It was a Sunday afternoon, the snow was coming down steady and gorgeous, the wind chill was stuck at negative 25, and I was on the phone with Joe Sass, Chicago’s newest folk hero.

“I just got back from some intense sledding with my daughter,” he told me. “We were the first ones there so I had to go down a few times by myself. Groom the ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA -- “Am I being pranked?”

That’s what Gloucester County resident Gabby Weiland recalled thinking after she made a wrong turn while Doordashing in Southwest Philly earlier this month. Instead of finding a customer waiting on the curb for her lunch, Weiland found herself outside of Sin City Cabaret Nightclub at 6130 Passyunk ...Read more

Dear Anna,

I’m 35 and my girlfriend is 30. She works at a tech startup and has gotten really close with one of her coworkers — a 28-year-old guy who just moved to the city. They’re part of a work friend group that hangs out outside the office pretty regularly. Last weekend, the whole group went to a concert that I wanted to go to, but I ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS -- A North Minneapolis woman taking in a sudden influx of stray animals in crisis needed help, especially after a rescued dog in her care unexpectedly gave birth to a litter of puppies.

A small rescue already at capacity referred the case to Jeanne Weigum of Pooches United with People (PUP), who called the woman to get more ...Read more

Today, we have five questions across all aspects of dating:

Q: How do I manage the grief associated with not finding what I’m looking for?

A: This is an interesting question that can answer in a few different ways.

First, I completely understand what you're saying. Most people's lives don't go in exactly the way they want. So we do have to ...Read more

Melani Sanders is over it.

She's over meticulously applying makeup before leaving the house or, even, having to wear a bra when running errands. She's over wasting time plucking chin hairs, searching for brain fog-induced lost reading glasses and — most of all — withholding her opinions so as not to offend others.

As a 45-year-old ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA -- Regina Robinson isn’t used to being asked what she wants out of her home.

But for about a year, architects and designers had detailed discussions with her and other tenants at the Susquehanna Square subsidized apartment community in North Philadelphia about how to transform the look and feel of the development.

Robinson and ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — To the 300,000 drivers who stream through Agoura Hills on the 101 Freeway every day, the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing looks relatively unchanged from last summer, except for some leggy native shrubs growing along the outer walls.

While activity seems to have halted on what is touted to be the world's largest wildlife ...Read more

Dear Kid Whisperer,

I am a member of a very large church. I love it aside from one thing: It is very common for children to be on tablets throughout the service. There are so many children doing this! It really takes away from my enjoyment of the service, especially since these children could be upstairs taking Sunday school classes. What ...Read more

Q: Should I give my ex a valentine to entice him back?

A: When you ask this question, you're not really asking about a card. You're asking whether it's OK to reopen a door that has already been closed, and whether doing so will make you feel more at ease, more connected or less alone.

It's doubtful, at least not in the long run.

Valentine's ...Read more

Three of our grands have their learner's permits, but somehow, I seem to be the one receiving instructions on how to drive.

“You probably should have waited ‘til that car passed,” advises our oldest daughter, as I pull into traffic. She’s my front seat passenger and mother of twins with permits.

“Excuse me? I pulled out just fine, ...Read more

As a man who dozes off at the drop of a hat, even though I don’t wear one, I find it hard to wake up and smell the coffee.

The problem is that I can’t smell the coffee until I wake up. And I can’t wake up until I have coffee.

If that weren’t bad enough, my wife, Sue, won’t get out of bed in the morning until I wake up and make the ...Read more

HARTFORD, Conn. -- With cannabis sales holding steady in Connecticut and planned federal changes to the industry, a university here is expanding its certificate courses in the cannabis business.

The new 16-week Southern Connecticut State University courses will take a deeper dive into the cannabis industry than those previously offered and ...Read more

The Rachels met each other when they were 5 and 6 years old, and they met Lizzy Seitel — who would come to be known as one of the Rachels despite her name — in middle school.

They all lived in the D.C. area, and one weekend they took part in a retreat with Cheder, a progressive Jewish community in the area. In Seitel’s recollection, they ...Read more

In the earliest days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when a vaccine hadn’t been discovered and people were dying by the thousands each day and social distancing seemed our best bet, but also, potentially, our great unraveling, I remember searching hard — and finding — signs of unity.

Signs that we had it in us to come together to protect what's...Read more

The Garden Guy has had the best time following the Pantone "Color of the Year," which is Cloud Dancer. By following, I am talking about the color gurus verbalizing on social media. I’ll not call any out by name lest they come after me.

Cloud Dancer as you might expect is white. Now I admit while I will always hope for Electric Orange, I know ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA -- Growing up in South Jersey, my siblings and I were often reminded by our mother to seek a college education to better our chances of landing a good job.

My sister Andrea and I heeded her advice and obtained bachelor’s degrees with honors a few years after high school and began working in our professional fields.

It took my ...Read more

ST. LOUIS — The class started the way classes normally do. Students filtered into the room, sat down and set their backpacks on the floor.

Instead of pulling out textbooks or notepads, however, the students pointed iPads at a QR code projected on a whiteboard at the front of the room. Within seconds, they were inside an "AI space" — a ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The remains of the original Griffith Park Zoo are imbued with memories of the past. Forgotten animal pens, decaying cages and stony backdrops now sit in various states of abandonment.

It is, in other words, a prime location for a haunted narrative.

"Ghost in the Machine: The Old Zoo" is just that, a site-specific interactive ...Read more