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  • Skillet miso cod with warm slaw brims with protein, fiber, and flavor

    Everyone seems to be zoomed in on protein these days, but while protein is important, I suggest an expanded nutritional perspective. Instead of focusing on that one nutrient, consider a meal’s PFD — protein, fiber, and deliciousness. The acronym works, because together, these three elements provide the broader nourishment needed to ride life’s waves and to maximize the pleasure in doing it.

    This skillet recipe offers easily ample PFD in about 30 minutes. The protein is meaty fillets of cod, which also bring health-protective omega-3 fats and essential minerals to the plate. (Alternatively, any thick, steak-like fillet will work, such as salmon, halibut, or sea bass.) The fillets get nestled into a barely softened sauté of shredded cabbage, carrots, onion, and ginger. (You can slice the cabbage and carrots yourself, or use a package of slaw mix as a shortcut.) The vegetables introduce the gut-friendly fiber factor, plus a wealth of antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals.

    A mixture of miso paste, softened butter, and a touch of honey, slathered on the fish and dolloped on the vegetables, amplify the deliciousness of these already-tasty ingredients. Add a little water to the pan and a brightening drizzle of rice vinegar, cover it, and let the resulting steam cook the fish until it’s flaky, the vegetables relax into a warm slaw, and everything is imbued with the savory-sweet richness of the miso butter.

    Sprinkled with fresh scallions and served with rice, if you’d like, it’s a meal that can save a busy weeknight all the while maximizing nutrition.

    Skillet Cod With Miso Butter and Warm Slaw

    An umami-rich mixture of miso paste, butter, and honey imbues this saucy skillet cod and warm, gingery slaw with savory-sweet flavor. It’s quick to prepare as written, but can be made even faster by subbing the cabbage and carrots with a bagged slaw mix.

    4 servings

    Total time: 30 minutes

    Storage: Refrigerate for up to 2 days.

    Ingredients

    3 1/2 tablespoons shiro (white) miso

    2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

    1 tablespoon honey

    4 (6-ounce) center-cut cod fillets, patted dry

    1 tablespoon neutral oil, such as avocado or canola

    1 medium yellow onion (8 ounces), halved and thinly sliced

    1 (1-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and sliced into thin matchsticks (about 1 tablespoon)

    5 cups (9 ounces) lightly packed thinly sliced green cabbage

    2 medium carrots, sliced into ribbons using a vegetable peeler

    1/3 cup water

    1 tablespoon unseasoned rice vinegar

    1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

    2 scallions, thinly sliced

    cooked rice, for serving (optional)

    Steps

    In a small bowl, combine the miso, butter, and honey, and mash with a fork until well incorporated.

    Spread a scant 1 tablespoon of the miso mixture on top of each cod fillet.

    In a large (12-inch) skillet over medium heat, heat the oil until shimmering. Add the onion and ginger, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion starts to soften, about 2 minutes. Add the cabbage and carrots, and cook, stirring frequently, until slightly softened, about 2 minutes more.

    Arrange the fish, miso side up, on top of the vegetables. Scatter small dollops of the remaining miso mixture over the vegetables in the pan. In a liquid measuring cup, combine the water with the rice vinegar, then drizzle the mixture over the vegetables in the pan, taking care to avoid the fish. Cover and cook until the fish is just cooked through, 6 to 8 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish, and adjust the heat as needed to maintain a steady, but not overly strong, steam.

    Transfer the fish to a cutting board or large plate. Stir the vegetables to coat them in the sauce and season with the pepper.

    Divide the warm slaw among plates or shallow bowls. Top each portion with the fish, garnish with the scallions, and serve warm, with rice on the side, if desired.

    Substitutions: Cod >> other firm fish, such as halibut or salmon. Sliced cabbage and carrots >> one 12-ounce bag slaw mix. Rice vinegar >> apple cider vinegar. Honey >> maple syrup or agave. Yellow onion >> white onion. Scallions >> chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves.

    Gluten-free? Be sure to seek out gluten-free miso.

