3 mins read

After helping the US win the Cold War, the all-you-can-eat buffet is fading. Thanks, COVID

LAS VEGAS | On a cool fall evening after the end of World War II, Las Vegas watched “officialdom and ‘cafe society’ turn out for the opening of America’s first all-you-can-eat buffet,” a local paper wrote. It was a big night in a small town that dreamed of hungry visitors. The glazed ham and prime […]

5 mins read

Chevrolet Bolt vs. Nissan Leaf, an Edmunds $30,000 EV comparison

Many new electric vehicles are prohibitively expensive for car shoppers. But there are a few relatively low-cost options that provide plenty of usable range and utility. One great example is the Nissan Leaf. Originally debuting for 2011, it’s today’s longest-tenured EV and remains among the most affordable ways to go electric. The 2026 Leaf has […]

1 min read

OpenAI film ‘Artificial,’ dropped by Amazon, finds a new home with Neon

NEW YORK | “Artificial,” Luca Guadagnino’s starry film about Sam Altman and OpenAI, has been acquired by the indie distributor Neon after it was dropped by Amazon MGM Studios. Neon said Tuesday that it bought the film following a bidding process. Amazon dropped the nearly complete $40 million film, starring Andrew Garfield as Altman, earlier […]

2 mins read

Los Angeles medical examiner says former child actor Daveigh Chase died of AIDS

LOS ANGELES | Former child actor Daveigh Chase’s death on June 16 was due to AIDS, the office of the County of Los Angeles Medical Examiner reported. The cause of death for Chase, 35, was acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, according to online medical examiner records from this week that listed her last name as Schwallier. “Chronic […]

3 mins read

Heat forces yodelers at annual Swiss festival to sing in fountains

BASEL, Switzerland | City fountains became impromptu rehearsal spaces this weekend as yodelers at a festival in Basel, Switzerland, squeezed in last-minute practice while cooling off during Europe’s June heat wave. At one fountain, a folk band dipped their toes in the water on Saturday, as festivalgoers clapped along or cooled their hands under the […]

9 mins read

How some in Palestinian diaspora find connection, identity and resilience in traditional embroidery

Decades later, Samar Kabouli still fondly recalls gathering with women in her family and sipping cardamom-spiced coffee as they embroidered fabric with colorful threads in traditional Palestinian patterns. Born in Lebanon to Palestinian refugees, Kabouli had never seen her parents’ homeland. But more than just making pretty designs, the threads in her needle were stitching […]

8 mins read

A Jefferson for every era, from Lincoln to Trump, and the contradictions that endure

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. | He’s a prize-winning presidential historian who wrote an entire biography of Thomas Jefferson. But even Jon Meacham needs to think for a moment before defining what it means to be a “Jeffersonian.” “Well for a long time, before the civil rights movement, it meant to be more inclined toward states’ rights and […]

6 mins read

Movie Review: Sex is on the menu in Olivia Wilde’s dinner party comedy of manners ‘The Invite’

Soufflé is for dinner but much more is on the table in Olivia Wilde’s deliciously entertaining chamber comedy, “The Invite,” about a couple whose marriage is on the rocks who invite their upstairs neighbors over for an impromptu get-together. Such a gathering is, of course, a standby setup of stage and screen, alike. Faster than […]

5 mins read

This Stars and Stripes Pie is designed to wow on the Fourth of July

For the Stars and Stripes Pie in my cookbook, “50 Pies, 50 States,” I wanted something that would be a showstopper at any Fourth of July barbecue. I got fancy, using foil as a divider when filling the pie to mimic the color blocking of the flag. I used two fillings — strawberry and blueberry […]

7 mins read

Gender-bending is now part of menswear. Paris runways show how mainstream it has become

PARIS | This was men’s fashion season. The women were everywhere. They walked the coed Paris runways at Amiri and Ami. At Vetements, women modeled many of the “menswear” looks, and Sharon Stone closed the show in thigh-high boots. Inside fashion, none of this was eyebrow-raising. The gender blur was not happening on the margins. […]