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Spiced cookies that are perfect for the holidays

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:50 GMT

We just had a lovely Thanksgiving, a pie holiday — one of the next holidays, Christmas, is a cookie holiday! I like pie but I love cookies and make them frequently throughout the year, especially at Christmastime. Now with no kids at home, I still make cookies, but I only bake a few at a time. The rest of the batch is rolled into walnut-sized balls and frozen in zip-lock bags. It’s a great way to have some warm homemade cookies in a few minutes; more importantly, though, it keeps me from eating them for breakfast.I missed out on those sugary, butter-filled treats as a kid, growing up with a health-conscious mother. She only baked two kinds of cookies: date bars that we could have used for doorstops and gingerbread men that she made for tree decorations. One year I “accidently” discovered those tree decorations tasted pretty good. As the holiday wore on, I secretly nibbled away at the gingerbread men until most of them were just heads hanging from a green thread. Did anyone else do t...

As flu, colds, COVID take over the season, what will you turn to? Some consider vitamin shots, IV therapy, probiotics

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:50 GMT

Alondra Ramos rolled up her sleeve this week for a vitamin shot she hopes will prevent her from getting her husband’s cold.The Fort Lauderdale accountant says the shot, a mix of potent vitamins, usually boosts her immunity levels when traveling and during her busy season at work — now she’s counting on it for cold and flu season.“It’s like taking a high-dosage multivitamin,” Ramos said.Cases of RSV, COVID-19 and the flu are on the rise in the United States, and Florida is one of the states now reporting high levels of respiratory illnesses. Along with vaccines, vitamin injections and vitamin IV therapy are among the tools people are turning to this winter to help ward against these hard-hitting viruses and bacteria circulating, which also include strep throat.Kelly Rice, vice president of operations at Healthy Choice Wellness Center, says her company has been hired by several Broward County businesses this winter season, including Ramos’, to give vitamin shots on-site to employees. ...

Experts offer suggestions for dealing with holiday anxiety and depression

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:50 GMT

At this time of year, everywhere around there are full of holiday images of family gatherings, brightly lit trees, lavish gifts and tables laden with rich foods, beverages and desserts.For those whose depression and anxiety is triggered by the holiday season and those who have lost a loved one, a treasured pet, or even a job and are grieving, the holidays can be tough to navigate.“One of the things we do say is to know your own limitations,” said Karen Monts, practice manager of Counseling Services at Hospice of Michigan. “Don’t feel pressured to do things a certain way or allow images on television to get into your mind so that you feel like everyone is having a wonderful holiday except you, because we know that is not the case.”For someone experiencing the first holiday without a family member, friend or pet, even something like watching a Hallmark Channel Christmas movie can be a trigger. Monts says trying to plan ahead for the holiday can help to alleviate stress and depression....

Special counsel Jack Smith asks the Supreme Court to rule quickly on whether Trump can be prosecuted

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:50 GMT

By MARK SHERMAN and ERIC TUCKER (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — Special counsel Jack Smith on Monday asked the Supreme Court to take up and rule quickly on whether former President Donald Trump can be prosecuted on charges he plotted to overturn the 2020 election results.Smith made his request for the court to act with unusual speed to prevent any delays that could push back the trial of the 2024 Republican presidential primary front-runner, currently set to begin on March 4, until after next year’s presidential election.A federal judge ruled the case could go forward, but Trump signaled he would ask the federal appeals court in Washington to reverse that outcome. Smith is attempting to bypass the appeals court, the usual next step in the process, and have the Supreme Court take up the matter directly.“This case presents a fundamental question at the heart of our democracy: whether a former President is absolutely immune from federal prosecution for crimes comm...

What did you Google in 2023? 'Barbie,' Israel-Hamas war are among the year's top internet searches

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:50 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Your Google search history for 2023 has arrived.Well, actually, the world's. On Monday, the California-based tech giant released its “Year in Search,” a roundup of 2023’s top global queries, ranging from unforgettable pop culture moments (hello, Barbenheimer), to the loss of beloved figures and tragic news carrying worldwide repercussions.The ongoing Israel-Hamas war topped news trends in 2023, per Google's global data, followed by queries related to the Titanic-bound submersible that imploded in June, as well as February's devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria.Damar Hamlin was Google's top trending person on search this year. A safety with the NFL's Buffalo Bills, Hamlin experienced a near-death cardiac arrest on the field during a January game, but has since completed a celebrated comeback. Actor Jeremy Renner, who survived a serious snowplow accident at the start of 2023, followed. Meanwhile, the late Matthew Perry and Tina Turner led search trends among not...

