Hugh fitzpatrick

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 8 Beth Roper had already sold her husband Doug's boat and his pickup truck. Her daughter sends $500 a month or more. But it was nowhere near enough to pay the $5,950-a-month bill at Doug's assisted-living facility. So last year, Roper, 65, abandoned her own plans to retire. To the public school librarian from Poquoson, Va., it feels like a betrayal of a social contract. Doug Roper, a longtime high school history teacher and wrestling coach, has a pension and Social Security. The Ropers own a home; they have savings. Yet the expense of Doug's residential Alzheimer's care poses a grave threat to their middle-class nest egg. At nearly $72,000, a year in assisted living for Doug, 67, costs more than her $64,000 annual salary. "It's devastating," she said. "You can't wrap your head around it." A wave of Americans has been reaching retirement age largely … [Read more...] about Senior care is crushingly expensive. Boomers aren’t ready.

NEW YORK (AP) — Keep an eye to the sky this week for a chance to see a planetary hangout. Five planets — Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Uranus and Mars — will line up near the moon. WHERE AND WHEN CAN YOU SEE THEM? The best day to catch the whole group is Tuesday. You’ll want to look to the western horizon right after sunset, said NASA astronomer Bill Cooke. The planets will stretch from the horizon line to around halfway up the night sky. But don't be late: Mercury and Jupiter will quickly dip below the horizon around half an hour after sunset. The five-planet spread can be seen from anywhere on Earth, as long as you have clear skies and a view of the west. “That’s the beauty of these planetary alignments. It doesn’t take much,” Cooke said. DO I NEED BINOCULARS? Maybe. Jupiter, Venus and Mars will all be pretty easy to see since they shine brightly, Cooke said. Venus will be one of the brightest things in the sky, and Mars will be hanging out near the moon with a reddish … [Read more...] about Planets on parade: 5 will be lined up in night sky this week

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 12 “You’re not a lot of fun, are you,” notes barbarian Holga (Michelle Rodriguez) to brave fighter Xenk (Regé-Jean Page) in the new “Dungeons & Dragons” film, making two jokes at once. The first is that Xenk, a paladin (or holy knight) in “D&D” lingo, is everything BUT fun — gorgeous, noble, heroic, smart, and did we mention gorgeous? He’s just REALLY not fun, or funny. He’s so not funny, it’s hilarious. The second, broader joke is that “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves,” hotly awaited by devotees of the decades-old role-playing game, makes darned sure to be fun, and funny — enough to laugh at itself. And that's the thing that makes it work. At least, for a newbie like me. I’ve never played the game, I confess. But this is a movie, not a game, and I’m here to tell you how it works for over two hours at the … [Read more...] about Review: ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ puts the funny in fantasy

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 5 NEW YORK - The shimmering chords strike up, the blood runs cold, and we're back in the pit of giddy depravity once again with one of American musical lovers' favorite waltzes on the dark side: "Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street." This time, it's sung by one of America's favorite sons of song, Josh Groban, alongside an exuberantly daft Annaleigh Ashford - a team that anchors this Stephen Sondheim-Hugh Wheeler masterpiece solidly in vocal muscularity and a sickening comic craziness. Director Thomas Kail, of "Hamilton" fame, shapes a mellifluously strapping revival of the 1979 musical, which marked its official Broadway opening Sunday night at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, to the distinct contours of his stars' personalities. Which translates in this production as taking a cue from a line delivered late in the show by the ensemble of unnerved Londoners: "Isn't that … [Read more...] about Groban and Ashford ignite the flames of a funny, sexier ‘Sweeney Todd’

House Republicans are expected to pass legislation Thursday that would increase oil drilling and mining on public lands and waters, defying President Biden's climate agenda and fulfilling a campaign promise to focus on lowering gasoline prices ahead of the 2024 election. The sprawling 175-page package, known as the Lower Energy Costs Act, would slash some environmental regulations and reinstate suspended oil and gas leases. It also would repeal parts of the Democrats' landmark climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act. While the House is poised to approve the measure along party lines, it is not expected to become law. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) has said the package will be "dead on arrival" in the Democratic-controlled Senate, while Biden has said he would veto the measure if it reached his desk. But Republicans believe the bill will send a potent message to voters that they kept a midterm election promise to lower gas prices, which spiked after … [Read more...] about House GOP to pass energy package with eye on gas prices, 2024

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A powerful San Diego County supervisor said he will resign amid accusations that he sexually assaulted a government employee, completing a swift and shocking fall for a decorated Marine combat veteran whose star rose with his Democratic Party’s ascendancy in the nation’s eighth-largest city. Nathan Fletcher, who defected from the Republican Party in 2012, was elected to a second term on the county board of supervisors with 65% of the vote in November, two years after Democrats won a board majority that eluded their grasp for decades. Fletcher, 46, was the face of the San Diego region’s muscular response to COVID-19 at daily news conferences. He became half of San Diego’s most powerful political couple after his 2017 marriage to Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, a well-known liberal Democratic state assemblywoman who became a top California labor leader last year. Fletcher’s progressive positions and telegenic presence made him a solid favorite to succeed another … [Read more...] about San Diego County supervisor to resign after assault lawsuit

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 With the popular resurgence of the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, it was only a matter of time before a movie studio got hold of it. I mean, another movie studio. Yes, there was a trilogy in the 2000s, with Part 2 made for TV and Part 3 going straight to video. But no, they have nothing to do with the new "Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves," which features a new all-star cast and better succeeds in selling the D&D experience to a wider audience than die-hard players. Here's the backstory, which unspools during a parole board hearing that opens the film: Chris Pine plays Edgin Darvis - or Ed, as he is known - a virtuosic thief who, with friends Holga (Michelle Rodriguez), Simon (Justice Smith) and Forge (Hugh Grant), had teamed up with the wizard Sofina (Daisy Head) to rob a vault full of riches, including a magical tablet that would allow Ed to resurrect his … [Read more...] about The new ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ film mostly captures the game’s magic

In the round-up: Lotus team principal Eric Boullier defends the under-fire Romain Grosjean after his crash-strewn weekend in Monaco. Links Your daily digest of F1 news, views, features and more. Lotus still backing Grosjean to come good (Reuters) Eric Boullier: “He did a great job over the winter and fixed all the problems he had last year. But there is some frustration some time when he knows he can be fast. He just needs to build himself saying he is fast, and he can deliver some big results.” Q&A with Force India?������s Vijay Mallya (F1) “If you only want three or four teams in Formula One running three cars each you should proceed in the way it is now. But I think Formula One also needs the smaller independent teams as well, so everybody must also look at the common interests – not only the individual interests.” Mercedes secret tyre test: Lewis Hamilton more worried about his poor Monaco performance than his team’s potential punishment (The … [Read more...] about Boullier defends Grosjean after Monaco crashes · RaceFans

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 DES MOINES - As a Republican candidate for president, Nikki Haley introduces herself as the proud daughter of Indian immigrants. She says it's time for a new generation of leaders and the best way to accomplish that is to put a "badass woman" in the White House. At the same time, Haley has underscored that she does not believe there are "glass ceilings" limiting women. She rejects identity politics as a form of divisiveness and "woke self-loathing." And she stated her belief in a speech kicking off her campaign last month that "America is not a racist country." With her underdog White House bid, Haley, 51, a former governor of South Carolina and U.N. ambassador, is the first prominent woman of color to seek the GOP nomination. As she campaigns around the country, she is at once seeking to accentuate her differences from White male candidates and offer reassurances that they are not … [Read more...] about Nikki Haley walks fine line on race, gender in appeal to GOP base