Question: My parents are in their 80s. They have been retired for 10 years. They have experienced their share of health problems, which have created some financial difficulties. Fortunately, we have a big family and we have been able to give them the financial support they need. My husband and I want to try to...Read More

WASHINGTON – The number of Americans living in poverty went down slightly last year, according to the Census Bureau’s annual report, but the number of uninsured Americans rose a bit.Read More

I am a Catholic who proudly voted for Barack Obama and the slots referendum, which will allow the Preakness to stay at Pimlico. The slots referendum passed in Allegany County, in spite of a letter in my church bulletin suggesting parishioners vote against it. I don’t need instructions from the church or the pulpit on...Read More

VATICAN CITY – For the first time in a decade, summer tourists could make their way down steep stone steps deep into the dark, dank interior of a papal fortress and crawl into prison cells that housed countless common criminals as well as Rome’s errant elite. The 1,900-year-old Castel Sant’Angelo, which stands near the Tiber...Read More

WASHINGTON – A federal appeals court ruled Nov. 24 that a lawsuit can move forward against the Vatican involving three men who claimed to have been sexually abused when they were children by priests in the Archdiocese of Louisville, Ky.Read More

High school students don’t have to be overwhelmed when picking a college as long as they put college planning on their agenda each year leading up to graduation, according to Monica Moody Moore, vice president for enrollment management at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland, Baltimore. “You don’t want to use a singular source...Read More

I can’t ever recall reading letters (CR, Nov. 20) filled with such venom. President-elect Obama was accused of being a Marxist and prayers were called for his failure. Where was the outrage when President George W. Bush invaded Iraq without provocation and began a war that has taken over 800,000 lives, many of them innocent...Read More

Asked what he wants to be when he grows up, 11-year-old Diallo Bratcher didn’t pause for a moment before he replied with the most serious expression he could produce. “A lawyer,” he answered. Why? “Because I talk a lot,” Diallo said, and this time his almost ever-present, infectious grin returned. Diallo, his 10-year-old brother and...Read More