The most disappointing thing about Shane Gillis’ shopworn, hackneyed, tone-deaf, retrograde, unfunny “Saturday Night Live” open was that he knew it would find an audience.

Even when, maybe especially when, the biggest news story in the nation is about an alleged gang rape on a college campus.

Even when, maybe especially when, that story ...Read more

For students at UC Riverside, the start of fall semester means picking up their class syllabus, catching up with friends and snapping selfies with the adorable wild donkeys that roam around the school.

The hoofed Highlanders have been embraced as an unofficial mascot on campus, with Reddit threads dedicated to donkey spotting and burro plushies...Read more

If you are growing Surefire Red begonias, white Diamond Snow euphorbia and Unplugged So Blue salvia, it certainly stands to reason you need some rockets. In this case, may I recommend Heart to Heart Bottle Rocket, which was just announced as the Proven Winners 2027 "Caladium of the Year."

You may be wondering why The Garden Guy is talking about...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Several Minnesota private colleges have recently introduced creative efforts to prove to students and parents that they’re affordable, both in the cost of attending now — tuition, room and board and fees — and the amount of loan debt students will owe after graduation.

From Winona to St. Paul, colleges and universities’ ...Read more

Dear Anna,

Here’s the condensed version. I’ve been with my partner for three years, and from the day we met she’s talked about moving overseas someday. I always supported that in theory, but then we fell in love, and “someday” quietly slipped to the background. Last week she told me she’s accepted a job in Ireland and leaves in ...Read more

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Florida’s 5.3 million Medicare enrollees face a sweeping financial squeeze in 2027 as rising monthly premiums, higher prescription deductibles, and shrinking Medicare Advantage benefits hit simultaneously.

Medicare experts warn that keeping coverage on “autopilot” during Open Enrollment (from Oct. 15 to Dec. 7) ...Read more

I get so many questions asking some variation of, “This thing happened or is about to happen. Are we doomed?” Some things are doomable offenses, sure. But many can be worked around or dealt with.

Rather than having a catastrophic reaction, it’s important to drill down to the actual topic at hand to see if it’s really so black and white...Read more

HARTFORD, Conn. -- Connecticut resident Olivia Streaman first applied for a service dog four years ago for her father who has Parkinson’s disease, a decision she calls “life-changing” after it allowed her father to maintain his independence and help with his mobility.

Streaman, who saw up close the powerful bond between her father and his...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- Nestled a short stroll from the Griffith Park Ranger Station, near some tennis courts and not far from the remains of the park's original zoo lies a gem that is on most days behind lock and key. The Griffith Park merry-go-round, which turned 100 this year, stands motionless, many of its 66 wooden horses weathered and caught mid-...Read more

PHILADELPHIA -- Keith Haring’s famed 1987 mural "We the Youth," the artist’s only collaborative mural that still stands in its original location, is now an officially designated historical place.

At a public meeting on Friday, the Philadelphia Historical Commission voted unanimously to add the Point Breeze mural, on a rowhouse at 22nd and ...Read more

I blame Merriam-Webster. They define “we” as a plural pronoun when everybody knows “we” most often means another person in the room.

For example, we are eating a stuffed crust pizza and I say, “We need to watch what we eat,” meaning my better half might want to lighten up on the late-night ice cream.

“We” is most often a subtle...Read more

Q. Halloween falls on my ex’s night this year, and I’m really disappointed. Our kids are 6 and 9, and I’ve always taken them trick-or-treating. I asked if I could come along, but my ex said no because it’s her parenting time. I think we should both be able to participate in special occasions regardless of whose night it is. What’s good...Read more

Dear Kid Whisperer,

I am at a school with a demographic that has quite a few entitled students who don't think the rules apply to them, and sometimes their parents don't, either. I know that the year will get better -- we have only been in school for 10 days -- but I am struggling right now. How do I handle this sense of entitlement?

Answer: ...Read more

I’m a guy who has always swept things under the rug. That doesn’t include the things another guy, who happens to be a cute little pooch, recently plopped on the rug.

Which is why my wife, Sue, and I had the rug cleaned.

Because I don’t take my shoes off in the house, which means dirt is afoot, we had a second rug cleaned, too.

The ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA -- Peace Ike was raised Christian, but in 2017 she found herself in a “low-faith place,” as she describes it. Demoralized and uncertain of what to do next, she traveled to Greece with three close friends.

During hours of conversation and reflection there, she had a revelation: God wanted her to open a communal space. So upon ...Read more

These are the five most popular majors at California colleges: business administration, psychology, sociology, communications and registered nursing. And where you go to college to pursue those majors can make a big difference in future earnings, according to an analysis of federal data.

During the fall college application season, as high ...Read more

CHICAGO -- Robots demonstrating dance moves made popular by the late entertainer Michael Jackson, mini-catapults sending plastic gourds soaring toward a cauldron, paper airplane competitions and ice cream frozen by liquid nitrogen were among the demonstrations on offer at the fifth annual University of Chicago South Side Science Festival.

...Read more

CHICAGO -- In hushed voices in a darkened room, John and James Kountz stared intently at what looked to any unsuspecting person like a computer screen inside a metal suitcase. The identical twins in matching forest-green shirts leaned in and watched as two frequencies created hills and valleys on the screen of the Quantenkoffer, a $250,000 ...Read more

There is an annual bedding plant that dazzles in the shade or the sun. It is among the last plants planted each year, as if it were placed at the back of the line. But from the hottest days of summer to the cool days of fall, your eyes are drawn to its beauty. It is the ColorBlaze Sedona Sunset coleus.

If you have ever been to Sedona, Arizona, ...Read more