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Miscommunications and misunderstandings

Dear Annie: I come from a large family. I was the youngest of four girls, and there were several years between us. Growing up, I barely knew my two older sisters. One of the sisters remarried someone from a different religion, though they were not practicing. Fast-forward 20-25 years and this same couple drives by our small town 10-20 times during the year. After I entered retirement from having worked 50-60 hours a week, I realized that we made several invitations for them to stop in, but they never did. (Let’s not forget that they would stop in and see my other sister’s family ...

Avoiding cheese contamination

Dear Heloise: People worry about how they make contact with cheese to avoid mold, but they leave the original packaging on it -- same with sausages. Everyone, please wash or rinse the exterior of store wrappers, because this is where most contaminants exist. Hundreds of hands touch them, and who knows what touches the packaging in storage! Before you cut watermelon or any kind of melon, wash it the same as any kind of fruit before cutting, to avoid contamination on the cutting board. Heloise, I love your column. I read it in the Long Beach Press-Telegram. -- S.R.K., via email LAUNDRY ...

Jan. 6 defendant 15-month prison sentence

An Idaho man who traveled to Washington in a car loaded with weapons and was photographed dangling from the Senate balcony during the Capitol riot was sentenced Wednesday to 15 months in prison. Josiah Colt was one of the first rioters to reach the Senate floor on Jan. 6, 2021. He later pleaded guilty that year to obstructing Congress’ certification of Joe Biden’s White House victory. Also on Wednesday, a man who accompanied Colt to the District of Columbia in a rental car with weapons and gear was sentenced to about three years in prison, according to court records.

People in the News

George Santos pleads not guilty to duping donors, stealing campaign cash CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (AP) — U.S. Rep. George Santos, the New York Republican infamous for fabricating his life story, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges he duped donors, stole from his campaign and lied to Congress about being a millionaire, all while cheating to collect unemployment benefits he didn’t deserve. Afterward, he said wouldn’t drop his reelection bid, defying calls to resign. Santos’ 13-count federal indictment was a reckoning for a web of fraud and deceit that prosecutors say overlapped ...

FDA panel backs over-the-counter sales of birth control pill

WASHINGTON — Federal health advisers said Wednesday that a decades-old birth control pill should be sold without a prescription, paving the way for a likely U.S. approval of the first over-the-counter contraceptive medication. The panel of FDA advisers voted unanimously in favor of drugmaker Perrigo’s request to sell its once-a-day medication on store shelves alongside eye drops and allergy pills. The recommendation came at the close of a two-day meeting focused on whether women could safely and effectively take the pill without professional supervision. A final FDA decision is ...

International

Fears over scores of zoo animals caught in Sudan crossfire ASWAN, Egypt (AP) — Dozens of zoo animals in Sudan’s capital — including an elderly crocodile, parrots and giant lizards — are feared dead after street battles between the country’s rival forces made the location unreachable. At least 100 animals, all kept inside enclosures, will have gone more than three weeks without food or water, said Sara Abdalla, the head zoologist at the zoo, which is part of the Sudan Natural History Museum. Millions of people in Sudan have endured shortages of food, water and medicines after ...