ArcaMax

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Watching the big game at the bar? Run out of booze for your barbecue?

You might be tempted to pop into the nearest pub or liquor store with your kids in tow.

Is that actually legal in California?

“Are kids allowed in bars, or is it only in those that serve food?” one Reddit user asked Sacramento residents in 2023.

...Read more

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican, filed a bill Thursday to block all federal funds from being allocated to the reproductive health care organization Planned Parenthood.

Dubbed the “Defund Planned Parenthood Act,” the bill would simply require that “no federal funds may be made available to Planned Parenthood Federation of ...Read more

The giddy texts and videos came rolling in from my bundled-up sister in New Orleans on a historic day in the Big Easy.

“It’s snowing, it’s snowing, it’s snowing,” she whispered, her eyes wide in disbelief, as she stood on her front porch in a rarely worn winter hat and scarf.

In fact, it snowed on Tuesday in record amounts across ...Read more

CHICAGO — Citing a “financial shortfall,” Planned Parenthood of Illinois announced Wednesday – on the 52nd anniversary of Roe v. Wade – that it will be closing four clinics across the state, including one on Chicago’s South Side.

The health center shutdowns come as Illinois is already grappling with a surge in patients traveling ...Read more

'BRAVE THE DARK'

Rated PG-13 for domestic violence/bloody images, suicide, some strong language, teen drinking, drug material and smoking.

What it’s about: Based on the true story of a troubled teen and the drama teacher who took him in.

The kid attractor factor: While it may have some appeal for teens, this is more of a dark adult drama.

...Read more

Often called the “winter blues,” the period in January after all the holiday festivities are over is hard for a lot of people to get through. For young children, the added confusion of the sharp change in their emotions make for an especially fraught season.

Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta’s Jody Baumstein, a Strong4Life licensed ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA -- One morning last May, 16-year-old Abdul Anderson stood slouched against a wall at Cove Secure, a juvenile institution on the grounds of central Pennsylvania’s Torrance State Hospital. He was scheduled to be in class, but was stuck in a dayroom in a state of profound boredom.

The next moment, his head smashed into the wall ...Read more

Q. My fiancé has a 2-year-old son and due to alternate work schedules, the child spends the days with my fiance and then nights with his mother. His ex-wife uses his mother as the main babysitter, even asking grandma to watch the child at her house because she is now attending law school and won’t be home until after bedtime. Is it wrong of ...Read more

I say that I am married to a collector because pack rat sounds unkind. My husband comes from a long line of collectors.

When they closed out the farmhouse his father lived in all his life, the lead auctioneer kicked off the three-ring, two-day auction under the main tent bellowing, "Ladies and gentlemen! The same family has lived in this house ...Read more

Every morning at 8 a.m., Honey German calls her husband, Nuni.

He goes to work much earlier than her, so they've made a routine of touching base once Honey wakes up.

It's such a habit that when Nuni didn't get a call from Honey one July morning, he knew it was a red flag.

Nuni tried ringing her once. Twice. Three times. Four. Each call went ...Read more

Christopher Michael‘s "Tomb of the Black Pharaoh" is a gripping tale that blends cosmic horror, historical intrigue, and psychological suspense, centering on a protagonist whose curiosity propels him into the dangerous realm of forbidden knowledge.

Beginning with the discovery of ancient relics in a dusty attic, his journey quickly spirals ...Read more

If in another life author Richard A. Danzig decided to become a standup comic, well, he could probably do a lot worse, given his spot-on talent for writing funny monologues for his comedian character Verne Slater in the recently released legal thriller, "Punch Line."

Despite what the book’s title might infer, "Punch Line" is anything but a ...Read more

'ONE OF THEM DAYS'

Rated R for language throughout, sexual material and brief drug use.

What it’s about: Two best friends living in L.A. have a crazy day trying to secure their rent payment.

The kid attractor factor: The comedy will be a draw to teens

Good lessons/bad lessons: Never let your boyfriend pay your rent, have each other's backs...Read more

Saturday morning began with a video text of one of the grands doing a wild gymnastics routine on an exercise mat in the middle of their family room. She was lunging, flipping and cartwheeling (barely clearing the sofa, the TV and a younger sister’s head), all to the soothing strains of “Who Let the Dogs Out?”

The antics culminated in a ...Read more

Q. My son is 9. His mother and I broke up a year and a half ago. Although we absolutely do not get along, we have been trying to share his time. We exchange every few days. Each time he has to leave my home, I see the happy little boy slip away. Sometimes he tells me he doesn’t want to go, but he can’t tell me why. I told his mother, but she...Read more

It was date night for me and my husband, the first since our daughter was born. When we returned to my mom’s house for the baby — hurriedly, being first-time parents — I heard a strange but familiar voice.

It was that of Raffi Cavoukian, known simply as “Raffi,” who rose to fame in the 1970s with such folksy, reassuring numbers as “...Read more

The sweeping tale of the French Acadians in America and one family’s trials over hundreds of years of persecution is revealed in "The Acadians" by Samuel Andre Aucoin.

Aucoin mixes history and light fiction to tell the often heartbreaking story of the Acadian experience in America. Beginning with a trip to the Vietnam War Memorial in ...Read more