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Schools must teach necessary skills

Hints from Heloise Dear Heloise: I read the letter about counting change and thought I’d give you my experience. For many years, I requested that teachers in our district teach students two things: how to count change back and how to measure items with a tape measure. In 40 years, I’ve had to teach every employee both, regardless of their ages, which range from 15-60. My grandchild, whom I raised, was the only student in her school who knew how to make change. Sadly, it just isn’t taught. It’s a very simple but necessary thing to learn. Cash registers and calculators can make ...

Naturally fermented foods can help diverticulitis

Ask the Doc Dr. Eve Glazer and Dr. Elizabeth Ko Hello again, dear readers! Welcome to a bonus edition of the letters column. It’s lovely to be hearing from so many of you. We have two interesting follow-up questions to recent columns, so we’ll dive right in. n When writing about the gut microbiome, we often discuss the benefits of eating naturally fermented foods. We heard from a reader who credits adding fermented foods to her diet with easing symptoms of diverticulitis. “I’ve been managing my condition very well with eating more fermented foods such as pickles, sauerkraut ...

Columnist suggests woman takes time to find perspective

Dear Annie Annie Lane Dear Annie: My husband and I are in our early 60s, married for 40-plus years. We plan to retire and travel soon. But the past year or so he seemed to become obsessed with his smartphone, holding his phone all the time and guarding it. I asked him if he had a Facebook account and he said no. But when I entered his cell number in the Facebook login and a common password we use, it came up with “invalid password.” (It would have said “no account found” if he didn’t have one.) I told him I wanted to talk and asked him to be honest if he had a Facebook ...

Pluto was reclassified as a ‘dwarf planet’ two decades ago

Stargazers Dennis Mammana It was 20 years ago that our solar system lost a planet. Well, it didn’t really go anywhere, but Pluto is no longer a planet because it’s been reclassified. I’m sure you figured out in school that scientists love to classify things. Rocks, clouds, plants and, yes, even stars and planets. So why did they feel the need to reclassify Pluto? Because Pluto doesn’t seem to fit the pattern of the rest of the major worlds of our solar system. First, it’s a world not even 1,500 miles across; in other words, if we could bring it to Earth, it would fit ...

Stolen Picasso etching found in vacant apartment

MADISON, Wis. — Bill DeLind thought the Picasso print that was stolen from his Milwaukee gallery in 2018 was gone forever. But then police called last week and asked him to look an artwork that a local landlord found while cleaning out a vacant apartment. DeLind immediately recognized ...

Safety requires firms to have rules to follow

The August 2025 explosion at U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works didn’t happen because employees weren’t following the rules. It happened because there weren’t rules to follow. This week, the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board released its report on the tragedy that killed two employees — Timothy Quinn, 39, and Steven Menefee, 52 — and injured 11 others. A series of three explosions caused $52.5 million in damage to the facility. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has levied 10 violations and $118,000 in fines. The Chemical Safety and Hazard ...