Harvard faculty rallies to the aid of university president criticized for remarks on antisemitism

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:50 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hundreds of Harvard faculty members are urging the Ivy League university to keep its president, Claudine Gay, in command as she faces calls from some lawmakers and donors to step down over comments at a congressional hearing on antisemitism.A petition signed by more than 600 faculty members asks the school’s governing body to resist political pressures “that are at odds with Harvard’s commitment to academic freedom.”Only months into her leadership, Gay came under intense scrutiny following the hearing in which she and two of her peers struggled to answer questions about campus antisemitism. Their academic responses provoked a backlash from Republican opponents, along with alumni and donors who say the university leaders are failing to stand up for Jewish students on their campuses.Liz Magill resigned as president of the University of Pennsylvania on Saturday amid criticism of her handling of the hearing. Rep. Elise Stefanik, a New York Republican whose questions sp...

‘Oh God no’: Neighbours, building staff react with horror after death of young brothers in Scarborough

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:50 GMT

Residents and staff at a Scarborough apartment building reacted with shock on Monday after learning that two young brothers who filled their hallways with laughter had died in an incident now being probed as a possible double homicide.The boys’ mother remains in hospital with serious injuries after falling from her apartment balcony on Sunday night. The two boys, aged four and five, were found unconscious and confirmed dead on Monday.The assistant superintendent at the building told CityNews the woman was grieving the recent death of her husband.“Every day I see them,” he said of the young brothers.“The kids are just amazingly adorable.”“I’m really somewhat confused about what happened here,” he added. “I always stop and wave at them, you can’t ignore these kids they are adorable. It really breaks my heart.”While he said he didn’t know the mother personally, he said she was polite and quiet.“She’s ve...

Mexico’s president vows to eliminate regulatory, oversight agencies, claiming they are ‘useless’

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:50 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s president vowed Monday to try to eliminate almost all remaining government oversight and regulatory agencies before he leaves office on Sept. 30, claiming they are “useless” and cost too much.“There are a lot of wasteful agencies that do not serve any purpose,” President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said. “All of these supposedly autonomous agencies have to disappear.”He vowed to send a bill to Congress to eliminate the federal anti-monopoly commission and agencies regulating telecommunications, the energy market and access to government information.The president has accused the anti-monopoly commission of trying to block his efforts to increase the power of government-owned oil and energy companies. He has claimed the information access agency processes too many freedom of information requests from the public.It is unclear whether López Obrador has the votes in Congress to make the changes. Most of the agencies are enshrined in the Constitution, and...

New N.W.T. premier to focus on emergency readiness, working with Indigenous leaders

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:50 GMT

YELLOWKNIFE — Few understand better the need for communities to be prepared for weather emergencies and disasters than the new premier of the Northwest Territories.R.J. Simpson, elected premier by fellow MLAs on Friday under the territory’s consensus government, barely made it out of his community of Hay River this summer ahead of a wildfire that evacuated the town and kept him out of his home for two months.He says one of the top priorities of his government will be improving the territory’s emergency response and finding ways to minimize the threats.Simpson, a member of the Northwest Territory Métis Nation, says he’ll also work with Indigenous governments to present a united front in Ottawa to lobby for more money for housing and transportation networks.He says the territory is moving toward a mixed form of governance where the MLAs in Yellowknife work with Indigenous governments to share responsibility.Simpson says all 19 MLAs elected in this fall’s ballot...

Book Review: ‘Soldier of Destiny’ traces Ulysses S. Grant’s complicated route before the White House

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:50 GMT

Ulysses S. Grant’s standing among the presidents has improved in recent years, with critically acclaimed biographies by Ron Chernow and others offering a new perspective on his time in the White House.But the 18th president who led the Union armies to victory in the Civil War still leaves a complicated legacy, especially when it comes to his relationship to slavery. That relationship is the centerpiece of John Reeves’ enlightening “Soldier of Destiny: Slavery, Secession and the Redemption of Ulysses S. Grant.” Reeves’ book isn’t a comprehensive biography, and it doesn’t cover Grant’s time in the White House. But it gives readers an enlightening look at how he benefited from slavery years before he helped end the institution.Reeves traces the evolution of Grant from someone who “actively participated in the slave culture of St. Louis” before the Civil War. Reeves is fair and blunt in depicting the role slavery played in Grant’s life as he tri...