NEW YORK (AP) — Bella and Max are top dogs in New York City. The city Health Department announced Wednesday that it registered 1,127 dogs named Bella and 1,073 named Max in 2015. Bella has been the city’s most popular dog name since 2008. That’s when the last of Stephenie Meyer’s vampire-themed “Twilight” novels featuring […]

Anything that can blossom right now seems to be giving its all. Everywhere I look out back, on the lawn and in and around the garden, something is growing, and I haven’t even planted most of my vegetables yet. Lots of last year’s onions have reseeded themselves and are now growing a new crop even […]

And may it make you stroner A commencement speech is meant to inspire. An older and wiser person gives advice to young graduates who are about to go make their own way in the world. Sometimes these cross-generational exchanges come off as out of touch: How can a 50- or 60-something understand what it’s like […]

What do a Mormon father and son, a Finnish power-lifter and a small-town Nebraska family all have in common? They destroy things for fun and science – and put the results on YouTube. This particular YouTube community is a bit “Mythbusters” and a bit Bill Nye. Its personalities are usually self-taught, the production values variable […]

12 defensive driving tips from local road warriors that could save your life. Clay Johnson is a long-haul truck driver who trains others in how to safely operate a rig. He has all kinds of advice on safe driving, but most of it can be boiled down to one simple philosophy. “When I’m driving, I […]

For about an hour on a recent Thursday morning, the verified Twitter account of the late New York Times media columnist David Carr belonged to an apparent spambot. The account’s name changed to “Miranda Davis,” and “Miranda” tweeted, “I love role-playing games and sex.” The tweet shocked many of Carr’s hundreds of thousands of followers: […]

As their name implies, the Manic Optimists are all about fun, and recently that flair for fun has earned them fame well beyond the borders of the campus at Bates College, where they have been entertaining audiences for the past decade as one of the college’s most popular musical ensembles. The Man Ops, as they […]