    Nutrition | Per serving (1 fish fillet and 1/2 cup vegetables): 318 calories, 22g carbohydrates, 88mg cholesterol, 11g fat, 5g fiber, 33g protein, 4g saturated fat, 599mg sodium, 12g sugar

    This analysis is an estimate based on available ingredients and this preparation. It should not substitute for a dietitian’s or nutritionist’s advice.

    From cookbook author and registered dietitian nutritionist Ellie Krieger.

  • Google unveils quantum computing breakthrough on Willow chip

    Google unveils quantum computing breakthrough on Willow chip

    Alphabet Inc.’s Google ran an algorithm on its “Willow” quantum-computing chip that can be repeated on similar platforms and outperform classical supercomputers, a breakthrough it said clears a path for useful applications of quantum technology within five years.

    The “Quantum Echoes” algorithm, detailed in a paper published Wednesday in the science journal Nature, is verifiable, meaning it can be repeated on another quantum computer. It also ran 13,000 times faster than previously possible on the world’s best supercomputer, Google said. Taken together, the advances point to a broad range of potential uses in medicine and materials science, Google said.

    “The key thing about verifiability is it’s a huge step in the path toward a real world application,” said Tom O’Brien, a staff research scientist at Google Quantum AI who oversaw the completion of this work. “In achieving this result we’re really pushing us toward finding mainstream.”

    Alphabet shares rose as much as 2.4% Wednesday in New York trading before closing up 0.5%.

    The breakthrough brings Google a step closer to harnessing the processing power promised by quantum computing, also being pursued by rivals Microsoft Corp., International Business Machines Corp., and numerous start-ups. It follows Google’s announcement in December that Willow had solved a problem in five minutes that would have taken a supercomputer 10 septillion years.

    Quantum computers use tiny circuits to perform calculations, like traditional computers do, but they make these calculations in parallel, rather than sequentially, making them much faster. While firms have boasted of building quantum platforms that surpass classical computers, their challenge has been to find a useful application.

    Computer scientist Scott Aaronson, who wasn’t involved in the study, wrote in an email that he was “thrilled” by Google’s progress toward outperforming supercomputers in a way which could be efficiently repeated, and thus proved, on a second quantum computer — which had been “one of the biggest challenges of the field for the past several years.” Still, he warned that there was a lot of work ahead.

    “Getting from here to anything commercially useful, and/or to scalable fault-tolerance (which wasn’t used for this demonstration), will be additional big challenges,” wrote Aaronson, who serves as the Schlumberger Centennial Chair of computer science at the University of Texas at Austin.

    The Google team, which includes 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics winner Michel H. Devoret, said it plans to continue to move toward real-world applications by scaling up and improving the accuracy of its machines.

  • Horoscopes: Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025

    ARIES (March 21-April 19). You can’t solve every problem in the group, nor should you. What you can and will do is bring levity, ideas and perspective. Your originality is a cue to others who will feel freer to be themselves, too.

    TAURUS (April 20-May 20). Not every adventure involves transportation tickets. Trains, planes and automobiles are mind-expanders for sure, but so are walks, conversations and new chapters of a book. Follow your curiosity somewhere new.

    GEMINI (May 21-June 21). Love shows up steadily, not just when it’s convenient. If their attention, kindness or presence is spotty, you feel the gap. You’re putting energy into relationships of reciprocity today — not just with people but with other interests and endeavors, too.

    CANCER (June 22-July 22). People speak in code, rarely saying what they mean, and yet their meaning often reads loud and clear to those who pick up on things like body language, tone, gestures and patterns of behavior. Today you’re a masterful decoder.

    LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). Sensitivity doesn’t have to be fragility. Use it as radar. You pick up signals of all kinds today. The key is filtering: not every vibration deserves your full attention. Tune in to the frequencies that give you something positive to work with.

    VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). The way you fold a towel, brew your tea or arrange your desk can become a meditation. These repeated motions, seemingly trivial, remind you that order is possible even when life feels chaotic. Small rituals bring grounding.

    LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). Comparison to others is tempting, but it rarely works in your favor. Today, focus on contrasts that have to do with you and you. Your life is different today from yesterday. How? People have grown from knowing you. How? These examinations build self-respect.

    SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). You’re unstoppable. Where others might see a dead end or give up, you spot the hidden path if there is one. And if no such path exists, you have the courage to forge ahead and blaze one.

    SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). If the environment itself is toxic, matching your tone to the room makes you complicit in the problem. In that case, authenticity and boundaries are more important than diplomacy. When in doubt, use your feet. Sometimes the best thing to do is leave.

    CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). The most responsible thing you can do is to pause. Rest can be a kind of labor, too, the invisible work of renewal that makes your other efforts sustainable and strong. Trust that much is going on beneath your consciousness.

    AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). People aren’t tasks to be managed. They are complex and best understood with a flexible kind of attention that spans the shallows and the depths. Listen and notice. Your attentiveness is more valuable than any quick fix.

    PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). A small change in environment alters your whole outlook. Take the work on the road. Move the furniture. Call in help from someone you’ve never talked to before. What’s needed is to shake loose those stuck ideas.

    TODAY’S BIRTHDAY (Oct. 23). Welcome to your Year of Generous Mischief. Your playful side will get you into situations that end up being extraordinarily beneficial to you and yours. You’ll stumble into the ideal business or mentor and work on projects that bring excellent income. More highlights: a big family celebration, the rediscovery of an old passion you thought was lost and a change in scenery that feels like a whole new life. Cancer and Leo adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 4, 15, 23, 30 and 49.

  • Dear Abby | Sister flips out over intended name for unborn nephew

    DEAR ABBY: I am pregnant with the first-born grandson on both sides. My husband and I plan to use my husband’s middle name for our son’s first name and my father’s middle name for his middle name. My father is “the III” but has no sons, so we thought this would be a way to honor him and represent my side of the family.

    My sister is the first person we shared our son’s name with. The following day, she called me to express her displeasure, because she always planned to use our father’s middle name as a first name for a son. I knew this, but I didn’t think using it as a middle name would be an issue. Additionally, she’s younger than I am, unmarried and childless. She was so upset with me that I had to end the phone call because it escalated to yelling.

    During the call, she suggested I forgo using the name but honor our father by changing the baby’s middle name to our father’s first name (which my husband and I don’t think flows well) or use my maiden name for my son’s middle name. Must I change my son’s intended name because my sister wants to be the first to use our father’s middle name for a potential future son?

    — PICKING A NAME IN THE EAST

    DEAR PICKING: How your sister got into the middle of what you and your husband decide about your baby’s name is beyond me. Of course you don’t have to alter your plans to suit your sister. Stop being a people-pleaser, particularly where your offspring is concerned. Name your baby boy what you think is best, and do not look back.

    ** ** **

    DEAR ABBY: I am a 40-year-old woman dating a wonderful man my age. I purchased a house in my 20s, earned several degrees, own my own business and have achieved success. However, I haven’t had the best luck with the last few guys I’ve dated. The man I’m dating now doesn’t seem to grasp some of life’s necessities. He doesn’t shower often, wears the same attire several days in a row, drinks daily and stays out all night every weekend. When we met, he had no job and no car and was living with a friend.

    It’s been three months, and he has secured a job. He has practically moved himself into my home and is helping with the finances, but he still doesn’t shower. (He does do housework, though.) I have had several conversations with him about his hygiene, and he makes promises but doesn’t deliver. My family thinks I’m desperate for love and that I should let this guy go. What do you think?

    — LOSING HOPE IN PENNSYLVANIA

    DEAR LOSING HOPE: More important than what your family thinks about this is what do YOU think? Because your wonderful man’s body odor is offensive, give him an ultimatum. Tell him that as much as you are beginning to care for him, this is a deal-breaker, and if he wants to continue living with you, he’ll have to shower regularly. Then give him a schedule or show him the door. (Whew!)

  • OpenAI launches Atlas web browser to compete with Google Chrome

    OpenAI launches Atlas web browser to compete with Google Chrome

    OpenAI introduced its own web browser, Atlas, on Tuesday, putting the ChatGPT maker in direct competition with Google as more internet users rely on artificial intelligence to answer their questions.

