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Try these inexpensive speakers for outdoor listening

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:36:11 GMT

My wife, Patti, likes to listen to music while she gardens in the backyard. She can listen through her phone’s speakers, but even though modern smartphone speakers have gotten better, they’re still not that great, especially at loud volumes. So, to allow Patti to listen to music or audio books while picking blueberries and watering her tomatoes, I decided it was time to get a portable Bluetooth speaker.Related ArticlesEntertainment | Lowell Folk Festival boasts diverse, delightful lineup Entertainment | It’s ‘Time’ to check out Culture Club’s fresh stuff at Xfinity Center show Entertainment | Terri Nunn reunites with Berlin for ’80s icon concert Entertainment | Tony Bennett dies at 96: ‘Best singer in the business’ [+photo gallery] Entertainment | Musician/photographer Andy Summers adds photos to new tour There are many to chose from, including several high-end p...

Happy hour at home: How to create a cocktail corner for entertaining

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:36:11 GMT

By Anne Valdespino | Orange County Register“HEATHER HOTCAKES!!” She enters a room and men shout her handle. Yup, Heather Manning started as a plus-size pinup model at heather_hotcakes and has more than 12,000 Instagram followers. But imbibers need to know, she’s added a new beverage-focused page: cocktails.with.hotcakes.Manning is always dressed to the nines. So, when we decided to gather tips on how to set up a special corner of any home as a pop-up or permanent space for drinks, she was the first influencer who came to mind.This Southern California mother of two, a special education teacher by day, has a style that’s vintage, fun and friendly.Manning took on cocktails during the pandemic because she missed her bartender friends. She has met quite a few while attending media events with her husband of nearly 20 years, Southern California beverage writer Rich Manning.During the pandemic she had a bartender come on her social media channel weekly to teach her how to make a cocktail, ...

Vermont farmers are urged to document crop losses from flooding

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:36:11 GMT

By LISA RATHKE (Associated Press)ESSEX JUNCTION, Vt. (AP) — Vermont state and federal officials on Monday urged farmers to document and report damage from the catastrophic flooding that hit the state two weeks ago and inundated crops in the rural mountainous state known for its scenic farmland. They toured Paul Mazza’s Fruit and Vegetable farm, where fields were under 20 feet (6 meters) of water during the flooding, including row after row of blueberry bushes laden with berries and corn. The crops are now contaminated and unsellable. Mazza, who has seven farms in different locations, estimates he has about 25% of his produce left. Fields are covered with sediment and piles of sand from the river. “It’s a killer. My head just spins,” Mazza said. “I lost my shirt,” he added.A 2021 state government report on Vermont agriculture credited maple producers, apple orchards, farms, cheese, and ice cream for having “long defined the Vermont expe...

A regular visit with your doctor is quickly becoming a thing of the past

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:36:11 GMT

Dr. Chris Hakim lives in a version of the not-so-distant past.He practices modern medicine and spends as much time as he likes with patients without issue — a departure from the growing trend in health care.“The patient is now seeing a physician who doesn’t decide how much time he spends with a given patient,” Hakim said. “Those things are dictated by someone else. There are guidelines to everything and they come from administration.”Over the 35 years Hakim has been working in health care, he’s learned the heartbeat of good care’s rhythm is the trust and relationship between patient and provider. His second 15 years practicing and running an independent practice with up to 25 employees, he saw how things were changing and adapted as best he could.But those forces causing changes have been “turbocharged” in recent years, according to Hakim. The rheumatologist saw firsthand how some patients, particularly older ones, struggled to deal with the shifting landscape of obtaining care from...

Westfield Mission Valley shopping centers sold for $290 million

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:36:11 GMT

SAN DIEGO — Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield has sold both of their Mission Valley shopping centers, the company announced Friday.The two parcels, which are located on opposite sides of Mission Center Road, were sold to two separate buyers for a combined $290 million.Westfield Mission Valley East, which includes businesses like Target, the AMC Mission Valley 20 movie theater and Nordstrom Rack, was sold to Lowe Enterprises and Real Capital Solutions. Costco crackdown: Can people in my household still use my Costco membership? Mission Valley West, which hosts Trader Joe's, Old Navy, Puesto and other businesses, was sold to Sunbelt Investment Holdings Inc., URW said in a news release.In total, the two Mission Valley shopping centers make up 1.5 million square feet of space. The shopping centers opened in the early 1960s, with their last significant renovation happening in the 1990s, according to URW.Lowe Enterprises also owns the Town and Country resort in Mission Valley, located near the ...

