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Trick or travel? Halloween holiday options for the whole family

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 08:00:00 GMT

Lynn O’Rourke Hayes | FamilyTravel.com (TNS)Trick or treat? Why not treat your family to a haunted holiday. Here are five to consider:1. New Orleans, La.A recent TripAdvisor survey ranked New Orleans as the spookiest city in the U.S., based on the number of spooky tours and events available to visitors. Among the options in NOLA is a family-friendly, small group tour during which your clan will learn about the legends that are part of the French Quarter’s storied past. It’s a spooky, but not over-the-top wander through an historic neighborhood said to be frequented by ghosts and goblins.For more: www.Viator.com2. Great Wolf LodgesChoose from 18 resorts across the country where seasonal décor — think Fall leaves, pumpkins, and other ghostly treats — await youngsters. During October, select resorts will feature special packages through which families can swim through a sea of floating pumpkins to find their favorite gourd, embark on an immersive journey to reunite a little pumpkin wit...

Los Angeles travel guide: How to have a free yet fabulous time in the City of Angels

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 08:00:00 GMT

Susan Manlin Katzman | Chicago TribuneThe City of Angels offers tourists a heavenly number of star-studded attractions. Many come with sky-high price tags, but not all. Some of the best sights, sounds, attractions and activities in the city are free.Visitors can join Angelenos at play, gain an insider’s appreciation of the city and indulge in a plethora of pleasures without paying a penny.Here’s where to go and what to do to maximize the Los Angeles experience:BeachesLife is a beach in LA. As if ocean, sunshine and long stretches of soft sand aren’t enough, LA beaches come with all sorts of enhancements. The beaches are free for the access, but they vary in style, substance and extracurricular activities (that may come with fees).A sign marks the end of the historic route 66 as people walk on the Santa Monica Pier on April 30, 2021 in Santa Monica, California. (Photo by Daniel SLIM / AFP) (Photo by DANIEL SLIM/AFP via Getty Images)Santa Monica State BeachAll day and well into the ni...

‘Pain Hustlers’ review: Emily Blunt helps lift slight drug-scandal drama

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 08:00:00 GMT

We are told from the onset that “Pain Hustlers” is “inspired by real events.”It quickly becomes clear that what that means in this case is the movie, though largely entertaining, is not telling a dramatized true tale set within the country’s opioid crisis.Its characters — including those played by appealing leads Emily Blunt and Chris Evans — never feel all that authentic. And as for what transpires … let’s just say “Pain Hustlers” isn’t afraid to lay it on a little thick now and then.That said, does this story of ambitious folks getting caught up in pushing doctors to prescribe a potentially harmful drug in the hopes of lining their pockets ring true at various points? Oh, sure.Its genesis was screenwriter Wells Tower being sent journalist Evan Hughes’ 2018 New York Times article “The Pain Hustlers,” about the scandal surrounding the company Insys Therapeutics. Furthermore, the book Hughes would later write, eventually titled “Pain Hustlers: Crime and Punishment at an Opioid Startu...

Grim reaper galette is a spooky stunner for your Halloween table

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 08:00:00 GMT

A kind of magic happened in my Halloween-loving soul when I saw Ghoul at Heart’s Grim Reaper Galette on Instagram.It was gorgeous, goth and moody. It was grand, with color you could taste — burgundy, raspberry, chocolate — hues well suited for the crushed velvet drapes of a vampire’s Victorian parlor. And you Freddy Krueger fans will appreciate this: It gave me serious “chest of souls” vibes.I had to make it. The power of pumpkins compelled me. So much so, that I made it almost immediately. Even though it was only August.If you’re going to season creep, creep big.The pignoli cookie is a sweet, simple way to time travelGhoul at Heart is a second home and handle for cooking blogger Laurie Castellon, whose love of Halloween eventually prompted her to branch out from her Castellon’s Kitchen site with year-round recipe posts featuring creations campy, cute, gory and great. I mean really great. Just check out this near-literal crime scene of a cheese course, the Amputated Appetizer, (inst...

Bruins notes: James van Riemsdyk has been a bargain so far

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 08:00:00 GMT

Just what the Bruins could expect from James van Riemsdyk was anyone’s guess.The 34-year-old Van Riemsdyk, a seven-time 20-goal scorer, was coming off an injury-marred season in Philadelphia in which he was held to 12-17-29 totals in 61 games. That, combined with a depressed NHL economy last summer, allowed the B’s to sign him to a low-risk one-year, $1 million contract.So far, it’s looking like quite a bargain. Van Riemsdyk is third on the B’s in scoring with 3-2-5 and is one third of the only line that has become a relative constant in the B’s forward group.Aided by the fast start, the former UNH standout is starting to feel at home in Black and Gold.“My experience so far has been great, the way I’ve been treated by the coaching staff, management and the guys in the room. It’s been a great group. It’s been a lot of fun to be a part of it so far,” said van Riemsdyk after Thursday’s morning skate. “I’m trying to find a way ...