    Making its popular AI chatbot a gateway to online searches could allow OpenAI, the world’s most valuable startup, to pull in more internet traffic and the revenue made from digital advertising. It could also further cut off the lifeblood of online publishers if ChatGPT so effectively feeds people summarized information that they stop exploring the internet and clicking on traditional web links.

    Six ways small businesses are using AI in Philly and beyond

    OpenAI has said ChatGPT already has more than 800 million users but many of them get it for free. The San Francisco-based company also sells paid subscriptions but is losing more money than it makes and has been looking for ways to turn a profit.

    OpenAI said Atlas launches Tuesday on Apple laptops and will later come to Microsoft’s Windows, Apple’s iOS phone operating system and Google’s Android phone system.

    OpenAI CEO Sam Altman called it a “rare, once-a-decade opportunity to rethink what a browser can be about and how to use one.”

    But analyst Paddy Harrington of market research group Forrester said it will be a big challenge “competing with a giant who has ridiculous market share.”

    OpenAI’s browser is coming out just a few months after one of its executives testified that the company would be interested in buying Google’s industry-leading Chrome browser if a federal judge had required it to be sold to prevent the abuses that resulted in Google’s ubiquitous search engine being declared an illegal monopoly.

    But U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta last month issued a decision that rejected the Chrome sale sought by the U.S. Justice Department in the monopoly case, partly because he believed advances in the AI industry already are reshaping the competitive landscape.

    OpenAI’s browser will face a daunting challenge against Chrome, which has amassed about 3 billion worldwide users and has been adding some AI features from Google’s Gemini technology.

    Chrome’s immense success could provide a blueprint for OpenAI as it enters the browser market. When Google released Chrome in 2008, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer was so dominant that few observers believed a new browser could mount a formidable threat.

    But Chrome quickly won over legions of admirers by loading webpages more quickly than Internet Explorer while offering other advantages that enabled it to upend the market. Microsoft ended up abandoning Explorer and introducing its Edge browser, which operates similarly to Chrome and holds a distant third place in market share behind Apple’s Safari.

    Perplexity, another smaller AI startup, rolled out its own Comet browser earlier this year. It also expressed interest in buying Chrome and eventually submitted an unsolicited $34.5 billion offer for the browser that hit a dead end when Mehta decided against a Google breakup.

    Altman said he expects a chatbot interface to replace a traditional browser’s URL bar as the center of how he hopes people will use the internet in the future.

    “Tabs were great, but we haven’t seen a lot of browser innovation since then,” he said on a video presentation aired Tuesday.

    A premium feature of the ChatGPT Atlas browser is an “agent mode” that accesses the laptop and effectively clicks around the internet on the person’s behalf, armed with a users’ browser history and what they are seeking to learn and explaining its process as it searches.

    “It’s using the internet for you,” Altman said.

    Harrington, the Forrester analyst, says another way of thinking about that is it’s “taking personality away from you.”

    “Your profile will be personally attuned to you based on all the information sucked up about you. OK, scary,” Harrington said. “But is it really you, really what you’re thinking, or what that engine decides it’s going to do? … And will it add in preferred solutions based on ads?”

    About 60% of Americans overall — and 74% of those under 30 — use AI to find information at least some of the time, making online searches one of the most popular uses of AI technology, according to findings from an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll taken over the summer.

    Google since last year has automatically provided AI-generated responses that attempt to answer a person’s search query, appearing at the top of results.

    Reliance on AI chatbots to summarize information they collect online has raised a number of concerns, including the technology’s propensity to confidently spout false information, a problem known as hallucination.

    The way that chatbots trained on online content spout new writings has been particularly troubling to the news industry, leading The New York Times and other outlets to sue OpenAI for copyright infringement and others, including The Associated Press, to sign licensing deals.

    A study of four top AI assistants including ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini released Wednesday showed nearly half their responses were flawed and fell short of the standards of “high-quality” journalism.

    The research from the European Broadcasting Union, a group of public broadcasters in 56 countries, compiled the results of more than 3,000 responses to news-related questions to help ascertain quality responses and identify problems to fix.

