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Rick Steves takes audience on musical journey with Boston Pops shows

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:16:54 GMT

Rick Steves’ first trip to Europe wasn’t about history or food or culture. It was about music.“My father, who was a piano tuner, decided to import pianos from Europe,” Steves told the Boston Herald. “So my very first trip, when I was 14 years old, was to see the piano factories in Germany.”If you watch his public television travel series, “Rick Steves’ Europe,” you notice that between the castles and cuisine, there’s a lot of music: flamenco from Spain, fado from Portugal, Italian operas. Not a big slice of the program, music will take center stage when the Boston Pops presents “Rick Steves’ Europe: A Symphonic Journey” on June 8 and 9.Steves has deep affection for all kinds of music (he’s only had two jobs in his life, tour guide and piano teacher). His collaboration with Pops will focus on European classical music from the Romantic era, the age of Verdi, Wagner and Beethoven.“I love Romanticism and I love national struggles,” he said. “It’s cool that music, Romantic music, was a c...

Cat’s weight loss a sign of thyroid trouble

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:16:54 GMT

Dear Dr. John,I had two 17-year-old sister cats until one died two months ago. The remaining sister has been losing weight for a few months. I finally had my vet look at her. They took bloodwork, and the diagnosis came back as her being hyperthyroid. I was told that it was consistent with her weight loss. I was given a few options on how to treat her and I opted for using a transdermal paste because one option was too expensive and the other meant giving her pills or oral liquids and she is difficult to handle or medicate. Should this option work and what is your experience in using such a form of treatment?  B.L.Dear B.L.,I am sorry for your loss of one of the cats but luckily you have a diagnosis on your remaining cat that will allow you to have her for a few years to come. Cats with hyperthyroidism typically present with weight loss with a simultaneous ravenous appetite and are often found to have rapid heart rates. The excess thyroid hormone production puts their metabolism in h...

Dear Abby: Struggling with frustrations of invisible illness

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:16:54 GMT

Dear Abby: I am struggling with an invisible illness and losing patience with friends, family and acquaintances. I’m working with doctors to manage my conditions, and I’m tired of all the suggestions and seemingly positive comments I’m hearing, like, “You can do it; just put your mind to it!”I am seeing a therapist to help with the emotional stress, and even they are trying to armchair diagnose me and question my knowledge of specific vitamins, probiotics and treatments. Some of these folks mean well, but others I suspect are strongly hinting that I’m making it all up.I’m not even sure what my question is. A polite way to shut people down would be helpful. Please make your readers aware that not every illness is visible. — Struggling in the EastDear Struggling: If you no longer trust your therapist, it’s time to change therapists. A lingering illness can be frustrating and exhausting, and you clearly need someone to vent to about...

San Diego among top hiking cities in US: study

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:16:54 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- With landscapes ranging from the beaches and deserts to valleys and mountains, hiking is a popular outdoor activity in the San Diego area.LawnStarter conducted a study to find the best hiking cities in the U.S. in honor of National Trails Day on June 3. It compared the 200 biggest U.S. cities based on hiking trail access and quality, climate, safety and other key indicators of hiker-friendliness. The company ranked San Diego as No. 6 on its list, according to the report. Here is how America's Finest City stacked up in some key metrics: Number of Hiking Routes - 12thNumber of Top-Rated Hiking Trails (4.5+ Stars and 10+ Reviews) - 13thNumber of Outdoor Gear Stores - 8thHistorical Annual Average Number of Extremely Hot Days - 8thNatural/Environmental Death Rate - 44th California campsite reservation bill passes State Assembly Other California cities that made the list include Los Angeles (3rd), Oakland (7th), San Francisco (11th), San Jose (12th), Pasadena (20th) and Hun...

Carter and the Kings: A friendship and alliance – but after MLK’s assassination

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:16:54 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — The voice of Martin Luther King Sr., a melodic tenor like his slain son, carried across Madison Square Garden, calming the raucous Democrats who had nominated his friend and fellow Georgian for the presidency. “Surely, the Lord sent Jimmy Carter to come on out and bring America back where she belongs,” the venerated Black pastor said as the nominee smiled behind him. “I’m with him. You are, too. Let me tell you, we must close ranks now.”Carter then shared a moment with Coretta Scott King, clasping hands and locking eyes with the widowed first lady of the Civil Rights Movement, their children looking on. For the Kings, closing the 1976 convention affirmed their continued reach — and their pragmatism — eight years after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. For Carter, it marked the evolution of a white politician from the Old Confederacy: As a local leader and state senator who aspired for more, he had mostly avoided controversial stands during the civil rights era....

