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Blanche thrust into Republican firestorm over $1.8B fund as he seeks to prove his loyalty to Trump
WASHINGTON | When acting Attorney General Todd Blanche signed off on a nearly $1.8 billion fund meant to compensate President Donald Trump’s allies for alleged political prosecution, he may have pleased his boss. But the eyebrow-raising move — the latest in his push to prove his loyalty to Trump — has agitated the same Republican […]
Plastic bags don’t go in the recycling bin. What should you do instead?
NEW YORK | Soft, stretchy plastics can make up grocery bags, bubble wrap and more. They’re impossible to avoid and harder still to properly dispose of. If thrown in the trash, they can take up to hundreds of years to degrade in landfills and release harmful microplastics into the environment. Over 3 million tons (2.7 […]
How to mulch your garden beds without harming plants
When you look at your garden beds and borders, do you see any bare soil? If so, mulch is in order. Mulch is defined as a protective layer applied over soil to retain moisture, suppress weeds and moderate soil temperature around plants, as well as in uncultivated areas. But if used incorrectly, mulch can cause […]
Tiny patients, big fight: NICU parents win leave in 2 states and push for more
NEW YORK | As his daughter Olivia was born, Marlon White felt his wife’s hand slacken as she fainted. The baby, born at 29 weeks and weighing about 2 pounds, wasn’t making a sound as she was rushed to the neonatal intensive care unit. Terrified, he waited in the hall while the doctors stabilized his […]
A Latino grocery store in Delaware turns its produce aisle into a music stage
NEW CASTLE, Del. | A neat stack of 79-cent bananas and rows of colorful fruit flanked the bilingual alternative pop band Luna Luna as they performed for a small audience at a Latino grocery store in northern Delaware. The show was part of the monthly Mercadito sessions put on by the Fiesta Fresh Market, a […]
The balikbayan box: The way Filipino Americans have sent love all the way back home
PHOENIX | Beginning in the 1970s, just about every Filipino household in America was either hauling balikbayan boxes in person or mailing them to relatives back in the Philippines. These care packages that held goodies from the U.S. were seen as an expression of support during hard economic times — as well as one of […]
Movie Review: Boots Riley’s ‘I Love Boosters’ is a wild, surrealist social satire
Boots Riley holds nothing back in his audacious, surrealist social satire “I Love Boosters.” The film is a go-for-broke expression of wild imagination and social consciousness that’s impossible not to admire for its wacky, bold vision, with teleporting, high fashion snobbery and pyramid schemes. Here is a movie where we get Keke Palmer, Naomi Ackie […]
Cambodian villagers honor guardian spirits to pray for rain and good fortune
PHUM BOEUNG, Cambodia | Hundreds of Cambodians on Thursday morning honored their village’s guardian spirits by holding a colorful centuries-old ceremony to pray for good fortune, rain and prosperity. The “He Neak Ta” ritual has been celebrated annually for several hundred years by the villagers in Phum Boeung, about 25 kilometers (15 miles) northwest of […]
French artist JR begins his giant ‘cave’ art inflation over Paris’ oldest bridge
PARIS | The oldest bridge in Paris has begun to vanish this week, as the artist JR — who is known as the “French Banksy” — began inflating a giant “cave” over the Pont Neuf. The monumental, rocky illusion is swallowing the 17th-century landmark, which has carried Parisians across the Seine for more than 400 […]
‘Minotaur,’ about murder and corruption in Putin’s Russia, jolts the Cannes Film Festival
CANNES, France | Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev sent shock waves through the Cannes Film Festival with a soberly damning crime film about murder and corruption in Russia, set against the conscription of young men into President Vladimir Putin’s war with Ukraine. “Minotaur,” which debuted Tuesday night at the French festival, was one of the most […]