LOS ANGELES (AP) – Jack Black’s Po the panda outgunned Adam Sandler’s Zo the hairdresser.Black’s cartoon comedy “Kung Fu Panda” pulled in $60 million in ticket sales to debut as the weekend’s No. 1 movie, while Sandler’s salon romp “You Don’t Mess With the Zohan” opened in second place with $40 million, according to studio […]

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – J.K. Rowling stressed the crucial importance of imagination during a speech Thursday at Harvard University’s spring commencement, saying, “We do not need magic to transform our world.”The “Harry Potter” author also spoke about the benefit of failure, recalling the humiliations of her time in poverty before her career took off with her […]

LEWISTON – The Franco-American Heritage Center is preparing for another Soiree Canadienne with music, food and fun on Friday, June 13.This month, patrons will be served lobster rolls, salad, desserts and beverages. The popular C’est Si Bon band will provide the music.Organized in the mid-1970s to provide music for the first Lewiston Franco-American Festival, L’orchestre […]

WASHINGTON (AP) – The actress who played Wonder Woman on TV in the 1970s says she didn’t do anything extraordinary when she discovered a body this week on the Potomac River in Washington.Lynda Carter tells The Washington Post she was alone in a boat when she saw the body Wednesday. She says she didn’t have […]

AUBURN – Auburn juried artist Melanie Therrien and Farmington native J. Bean Palmer have pooled their creative talents to produce a book titled “The Cape Cod Witch and The Pirate’s Treasure.”The two came together when Palmer needed an illustrator for her book. She found that Therrien has a way with color and an intricate style […]

William Gibson is celebrated for prescience, starting with his 1984 debut novel, “Neuromancer,” where he imagined a virtual world that is strikingly similar to the Internet-centric one we inhabit today. In his latest novel, “Spook Country” (Berkley, 374 pp., $15), Gibson is also provocative.The novel opens with a former rock star-turned-journalist, writing an article on […]

Ants in search of food and water often find ready supplies in homes. Here are some tips from the makers of Combat pest-control products for keeping ants out of your house:– Ants often enter via tiny cracks and holes in the walls, such as the gaps around utility lines and windows. Filling those openings with […]

When I make a favorite recipe, it doesn’t matter how long it has been – the recipe takes me back to a special place and time. And so as I made an old family favorite a few days ago, I thought about summer days spent at a cottage on Keuka Lake, one of the Finger […]

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Kanye West, 31; Keenen Ivory Wayans, 50; Boz Scaggs, 64; Jerry Stiller, 81Happy Birthday: Don’t let emotional confusion or someone you love lead you down the garden path. Ask yourself why you are going in the direction you are, before you get in too deep. Protect yourself, your family and […]

DEAR ABBY: My mother is very strict about the use of obscenities, so I don’t use them at home. However, I have become close friends with “Mallory,” and cuss words are part of her normal speech.I have been to Mallory’s house where swear words are normal among her parents and siblings. (Her parents are worse […]