NEW YORK (AP) — Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Alice Walker and The New York Times are drawing fire after she praised an author who critics say expresses anti-Semitism and is a conspiracy theorist. In an interview in Sunday’s “By The Book” column, the 74-year-old author of “The Color Purple” said David Icke’s 1995 book, “And The […]

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Fifty years ago on Christmas Eve, a tumultuous year of assassinations, riots and war drew to a close in heroic and hopeful fashion with the three Apollo 8 astronauts reading from the Book of Genesis on live TV as they orbited the moon. To this day, that 1968 mission is […]

When 23-year-old Rick Springfield’s debut solo single “Speak to the Sky” was climbing the Australian pop charts in 1972, few realized the young singer/songwriter had been suffering since his teen years from debilitating depression — including a suicide attempt 6 years earlier. Four decades later, he publicly discussed his battle in the best-selling 2011 memoir […]

As soon as you write the first word of a newspaper column, you’re making several HUGE assumptions: 1) That you have something of value to offer. 2) That someone wants to receive it. These two points are exactly what makes writing for a living such a risky – and rewarding — proposition. Writing may not […]

Have you received a pre-approved offer in the mail this holiday season that looks like a check, made out to you and ready to cash? Before you rush to the bank, visions of presents dancing in your head, know that it’s not free cash. Rather, it’s more likely an expensive loan. Such pre-screened mail offers, […]