Well, well, well. Literally moments before drafting this column, I discovered instructions on the inside of the microwave I’ve been using for more than 18 months. While I’ve managed to guess good enough, it’s definitely nice to know with better accuracy how long three potatoes take to cook, or the time required to reheat a…
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By ROB GILLIES and ROBERT BUMSTED OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Police aggressively pushed back protesters in Canada’s besieged capital on Saturday, towing away trucks, arresting dozens of protesters and finally retaking control of the streets in front of the country’s Parliament buildings. Scores of trucks left under the increasing pressure, raising authorities’ hopes for an…
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Growing up as a middle child in suburban Chicago, Drew Peterson was something of a sport contrarian. When his family rooted for the Cubs, he was in Yankee pinstripes. On Sundays, he was cheering the Chiefs rather than the hometown Bears. And while his father and older brother considered Michael Jordan the greatest basketball player…
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By KARL RITTER and GEIR MOULSON MUNICH (AP) — Moscow would have its access to financial markets and high-tech goods limited under Western sanctions being prepared in case Russia attacks Ukraine, a top European Union official said Saturday. The comments from Ursula von der Leyen, head of the EU’s Executive Commission, came as tensions over…
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Since 2016, many Californians and advocacy groups have participated in contentious public debates regarding the state’s piloting of ethnic studies, first through a state model curriculumand now as a mandatory high school course. On one side, proponents tout the educational and emotional benefits of teaching ethnic studies as evidence for large-scale applications. On the other…
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I recently wrote about Cotoneaster lacteus. It’s a gorgeous woody perennial reaching up to 12 feet in height with an arching, fountainesque habit of growth. It is covered with white flowers in the spring that give way to generous clusters of red fruit that attract birds and other wildlife. I have never seen it visited…
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It was the winter of 1958. I was 15 and living in the South. There was a new kid in town, a young woman who would change the history of public school education. In addition to being Black History Month, this February marks the 64th anniversary of the integration of public schools in Virginia. I…
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On a recent Friday night, tired and looking for something my wife and I would both want to watch, I saw that a new season of “Poetry in America” had just landed on PBS. (The weekends are pretty wild around here.) We watched the episode on Walt Whitman’s “The Wound-Dresser” and I was reminded how…
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SANTA ANA – After being president at Servite High School for 15 years, Mike Brennan found that being president at St. Anthony High in Long Beach was a soothing change of pace. “Lower blood pressure,” Brennan said, laughing. Servite, like every Orange County large private school, is populated by many pushy parents and demanding alumni.…
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The Minneapolis police officers who killed Amir Locke stormed into the apartment where he was sleeping before dawn on Feb. 2, shouting orders. They said they took that approach to “decrease the risk for injuries.” That strategy is dubious even when cops are confident that the home they are invading is occupied only by criminal…
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