Chief of defence staff says military must switch gears in increasingly chaotic world

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 08:00:00 GMT

OTTAWA — The chief of the defence staff says in a new message to military members that China and Russia are expansionist powers that don’t differentiate between war and peace. Gen. Wayne Eyre has released a pan-domain force employment concept to Canadian Armed Forces members, a document he says is the foundation for changing the military’s operations. In it, Eyre singles out Russia and China, saying they aim to rewrite the rules-based international order and will act “just below the threshold of armed conflict.”The military has sometimes been slow to respond to hostile actions, the document says, and it calls for strengthening Canada’s ability to “compete below the threshold.” It also calls for the military to integrate its operations in all battlespace domains air, land, maritime, space and cyber.The concept says climate change and humanitarian crises resulting from extreme weather events increase the risk of armed conflict. This report by ...

Man facing 16 charges in violent sexual assault

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 08:00:00 GMT

A 35-year-old man is facing more than a dozen charges in connection with a violent sexual assault earlier this summer.Police say on June 6th they were initially called to a home in the area of Eglinton Avenue and Midland Avenue. It’s alleged that a man and a woman were arguing in the home and the woman attempted to flee the residence. Investigators say the man refused to let her leave and repeatedly assaulted and sexually assaulted her. The woman later managed to escape when the man was asleep.Two days later police executed a search warrant and recovered evidence related to the investigation.On Thursday, Jason Devine was taken into custody and charged with 16 criminal offences including multiple assault, assault with a weapon, forcible confinement charges, and four counts of failing to comply with bail conditions.

Country musician Megan Moroney says she writes sad songs for sad people. It’s making her a star.

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 08:00:00 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Not so long before her platinum-selling single “Tennessee Orange” became inescapable on country radio, this year scoring Megan Moroney her first-ever CMA nominations (song of the year and artist of the year), the up-and-comer was attending the University of Georgia. The life of a country musician? It wasn’t supposed to happen.“It is truly crazy because I went to school to be an accountant,” Moroney tells The Associated Press. “And here we are.”Fate clearly had other plans. When she was a freshman, Moroney opened for singer John Langston at a sorority event, performing a few Miranda Lambert covers. There, she met Chase Rice, who told her she could open for her at the Georgia Theater — but she needed to write an original song, first. “So, I wrote my first song, called ‘Stay A Memory,’ and I performed it,” she says. “I didn’t put it out, but maybe one day I’ll tease it.”After that show, she knew she wanted to move to Nashville and pursue...

TDSB says student walkouts planned in support of Palestine across various high schools

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 08:00:00 GMT

A loud but peaceful demonstration by students was held at a Scarborough high school on Thursday, as The Muslim Students Association organized a noon-hour pro-Palestinian rally at Cedarbrae Collegiate Institute.Students at other Toronto high schools were encouraged to take part in a fourth-period walkout between 2 and 3 p.m. They included Woburn Collegiate Institute, David and Mary Thomson Collegiate Institute, Agincourt Collegiate Institute, R.H. King Academy, Dr. Norman Bethune Collegiate Institute, Sir Oliver Mowat Collegiate Institute and Etobicoke Collegiate Institute.The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) issued a lengthy statement on the rallies, saying school officials were made aware of the afternoon demonstrations. “The TDSB is not involved in organizing these walkouts, nor are we in a position to permit them or stop them from occurring,” wrote TDSB spokesperson Ryan Bird.“While we recognize that students want to express themselves individually and colle...

Norfolk Southern investing in automated inspection systems on its railroad to improve safety

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 08:00:00 GMT

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — To help quickly spot safety defects on moving trains, Norfolk Southern said Thursday it has installed the first of more than a dozen automated inspection portals on its tracks in Ohio — not far from where one of its trains careened off the tracks in February and spilled hazardous chemicals that caught fire.The new portals, equipped with high-speed cameras, will take hundreds of pictures of every passing locomotive and rail car. The pictures are analyzed by artificial intelligence software the railroad developed. The first of these new portals was recently installed on busy tracks in Leetonia, Ohio, less than 15 miles (24 kilometers) from where that train derailed in East Palestine in February.Other major railroads have invested in similar inspection technology as they look for ways to supplement — and sometimes try to replace where regulators allow it — the human inspections that the industry has long relied on to keep its trains safe. Rail unions have argued that...