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NEW YORK — This summer, high rollers are flying to lavish hot spots for their vacations. The rest of us are driving to less luxurious places like nearby campgrounds. The good news: At some U.S. campgrounds these days you get live bands, air guitar contests and chocolate pudding slip ‘n slides. Americans’ plans for summer travel mirror [...]
WASHINGTON — No one answered the tax-help hotline at the IRS on Friday. And you could forget about getting advice on avoiding foreclosures at the 80 Housing and Urban Development field offices nationwide. It was “furlough Friday.” Roughly 5 percent of the federal workforce — 115,000 people at six major agencies — were told not [...]
SAN FRANCISCO — Netflix is hoping this weekend’s release of the resurrected TV series “Arrested Development” will draw more subscribers to its Internet video service. The award-winning show about the dysfunctional Bluth family returns Sunday, seven years after Fox cancelled the series. The revival coincides with Netflix’s own resounding comeback from a customer backlash over [...]
LONDON — Wrestling’s governing body has “reacted well” and made the necessary changes to give the sport a chance of saving its place in the Olympics, IOC President Jacques Rogge said. In an interview with The Associated Press, Rogge said FILA has dealt with the issues that led the IOC executive board in February to remove wrestling from the [...]
DURHAM, N.C. — Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski just couldn’t pass on “the ultimate honor” of representing his country again as the U.S. men’s national team coach. Krzyzewski is returning as coach through 2016, extending a run that included leading the Americans to two straight Olympic golds while helping reshape a program that needed a jolt to keep [...]
NEW YORK — LeBron James was a unanimous pick for the All-NBA team and Kobe Bryant earned his record-tying 11th first-team selection. James received all 119 votes for the first team from a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the U.S. and Canada. Joining the league’s MVP and Bryant on the first team Thursday were Oklahoma City’s [...]
INDIANAPOLIS — Katherine Legge didn’t know she’d have a shot at the Indianapolis 500 until it was time to qualify, when Schmidt Peterson Motorsports decided to put her in its second car at the last second. Pippa Mann chatted with tire makers, dropped in on the folks from the television networks and even tried to get cozy [...]
PARIS — Used to be the French Open was the scene for clay-court specialists and surprise champions. Scan the list of past winners and runners-up. There’s Gaston Gaudio and Albert Costa, Guillermo Coria and Martin Verkerk, Andres Gomez and Mariano Puerta. Not so much a “Who’s Who.” More like a “Who’s He?” The women’s list features fewer out-of-nowhere [...]
VACAVILLE — Donna Weaver has seen all three of her boys become Eagle Scouts. She’s watched each of them grow up and mature through their experiences with the Eagle Scouts. Soon, she will see the last of her sons graduate from high school and be formally honored as an Eagle Scout and leave the nest. [...]
I have been in the process of making life a little simpler by disposing of things I no longer need. This includes things I once treasured, but treasured only by myself . I miscalculated on one item; actually several thousand items. A month or so ago I mentioned a collection of matchbook covers to my son. He [...]
Protect your kids from the “summer slide.” When I was a kid, the month of May meant summer vacation, with its long lazy days, was just around the corner. Our favorite school chant? No more pencils No more books No more teachers’ dirty looks When the principal rings the bell Drop your books and run [...]
BALTIMORE — Growing up, Kentucky Derby winner Orb was just another horse who fit in with the crowd. Never caused problems. Never raised a ruckus. Never got sick or hurt while frolicking in the fields of Claiborne Farm in Paris, Ky., with his pals, or when he was learning how to be a racehorse at [...]
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Warrior Games athlete and medically retired Soldier, Randall “Blake” McMinn, remembers that during his Army career, he was taught to leave behind the possibility of failure and the temptation of quitting. That crucial lesson sticks with McMinn now, nearly seven years after his medical retirement. Today, he continues to live with [...]
SOUTHWEST ASIA — A weather Airman who issues warnings when lightning strikes take place within five miles of an air base knows the danger: He’s a lightning-strike survivor. Senior Airman Erik White, a 386th Expeditionary Operations Support Squadron weather journeyman, was taking pictures when he was struck by lightning as a thunderstorm rolled in while [...]
SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. — Army civilian personnel specialist Tracey Leven recalls the time she tried to use a breast pump to express milk in a military office years ago. Instead of “breast pump in use,” she was required to put a sign on the door reading, “occupied.” That didn’t stop two male soldiers [...]