Golden Knights rally to beat Panthers 5-2 in Stanley Cup opener

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:16:54 GMT

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Back in the Stanley Cup final for the first time in five years and trailing the Florida Panthers less than 10 minutes into Game 1, the Vegas Golden Knights sent a very clear message.“We were ready,” Jonathan Marchessault said.Ready and dominant. Vegas rallied from an early deficit, got the go-ahead goal from Zach Whitecloud with just over 13 minutes left and arguably the best save of the playoffs from Adin Hill and beat Florida 5-2 Saturday night to take the lead in the best-of-seven series.“We kept our composure, and it was good,” said Marchessault, one of six original Knights players left from the start of the franchise in 2017 who scored the tying goal in the first period. “We just wanted to play the right way and be disciplined, and tonight we were able to be the better team.”Whitecloud put Vegas ahead, a crucial penalty kill followed and captain Mark Stone scored an insurance goal that was reviewed for a high stick and confirmed. Reilly Smith ...

Indian officials end rescue work for 2 wrecked passenger trains that killed over 300 people

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:16:54 GMT

BALASORE, India (AP) — With rescue work finished, authorities began clearing the mangled wreckage of two passenger trains that derailed in eastern India, killing more than 300 people and injuring hundreds in one of the country’s deadliest rail accidents in decades, officials said Sunday.Investigators are looking into possible causes behind Friday night’s crash in Balasore district of eastern Odisha state, including whether human error or signal failure played a role.Fifteen bodies were recovered on Saturday evening and efforts continued overnight as heavy cranes were used to remove an engine that had settled on top of a rail car. No bodies were found in the engine and the work was completed on Sunday morning, said Sudhanshu Sarangi, director-general of fire and emergency services in Odisha.The accident occurred at a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is focusing on the modernization of the British colonial-era railroad network in India, which has become the world’s most populous...

Slow start to New York’s legal pot market leaves farmers holding the bag

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:16:54 GMT

ARGYLE, N.Y. (AP) — Seth Jacobs has about 100 bins packed with marijuana flower sitting in storage at his upstate New York farm. And that’s a problem. There aren’t enough places to sell it.The 700 pounds (318 kilograms) of pungent flower was harvested last year as part of New York’s first crop of legally grown pot for recreational use. He also has roughly 220 pounds (100 kilograms) of distillate. Months later, there are only a dozen licensed dispensaries statewide to sell what Jacobs and more than 200 other farmers produced.Now, another growing season is underway and farmers still sitting on much of last year’s harvest are in a financial bind.“We are really under the gun here. We’re all losing money,” Jacobs recently said at his farm on rolling land near the Vermont border. “Even the most entrepreneurial and ambitious amongst us just can’t move much product in this environment.”New York pot farmers aren’t the only ones struggling with difficult economic conditions. Marij...

Wisconsin Republicans look for rebound, Democrats stay on offensive as 2024 fights loom

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:16:54 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Republicans still reeling from an April election that saw conservatives lose majority control of the state Supreme Court for the first time in 15 years hope to use their upcoming state convention to unify and refocus on the 2024 presidential race in which Wisconsin will once again be a battleground.Democrats, recognizing that four of the past six presidential elections in the state have been decided by less than a percentage point, are trying not to become overconfident in the face of recent gains. They are gathering for their annual state convention starting June 10 in Green Bay.“The wind is at our backs, but in Wisconsin no one should ever take anything for granted,” said state Democratic Party Chairman Ben Wikler. “I haven’t met a single Democrat who thinks we can rest easy.”Democratic candidates, including Gov. Tony Evers and President Joe Biden, have won 14 of the past 17 statewide elections. In April, Democratic-backed Supreme Court candidate Jan...

Election in Mexico’s most populous state seen as preview of 2024 national contest

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:16:54 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexicans in two states, including the country’s most populous, will elect new governors Sunday, having only known single-party rule for nearly a century.The State of Mexico hugs Mexico City on three sides, encompassing urban sprawl and rural ranches, as well as stunning inequality, violence and corruption. For decades it has been the heart of the Institutional Revolutionary Party.But its voters could be ready to finally oust the PRI in favor of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s Morena party, in a race closely watched as a preview of the 2024 presidential election.Morena candidate Delfina Gómez, a schoolteacher making her second bid for the post, has held a healthy lead in recent polling over Alejandra del Moral. The former mayor representing the PRI has struggled to attract a fed-up electorate bent on change.Del Moral is not only the PRI’s hope. She leads a bizarre coalition including the conservative National Action Party and leftist Party of the Democratic...