Pope Francis will not lead the Vatican’s New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day celebrations due to sciatic pain, the Vatican said in a statement on Thursday. This marks the first time the Pope has missed New Year’s Eve or Christmas celebrations, but not the first event he has skipped. On February 27, Pope Francis,
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After years of persistence and hard work, Jasmin Parks-Papadopoulos was at the peak of her professional career when the coronavirus pandemic hit: the executive chef of a well-known hotel group in Colorado. But the soaring US infection numbers soon brought challenges — including home schooling her 6- and 7-year-old children while her husband prepared for
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After a pair of seasons streaming on YouTube’s premium tier, “Cobra Kai” was picked up by Netflix, where those episodes found an appreciative audience. Enter season 3, which kicks up the nostalgia factor into an even higher gear while remaining every bit as soapy, playful and disarmingly funny. “The Karate Kid” might be 36 years
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Another 787,000 Americans filed first-time claims for jobless benefits during the Christmas week, factoring in seasonal adjustments, the Labor Department reported Thursday. It marked a decrease from the prior week and was slightly better than economists had predicted. Even so, claims were still three-and-a-half times higher than in the same period last year. Overall, unemployment
Continue Reading At the end of the dank, dark tunnel that was 2020 comes light — a bright yellow, pungent light with toothpick legs and a penny in its mouth. Meet the lemon pig. Lemon pigs — edibly fashioned out of lemon rinds — were popular tabletop trinkets in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, then
Continue Reading Dr. Drew Pinsky has Covid-19. He shared the news on his Instagram but says he’s on the mend. “Thanks for checking in on me, I appreciate all the kind shout-outs,” he said in a video. “Covid is no fun. I don’t recommend it.” Previously, the doctor had called the pandemic “press-induced” but later apologized. He
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Come Friday, many low-wage workers across the US are getting a pay bump. Twenty states are raising their minimum wage rates — some by pennies, others by a dollar or more — as part of previously-scheduled efforts to adjust for cost-of-living gains or to ratchet up toward goals like $15-an-hour minimum pay. In New Mexico,
Continue Reading Britain’s largest supermarket chain Tesco underpaid almost 80,000 of its workers, the UK government has revealed, as it “named and shamed” dozens of companies for not paying the minimum wage. A total of 139 companies failed to pay £6.7 million ($9.1 million) to thousands of workers, the government said Thursday. The cases were investigated between
Continue Reading As the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve, voices all over the world will resurrect the centuries-old tradition of singing “Auld Lang Syne” to say goodbye to the passing year. “Auld Lang Syne” — which roughly translates to “times gone by”– was written by Scottish poet Robert Burns in 1788 and is thought to
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Senators are still blocking an immediate and final vote to override President Donald Trump’s veto of the National Defense Authorization Act, Republican leaders are grappling with a new problem on their hands: GOP Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri and his planned objection to the results of a fair and free election. The backlash is coming
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Chilly and clear conditions will persist on New Year’s Eve before temperatures start to normalize beginning early January.
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Officials say over 200,000 counterfeit 3M N95 surgical masks intended for hospital workers have been confiscated by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
Continue Reading Cutting the hair of another astronaut on the International Space Station is one of the most stressful things US Air Force Col. Terry Virts has ever done — even above spacewalking, flying F-16s, piloting a space shuttle and enduring multiple rounds of survival training around the world. Virts, a NASA astronaut selected in 2000, had
Continue ReadingPresident-elect Joe Biden’s inaugural committee on Thursday announced that it is hosting a national memorial to remember and honor the lives lost to Covid-19 and is asking cities and towns around the country to participate. The memorial will take place at 5:30 p.m. ET on January 19 and will include a lighting ceremony at the
Continue Reading Ken Jennings has offered an apology regarding “unartful and insensitive things” he’s tweeted. The past tweets resurfaced after it was announced that Jennings would be the first guest host of “Jeopardy!” following the death of longtime host Alex Trebek in November after a battle with pancreatic cancer. Jennings on Wednesday tweeted, “Hey, I just wanted
Continue Reading Prosecutors in New York City are investigating an incident in which a jazz musician said his 14-year-old son was attacked by a woman who falsely accused him of taking her iPhone. Trumpeter Keyon Harrold posted a video taken with his phone that shows the woman making claims against his son on Saturday at the Arlo
Continue Reading This year has upended so much in modern life that even New Year’s Eve celebrations tonight will be different, downscaled or canceled due to Covid-19 precautions. From London to Rio de Janeiro, large firework displays have been substituted with special at-home broadcasts. Australian police will conduct spot checks of New Year’s Eve parties in New
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As 2020 nears its end, the US reported a record death toll for the second day in a row, with more than 3,740 Covid-19 fatalities Wednesday. And the outlook is grim for January. More than 80,000 Americans could die of Covid-19 over the next three weeks, a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ensemble
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Maybe you got caught up in New Year’s Eve preparations, making sure you had enough bubbly to kick 2020 to the curb in spectacular fashion. Or maybe you just got caught up in the whirlwind of the holiday to-do list and put New Year’s on the back burner until you had a spare moment …
Continue Reading New year, new pay: Starting January 1 (tomorrow!), 20 states will raise their minimum wage. Here’s what you need to know to Get Up to Speed and On with Your Day. (You can also get “5 Things You Need to Know Today” delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up here.) 1. Coronavirus A year ago
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