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2 weeks, 11 national parks, 3,350 miles: Savor the Southwest on the Grand Circle road trip

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:59 GMT

Julia Carmel | Los Angeles Times (TNS)LOS ANGELES — There are 63 national parks in the United States, but at the start of 2023, I’d made it to only one.So when my partner, Reanna, bought us tickets to see Big Thief and Lucinda Williams at Colorado’s Red Rocks Amphitheatre, we had an exciting (though surely unoriginal) idea: What if we made it a road trip?As I began researching the best routes from Los Angeles to Denver, I found variations of what’s been called the Grand Circle road trip, a loop of national parks that typically spans Utah, Colorado and Arizona. It’s popular for its efficiency: If you plan well, you can hit the Southwest marvels of Zion, Mesa Verde and the Grand Canyon in about two weeks. Because we’d be driving through California regardless, our own Grand Circle route expanded into an oblong shape — not quite an oval, but perhaps a seal balancing a ball on its nose.Arizona’s majestic Grand Canyon. (Josemaria Toscano/Dreamstime/TNS)Over the course of 12 days, we...

Gen Z is turned off by onscreen sex, wants no-mance over romance, a new study finds

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:59 GMT

Emily St. Martin | Los Angeles Times (TNS)LOS ANGLES — The youth of America have spoken, and when it comes to sex onscreen, they say “ewwwww.”The new UCLA “Teens and Screens” study, conducted by the Center for Scholars & Storytellers, found that across 1,500 members of Gen Z, ages 10 to 24, young people wanted to see platonic relationships between onscreen characters, and many felt sex wasn’t necessary for story plot. (Only the respondents ages 13 to 24 were asked about sexual content.)“While it’s true that teens want less sex on TV and in movies, what the survey is really saying is that teens want more and different kinds of relationships reflected in the media they watch,” said Yalda T. Uhls, founder and director of CSS, co-author of the study and adjunct professor in UCLA’s Department of Psychology.The survey found that adolescents want to see “lives like (their) own” depicted onscreen and crave “authenticity.” Teens...

Demons, killer sloths, analog terror: The 13 best new horror movies to stream this Halloween

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:59 GMT

Jen Yamato | (TNS) Los Angeles TimesFire up the Ghoul Log and get ready to scare yourself silly: Spooky season has arrived.This year has seen no shortage of horror as Hollywood dug deeper into the fright business, reanimating the “Saw,” “Scream” “Evil Dead” and “The Exorcist” franchises while indie chillers like “Talk to Me” and the microbudget “Skinamarink” helped fuel the fear. (Wanna feel old? “M3GAN” came out nine months ago.)Now, in time for Halloween, there’s a candy cornucopia of new horror fare at your fingertips.Hungry for shows to binge? Mike Flanagan’s gothic “The Fall of the House of Usher” (Netflix), R.L. Stine adaptation “Goosebumps” (Disney+ and Hulu) and “Living for the Dead” (Hulu), in which queer ghost hunters visit haunted places for narrator-producer Kristen Stewart, are among a new crop of horror and thriller series.But if you’...

Kansas can’t enforce new law on abortion pills or make patients wait 24 hours, judge rules

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:59 GMT

By JOHN HANNA (AP Political Writer)TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas judge on Monday put a new state law on medication abortions on hold and blocked older restrictions that for years have spelled out what providers must tell patients and forced patients to wait 24 hours to end their pregnancies.The ruling was another big victory for abortion rights advocates in Kansas, where a statewide vote in August 2022 decisively confirmed protections for abortion access under the state constitution. District Judge K. Christopher Jayaram’s order suspends some restrictions that have been in effect for years. The waiting period had been in place since 1997.“The Court has great respect for the deeply held beliefs on either side of this contentious issue,” Jayaram wrote in his 92-page order. “Nevertheless, the State’s capacity to legislate pursuant to its own moral scruples is necessarily curbed by the Kansas Constitution and its Bill of Rights.”Jayaram’s o...

Quick Fix: Honey Glazed Stir-Fried Pork is a sweet treat

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:59 GMT

Linda Gassenheimer | Tribune News Service (TNS)The combination of soy sauce, honey and sherry adds a sweet glaze to this stir-fried pork tenderloin. I added Chinese noodles and broccoli florets to complete this easy meal. These noodles can be found dried in the Asian section of the market or steamed in the produce section. They only need a few minutes to cook. You can use angel hair pasta instead.I use a small amount of sherry with soy sauce. If you don’t have sherry on hand, you can buy it in small bottles or splits in a wine store. Or use unsalted chicken broth instead.Helpful Hints:— You can use regular sesame oil instead of toasted sesame oil.— If using dried noodles instead of fresh, boil 2 to 3 minutes longer.Countdown:— Place water for noodles on to boil.— Prepare all the ingredients.— Add pork to marinate in sauce.— Boil the noodles.— Stir-fry the pork and vegetables.Shopping List:To buy: 1 bottle reduced-sodium soy sauce, 1 small bottle dry sherry, 1 bottle honey, 1 small b...

