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Make summer vacation memories without breaking the bank

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 12:53:14 GMT

Being on holiday is as much about adventure, exploration or even relaxation as it is about flight schedules, hotel rooms or miles traveled.So if a far-flung destination is not in the cards just now, consider putting your creative juices to work to manifest a never-to-be-forgotten memory for you and your family. And, don’t forget to take pictures. Clear the calendar and consider these five ways to savor some family time without depleting your savings.Go for it.Plan to participate in a half marathon, hike the canyon or camp in the backcountry. This is the year to research, plan and execute that idea you’ve been talking about but never took time to organize. Declare it a family affair and make the preparations part of the fun.Trade houses.Find a friend or family member in a nearby neighborhood who is willing to join in the fun. Think about it: new toys in the closet, bikes in the garage, play sets in the back yard and cereal in the cupboard. (Agree up front on what is included in the d...

Lowry: As Biden stumbles, Dems making a crazy bet

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 12:53:14 GMT

President Joe Biden’s fall at the end of the Air Force Academy graduation ceremony was a brief event. He tripped, got helped up, and walked off under his own power.Sometimes, though, a small thing is fraught with meaning — and with peril.Biden’s stumbles are not minor incidents, or a laughing matter. We aren’t talking about a manufactured narrative about President Jerry Ford’s alleged clumsiness played up on “Saturday Night Live.” Biden is 80 years old, is in decline, and has a stiff, shuffling gait that makes you hold your breath when he’s negotiating stairs or any place with potential obstacles. At his age, once the falls start, they usually don’t stop.Democrats should be thinking long and hard whether this is the vessel they want to ride into 2024 — and to portray as up for performing the job of president of the United States in a second term extending all the way until January 2029.A couple of weeks ago at the G-7 summi...

Editorial: Debt deal makes a handful of modest improvements

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 12:53:14 GMT

Something is usually better than nothing — and that’s certainly the case with the debt ceiling compromise.More than a handful of House Republicans are grumbling about the deal revealed last weekend between Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Joe Biden. The complaints touch on a number of issues on which the GOP gave a little, including stricter regulatory reform, larger spending adjustments, a rollback of White House efforts to forgive student loans and more significant budget cuts for the IRS.These are legitimate grievances. But Republicans don’t run the Senate and are on the outside looking in when it comes to the White House. Politics is nothing if not an exercise in pragmatism. There is a modicum of progress in the agreement, and that agreement was made possible only because House Republicans stood united, putting pressure on the president and forcing him to abandon his insistence that the debt ceiling be addressed through a “clean” bill. Had Republicans fractured, they would h...

Krishnamoorthi: How we can win economic race with China

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 12:53:14 GMT

The last century is often referred to as “the American Century,” largely because of our country’s economic strength that provided unprecedented prosperity for millions of American families. Today, one of the critical questions we’re facing is who will be the economic and innovation leader of the 21st century: America or China?In 1978, when China began to open its economy, America produced four times more steel than China. Now, China produces 12 times more steel than America.In 1978, America produced more cars than China. Now, China is the world’s largest carmaker. In 1978, America was the world’s leading economy. Now, we remain the world’s biggest economy, but the China has the world’s second largest economy and aims to be No. 1.If the trajectory of China’s growth is not a wake-up call for America, here is one more troubling statistic: China now leads in 37 of 44 technologies that are considered important for the future of our world, according to the think tank Australian Strategic ...

India train crash death toll rises above 230 with 900 injured as rescuers comb through debris

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 12:53:14 GMT

By ASHOK SHARMA and KRUTIKA PATHI (Associated Press)NEW DELHI (AP) — Rescuers waded through piles of debris and wreckage to pull out bodies and free people after two passenger trains derailed Friday night in India, killing more than 230 people and leaving hundreds of others trapped inside more than a dozen mangled rail cars, in one of the country’s deadliest train crashes in decades.The accident, which happened about 220 kilometers (137 miles) southwest of Kolkata, led to a chaotic scene as rescuers climbed atop the wrecked trains to break open doors and windows using cutting torches to free survivors.About 900 people were injured in the accident in Balasore district in the eastern state of Odisha, said P.K. Jena, the state’s top administrative official. The cause was under investigation.Ten to 12 coaches of one train derailed, and debris from some of the mangled coaches fell onto a nearby track, said Amitabh Sharma, a railroad ministry spokesperson.The debris was ...

