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Readers and writers: Three novels that are out of the ordinary

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:08 GMT

Three novels, including the big PEN prize winner, are our good reads today.“Sometimes Creek”: by Steve Fox (Cornerstone Press, $24.95 paperback).And it occurs to you that somehow this man can move the dark. Like pushing a coin across the table with only your thoughts, he can grasp darkness between his fingertips … you’re convinced he got there by opening a crack in the blackness and stepping out to join you in your mutual exile. Greet you and share a drink and set you straight. And that soon he’ll disappear back inside. You know it. — From “Sometimes Creek”Steve Fox, award-winning Wisconsin writer, offers 17 stories in his debut collection. Reading some of these Midwestern pieces is like looking in a cracked mirror — everything seems slightly off-center.A 10-year-old who just threw a hockey game because he hates the kid who would have scored is visited by a homeless man with a dark face who offers the boy some wisdom. In another ...

Skywatch: Double punch of spring

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:08 GMT

After another long winter, we could all use some spring. Yes, winter sports are great, but many of us are ready to turn the page. It’s time for spring 2023 to begin, at least astronomically, and it will arrive tomorrow afternoon, March 20, at 4:24 CDT, the exact moment of the vernal equinox.In 2007, Congress changed the start of daylight saving time to the second Sunday in March. Before 2007, it began in April. The earlier start gives us a preview of spring, in a way. Admittedly, the beginning of daylight saving time is more noticeable than the vernal equinox because of the dramatic increase in daylight in the early evening, even if the weather outside may be less than spring-like.Nonetheless, the vernal equinox is a big deal astronomically as the sun crosses the celestial equator heading farther north and higher in our sky. Earth revolves around the sun with its axis tilted by 23.5 degrees to its orbit around our home star. Because of that, the sun’s path among the backdrop of star...

Other voices: Record defense spending? Yes, but …

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:08 GMT

The White House is touting President Biden’s U.S. military budget for fiscal 2024 as a record, and Mr. Biden is betting busy Americans won’t look past the headlines. The truth is that he’s asking for a real defense cut, even as the U.S. is waking up late to a world of new threats.The Pentagon’s budget request may seem large at $842 billion. But the figure is only a 3.2% increase over last year, and with inflation at 6% it means a decline in buying power. Compare the 3.2% growth with the double-digit increases for domestic accounts: 19% for the Environmental Protection Agency; 13.6% for both the Education and Energy Departments; 11.5% for Health and Human Services.For all the talk about a bloated Pentagon, defense in 2022 was only about 13% of the federal budget. It’s about 3% of GDP, down from 5% to 6% during the Cold War, even though America’s challenges today are arguably more numerous and acute.China is building a world-class military to drive America out of the Pacific. Russia i...

‘Very lucky to be here’: Oakdale foundation helps Ukrainian soldiers walk again

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:08 GMT

Ukrainian soldier Dmytro Batychko was running for cover from a Russian drone attack last summer when another soldier stepped on a landmine. It exploded. Batychko’s comrade fell.Batychko ran to help. He stepped on another landmine. His comrade died; Batychko lost the lower half of his left leg.Batychko was one of five Ukrainian soldiers who arrived in Minnesota on March 10. The men share a heartbreaking similarity: They have all lost a limb in the war with Russia.Brought to the U.S. by the Protez Foundation, a nonprofit organization that helps Ukrainian children, soldiers and civilians get free, high-quality prosthetics in the U.S., the soldiers were greeted with fanfare when they arrived at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Within a few hours of landing, they were being fitted for prosthetics by Protez Foundation volunteers at a clinic in Oakdale. Two days later, four of the five men were walking.“We were like little kids who were given a toy to play with,” said Batychko, ...

Ask Amy: Nurse pours salt into post-pandemic problems

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:08 GMT

Dear Amy: It might be my profession that makes me a little salty, but I’m hoping that you can reframe or share some thoughts on this irritation.When the pandemic started, everyone was sent to work from home.All most people could do was complain about how difficult this was. Being a nurse and manager of a medical unit, I obviously did not get to work from home. Nor did I have any “boring” days like so many people complained about.Now, three years later, many people have settled into working from home and love it.Now they’re complaining about having to go into an office a few times a month.Speaking on behalf of most of us in healthcare (and any service industry), I really wish people could appreciate their situation.Making every work setting or situation into a complaint is obnoxious for those of us who do not have these luxurious options.Your take?— Salty NurseDear Salty: I want to thank you for your service, and also for the invitation to ponder and potential...