Storing guns away from home could reduce suicides, but legal hurdles loom

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:59 GMT

By Aaron Bolton, MTPR | KFF Health News (TNS)If you or someone you know may be experiencing a mental health crisis, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by dialing “988,” or the Crisis Text Line by texting “HOME” to 741741.HELENA, Mont. — Mike Hossfeld unlocked a heavy black steel door to his home’s gun safe, unveiling both modern and antique firearms, some dating from the early 1900s.“Most of this is mine. There are a few weapons in here that belong to other folks,” he said.Hossfeld regularly stores firearms for others who are going through a mental health crisis or a rough period. That puts time and space between them and their guns, which can significantly reduce suicide risk.Hossfeld first stored a firearm, for his National Guard commander, in the 1980s, after the commander talked about suicide.“We carried our sidearms in a shoulder holster. So I just walked over and took the strap off and said I was going to store his weapon for him in my toolbox,” Hossfeld recalled.Hi...

Tennessee governor, congressman discuss safety on visit to Jewish school that foiled armed intrusion

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:59 GMT

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and U.S. Rep. David Kustoff on Monday praised security measures at a Memphis Jewish school where a former student with a gun was stopped from entering the building in July, declaring strong safety procedures have become even more critical in light of the Israel-Hamas war.Lee and Kustoff, both Republicans, spoke with students at Margolin Hebrew Academy-Feinstone Yeshiva of the South during a visit to the suburban school. Kustoff, who is Jewish and attended the school from kindergarten through 2nd grade, expressed support with Lee for Israel in the war that began when it was attacked by Hamas on Oct. 7. Inside the one-story Memphis school, a sign saying “we stand with Israel” hangs on a hallway wall. Nearby, a bulletin board features names and photos of Israeli hostages as another sign of solidarity from the school’s students and staff.Before Lee and Kustoff addressed about 140 students, faculty and staff, Rabbi Yonasan Gersten led s...

Half of Canadian households planning to participate in Halloween: poll

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:59 GMT

Half of Canadian households plan to participate in Halloween this year, according to a new poll.The Maru Public Opinion survey said people will be either going out trick-or-treating or staying behind to hand out candy to children. Of those polled, those from Atlantic Canada were most likely to celebrate the holiday at 71 per cent, while those from Quebec were least likely, with just 38 per cent participating.Younger Canadians, those aged 18 to 34, were mostly likely to provide a “spirited presence” for the door-to-door tradition.Here in Toronto, trick-or-treaters will have to deal with a bit of a chilly evening. CityNews 680 meteorologist Jill Taylor says the Halloween evening forecast will see temperatures hovering around 2 C with the wind making it feel more like -5.“Dress warm,” Taylor said. “It’s just a very light wind, but enough to give us that raw kind of feeling as you’re heading out with the kids. You will definitely need the extra layers under, or over top of y...

Haiti bans charter flights to Nicaragua in blow to migrants fleeing poverty and violence

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:59 GMT

PORT=AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haiti’s government has banned all charter flights to Nicaragua that migrants fleeing poverty and violence had been increasingly using in their quest to reach the United States, according to a bulletin issued Monday that The Associated Press obtained.Haiti’s government did not provide an explanation for the decision in its bulletin, which was first reported by The Miami Herald. Civil aviation authorities in Haiti did not respond to a message seeking comment.The move left a couple of thousand angry and bewildered travelers stranded in a parking lot facing Haiti’s main international airport in the capital of Port-au-Prince surrounded by their luggage, with some holding babies. Among them stranded was Jean Erode Louis-Saint, 25, whose flight was scheduled for mid-afternoon Monday but never received a boarding pass.“Can you imagine that I spent all this money? I sold everything that I had,” he said. “I cannot stay in this country because of the la...

Ivanka Trump testimony delayed to Nov. 8, will follow dad Donald Trump on stand at civil fraud trial

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:59 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Ivanka Trump’s testimony at her father’s New York civil fraud trial is being delayed until next week so there is sufficient time for her to be questioned, a judge said Monday.Former President Donald Trump’s eldest daughter had been set to take the witness stand on Friday, when the Manhattan trial typically meets for a half-day session, but lawyers in the case said her testimony is likely to take a full day, if not longer.Judge Arthur Engoron, who last week rejected Ivanka Trump’s bid to avoid testifying, said she will now appear on Nov. 8. The judge had floated the idea of making Friday a full-day court session, but Donald Trump’s lawyers said they couldn’t do that because of other commitments.“I think we’re all OK with Ivanka on Wednesday the 8th,” Engoron said in court after discussing the matter with state lawyers and Donald Trump’s defense team.The scheduling change now puts Ivanka Trump on the witness stand at the end of a blockbuster stretch in a case tha...