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How Dave Barry mixes Florida weirdness, TikTok and treasure in ‘Swamp Story’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:41 GMT

I read 18 pages of Dave Barry’s new novel “Swamp Story” before I began laughing uncontrollably. I’m not going to tell you what prompted this outburst, but you’ll recognize the scene when you get there.At age 75, Barry remains the grand master of American humor writing, having produced more than 50 books, mostly involving anecdotes from his own life. He’s written about wine tasting, skiing and floating in the Dead Sea.Now he’s turned his attention to the Everglades in his adopted home state of Florida in his just-published novel “Swamp Story,” published by Simon & Schuster. The author explained the difference between his fiction and nonfiction writing.“When I write nonfiction, it’s supposed to be funny, so I’m thinking about that and not thinking long-term,” he says. “When I’m writing fiction, I mainly want it to be a good story.”During a phone interview, Barry said he got the idea for the novel after visiting the Everglades, which is the largest subtropical wilderness in the Uni...

No more hospital corners: Mom’s mistake sparks business idea for fitted flat sheets

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:41 GMT

As the mother of two Michele Wytas knows the struggle of trying to keep a top sheet on a bed.Every time she would do her final night check on her sons when they were younger, “the sheets would be all over,” despite her having made the beds with tight, folded top sheet corners.Her sons didn’t want to re-make the bed and neither did she, as one bed was up against the wall and had to be pulled out to tuck the corners.With those vivid memories in mind, Wytas would come up with a solution that “I fell upon by accident,” and turned it into a business.Her “Toesty Sheets” – sold in full sets – include a top sheet with fitted sheet corners on the bottom so the sheet doesn’t fall off, yet the toes are free. View this post on InstagramA post shared by Toesty Sheets (@toestysheets)Crowdfunding to expand the business The business is doing well, Wytas said, but she’s launched a crowdfunding campaign to take it to the next level and is looking to partner with a mattress company or other relevant ...

Kia and Hyundai thefts could affect your insurance rate

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:41 GMT

How familiar are you with the Kia Challenge?Even if you answered “Not at all,” you may have still heard about the TikTok trend of people hot-wiring and stealing Kias and Hyundais for fun.This was an alarming turn of events for the owners of around 8.3 million at-risk cars, a number estimated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. While both Kia and Hyundai have announced software updates to address the issue, many of those vehicles are still unprotected, according to the NHTSA — including the cars owned by both writers of this article.For full transparency: Ryan drives a Hyundai, Drew drives a Kia and neither vehicle is currently eligible for the software updates. So this article is more than just another assignment — it’s also the advice we’re following to protect our cars.What is the Kia Challenge?The Kia Challenge started in Milwaukee with a group called the Kia Boyz. They gained local notoriety in 2021, but found a national audience in July 2022 when a TikTok vid...

SR-78 officially reopening for drivers after extended closure

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:41 GMT

OCEANSIDE, Calif. -- State Route 78 is set to fully reopen for drivers Monday afternoon, after Caltrans said crews officially completed emergency repairs to the freeway.The #1 westbound lane opened for motorists at 11 a.m. today, according to Caltrans. All eastbound lanes will open at 2 p.m., just in time for the evening commute.“We would like to thank the community, the cities of Oceanside and Vista, the traveling public and local businesses for their patience and understanding while we completed this emergency work project,” District 11 Chief Deputy Director Everett Townsend said in a release. Safe sleeping, new shelters proposed in Gloria’s budget for homeless solutions The emergency work to the stretch of freeway from College Boulevard to El Camino Real began nearly two months ago, when a sinkhole formed on the westbound lanes amid heavy rain from this year's winter storms.Repairs were initially expected to take a few days, but crews soon found the problem was much bigger than...

Mexican president to hold call with Biden on immigration

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:41 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s president said Monday he will talk with U.S. President Joe Biden by telephone on Tuesday about immigration and the fentanyl crisis.President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said the leaders will also discuss development programs to help stem the flow of migrants to the U.S. border. The conversation comes two days before the end of pandemic-era immigration restrictions that allowed U.S. authorities to quickly expel migrants who crossed the border illegally.López Obrador appealed to migrants not to use smugglers to travel to the U.S. border. “Don’t allow yourselves to be fooled,” López Obrador said during his morning news briefing. “Don’t allow yourselves to be blackmailed by coyotes, smugglers, who put you at risk.”Mexico agreed last week to continue to accept migrants from Venezuela, Haiti, Cuba and Nicaragua who are turned away at the border, as well as some other migrants from Central America.The Mexican president has previously asked the ...

