WILSON TOWNSHIP, Minn. – The last time the Catholic church here faced an existential threat was on New Year’s Eve 1935, when the church was set ablaze. Not even a trace of its sacred vessels was found in the debris.

The hardship of the Great Depression did little to deter the congregation. Within weeks, parishioners were rebuilding. Men of ...Read more

This will be Craig and Donna Mindrum’s first Christmas without their son Jonathan. He died in January at age 36, leaving their family with a gaping wound where a son and a brother and an uncle should be.

Nothing will fill it, but time and talking may help it heal, Craig Mindrum figures. Hopes.

“It’s got to get better,” he said a few ...Read more

On a recent chilly morning in Hesperia, California, Alfredo Lara used a shovel to pour cement into a mound of concrete he'd shaped like a wide volcano for mixing. Nearby, his friend filled a bucket with water for the final ingredient.

"Well, here we are, trying to carry on," the 70-year-old said in Spanish. "But it hasn't been easy at all, I've...Read more

A few years ago, I wrote a column on the keys to the winter landscape being Bones, Berries and Bark. The bones of course are evergreen plants, berries are like nature’s winter baubles, and bark is typically associated with trees that create a "look at me" moment by virtue of their wood. So, when I had the opportunity to try some Berry Box ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS -- The Minnesota Department of Transportation’s Name-A-Snowplow contest is back, and the public continues to eat it up.

“Five years and still going strong,” said MnDOT spokeswoman Anne Meyer. “We hear about it all year long. We know there is interest out there. People enjoy the contest.”

The agency started the naming ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- In his old life, Jim Johnson was a biker, did drywall and concrete work and had his sight. He never cooked.

Johnson, 59, of Citrus Heights, California, became permanently blind in 2020 after a long-term battle with open-angle glaucoma.

“Prior to being married, I popped everything in a microwave,” he said. “I ate it ...Read more

Question: “How do you ask if a guy is ready for a relationship if he is ripe off of a five-year relationship?”

This is a question I received recently, and I get some form of the “How do I know if someone else is ready?” question quite frequently.

My response:

“People are notoriously bad at self-assessing their readiness. The only ...Read more

Do you plan to leave a $20 bill in the mailbox or send gift cards to school for your child’s teachers? If so, you’re among the many Americans planning to say thank you with tips for service providers like mail carriers and teachers this holiday season.

Bankrate’s 2024 Tipping Culture Survey revealed more than 1 in 3 Americans say tipping ...Read more

Dear Anna,

Usually Mariah Carey season is my favorite, but this year I’m struggling. Everywhere I look, people are cozying up, planning cute holiday dates and posting about their jolly AF lives. Meanwhile, I’m single, spending my evenings scrolling through dating apps and wondering if I should just settle for someone mediocre so I’m not ...Read more

CHICAGO -- A new shelter for homeless single men has opened in Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood, rejecting typical shelter hallmarks such as congregate living and a ban on residents remaining during the daytime.

Run by the nonprofit North Side Housing and Supportive Services, the shelter at 7464 N. Clark St. can house 70 men in double-...Read more

We have officially entered the "Hard to Buy For" season of life. I am reminded of this every time someone asks me what we'd like for Christmas. No one has said we are hard to buy for in so many words. It's more the looks -- the eye rolls, the raised eyebrows, the barely suppressed expressions of shock and horror.

"We like those little books of ...Read more

Q. My husband’s kids come back to our home with all sorts of stories about their mother and what they do at her house. I feel like I have no privacy. I have told the kids on multiple occasions that what goes on at our house is our business, and I don’t care what goes on at their mother’s home, but they continue to talk about it over there...Read more

For many, “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” is a must-watch seasonal classic.

For Ted Ray, the 1989 comedy about an extended family’s disastrous attempt to celebrate the holiday, is an all-consuming passion, if not a downright obsession.

His homage to Clark Griswold, the movie’s hapless hero, starts with more than 5,000 white ...Read more

Dear Kid Whisperer,

I’m a music teacher in a public middle school. A handful of students consistently lose their music. They are issued a folder and copies of the music at the beginning of the year, but so many can’t keep track of it. Though I know they should just make the copies on their own, our students aren’t allowed to use the copy ...Read more

BALTIMORE -- The melody was played on turquoise ukuleles, with children beating out the rhythm on miniature drums.

“I feel peace when my family is safe,” sang the youngsters and their mothers, who are refugees from Afghanistan. “I feel peace when my friendships are strong. I feel peace when my world is calm.”

It was a simple little ...Read more

Carolyn Dickens, 76, was sitting at her dining room table, struggling to catch her breath as her physician looked on with concern.

“What’s going on with your breathing?” asked Peter Gliatto, director of Mount Sinai’s Visiting Doctors Program.

“I don’t know,” she answered, so softly it was hard to hear. “Going from here to the ...Read more

Since I am in the holiday spirit (and, having just consumed a mug of hot toddy, a glass of eggnog and a nip of cheer, the holiday spirits are in me), I have decided to follow in that great tradition of boring everyone silly by writing a Christmas letter.

That is why I am pleased as punch (which I also drank) to present the following chronicle ...Read more

No one quite knew what to do with Casidy Ludwig when she walked into court this summer for her first appearance as one of Colorado’s newly minted licensed legal paraprofessionals.

She pulled the judge and opposing counsel aside for a primer: She’d be representing her client in a limited capacity, making objections and argument, but not ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — My first meeting with Aescape, the AI-powered massage robot, was benign enough — if a bit eerie. As if HAL had gotten a job in the Valley. I stepped into the austere spa room at Pause, a wellness center in Studio City, and a sturdy massage table commanded the space. It was deep-sea blue and plush, glowing from LED lights that ...Read more