Dear Abby: Zoned-out BF happy with the status quo

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 12:53:14 GMT

Dear Abby: I have been dating a man for more than two years, and I thought we had a future together. I’m 57, divorced, no kids. He’s 58, divorced and has two grown children. At first, he said he was living with his parents so he could take care of his dad, who had been very ill. But it has been more than three years now!I put bids on four different houses in his parents’ neighborhood, but lost all of them. It seems the universe is not in favor of my owning a home and being closer to his family. Maybe all of this is for the best. He smokes marijuana daily, and I’m sure this is part (if not all) of the problem. His motivation for doing anything is very low.I’m often frustrated with his unreliability, lateness and lack of communication. I do enjoy being with him, and we get along great when we are together. But nothing is CHANGING. I want a future (and a home) with someone at this point in my life. Should I keep waiting and hoping, or move on and end it wi...

Lake Hodges reopens to public for recreation

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 12:53:14 GMT

LAKE HODGES, Calif. -- Lake Hodges reopened to the public Wednesday for fishing and boating, the City of San Diego said.Visitors can go kayaking, canoeing, shore fishing, rental boat fishing and flat tubing, officials said. However, boat launching, stand up paddleboarding, windsurfing, winging and all water contact activities are not permitted. Lake Hodges will be open from sunrise to sunset on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays through October. It is closed during the months of November, December and January.The announcement comes after the closing of the reservoir since May 2022 due to deteriorating concrete on the upstream face of its dam, according to the San Diego-Union Tribune. The newly found cracks prompted officials to reduce the condition of the dam from "poor" to "unsatisfactory," the paper reported. California campsite reservation bill passes State Assembly “It is envisioned a new dam could be built by 2034 following the required environmental review, design and permit...

New aircraft exhibit featured at USS Midway Museum

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 12:53:14 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- The USS Midway Museum on Thursday announced a new addition to its historical collection of aircraft. A newly restored Navy C-2A Greyhound "Carrier Onboard Delivery," first launched into the U.S. Navy in 1965, is a twin-engine, high-wing aircraft that was used to fly passengers, cargo and mail to and from aircraft carriers at sea, according to museum officials. The aircraft was flown by Fleet Logistic Support Squadron 30 (VRC-30) based in San Diego at Naval Air Station North Island."Known as the COD (carrier onboard delivery), the C-2 was the Navy’s primary at-sea cargo delivery aircraft for more than 60 years. The Greyhound, flown by a crew of 4 (two pilots and 2 cargo specialists) had a range of more than 1,000 miles and could carry up to 10,000 pounds of cargo," the museum said. San Diego 6th best place in US to raise a family: study Donated to the USS Midway Museum in August 2022, the Greyhound took nine months and more than 500 hours from the museum's restora...

UN agency for Palestinian refugees raises just $107 million of $300 million needed to help millions

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 12:53:14 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Despite a dire warning from the U.N. chief that the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees “is on the verge of financial collapse,” donors at a pledging conference on Friday provided just $107 million in new funds — significantly less than the $300 million it needs to keep helping millions of people.Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner general of the agency known as UNRWA, said he was grateful for the new pledges but they are below the funds needed to keep over 700 schools and 140 clinics open from September through December.“We will continue to work tirelessly with our partners, including host countries — the refugees’ top supporters — to raise the funds needed,” he said in a statement.At the beginning of the year, UNRWA appealed for $1.6 billion for its programs, operations and emergency response across Syria, Lebanon, the Israeli-occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and Jordan. That includes nearly $850 million for its core budget, which includes ...

Hoskin seeks second term as leader of powerful Cherokee Nation

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 12:53:14 GMT

TAHLEQUAH, Okla. (AP) — Citizens of the Cherokee Nation — the largest Native American tribe in the U.S. — are set to decide whether Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. should lead the tribe for another four years as it enters a golden era after courts recognized its sprawling reservation and an operating budget of more than $3 billion. Hoskin, a 48-year-old attorney whose name is now intertwined with the fight for tribal sovereignty, is among four candidates seeking the tribe’s top position, similar to that of a state’s governor. The nonpartisan election for chief, deputy chief and eight positions on the tribe’s 17-member council are scheduled to be held Saturday, with many Cherokee citizens from across the country expected to submit absentee ballots.Challengers include David Cornsilk, a retired genealogist and educator; Wes Nofire, an ex-boxer and supporter of former President Donald Trump who serves on the tribal council; and Cara Cowen Watts, an engineer and former Chero...