Finding solutions to bitter brews Dear Heloise: We tried the hint for how to make coffee less bitter by adding 1/8 teaspoon of table salt when making drip coffee. Ugh! It tasted terrible; I’ll take the bitterness! My favorite creamer balances any bitterness perfectly. No offense meant to ...

The phrase about turning off the lights when one leaves someplace appears to have originated with two real estate agents in Seattle. It was 1971 and Boeing was laying off employees during an economic downturn. It was meant to be humorous, though the unemployed probably didn’t see it that ...

(AP) — Any time a notable figure of the French New Wave is introduced in Richard Linklater’s “Nouvelle Vague,” we’re treated to a momentary straight-on shot of them, with a nameplate — Claude Chabrol, Jacques Rivette, Éric Rohmer — at the bottom of the screen. It’s a little ...

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Twins have picked former bench coach Derek Shelton, who managed the Pittsburgh Pirates for five-plus years, as their new manager. The Twins made a formal announcement on Thursday and scheduled an introductory news conference for Shelton on Tuesday. Shelton ...

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s military said Thursday that Palestinian militants handed over the remains of two more hostages, in the latest indication that the fragile ceasefire agreement is moving forward despite Israeli strikes on Gaza this week. The two sets of remains were given to the ...

It’s fashionable to call the current federal government shutdown a “crisis,” to focus on the missed paychecks, delayed services and bureaucratic disarray. But what if this standoff —this uncomfortable pause in government business — is exactly what the country needs right now? What if ...