I really don’t like that message. Do you have a better one-liner than “be quiet”?

Answer: My daughter used to be loud, too. She is still loud: during the times when it is appropriate. During ...Read more

Q. My 15-year-old son goes back and forth between his father’s home and mine. When he’s ready to return, I always go to the supermarket and stock up. Yesterday I was talking to his bonus mom (my co-parent’s wife) and she mentioned his favorite food at their house. I was shocked. He never eats burritos at our house, and I told her so. I ...Read more

Dear Anna,

I’ve been dating my girlfriend for almost 10 months now. I frequently buy her jewelry and sometimes clothing, but she never wears them when we're together. Sometimes I'll ask for photos of her wearing the pieces to see how they look, and she will send one, but I never see them in person. Is this a me problem? Why doesn't she ever ...Read more

On a cold spring day years ago, young neighbor children found a small, dead bunny in their yard. They ran inside to tell their mother about the discovery. She went outside with the children to view the pitiful sight.

When the woman’s husband came home that evening, unbeknown to the children, he disposed of the bunny. The next day, the ...Read more

PERHAM, Minn. – Outside the sparkling new high school here, no one lingered in the parking lot on one of winter’s coldest nights. Inside, though, the Hive was jumping.

This girls basketball game wasn’t particularly noteworthy: the Perham Yellowjackets against the Staples-Motley Cardinals with neither team bound for the state tournament. ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA -- Wherever used tires are dumped by a waterway or piled high in urban dead-ends, look for Jon Merryman; he’ll be there.

Merryman, 62, drove 115 miles Saturday, from his home near Baltimore to Tacony Creek Park in the Crescentville section of Philadelphia, to participate in a major tire cleanup sponsored by the city and several ...Read more

As a newspaper columnist whose specialty is doing nothing and writing about it, I thought I had a dream job.

Then I met Raminder, a technician whose job was to watch me dream and record what I did in bed — it was nothing to write home about — during a sleep study.

I participated in this diagnostic test, which required me to stay in a ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Tucked away on a quiet part of La Cienega Avenue in the Culver City Arts District, Black Image Center feels reminiscent of a collegiate Black student center. On a recent Tuesday, five people were gathered for the center's daily community co-working series.

Laughter and casual conversation swam above the sound of the clicks of ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The food day begins early for the poorest students in the Los Angeles Unified School District — with breakfast available before the start of class. Then there's breakfast-for-all brought to the classroom, followed later by a snack, lunch, more snacks for after-school programs and sometimes a dinner sent home for the child.

It'...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- The ball pops up in the air and soars into an arc, drifting against the blue sky, then comes down with a plunk on the glass wall behind Jon Guerra. Out.

"Your swing is too hard," Guerra says to me.

Guerra, who goes by Coach Jon, is sending lobs across the net toward me and three other students at the Padel Courts, a hideaway ...Read more

FERGUS FALLS, Minn. -- When Rita Nau moved to Fergus Falls during the pandemic, she didn’t know a soul.

It can be hard to make friends in America, and greater Minnesota is no exception. But Nau has found ways. In January, the former restaurateur began baking bread and making soup for neighbors, friends and friends of friends — really, ...Read more

If you’ve ever thought about caladiums for use in containers, you are part of a trend sweeping the country. Whether they are used as the only plant in the container or part of a mixed container design, they will create drama in containers from late spring through frost.

The past few years I have been growing a lot of Heart to Heart caladiums....Read more

Aging is inevitable. It’s also very expensive.

At some point in our lives, seven out of 10 of us will need long-term care. And costs for it are high, rising faster than inflation overall. The annual price tag to stay in a nursing home currently tops more than $100,000 a year, according to Genworth and CareScout’s 2024 Cost of Care Survey. ...Read more

I dropped off my son at lacrosse practice Monday night, drove home to start dinner, threw some clothes in the dryer, unloaded the dishwasher, re-loaded the dishwasher, and turned on the Chicago Bulls to see them losing spectacularly in Oklahoma City.

Sen. Cory Booker was just getting going on the floor of the U.S. Senate.

I got up Tuesday ...Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. – Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has released new breakthrough findings on one of science’s biggest mysteries — one that Albert Einstein once called his “biggest blunder.”

In March, Berkeley Lab researchers presented data gathered from 14 million galaxies at the American Physical Society’s Global Physics ...Read more

HENDERSON, Nev. -- He’s 102 years old and he can still do your taxes.

As a veteran, pilot and tax preparer, centenarian William Brew has stories to tell. Born in 1923 in Idaho, Brew has been to places that don’t even exist anymore, fought in World War II and lived through some of the most pivotal moments in American history, but now lives ...Read more

We’re here for another installment of “Ask Dating Coach Erika,” where people anonymously share their burning dating questions.

Question: Any tips for someone who works 80 hours per week and is always burned out but wants to date?

Answer: Trust me -- I wish I had the ability to create more hours in the week. Unfortunately, that's not in ...Read more

Dear Anna,

Three months ago, I excitedly agreed to be the maid of honor in my college roommate's destination wedding next summer, assuming it would involve standard expenses. Fast forward to now, and I'm realizing I cannot afford the costs: a specific designer bridesmaid dress, mandatory professional hair and makeup, the flight and five-day ...Read more

Dear Kid Whisperer,

I know a certain 11-year-old who doesn't want to do anything in the shower but wash her hair (because she likes how soft and pretty it is when it’s clean). She will go as far as turning on the shower to make us THINK she's bathing, and then just wash her hair in the sink. She stinks. What do I do?

Answer: Gross!

Don’t ...Read more