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As the Southeast U.S. recovers in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene’s destruction, consumers looking to change their air travel plans to or from affected areas without taking a financial hit may be out of luck. Regrettably, the big-picture issue that happens in U.S. air travel doesn't compensate when there is a significant disruption; air passengers have very limited rights. Despite Helene's massive destruction, travelers hoping to change flights for free or cancel their plans for a refund may find airlines unwilling to grant that financially flexibility. Weather-related events like Hurricane Helene are generally considered to be outside an airline’s control. The airline’s duty in such cases generally depends on a passenger’s specific fare, such as economy or business class. There’s...

One of the sport’s greatest players, he set a record with 4,256 career hits. But his gambling led to a lifetime ban and kept him out of the Hall of Fame. For millions of baseball fans, Rose will be known mainly for a number, 4,256, his total of hits, the most for any player in the history of the game. But he was a deeply compromised champion. Few sports figures have been the lightning rod for controversy and public opinion that he turned out to be, an athlete who maximized his gifts, earned a legion of fans with his competitive zeal and achieved wide celebrity and acclaim — only to fall from grace with astonishing indignity. [More]

"Dikembe Mutombo was simply larger than life," NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. "On the court, he was one of the greatest shot blockers and defensive players in the NBA.  Off the floor, he poured his heart and soul into helping others." Mutombo was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo before moving to the United States and playing college basketball at Georgetown University. Drafted by the Denver Nuggets as the fourth pick in the 1991 draft, the seven-foot, two-inch center played with six NBA teams throughout his 18-year career and was an eight-time NBA All-Star. In 2015, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Dame Margaret Natalie Smith was a British actress. Known for her wit in both comedic and dramatic roles, she had an extensive career on stage and screen over seven decades and was one of Britain's most recognisable and prolific actresses.[1] She received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, five BAFTA Awards, four Emmy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and a Tony Award, as well as nominations for six Olivier Awards. Smith is one of the few performers to earn the Triple Crown of Acting.

Expressing more than just the malaise of someone suffering from a hangover, “Sunday Morning Coming Down” gives voice to feelings of spiritual abandonment that border on the absolute. “Nothing short of dying” is the way the chorus describes the desolation that the song’s protagonist is experiencing. Steeped in a neo-Romantic sensibility that owed as much to John Keats as to the Beat Generation and Bob Dylan, Mr. Kristofferson’s work explored themes of freedom and commitment, alienation and desire, darkness and light. “Freedom’s just another word for nothin’ left to lose/Nothin’ ain’t worth nothin’ but it’s free,” he wrote in “Me and Bobby McGee.” Janis Joplin, with whom Mr. Kristofferson was briefly involved romantically, had a posthumous No. 1 single with her plaintive recording of th...

COVID-19 cases continue to fall throughout the country after a summer wave peaked in early August, surveillance data shows. The percentage of positive COVID-19 tests dropped from 17.8% the week of Aug. 10 to 14.9% the week of Sept. 7, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Walgreens’s national respiratory disease tracker showed a similar trend. Americans can prepare for the respiratory virus season by ordering free tests from COVIDtests.gov,

Portion sizes in American restaurants shot up in the 1980s and never came down. Nutritionists and policymakers haven’t had much success fighting portion creep. But today, a combo plate of economics, demographics and climate science may accomplish what years of official hand-wringing could not: loosening the grip that super-size restaurant portions have on the national diet. More than 75 percent of customers say they want smaller portions for less money, according to the 2024 National Restaurant Association report on the industry.Food costs aren’t the only pressure on serving sizes. As much as 40 percent of food served at restaurants never gets eaten! [more]

Once stigmatized, solo dining at restaurants is now becoming more common as diners find benefits to solo dining. Maybe you’re traveling solo for work or taking a vacation alone. Do you order food in your hotel room or choose to eat at a restaurant by yourself? For many, eating alone in public can be unimaginable. But now, more people are electing to dine solo. OpenTable, the online restaurant reservation company, found that “60% have dined solo at a sit-down restaurant in the past 12 months.” And if you are from a younger generation, like Gen Z or a Millennial, that number increases to 68%. One of the biggest benefits of solo dining is it allows people to be more mindful about their food, truly focusing on the flavors, textures and experience of our meal without external distractions...

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) advises Helene is currently located about 85 miles north-northeast of Cozumel, Mexico with maximum sustained winds near 80 mph. A turn toward the north-northeast with an increase in forward speed is expected later Wednesday through Thursday, bringing the center of the storm across the eastern Gulf of Mexico and to the Florida Big Bend coast by Thursday evening. After landfall, Helene is expected to slow down and turn toward the northwest over the southeastern United States Friday and Saturday. Near where Helene makes landfall, general rainfall of 8-12 inches is forecast, with 2 feet of rain possible in isolated areas. Helene is now the fifth hurricane of the 2024 Atlantic season. A typical season sees a total of 7 hurricanes.

Violent crime in the U.S. dropped in 2023, according to FBI statistics that show a continued trend downward after a coronavirus pandemic-era crime spike. Overall violent crime declined an estimated 3% in 2023 from the year before, according to the FBI report Monday. Murders and non-negligent manslaughter dropped nearly 12%. Violent crime has become a focal point in the 2024 presidential race, with former President Donald Trump recently claiming that crime is “through the roof” under President Joe Biden’s administration. Even with the 2020 pandemic surge, violent crime is down dramatically from the 1990s. [More]