  • Letters to the Editor | Oct. 22, 2025

    Letters to the Editor | Oct. 22, 2025

    Trump’s Barynya

    President Donald Trump’s shifting stance on Ukraine’s war with Russia has emerged once again. Less than a month ago, Trump, on his Truth Social platform, asserted that Ukraine’s territorial integrity could be restored to its prewar borders if support by the U.S. and its allies remained resolute.

    In a predictable about-face — and in preparation for the meeting with Vladimir Putin in Budapest, Hungary — Trump is once again pressuring Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky to cede territory. With territorial reclamation presumably a nonstarter, Trump, in another apparent strategic misstep, denied Zelensky’s request for advanced military weaponry, the Tomahawk missile. Ukraine’s possession of this cutting-edge military technology could have weakened Putin’s hand at the negotiating table. Instead, it increased the odds that his intransigence will continue.

    Should the Budapest summit end without an agreement being announced (as happened in Alaska), look for Zelensky to be the scapegoat, not Trump’s misapplication of leverage.

    Jim Paladino, Tampa, Fla.

    In my opinion

    Recently, President Donald Trump listed some people who had opposed him and said, “They’re all guilty as hell.” Thankfully, in our judicial system, people are not convicted because of “opinions,” but based on facts and laws. Nonetheless, it is disheartening and dangerous for a president to attempt to influence the Justice Department in deciding whom to prosecute and who is guilty of crimes. Would that an independent attorney general stand up to him and not pursue perceived enemies in search of a crime?

    Joe Stoutzenberger, Erdenheim

    Commuted sentence

    Let the word go out. The Republican Party just destroyed its very last vestige of being the party of law and order and personal responsibility. Dead. Gone. Disappeared. George Santos stole, robbed, cheated, and lied about every aspect of his entire existence. People were hurt by him. Apparently, his only saving attribute was that, in his ignominious and short congressional career, at least he voted for Republicans. In the rubble of the former Republican Party, that is sufficient to gain you a commuted sentence. It is no longer a political party; it is a shallow gathering of cult followers who have ceased to be able to exercise independent moral judgment. Brian Fitzpatrick, for your own sake, I suggest that you leave that cult.

    Tom Taft, Chalfont

    Rally downplayed

    “Below the fold” — that is, articles that appeared at the bottom of newspaper pages — is the old expression for suppressing news that upsets the Powers That Be. Placing the well-written report of Saturday’s massive “No Kings” rally on Page A4 of the Sunday Inquirer — and below the dozens of less important articles on the website — is unconscionable. Bowing and scraping to MAGA is complicit with authoritarianism.

    Elizabeth Malone, Glenside

    . . .

    I have been participating in a weekly “No Kings” rally for several months. I protest because it makes me feel better. Rather than sitting around feeling helpless, it offers me an outlet to express myself and to see that I am not alone in my frustration. Saturday’s “No Kings” rally was an exceptional experience. There was an exhilarating feeling of hope and kindness and warmth. It highlighted for me both who we are and what kind of country we need to be. There was music and laughter and costumes. Horns were honking and flags were waving. There were peacekeepers who ensured we did not engage in hate speech or unwarranted behavior. There were a few MAGA supporters who drove in circles around the crowds and revved their engines, but no one seemed to pay attention to them. It was a good day. It was a reminder that at our core, we are a peaceful, caring nation. I urge anyone who is feeling alone and scared by the current administration to take heart and join a peaceful protest. It is, after all, what makes us a democracy. I only wish The Inquirer had put the pictures and the story about the demonstration on its front page. It deserved that attention.

    Kathleen Coyne, Wallingford

    . . .

    I’m outraged that The Inquirer didn’t give more prominence to its coverage of the “No Kings” protests in Philadelphia and around the country. Your articles about the demonstrations appeared on Pages 4 and 5 of the next day’s paper. They should have been on the front page.

    The Inquirer covers daily the Trump administration’s efforts to eliminate our system of checks and balances, to punish the president’s political opponents, to deprive millions of Americans of affordable, healthy, and decent lives, to strip citizens of their express constitutional rights, and to send unrestrained and violent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to so called Democratic cities to detain, deport, and terrorize millions of people who have not committed crimes. These are steps right out of the playbook for turning a democracy into an authoritarian state.

