News
3 California memoirs to beef up your summer reading
55+ min ago (937+ words) Some summer reading books for all you Golden State lovers: Jean Stein's "West of Eden: An American Place" (Random House Publishing Group, $13. 43) is a juicy, often shocking oral history of Los Angeles focused on six eccentric, essentially doomed families. The…...
Report: Culture, not cost, driving America's falling birth rates
23+ hour, 55+ min ago (659+ words) A report from the Institute for Family Studies warns that the United States is approaching a demographic turning point, with fertility rates continuing to fall well below replacement levels and population declines increasingly likely in the coming decades unless current…...
Whether cosmeticorexia or looksmaxxing, optimizing our bodies is getting out of hand
1+ week, 3+ day ago (1238+ words) All at once, the algorithm has discovered that I'm aging. My social media feeds are filled with ads for retinol. You Tube is urging me to look for signs of perimenopause. Even my podcasters are promoting peptides. It's been an…...
A journalist's search for Guadalupe on the walls of inner-city LA
1+ week, 3+ day ago (698+ words) Sam Quinones is a familiar name around Southern California. A staff writer for the LA Times from 2004 to 2014, he has written extensively on Mexican communities and culture, and is the author of four nonfiction books, among them "Dreamland" (Bloomsbury Publishing,…...
The enduring power of "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
1+ week, 1+ day ago (219+ words) I know what you are thinking: another power couple on the fast track!" The movie our pastor chose was Frank Capra's "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington." He recalled seeing this film multiple times and thought it would be the perfect…...
SCOTUS says states can ban men from competing in women's sports
1+ week, 3+ day ago (554+ words) The U. S. Supreme Court on June 30 ruled that states can bar men from competing in women's sporting leagues, dealing a blow to LGBT activists who have advocated for allowing men who "identify" as women to join female teams. The court ruled…...
Through mental illness and poverty, these self-taught artists found ways to create
2+ week, 1+ hour ago (732+ words) On a recent trip to New York, I saw a fantastic exhibit at the American Folk Art Museum: "Self-Made: A Century of Inventing Artists." On display through Sept. 13 are almost 90 works, divided into three methods of artistic self-fashioning and "self-making…...
In "The Breadwinner," Nate Bargatze forgot that clean comedy still needs to be funny
3+ week, 3+ day ago (333+ words) On paper, Nate Bargatze is bigger than U. S. Steel. The highest-grossing stand-up comedian of 2025, he earned roughly $70 million on 1. 2 million tickets sold, which makes him a bigger draw than U2, Coldplay, or indeed the cumulative efforts of the Jacksonville Jaguars. He's so…...
Religious groups continue challenge to Illinois Human Rights Act
3+ week, 3+ day ago (445+ words) A Catholic diocese and an Illinois pregnancy center have turned to a federal appeals court in challenging an Illinois nondiscrimination law that they said would force them to hire workers who do not share their pro-life mission. "We must have…...
World Cup excitement can't hide Mexico's social wounds
3+ week, 3+ day ago (730+ words) Mexico opened its third turn as a World Cup host with a 2-0 victory over South Africa June 11 at Mexico City's iconic stadium, previously known as Estadio Azteca, but Catholic leaders urged fans not to lose sight of the country's deeper…...