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Gretchen’s table: Sichuan dry-fried green beans

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:48 GMT

Gretchen McKay | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (TNS)I baked a lot of cookies for my newspaper’s annual holiday cookie contest and my kitchen floor isn’t the only thing that ended up a sweet and sticky mess.My palate, after baking and tasting a dozen cookies for the recipe competition, was in sugar overdrive. Even a day after the winners were announced, and all the baking supplies were back in my pantry, my taste buds were still screaming out for something — anything! — that didn’t hang its hat on butter, chocolate and brown, white or confectioner’s sugar.Which is a long way of saying: Thank goodness for Sichuan food.This easy recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks, “Chinese Soul Food” by Hsiao-Ching Chou, was exactly what I need to get on a sugar-free track. Sichuanese in origin, it involves blistering green beans using a shallow frying method called gan bian, or “dry-frying.”Because you use less oil and a longer cooking time, the beans are slightly dehydrated, which creates a crispy an...

Science doesn’t yet support broad restrictions on teens’ access to social media, experts say

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:48 GMT

Corinne Purtill | (TNS) Los Angeles TimesTo understand the path forward in regulating social media, it’s helpful to look to a transformative technology from the previous century: the car.A car is an essential tool for getting places we want and need to go. It’s also an exceptionally powerful one that can be dangerous if handled irresponsibly.We require education and training for people who want to drive them. We insist that companies build in safety features, which are updated over time as research and technology advance.And when young people come of age and want to get behind the wheel, “we would never dream of allowing them near a car where we didn’t have safety standards for the vehicles and where we didn’t have education for the adolescents,” said Dr. Sandro Galea, a Boston University physician and epidemiologist.“But if you think about it,” he said, “that’s exactly what we do with social media.”In a report releas...

MA firefighter unions push Boston City Council to accept $13M counter-terrorism grant

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:48 GMT

A statewide firefighter’s union pushed Boston city councilors Tuesday to take up and accept just over $13 million in federal counter-terrorism grant dollars that have ignited debate at City Hall and even on Beacon Hill.In a letter to councilors, Professional Fire Fighters of Massachusetts President Richard MacKinnon Jr. and Secretary-Treasurer Billy Cabral urged local lawmakers to put aside their disagreements after the money was stalled earlier this month.“We ask that the Boston City Council put aside its internal political fights and do its job to protect the interests of the citizens and visitors of Boston and the surrounding communities,” the letter said, a copy of which was obtained by the Herald.Seven votes were needed on the council to shuttle the dollars to Boston’s Emergency Management Office to help prevent, respond to, and recover from terrorism threats, “including  chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive incidents,” Mayor Michelle Wu said in a note to t...

North Dakota Republican leaders call on state rep to resign after slurs to police during DUI stop

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:48 GMT

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Republican leaders have called on a North Dakota lawmaker to resign after he lashed out at police with homophobic and anti-migrant remarks during a traffic stop earlier this month for drunken driving.Republican House Majority Leader Mike Lefor said Tuesday he called on Republican state Rep. Nico Rios, of Williston, to resign over the weekend. His statement cited a police officer’s report of Rios being “verbally abusive, homophobic, racially abusive and discriminatory” toward him “for the entire duration of the incident following road side testing,” as well as attempting “to use his position as a lawmaker to intimidate police and avoid an arrest.”“There is no room in the legislature, or our party, for this behavior. I understand people make mistakes, but his comments and defiance to law enforcement are beyond the pale. In addition, any lawmaker attempting to use his or her elected position to threaten anyone or skirt the law is completely...

Book Review: Ralph Nader profiles corporate leaders he sees as role models in ‘The Rebellious CEO’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:48 GMT

Consumer advocate Ralph Nader has built his life’s reputation on his fights with corporate America. But it turns out there are some CEOs he actually likes.At least that’s the premise of “The Rebellious CEO: 12 Leaders Who Did It Right,” Nader’s look at executives who he says “stood against the gray crowd” by putting a premium on social responsibility as much as they did on profits. The dozen leaders he profiles are presented as models for businesses on how to balance both those needs.The brief biographies of the CEOs give Nader a chance to highlight what he sees as the shortcomings of today’s corporations. But, surprisingly, he commends the CEOs profiled for not forgetting the bottom line and notes that all of them insisted “nothing would be possible if they didn’t pay attention to profits.”The chapters are sprinkled with Nader’s anecdotes from his interactions with the CEOs profiled, and leans on their own writings as well. The CEOs highlighted i...