Source: Army booted Texas mall gunman over mental health

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:41 GMT

DALLAS (AP) — The man accused of killing eight people and wounding several others in a mass shooting at a suburban Dallas shopping mall over the weekend apparently had been working as a security guard and was discharged from the U.S. Army in 2008 because of mental health issues, according to neighbors and an Army official.Mauricio Garcia, 33, was killed by police, ending the attack Saturday at the outlet mall in Allen.Garcia joined the Army in 2008 but was terminated three months later without completing his initial training, said Army spokeswoman Heather J. Hagan, who said the Army doesn’t “provide characterization” for any soldier’s discharge.According to an Army official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel issues, though, Garcia was kicked out of the Army due to mental health issues. Federal officials are looking into whether Garcia expressed an interest in white supremacist ideology, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. The o...

See more about the 2023 Pulitzer winners in journalism, arts

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:41 GMT

The Pulitzer Prizes recognizing the best of journalism and the arts in 2022 were announced Monday. The Associated Press will update the list of winners with more information — including any specific citations for journalists — and reaction as we learn more.___PUBLIC SERVICE AWARD: Mstyslav Chernov, Lori Hinnant, Evgeniy Maloletka, Vasilisa Stepanenko, The Associated PressYou can find a list of stories the team produced on our “Erasing Mariupol” page. BREAKING NEWS REPORTING: The Los Angeles TimesThe staff of the Los Angeles Times published a secretly recorded conversation among city officials that included racist comments and followed up with in-depth coverage of the aftermath.INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING: The Wall Street Journal The Wall Street Journal’s “Capital Assets” series analyzed the investments of about 12,000 federal officials and their families between 2016 and 2021. The Journal collected and analyzed data on about 850,000 financial assets and more than 315,000 transactions. T...

‘Persona non grata:’ Canada expelling Chinese diplomat after threats to Tory MP

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:41 GMT

OTTAWA — The Liberal government is expelling Chinese diplomat Zhao Wei, whom Canada’s spy agency alleged was involved in a plot to intimidate Conservative MP Michael Chong and his relatives in Hong Kong.Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly says in a statement that Canada has declared the Toronto-based diplomat as persona non grata, over what she calls “foreign interference in our internal affairs.”Joly, who warned last week that Beijing would retaliate if Ottawa did expel diplomats, says the decision followed “careful consideration of all factors at play.”She says that “defending our democracy is of the utmost importance,” after saying China could threaten the safety of Canadians and the prosperity of the country.The federal government has confirmed a report in the Globe and Mail that CSIS had information in 2021 that the Chinese government was looking at ways to intimidate Chong and his relatives in Hong Kong over his criticism of Beijing&...

Teachers earn $67K on average. Is push for raises too late?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:41 GMT

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — As schools across the country struggle to find teachers to hire, more governors are pushing for pay increases, bonuses and other perks for the beleaguered profession — with some vowing to beat out other states competing for educators.Already in 2023, governors in Georgia and Arkansas have pushed through teacher pay increases. Ahead of Monday’s start of national Teacher Appreciation Week, others — both Republican and Democratic — have proposed doing the same to attract and retain educators.More than half of the states’ governors over the past year — 26 so far — have proposed boosting teacher compensation, according to groups that track it. The nonprofit Teacher Salary Project said it is the most it has seen in nearly two decades of tracking.“Today we have governors left and right from every political party and then some who are addressing this issue because they have to,” said founder and CEO Ninivé Caligari. “We’ve never seen what we are seeing right now. Neve...

Veteran ‘enamored’ with Hitler gets 4 years for Capitol riot

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:41 GMT

A military veteran who told an undercover FBI agent about his admiration for Adolf Hitler and discussed a plan to “wipe out” the nation’s Jewish population was sentenced on Monday to four years in prison for storming the U.S. Capitol.U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden ordered Virginia resident Hatchet Speed to serve the four-year sentence after he completes a separate three-year prison term for a conviction on firearms offenses, court records show.The FBI recorded Speed’s conversations with the undercover agent more than a year after the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol. The agent posed as “a like-minded individual” while meeting with Speed at least three times in 2022. Speed, 41, was “deeply worried” about Democrat Joe Biden’s presidency and believed false claims that the 2020 presidential election had been stolen from Donald Trump, the Republican incumbent, prosecutors wrote in a court filing. He told the undercover agent that he believes Jewish people control ...