I was searching for a client on Match.com recently, looking for men in her age range who she might like to send a message to, and I came across this profile:

“I’m tired of being rejected on this site by conceited, snobbish women who proclaim they are looking for an honest, humorous man, when in reality all they are really looking for is a ...Read more

Q. My ex and I broke up 6 months ago. We have two kids, and we share custody. She has just informed me that she wants to start dating other people and I’m going a little crazy. It’s only been 6 months! Isn’t this too soon? What’s good ex-etiquette?

A. Too soon for whom? You or the kids? Probably for both, actually, but I’m not ...Read more

Dear Kid Whisperer,

How do you handle a 17-year-old who refuses to contribute to the household in any way? She doesn’t want to help her siblings or do her chores. She doesn’t have any interest in getting her driver’s license, so there aren’t many privileges that I can take away. She is so unmotivated that I don’t even know if she will...Read more

I’m stealthy about slipping outside each morning to retrieve newspapers from the driveway. I dread someone driving by, lowering their window and yelling, “Get with the times!”

Oh, darlin’, we’re with the Times — and the Journal and the Star and the News. Two papers in print and four online.

Back when an apple was still a fruit and ...Read more

Managing your personal finances can be complicated. Even for experts, refining a budget, paying off high-interest debt and saving for the future is a matter of trial and error. If you’ve ever made a financial mistake along your journey, know it’s very common — 74% of Americans say they have a financial regret, according to Bankrate’s new...Read more

I have often told my wife that I’m like crabgrass: She can’t get rid of me. Now that we have real crabgrass on our lawn, I’m trying to get rid of it.

The problem, according to Vinny, our turf guru, is that I am not spreading fertilizer.

“I’ve been spreading it for years,” I told him.

“I know that,” Vinny said. “But you haven...Read more

HARTFORD, Conn. -- The Connecticut Forest and Park Association’s Master Woodland Manager program is returning for its fifth year this fall with a record-breaking 75 students despite having half the budget it started with last year.

To kick off the fifth year anniversary of the program, CFPA will host a cohort launch at Sessions Woods ...Read more

The week began with Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker standing in front of the Chicago River, flanked by Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, two U.S. senators and dozens of city and state leaders, urging President Donald Trump not to deploy National Guard troops to Chicago.

“This is not about fighting crime,” Gov. Pritzker told the assembled crowd. “...Read more

Next year you will get a great opportunity to Jazz Up your baskets, containers and boxes with a new Supertunia Vista petunia.

Mention Supertunia Vista petunias and the first to come to mind is the obvious, Bubblegum. I remember years ago giving presentations for Mississippi State University and showing the new Supertunia Vista Bubblegum and ...Read more

YES!!!

Probably half of the questions I get are, “Is it a red flag if (fill in the blank)?” And in many of these cases, based on whatever the “blank” is, it’s not a red flag. It’s a mere preference. For example, “It is a red flag if he has a roommate at age 32?” Probably not. “Is it a red flag if he texts his mother every day?...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Adrian got off to a rocky start in fourth grade last year, missing school frequently, setting him down a path that, research suggests, would lead to academic struggles — and, in the long term, a less successful career and possibly worse health.

But Loma Vista Elementary and the South Whittier School District were tracking ...Read more

OTTAWA, Ill. — Jumping from a plane, not ideal right? Well, the divers at Skydive Chicago would tell you it’s an experience everyone needs to have.

The skydivers met last week for the first time in three years to attempt record-breaking dives. More than 450 people flew out of their planes into different formations in sizes the world hadn’...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- On the second harrowing night of the Palisades fire in January, the security cameras surrounding the Eames House went dark.

"It was a long night," said Eames Demetrios, grandson of designers Charles and Ray Eames and chairman of the board for the Charles & Ray Eames Foundation. "And then later that day the signal came back on." ...Read more

Dear Anna,

I’ve been dating my boyfriend for about six months, and we moved in together pretty quickly — it’s been wonderful, and I feel really loved. The challenge is he’s about to relocate for work for most of the year, and I’m scared about how I’ll handle the distance. I have a weird pattern when people aren’t physically in my ...Read more

CHICAGO -- Jacob Ryan Reno, long and boyish, wearing the kind of blue smock you imagine a painter would wear in a cartoon about a painter, is not good at his job. He draws and has become pretty popular in Chicago for those drawings. Yet … he’s so bad at it. So bad he inspires a perverse confidence in that lack of talent, partly because he ...Read more

A woman once emailed to invite me to join her book club for lunch at a country club in Malibu. She offered to reserve a parking spot for me near the front door. It was a lovely gesture, but it would have been a 2,100-mile drive.

The trip would have taken four days, maybe five. I stop a lot for Diet Cokes.

Another reader wrote expressing ...Read more

Q. My mother butt called me last night and I overheard her badmouthing my wife. She was having a drink with her best friend and going off. At first, I didn’t know what was happening, but then I heard my wife’s name, recognized my mother’s voice and I was ticked off. My mother loves my ex and hates my wife, and this was obvious on the call....Read more

Dear Kid Whisperer,

I have a corner in my seventh-grade classroom where I send students who cause problems over and over. They have to stay there until I come talk to them, at which point, I find out if they can come back. They have to fill out a reflection paper that requires them to describe their feelings and a strategy they used to calm ...Read more

As a man of many words, not all of which can be used in a family newspaper, I am delighted to announce that our special guest today is Prof. Ludwig Lingo, the noted linguistics expert and an ardent fighter of crimes against the English language.

JZ: Welcome, Prof. Lingo. What’s the good word?

LL: Beer.

JZ: What’s the bad word?

LL: Iconic...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- Dog owners may need to be on alert for a disease many have never heard of — anaplasmosis, spread by the same tick that transmits Lyme disease.

Anaplasmosis can make dogs feverish or lethargic, turn their nose up at food and lose weight, but many show no sign of illness at all. In rare circumstances, though, dogs can bleed from ...Read more