Man arrested in connection to deadly shooting

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:36:11 GMT

SAN DIEGO — An arrest has been made in connection to a deadly shooting Saturday near City Heights, San Diego police announced.According to SDPD, the shooting happened around 4:30 p.m. near Chollas Parkway and 54th Street in the Redwood Village neighborhood.Upon arrival, officers found a man in a ravine who had suffered at least one gunshot wound. The victim was transported to a nearby hospital where he was later pronounced dead.During their initial investigation, officers learned that the victim had been involved in an argument with two other men prior to the shooting, Lt. Jud Campbell said.On Monday, police announced that an arrest had been made in connection to the deadly shooting. Costco crackdown: Can people in my household still use my Costco membership? Esteban Elizondo, 39, was identified as one of the suspects. He was located Sunday around 11:30 a.m. as a passenger in a vehicle during a traffic stop, according to police.He was arrested in connection to the deadly shooting ...

Canada hailed for focusing foreign aid on women’s rights amid global backslide

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:36:11 GMT

OTTAWA — Foreign-aid groups are praising Ottawa for funding initiatives in developing countries that aim to keep women who care for children or elders from being excluded from the economy.“Canada actually showed up really strongly,” said Katharine Im-Jenkins, managing director of the Equality Fund, in a recent interviewfrom Kigali.“It’s a very challenging moment for global development, and for gender equality and women’s rights.”She was speaking from Rwanda’s capital on the sidelines of the Women Deliver conference, a major foreign-aid gathering focused on women’s advancement.The conference takes place every few years, with the last hosted in Vancouver in 2019.At last week’s Kigali conference, International Development Minister Harjit Sajjan announced projects to support people working in the paid caring economy and unpaid care roles, with the world set to have much larger proportions of older people and babies in coming years.Fo...

CP NewsAlert: RCMP say body found of one of four people missing in N.S. floods

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:36:11 GMT

HALIFAX — RCMP in Nova Scotia say they have found the body of one of the people who went missing over the weekend during massive weekend flooding across the province.Police say they recovered the body of a 52-year-old man.They say they also found human remains in a different part of the search area and are working with officials on identification.More coming.The Canadian Press

Showers for much of B.C., but evacuation orders, alerts grow in drought-ridden south

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:36:11 GMT

VANCOUVER — For the first time in more than a month, showers and cooler weather are reaching parched sections of British Columbia, potentially bringing some respite for crews battling hundreds of wildfires.Environment Canada says about 20 millimetres of rain should dampen Vancouver Island and Metro Vancouver.But showers could be spottier around Kamloops, where a fire just south of the city has forced the evacuation of 344 properties.Rancher Doug Haughton told CHNL radio the Ross Moore Lake fire “blew up like a cannon” over the weekend after it started on Friday afternoon.Haughton, who is also director of Thompson-Nicola Regional District’s electoral area L, says he worked all day Sunday to evacuate his animals from the approaching fire, and some neighbours “have been hit very, very hard.”The BC Wildfire Service says the fire now covers 18 square kilometres, prompting the regional district to sharply boost evacuation orders on Sunday.The fire, which has ...

Lawsuits filed by ex-volleyball player and former football player against Northwestern University

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:36:11 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — The hazing scandal at Northwestern University has widened to include a volleyball player who on Monday became the first female athlete to sue the university over allegations she was retaliated against for reporting mistreatment and a new lawsuit by former Northwestern quarterback Lloyd Yates.“This shows that it isn’t just men,” said Parker Stinar, one of her attorneys. “It isn’t just football players.”The private school in Evanston, Illinois, is facing multiple lawsuits, including the one on behalf of Yates, which alleges hazing that includes sexual abuse.“This is the first in a series of lawsuits,” said civil rights attorney Ben Crump, adding he plans on filing more than 30 over the coming weeks.The scandal at the Big Ten school centers on a problem that seems to extend far beyond sports, even if it is sports that often gets the headlines. While major college sports programs have become multimillion-dollar, ritualistic hazing appears to remain a problematic tradition...