Appellate court reverses federal conviction against former Nebraska US Rep. Fortenberry

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:48 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — An appellate court on Tuesday reversed a 2022 federal conviction against former Rep. Jeff Fortenberry of Nebraska, ruling that he should not have been tried in Los Angeles. Fortenberry was convicted in March 2022 on charges that he lied to federal authorities about an illegal $30,000 contribution to his campaign from a foreign billionaire at a 2016 Los Angeles fundraiser. He resigned his seat days later following pressure from congressional leaders and Nebraska’s GOP governor.In its Tuesday ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit wrote that the trial venue of Los Angeles was improper because Fortenberry made the false statements during interviews with federal agents at his home in Lincoln, Nebraska, and in his lawyer’s office in Washington.“Fortenberry’s convictions are reversed so that he may be retried, if at all, in a proper venue,” the decision said.A federal jury in Los Angeles found the nine-term Republican guilty of concealing information an...

The rapper Ye, who has a long history of making antisemitic comments, issues an apology in Hebrew

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:48 GMT

The rapper formerly known as Kanye West, who has a long history of making antisemitic comments, apologized to the Jewish community in an Instagram post written in Hebrew on Tuesday. “I sincerely apologize to the Jewish community for any unintended outburst caused by my words or actions,” Ye wrote.“It was not my intention to offend or demean, and I deeply regret any pain I may have caused,” continued the rapper, who legally changed his name to Ye in 2021.The statement arrives less than two weeks after Ye went on an antisemitic rant in Las Vegas while promoting his upcoming album “Vultures,” due out Jan. 12. In the rant, he made insidious insinuations about Jewish influence and compared himself to Jesus Christ and Adolf Hitler.“After causing untold damage by using his vast influence and platform to poison countless minds with vicious antisemitism and hate, an apology in Hebrew may be the first step on a long journey towards making amends to the Jewish community and all those who he ha...

Migrant caravan slogs on through southern Mexico with no expectations from a US-Mexico meeting

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:48 GMT

HUIXTLA, Mexico (AP) — Under a beating sun, thousands of migrants in a caravan continued to trudge through southern Mexico on Tuesday, with some saying they expect nothing good from an upcoming meeting this week between American and Mexican officials about the migrant surge at the U.S. border. The migrants passed by Mexico’s main inland immigration inspection point outside the town of Huixtla, in southern Chiapas state. National Guard officers there made no attempt to stop the estimated 6,000 members of the caravan. The migrants were trying to make it to the next town, Villa Comaltitlan, about 11 miles (17 kilometers) northwest of Huixtla. In the past, Mexico has let migrants go through, trusting that they would tire themselves out walking along the highway. No migrant caravan has ever walked the 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) to the U.S. border.U.S. officials are expected to press Mexico to stop more migrants at a meeting scheduled for Wednesday. The meeting “will be between fools ...

New Mexico delegation wants more time for the public and tribes to comment on proposed power line

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:48 GMT

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico’s congressional delegation wants the public to have more time to weigh in on a proposed transmission line that would bring more electricity to one of the nation’s top nuclear weapons laboratories, saying the comment period should be extended by 60 days.The project comes as Los Alamos National Laboratory looks to power ongoing operations and future missions that include manufacturing key components for the U.S. nuclear arsenal. Native American tribes and environmentalists already have voiced opposition to the multimillion-dollar power line project, which would cross national forest land in an area known as the Caja del Rio and span the Rio Grande at White Rock Canyon. Several pueblos have cultural and spiritual ties to the area.The congressional delegation said in a letter to the National Nuclear Security Administration that the current 30-day comment period falls on numerous federal and religious holidays and overlaps with multiple Pueblo feasts, mak...

Uber driver charged after sexually assaulting passenger in Whitby

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:48 GMT

Durham police have charged a Whitby man with sexual assault after an incident involving a female passenger who was acquiring his Uber services.On Sunday, police responded to a sexual assault call in the area of Taunton Road and Garden Street in Whitby. The female victim was reportedly sexually assaulted by a male driving for Uber as she was being taken back to her homeAnees Ashraf, 32, from Whitby, has been charged with two counts of sexual assault. He was released on an undertaking.Police believe the accused may still be continuing to offer ride share services under different apps. Investigators are in contact with the companies, but want to warn the public to ensure there are no further victims.