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Marriage to diplomat crumbles while living abroad

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:30:42 GMT

Q. My sister is living abroad with her husband, who is a diplomat.  She has been unhappy in her marriage and has recently been drinking too much.  She was stopped for DUI last week and is worried that she is going to be sent home without her children even though she was not arrested.  I am trying to reassure her that this will not happen because she stays home and cares for the children.Should she just take the children and come home and file for divorce here?A. Nothing is quite so straightforward in situations with diplomats.  The same immunity that gave rise to her not getting prosecuted for her DUI stop may prevent her from leaving post with her children without her husband’s blessing.  Even if she returns home with the children, she would then have a waiting period here before she could file for divorce.  And, her husband probably has jurisdictional immunity when it comes to being served with a divorce or custody complaint from afar.Further, regardless of whether she is the prim...

Cleaning reveals dental issues in cat

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:30:42 GMT

Dear Dr. John,I recently brought my nine-year-old cat in for a dental cleaning and what I thought was 1-2 extractions on teeth that my vet identified as needing to come out on an oral exam done a few weeks ago. On the day of the procedure, I received a phone call from the hospital notifying me that more extractions would be necessary based on x-rays taken that morning under anesthesia. The cost went up considerably too. I was informed that the x-rays identified that there were huge defects on one upper fang tooth and smaller ones on the other three fangs. Will my cat have trouble eating when losing so many teeth? Since when did x-rays become standard in doing cleanings on pet mouths and why wouldn’t they remove all the teeth with defects or do fillings? N.C.Dear N.C.,Dental radiographs in pets are becoming the proper standard of care and is seen in more practices all the time.  Dental x-rays allow a veterinarian to visualize what is hidden behind the gumline as well as defects not r...

TV Q&A: ‘Dancing with the Stars’ sashays back to ABC

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:30:42 GMT

You have questions. I have some answers.Q: A lot of my friends and I are VERY upset that “Dancing with the Stars” moved from ABC to Disney+. There are so many shows that do not provide us with wholesome entertainment while “DWTS” did.A: Then you will be pleased to learn that the show will be back on ABC in the fall, with simulcasts on Disney+ and next-day telecasts on Hulu. Several reports noted this will give ABC an unscripted program to fill time if the writers strike delays production of scripted shows for the fall.There will be changes in the show. To the delight of many of my readers, Tyra Banks will no longer host. Alfonso Ribeiro, who co-hosted in Banks’ last season, will be back as host along with Julianne Hough. Judges are Carrie Ann Inaba, Bruno Tonioli and Julianne’s brother, Derek Hough. (Longtime judge Len Goodman stepped down from the show last year and passed away in April.)Q: At the conclusion of “Modern Family,” there was no reference to the fact that th...

The boss resigned – should you go for his job?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:30:42 GMT

Q. My boss resigned and they’ve already posted the job to hire someone externally. But I filled in for him last summer when he was out of the office for two weeks. I can totally do his job! No one’s approached me though. Thoughts?A. Go for it! Pursue it. Get on your boss’s boss’s calendar — ask for a meeting and express your interest in pursuing the role. Outline reasons why you’re ideal for the role, in particular stepping up to the plate last summer. Plus, remind them that you already know the company, you’ve been working there and it sounds like a natural evolution. It would be easier to backfill your current role and promote you than to higher someone at the higher level from the outside.Granted, I don’t know the intricacies if perhaps there’s a skill set you don’t currently have, so you should carefully look at the job description and attempt to acquire new skills (online, etc.) you don’t possess.I wouldn’t...

Editorial: Crypto still a mess – a crackdown can only help

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:30:42 GMT

US regulators appear to be on a collision course with crypto. Sometime soon, many issuers and intermediaries could be forced out of business or at least out of the country.It could be the best thing that ever happened to the industry.There’s plenty to dislike in the crypto realm. Celebrity touts and the promise of riches have lured people into buying myriad tokens with no intrinsic value; of more than 40,000 issued last year, an estimated one in four were outright pump-and-dump scams. Investor protections are lacking at even the most established intermediaries, as the demise of the FTX trading platform demonstrated. Blockchain-enabled payments have facilitated all sorts of criminal behavior, from aiding human trafficking to funding North Korea’s nuclear program. If the market hadn’t imploded last year, it might have become big enough to threaten the entire financial system.Now Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler is poised to deliver the coup de grâce. He has said t...