Army National Guard Pvt. Kevin C. King Jr. has graduated from basic combat training at Fort Jackson in Columbia, S.C. King is a 2000 graduate of Peoples High School in Vallejo. Air Force Reserve Airman 1st Class Jesse B. Nelson graduated from basic military training at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland in San Antonio. Nelson is [...]
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel ordered the furlough of 680,000 civilian employees for one day a week, from early July through September, to avoid taking deeper cuts in training and maintenance, which could have degraded readiness to the point of threatening “core missions,” he said. The Department of Defense furlough plan will cut work hours and [...]
FAIRFIELD — Trevor Wright’s hometown of Rio Vista is a far cry from his new home, Los Angeles. The aspiring actor got his first taste of his Hollywood dream after his first play at Riverview Middle School. From then on, Wright said he knew where he needed to go. “I thought, ‘I got to get [...]
In “The End of Men,” a book by Atlantic magazine national correspondent Hanna Rosin, the author describes the increasing role of women in our nation’s economy, particularly in high-paying technical jobs. For example, for every two men who graduate from American colleges, three women do the same. Among the service jobs of our economy, including most [...]
Sometimes events lead you to places you never expected to go. It just happened to me. Kelvin Wade’s April 11 column – about all of us helping the next generation – mentioned Tri City National Association for the Advancement of Colored People President Minnie Noble. Minnie is on the forefront of helping kids who need [...]
Air Force Reserve Airman Chanquelle Mitchell Harris graduated from basic military training at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland in San Antonio. Mitchell Harris is the daughter of Monique Mitchell of Vacaville. She is a 2012 graduate of Vanden High School in Fairfield. Army Reserve Pvt. Monica Pagtanac has graduated from basic combat training at Fort Jackson [...]
BALTIMORE — On July 5, 2011, Senior Airman Gideon L. Connelly was involved in a motorcycle accident in Baltimore County with serious damage to his left leg. The doctors told the Maryland Air National Guard repair and reclamation crew chief that, if he kept his leg, it would leave him with limitations to what he [...]
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — An Anchorage man has donated a trophy moose head and antlers to the Navy’s newest warship. Lex Patten told the Anchorage Daily News that his gift to the USS Anchorage pays tribute to his late father, Allen Patten, a World War II Navy veteran. The shoulder mount was donated to the ship [...]
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — It was the little gestures that put Navy Lt. Gary Ross at ease in the weeks after the repeal of the military’s ban on openly gay service members. When he went to work, his boss asked him: “How’s Dan?” — a reference to Ross’ husband. And when it came time to select [...]
INDIANAPOLIS — Kurt Busch wants to race an IndyCar at Indianapolis. Just not now. The 2004 Sprint Cup champion kept Ryan Hunter-Reay’s primary car out of trouble Thursday, topping 218 mph on one of the world’s most prestigious tracks. He became the first driver to pass this year’s rookie test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, likely [...]
Base commissaries face turbulent times as staff vacancies swell under a federal hiring freeze, employee furloughs remain a worry and the Defense Commissary Agency digests budget guidance for fiscal year 2015 that will force new efficiencies on stores and possibly deeper cuts to store operations. The guidance directs at least a 5 percent cut of [...]
MADRID — Second-ranked Roger Federer lost to Kei Nishikori 6-4, 1-6, 6-2 in the third round of the Madrid Open on Thursday, leaving Rafael Nadal as the clear title favorite. After recovering from Nishikori’s strong start on the Caja’s Magica’s new red clay courts, Federer looked as if he’d found his stride as he roared back [...]
CLEVELAND — Major League Baseball says the umpires were wrong. That doesn’t help the Oakland Athletics. One day after umpire Angel Hernandez and his crew failed to reverse an obvious home run by A’s infielder Adam Rosales following a video review, MLB executive vice president Joe Torre said an “improper call” was made in the [...]
LOS ANGELES — Betfair Hollywood Park will close by year’s end and the 75-year-old racetrack property in Inglewood will be developed by its owner. The track announced on Thursday what had been anticipated since Churchill Downs sold it to Hollywood Park Land Co. in 2005. Track President Jack Liebau says the land in the Los [...]
SAN FRANCISCO — Microsoft has extended a guarantee that provides Yahoo with financial protection as part of the two companies’ Internet search partnership. An arrangement requiring Microsoft Corp. to pay Yahoo Inc. a minimum amount per search on Yahoo’s website expired March 31. That had raised concerns Yahoo might make less money from the Microsoft partnership. Those worries eased Tuesday with a Yahoo regulatory [...]
