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Editorial: Biden again follows in footsteps of Jimmy Carter

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:22:03 GMT

President Joe Biden has professed sympathy for American consumers pinched by inflation. But his actions speak louder than his hollow lip service.Inflation has stabilized over the past 12 months after skyrocketing to more than 9% — a number not seen in four decades. But the White House seems intent on exacerbating the problem.Recently, Vice President Kamala Harris was in Philadelphia to announce that the Labor Department had revamped a rule governing worker pay on federal construction projects. The reform will relax the standard by which so-called “prevailing wages” are set under the Davis-Bacon Act, which dates to the Great Depression.The new regulation will raise wages for workers on federal projects and, Harris said, “That’s thousands of dollars more every year, to help put a down payment on a home, for example, or to save for retirement, or to simply take their family on vacation once a year.”Not surprisingly, the vice president omitted the fact that this will also drive up the c...

Handling military housing allowance in a divorce

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:22:03 GMT

Q. My husband is career military.  Depending on where we live, his housing allowance fluctuates.  Most recently we have been living in the same town as my brother and in Massachusetts his allowance is really high.  My brother’s kids are all grown and out of the house, so he moved in with his girlfriend and has allowed us to live in his house rent-free.  So, all of the housing allowance has been put aside in a separate savings account.We have been married for 19 years – we have been talking about divorcing.  Our 20-year anniversary is on Jan. 1.  I am afraid he will file before our 20th anniversary to avoid paying full alimony. Is there anything I can do to prevent him from filing before then?If we do get divorced, he said the housing allowance is either an asset or income, but it isn’t both – he says that is double dipping.  I think it is both.  Who is right?A. You cannot prevent him from filing for divorce before your 20th anniversary.  But, if you want to try to slow his roll, if ...

The play’s the thing in Ann Patchett’s stellar ‘Tom Lake’

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:22:03 GMT

Children, even grown ones, don’t often want to hear about their parents’ lives before they married — especially their sex lives.But Lara Nelson’s three daughters are different. They know that before she married their kind and steadfast father and gave birth to them, she had a love affair with a movie star, as well as a brief acting career of her own. Now in their 20s, Lara’s girls want the dirt.Lara’s story and how she tells it are the matter of Ann Patchett’s enveloping new novel, “Tom Lake.”This is Patchett’s ninth novel, after such acclaimed bestsellers as “Bel Canto” and “The Dutch House.”Patchett often frames her novels around a particular world, such as the opera-infused plot of “Bel Canto.” In “Tom Lake” much of Lara’s story is set in the world of theater, and three plays are essential: Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town,” Anton Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard” and Sam Shepard’s “Fool for Love.”The novel is set in the summer of 2020, when much of the world is in lockdown amid the COVI...

Mystery shrouds a town in ‘Harlan Coben’s Shelter’

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:22:03 GMT

Harlan Coben is one of those writers whose thrillers and mysteries go straight to the top of the charts and are translated into dozens of languages.“Harlan Coben’s Shelter,” available on Prime Video, is based on Coben’s 2012 YA novel — and, seemingly, two subsequent volumes that complete a trilogy.  “Shelter” features a character named Mickey Bolitar, spun off from his Myron Bolitar books. Myron is a basketball player-turned-sports agent who gets mixed up in enough murders to have kept a series going for 11 volumes; Mickey is his teenage nephew, who, in the book, comes to stay with him after his father is killed in a car crash — Mickey was there too — and his mother winds up in rehab.Myron is mentioned in passing here, but in the adaptation, Mickey (Jaden Michael), is being looked after by his aunt Shira (Constance Zimmer), perhaps because “Shelter” comes from Amazon Studios while a Myron Bolitar series is being prepped by Netflix. The...

Orioles explode for five runs in 10th to beat Athletics, 7-2, in Cole Irvin’s return to Oakland

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:22:03 GMT

Cole Irvin’s return to Oakland went well for the left-hander, but it took an extra inning for it to be good for his team.While the former Athletics starter pitched five solid innings, his offense needed a 10th frame to decide Saturday night’s contest. After failing to score for the previous six innings, Baltimore’s bats broke the game open in the final one, plating five runs en route to a 7-2 victory.Six Orioles batters either reached base or drove in a run in the 10th. Adley Rutschman led off with a walk, and Ryan Mountcastle followed with a go-ahead RBI single to score automatic runner Adam Frazier. After Gunnar Henderson was hit by a pitch, Jordan Westburg drove in Rutschman with a sacrifice fly and Austin Hays brought home Mountcastle with a fielder’s choice ground ball. James McCann then provided two pivotal insurance runs with a two-run single to give the Orioles’ bullpen a large cushion.Reliever Jacob Webb hit and walked the first two batters of ...

