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6+ min ago (762+ words) Dear Eric: My late mother made a special Christmas cookie that required tedious decorating, considering each person's personal preference for toppings, and giving them as gifts to family and friends. They always had a place of honor on our family Christmas table. When she was no longer able, she gave me the cookie cutter, and my daughters and I took over the family tradition. It takes the three of us several days to make, bake, decorate, package and mail cookies to family members around the country. We enjoy doing it and feel like we're continuing the fun and festive tradition. However, in recent years, not all of the recipients acknowledge receipt. At some point in their lives, they have all helped Grandma decorate, so they know the time involved. Because of past delivery issues, I track the boxes and inquire…...

7+ min ago (576+ words) Two East Aurora School District 131 middle-schoolers were recently selected for a national pre-college scholarship that provides them with academic and college advising and financial support. Yahir Ferreira, a student at Fred Rogers Magnet Academy, and Taleen Kandakji, a student at Cowherd Middle School, were named Jack Kent Cooke Young Scholars among applicants from across the country. The scholarship is a selective, five-year pre-college program for "exceptionally promising" seventh-graders with financial need, according to the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation's website. The organization also awards scholarships to high school and community college students. Students awarded the scholarship work with a designated educational advisor and receive an individualized learning plan. Part of the goal is to prepare them to be competitive applicants for the country's top colleges and universities. Ferreira is a high honor roll student and a member of the National Junior…...

7+ min ago (1050+ words) Rebecca George likes to think that she is part of her customers" stories. There have been two weddings and almost 20 engagements at Volumes Bookcafe, the bookstore she owns in Wicker Park. Debut authors launched successful careers. Just a couple of months ago, she said, a baby took his first steps in between the bookshelves and now he"s "cruising around like he owns the place." It"s these memories George said she"ll miss the most when Volumes closes in January. It was a decision she and her sister, a co-owner, were forced to make due to a consistent 20% to 30% drop in sales, a death knell for independent bookstores, which typically operate with tight profit margins. "Bringing books to the world is important, George said. "All the children that you can get excited to read. The reluctant reader who comes…...

7+ min ago (206+ words) Either way, these costs are disproportionately borne by the communities near these facilities. Residents near major data centers report rising utility prices, stressed water supplies and land-use conflict. Further upstream are developing countries, where the necessary rare earth metals are extracted. Despite these risks, there is a lack of federal regulation to build more safeguards and sanction malicious users. Congress has debated AI governance but mostly opted for deregulation to limit impacts on innovation. In this vacuum, states such as California and Colorado have passed legislation to set a higher bar for transparency, bias audits and consumer rights. This penalty ceiling raises a critical question: What happens when AI systems cause harms that far exceed that amount? By limiting liability, the bill could end up offering disproportionate protection to the very firms whose technologies impose the greatest risks. Such measures…...

7+ min ago (1744+ words) By merging with Norfolk Southern, Union Pacific wants to create a coast-to-coast railroad to carry nearly half of all U.S. rail freight. Union Pacific says the $85 billion merger would serve the public interest and win federal approval by unclogging Chicago, the cradle of American railroading and still its biggest and most notorious bottleneck. But the "increased monopolistic power" of the combined railroad will drive up shipping costs and could kneecap America's global competitiveness, according to nine Republican attorneys general in a letter last" month. But neighborhoods located around tracks and terminals where the combined railroad may want to expand could get inundated with more traffic tie-ups, noise and environmental damage, according to Earl Wacker, a former CSX executive and now a transportation consultant with RINA North America in Chicago. "The influx of freight trains through Chicago has the potential to cause…...

7+ min ago (495+ words) If what's going on in Illinois is an indication of what's ahead for American higher education overall, it doesn't bode well. The state's universities and colleges are confronting a severe enrollment decline and mounting financial pressures, despite the state spending more per student than almost anywhere else in the country. The college has promised to "stabilize enrollment" and "strengthen philanthropic engagement," but those words cannot obscure a larger trend. Columbia's decline mirrors a national one: Families are questioning the price of a private education, especially one that does not readily lead to employment upon graduation. High school graduates can choose faster and cheaper paths to the workforce, while the pool of traditional college-age students continues to contract as the U.S. enters a much-anticipated demographic decline. Add to that a drop in international student enrollments (down an estimated 17% nationally this year), and…...

8+ min ago (200+ words) A terrible irony of dementia " which can result in the inability to recognize people and places " is that the condition itself does not get the worldwide recognition it deserves. While there are currently no cures or ways to reverse dementia permanently, there are three vital ways families and communities can plan for and work to address the syndrome that can make a real difference." These efforts prove a fundamental truth: While we cannot yet cure dementia, we can radically improve how people live with it. When we invest in quality of life, we honor the humanity of every person facing cognitive decline. The U.N.s announcement matters because it elevates dementia from a private family burden to a global public health priority. Yet, the response to this crisis will be measured not in international resolutions but in local action. For the…...

24+ min ago (335+ words) El ataque ocurri" en Lakki Marwat, un distrito de la provincia de Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, dijo el polic'a local Ashfaq Khan, sin proporcionar m's detalles. El primer ministro, Shehbaz Sharif, conden" el ataque en un comunicado. En otro incidente, agresores suicidas y hombres armados atacaron una instalaci"n militar durante la noche en Nokandi, un distrito en la provincia suroccidental de Baluchist'n, afectada por la insurgencia, seg'n informes de medios locales. El Frente de Liberaci"n de Baluchist'n, un grupo separatista, se atribuy" la responsabilidad en un comunicado, diciendo que sus combatientes atacaron una oficina del Cuerpo de Fronteras y que a'n continuaba el tiroteo con las tropas. No hubo comentarios inmediatos del ej'rcito o del gobierno. Pakist'n ha registrado un aumento de la violencia en los 'ltimos a'os, y el gobierno a menudo culpa a los separatistas con base en…...

1+ hour, 3+ min ago (21+ words) TEGUCIGALPA (AP) " Recuento preliminar y parcial muestra a conservadores Asfura y Nasralla liderando votaci'n presidencial de Honduras. More in En Espa'ol...

1+ hour, 7+ min ago (350+ words) Today is Monday, Dec. 1, the 335th day of 2025. There are 30 days left in the year. On Dec. 1, 1991, Ukrainians voted overwhelmingly for independence from the Soviet Union. In 1824, the presidential election was turned over to the U.S. House of Representatives after none of the candidates (John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, William H. Crawford and Henry Clay) won more than 50% of the electoral vote. Despite Jackson winning the most electoral votes, Adams would ultimately win the presidency. In 1955, Rosa Parks, a Black seamstress, was arrested after refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama. The incident sparked a yearlong boycott of the city's buses and helped fuel the U.S. civil rights movement. In 1965, the first "Freedom Flight" from Cuba to the United States landed in Miami. Over the ensuing eight years, the twice-daily flights allowed more than…...