Word Game: March 19, 2023

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:08 GMT

TODAY’S WORD — MAGNETIC (MAGNETIC: mag-NET-ik: Having the power or ability to attract.)Average mark 51 wordsTime limit 60 minutesCan you find 67 or more words in MAGNETIC?TODAY’S WORD — MAGNETIC mace magi magic magnet main mane mange manic mantic mate mating mean meant meat meting mica mice mien mince mine mint mintage mite acing acme acne acting agent amen anemic ante anti antic gain gait game gate genic giant gnat name neat nice eating emit enact enigma tame taming tang team time tine tinea ting tinge iceman image inmate item cage came cane cant cent cinema citeTo purchase the Word Game book, visit WordGameBooks.com. Order it now for just $5 while supplies last!RULES OF THE GAME:1. Words must be of four or more letters.2. Words that acquire four letters by the addition of “s,” such as “bats” or “dies,” are not allowed.3. Additional words made by adding a “d” or an “s” may not be used. For example, if “bake” is used, “baked” or “bakes” are not allowed, but “...

Horoscopes March 19, 2023: Bruce Willis, do your own thing

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:08 GMT

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: AJ Lee, 36; Bruce Willis, 68; Glenn Close, 76; Ursula Andress, 87.Glenn Close (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images) Happy Birthday: You’ll have the imagination, drive and passion for making things happen this year. Take the road that provides the most direct path to victory. Wasting time arguing will be your downfall. Trust and believe in yourself, and you won’t feel the need to let others step in and disrupt your plans. Follow your heart, do your own thing and enjoy the rewards. Your numbers are 5, 16, 22, 27, 30, 33, 42.ARIES (March 21-April 19): Think big and follow through. Physically prepare for whatever you must do to turn your idea or plan into a reality. Use your strength, courage and skills to get what you want. Share your success with someone you love. 4 starsTAURUS (April 20-May 20): Research will lead to someone who can shed light on your options. Be observant and listen. Don’t feel the need to act fast or give up to...

Bridge: March 19, 2023

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:08 GMT

In the club lounge, Unlucky Louie asked me if I’d heard about the barber college that fielded a football team.“Did they win any games?” I asked.“Not one,” Louie said solemnly. “They got too many penalties for clipping.”Louie got clipped for 100 points in today’s deal — a painful shearing since he could have been plus 1430 points. North’s jump to four hearts showed a weak, shapely hand with good heart support. As South, Louie roared into six hearts, reasonably enough. West found the best lead of a trump. Louie won and started a crossruff that was short-lived: ace of diamonds, ace of clubs, club ruff, diamond ruff, club ruff, diamond ruff.Louie next led the ace and a low spade. West won and led another trump, and that was the end of the contract. With three tricks to go, Louie was left with only one trump in each hand; he had to lose another trick.“You could have made it,” North growled.“My barber asked me h...

How Jonathan Kuminga and Jordan Poole can lift a fatigued Warriors team

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:08 GMT

Steve Kerr’s voice was clear. His pleas heard loud enough for those seated behind the Warriors bench at FedEx Forum to hear.“Shoot the ball!”Kerr’s cries were directed at Jonathan Kuminga — who the Memphis Grizzlies left wide open with the ball from 3. With no option for a pass for a better look, Kuminga took Kerr’s advice and shot the ball from the top-left wing and hit it.Kuminga went 3-for-3 from 3 in the first half and 4-for-7 overall and scored a team-high 24 points to keep afloat a noticeably fatigued Warriors team in Memphis. Though for all his efforts, the Warriors lost their 11th straight road game, 133-119, on Saturday night. But the 20-year-old’s performance provided a glimpse of what could be.The Warriors lack of size and defensive versatility without Andrew Wiggins and Gary Payton II is having a direct impact on their road woes. Opponents are shooting the lights out from 3 when the Warriors come to town — the Grizzlies sho...

Bush's Iraq War Lies Served as a Blueprint For Donald Trump

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:08 GMT

President George W. Bush addresses the nation about U.S. attacks on Iraq from the Oval Office on March 19, 2003.Photo: Alex Wong/Getty ImagesPaul Wolfowitz walked among the tombstones of the Iraq war dead.It was April 9, 2009, and Wolfowitz, the former deputy secretary of defense in the Bush administration and one of the chief architects of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, had come to Arlington National Cemetery to celebrate the sixth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad.He came to Section 60, the portion of Arlington where American soldiers who had died in Iraq and Afghanistan lay buried, as the most prominent guest at a small ceremony to mark the day six years earlier when the statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad’s Firdos Square had been pulled down. Wolfowitz and other Iraq war hawks had decided that April 9 should be commemorated as “Iraq Liberation Day.”The 2009 celebration was organized and hosted by Viola Drath, a former journalist, longtime socialite, and, at 89, a tireless networker...