Workers returning to the office, and the skies

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:22:03 GMT

DALLAS — First came the leisure travelers. Now, prepare for business travelers to make flying and vacationing even more crowded than it already is.Southwest Airlines and other carriers are taking a harder look at business travel efforts, as the global industry expects to surpass its pre-pandemic levels of spending to $1.4 trillion in 2024.According to the Global Business Travel Association’s Business Travel Index Outlook report released last week, spending will continue to accelerate to $1.8 trillion by 2027. In 2022, global business travel spending rose 47% to $1.03 trillion, as pent-up demand accelerated the travel recovery and more workers returned to the office. Business travelers, a group carriers have been trying to woo throughout the pandemic, are often some of the big spenders at airlines when it comes to upgrades, perks and last-minute, expensive flights. They’re a key demographic airlines can tap into to make some extra money.“We can cautiously say that we are through the ...

Take up a new fling with Disc Golf at Smuggler’s Notch in Vt.

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:22:03 GMT

It’s one of the hottest sports you’re only just hearing of, and enthusiasts are flocking to play.You don’t have to be a pro to do well, but if you have the chops, you can find solid competition. And a newbie can play an easy match side-by-side with an expert.It’s Disc Golf, the newest hot sport in town. And as the Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA) comes to New England’s own Smuggler’s Notch Resort (https://www.smuggs.com) Aug. 30- Sept. 3, this may just be the right time and place to try it out.Smuggler’s Notch, in Jeffersonville, Vermont, has long been known as a hot spot for family fun in just about every season. But in recent years, they’ve quietly built two disc golf courses and programs around them.Today, Smuggs is home to two of the top-rated disc golf courses in the world. Smugg’s Brewster Ridge is ranked number 4 in the world and Fox Run Meadows is number 7, based on player votes gathered by UDisc.It’s where 300 of the best disc golfers in the world will ...

Iain De Caestecker wears the crown in ‘The Winter King’

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:22:03 GMT

The King Arthur story gets an elaborate, epic retelling with Sunday’s MGM+ series “The Winter King.”Set in the 5th century Dark Ages, this “King” is based on Bernard Cornwell’s fantastical source novels and stars Scotland’s Iain De Caestecker as Arthur Pendragon.“There’s been lots of different iterations of the legend of King Arthur. What is it about this version that can be cool and unique? And fresh?” De Caestecker, 35, asked himself initially.  “As I got into the story I could instantly see that not only is it a much more human, grounded version of what we’ve seen in the Arthurian legend before, it also starts with much more of Arthur’s origin story than what we’ve seen.”Arthur is introduced dismissively as “The son of a whore.”“Yes, when we first meet him he’s been living under the weight of being the bastard son of the King. He spent his childhood being rejected by his father. Ultimately, he is banished by his father — unjustly and unfairly from th...

Buoys of Summer singer breaks down what’s yacht, what’s not

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:22:03 GMT

For all the sailing, pina coladas and making love in the dunes of the Cape, yacht rock is a deeply divisive genre. Casually mention that you think Steely Dan isn’t yacht rock, or that Sade is, at a party and someone is libel to knock your captain’s cap to the deck and kick it overboard.One thing that’s not up for debate: Buoys of Summer are Boston’s best nautical-themed cover band.With Buoys set to set sail at the Sinclair on Aug. 25, we asked the band’s singer and bassist, Davina Yannetty, to get controversial with the yacht rock catalog and grade a few standards. She didn’t flinch, offering up what is yacht and what is not, what is perfect and what belongs trapped at the bottom of the sea in Davy Jones’s locker.“Rosanna,” TOTOGrade A-Pros: The groove is, if you’ll pardon my use of jazzer slang, totally cookin’. The drums, the piano, the bass – you can’t beat ‘em!Cons: It’s an absolute workout to play! This is, famously, the song I used to audition every member of the group. I figu...

What makes Vegas the ‘Wedding Capital of the World’

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:22:03 GMT

Las Vegas’ proud title as the “Wedding Capital of the World” has been fortified by a rich history — and more than five million nuptials.Locals, but more often tourists, tie the knot here in traditional ceremonies, while some, for example, have Elvis impersonators oversee their nuptials.Themed affairs or not, the city’s wedding chapels have been instrumental in keeping the Las Vegas wedding destination reputation afloat.“With more than five million ‘I do’s’ and counting, each year Las Vegas conducts more destination weddings than any other place on the planet,” according to Clark County’s marriage bureau. “For well over 70 years a ‘Vegas wedding’ has captured the public imagination as the ultimate quick, stress-free, fun, glamourous wedding destination.”For the upcoming 70th anniversary since the London Daily Herald first declared the city the “Wedding Capital of the World” on Sept. 23, 1953, Clark County that month is planning a mass vow renewal ceremony at Caesars Palace.The Las Ve...