Dear Abby: Old column helped reader see clearly

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:30:42 GMT

Dear Abby: I want to thank you for a letter you published in 2007. It came from a woman saying her daughter had “convergence insufficiency disorder,” in which the eye drifts and causes double vision. I was 61 and had that problem, but I never knew what it was.I would get headaches from reading and did poorly in school. A teacher once suggested my mother have my eyes checked. The doctor gave me the standard eye chart test, which showed nothing. He recommended more tests, but Mom reasoned they would find nothing and be a waste of money. She insisted I was lazy, and believed corporal punishment would make me study harder.In 1980, after I had a family, I started night school. It was difficult, but I taught myself to focus on each word before moving to the next one. After you printed that letter, I went to an eye doctor who prescribed “prism” glasses, which made reading much easier. Many people have been diagnosed with this problem, but I’m sure a lot more h...

MTV Movie & TV Awards ditches live event due to strike

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:30:42 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The first big live awards show to air during the current screenwriters’ strike has retreated to a pre-taped event as the MTV Movie & TV Awards tries to chart a celebratory course through a turbulent Hollywood. The Sunday show already had lost its host, Drew Barrymore, who dropped out in solidarity with the writers and the show’s red carpet was rolled up. The Writers Guild still promised to picket, meaning stars and presenters would have to walk past demonstrating writers to get into the venue. Late Saturday, MTV scrapped the live event entirely. “We’re pivoting away from a live event that still enables us to produce a memorable night full of exclusive sneak peaks, irreverent categories our audience has come to expect, and countless moments that will both surprise and delight,” said Bruce Gillmer, an MTV executive producer, in a statement.The best movie category pits “Avatar: The Way of Water,” “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” “Elvis,” “Nope,” “Scream...

‘We had to be here’: Fans gather at hometown concert celebrating Gordon Lightfoot

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:30:42 GMT

ORILLIA, ONT. — A generation of old friends, longtime couples and families raised on Gordon Lightfoot gathered Saturday night in the singer-songwriter’s Orillia, Ont., hometown to mark the passing of the Canadian musician.By sheer coincidence — or as some suggested, a case of mournful serendipity — a concert planned months ago as a tribute to Lightfoot as a living legend wound up being a celebration of a life well-lived.The musician died Monday at age 84.For Chicago residents Jan Goldsmith and her son Rick Goldsmith, saying goodbye was essential. The two flew into Canada earlier Saturday and travelled to Orillia for the concert with plans to attend Lightfoot’s public visitation on Sunday.“I’ve been listening to Gordon since (my mom) introduced me as a kid … and he’s been a part of my life almost on a daily basis since,” said Rick.“We had to be here.”The Goldsmiths described a mixture of sadness and joy that ran throughout “...

'Highly misled and misguided.' Capitol leaders react to TxTag viewer tips

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:30:42 GMT

Investigative Summary: This story is part of KXAN’s “TxTag Troubles” investigative project launched May 7, 2023. Following related reports in recent years, our team rededicated its resources to this major consumer issue, after hundreds of viewers complained to us about resurfaced billing and customer service problems with the state’s tollway operator and its contracted vendors. During our reporting, the Texas Department of Transportation began reaching out to viewers who had contacted KXAN to resolve their issues, and state lawmakers renewed their approach to fixing future TxTag problems.AUSTIN (KXAN) — “No explanation, no communication, no transparency,” wrote one KXAN viewer in March 2021, pleading for an investigation into TxTag to bring TxTag's issues to the public’s attention.The viewer, who wished to remain anonymous, told KXAN his troubles with TxTag, Texas' largest tollway operator, started over two years earlier when he said he realized multiple transactions totaling $1,60...

Latest TxTag contractor penalized millions, but driver complaints persist

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:30:42 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Auto-payment issues, double billing, incorrect statements and customer service runaround — those are just some of the complaints KXAN has received, by the hundreds, from Texas Department of Transportation toll road and TxTag users.KXAN has uncovered TxDOT toll system problems for nearly a decade. During that time, the state agency has repeatedly vowed improvement.In this latest investigative effort, KXAN dedicated more than two dozen journalists to hold TxDOT officials accountable, fight for public records, catalog hundreds of tips and complaints, and sift through thousands of pages of vendor contracts. When TxDOT wouldn’t schedule an interview, we attended public meetings to question the agency’s top brass. One regional toll authority finds success in focusing on its customers. Explore» -->Despite years dealing with vendor hiccups and software glitches, TxDOT officials now say they’re seeing big improvements to TxTag and their toll road system — a system that imp...