Andy Warhol's art doesn't often conjure warm and fuzzy images, but a proposed tribute to him just might.
PITTSBURGH (AP) — An arts group wants to cover a downtown Pittsburgh bridge named for Andy Warhol with knitted blankets.
The Allegheny County Council must sign off on the plan. But if it goes forward, the Fiberarts Guild of Pittsburgh will use machine-knitted blankets to cover the bridge's towering superstructure while individual blankets knitted by more than 1,200 volunteers will be used to cover its walkways.
Leaders of a New Jersey shore town are looking to butt in on how people dress when they stroll the boardwalk, because they believe most visitors don't want to see people's rear ends hanging out.
By WAYNE PARRY, Associated Press
WILDWOOD, N.J. (AP) — Town officials are set to pass a law Wednesday to ban anyone on the boardwalk from wearing pants that sag more than 3 inches below the hips, exposing either skin or underwear.
Mayor Ernest Troiano Jr. said Wildwood, a popular beach town near the southern tip of the state, has been inundated with complaints from tourists upon whose money the city depends for its survival.
"When you have good families who call you up and say, 'I've been coming here 20 years, 30 years, 40 years and I'm not going to any longer because I'm not going to subject my children or my parents or grandparents to seeing some kid walk down the boardwalk with their butt hanging out,' you have to do something," he said.
Want more time off work to hang out at the beach? Need a little cash and have vacation days to spare?
By SAM HANANEL, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Some companies allow their employees to buy and sell vacation time, a perk that gives workers more flexibility in managing their time off.
The novel approach might help employees buy some extra days off to take the trip of a lifetime or spend more time with a newborn. Co-workers could sell off unused days to get some extra money.
Photo: Nora Kouba, an employee at USG Corp., has made use of a benefit offered by USG that allows their workers to buy and sell vacation time, a perk that gives workers more flexibility in managing their time off. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)
"When times are a little tight, this benefit really doesn't cost a lot of extra money to employers to provide," said Julie Stich, research director for the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans.
Padihershef was a 40-year-old stonecutter in the necropolis in Thebes, an ancient city on the west bank of the Nile, in what is today's Luxor.
By RODRIQUE NGOWI, Associated Press
BOSTON (AP) — A 2,500-year-old Egyptian mummy is coming out of its coffin to undergo cleaning and restoration at Massachusetts General Hospital.
The mummy known as Padihershef has been on display at the third oldest general hospital in the United States since it received him as a gift from the city of Boston in 1823 as a medical oddity.
On Friday, a conservator trained in restoring ancient artifacts will remove him from his coffin and use cotton swabs to wipe away salt deposits from his face. The salt has been slowly seeping out of his tissue, a result of the mummification process. Experts are also expected to do minor repair and stabilization work on his coffin.
Survey provides an optimistic view from black America.
A new poll surveying attitudes among African-Americans finds that optimism around financial, social and community issues is widespread.
The poll, conducted by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health and released by NPR, posed a range of questions to nearly 1,100 African-Americans. Respondents were sampled in a geographic breakdown aimed at providing an accurate snapshot of attitudes among black Americans all across the country.
As baby boomers age, many of the traditional ways to make friends disappear.
By MELISSA KOSSLER DUTTON, Associated Press
When Ron Riedel's kids graduated from high school, he and his wife, Lorita, found they were socializing less. They weren't meeting up with friends at soccer games, school plays and other kid-related events.
So Riedel formed a "baby boomer" group through his church that hosts regular game nights and weekly dinners.
"When our kids were around, we had reasons to get together," said Riedel, 55, a furniture maker in Auburn, Calif. Now, "we had less excuses to get together, so we invented this."
With a wave of new restrictions, the smoke is starting to clear.
All across the country, smoking bans have been picking up some serious momentum.
Smoking will be smothered in the sand this summer as bans go into effect on public beaches, including seaside spots in Delaware, Massachusetts, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. On June 1, Starbucks instituted a ban within 25 feet of some 7,000 locations, imposing a trial separation on the long-term relationship between coffee and cigarettes.
New bans and restrictions stretching from California, across the Plains and clear across to New York, are being voted into law.
To get out early, work harder and smarter.
Is anybody out there reading this, or did you all go home already?
Today is National Leave The Office Earlier Day. If you’re wondering whether that’s an official holiday, ask your boss.
In a straw poll taken for this blog, 99 percent of workers enthusiastically supported the concept of National Leave The Office Earlier Day. Their employers did not. One boss asked if we’d ever heard of “National Unemployment Day.”