    On Saturday, some seven million people around the country, including in Philadelphia, took to the streets to protest these actions in perhaps the largest protest in U.S. history. This is an event of singular importance. The coverage of it should be treated as such.

    Sharon Weinman, Philadelphia

    Prize worthy?

    As he attempted to do with the Abraham Accords, President Donald Trump (with Egypt and Qatar) is working tirelessly to bring some peace to the Middle East.

    The unique negotiating team engineered by Trump, to encourage an agreement between Israel and Hamas, appears to be an effective strategy to ensure a monumental achievement.

    While most of the mainstream media, with their Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS), will resist praising The Donald with any accolades, he most assuredly should have received a Nobel Peace Prize if these peace negotiations come to fruition.

    And, riding on this astonishing accomplishment, he will then exert his newfound influence to achieve a similar peaceful resolution to the Ukraine-Russia conflict — without sacrificing the lives of American troops.

    Thus, Trump will have achieved peaceful negotiations on a scale not achieved since Ronald Reagan (with the USSR in the 1980s) or Dwight D. Eisenhower (with North and South Korea and the Suez Canal conflicts in the 1950s).

    Reagan’s unyielding tactics laid the groundwork for the dismantling of the Soviet Union. Ike entreated India’s Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to influence the Chinese to support a Korean armistice.

    Presidents Eisenhower and Reagan firmly understood the critical aspects of The Art of the Deal.

    Ron Smith, Brigantine, ronaldjsmithsr@comcast.net

    . . .

    It is ironic that President Donald Trump thinks he deserves a Nobel Peace Prize for a possible settlement in Gaza. Although we all want a just peace in that area, it has not happened yet. And the “Trump Plan” closely follows what some Arab nations proposed earlier this year. Trump’s choice of envoys, developers Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, causes one to wonder if the quest for peace is so that money can be made off Palestinian land. That follows an earlier Trump-Netanyahu plan for a Gaza Riviera.

    Trump is not a man of peace.

    He has threatened to “take” Greenland and Canada.

    He has ordered the illegal bombing of boats off Venezuela because he claimed they contained drugs. Most U.S. drugs do not come from Venezuela. Trump has intimated he wants regime change there.

    Trump took credit for peace between Azerbaijan and “Albania.” How involved was he? The countries are Azerbaijan and Armenia.

    Trump is certainly not a peaceful unifier of the U.S. Any American who disagrees with him is an “opponent.” He “hates” his opponents, as he stated at Charlie Kirk’s funeral. He considers Americans who demonstrate against government policies “domestic terrorists” and “the enemy within.” Trump is sending the National Guard to some cities.

    Before people consider a peace prize for President Trump, I hope they realize that his actions are based on a desire for vengeance, a quest for power, and his endless grifting.

    Ellen Danish, Philadelphia

    Join the conversation: Send letters to letters@inquirer.com. Limit length to 150 words and include home address and day and evening phone number. Letters run in The Inquirer six days a week on the editorial pages and online.

  • Dear Abby | Handsy grandpa ruins relationship during family dinner

    DEAR ABBY: I’m 22, and my boyfriend is 21. We’ve been dating for a few months. At a recent family dinner, his maternal grandfather hit on me. I was helping to clear the dinner table and leaned across the table to grab some dirty plates when Grandpa shoved his hand up my skirt. Then he leered at me, and my survival instincts kicked in. I slapped him across the face so hard he fell off his chair. It created a scene, and my boyfriend’s mother screamed at me.

    My boyfriend’s sisters tried to downplay what he did, dismissing Grandpa’s behavior as “he’s just a scamp!” I left the house in a hurry, and the family is now talking about suing me for assault. I’m dumbfounded, and now I’m second-guessing myself. I have told my boyfriend we are over, and he’s upset because we had a nice relationship. I’m no longer sure I can go forward with it. Am I in the wrong here? Should I apologize?

    — SHAKEN IN NEW JERSEY

    DEAR SHAKEN: You have no reason to apologize. Your boyfriend’s family should apologize to you. Your boyfriend’s grandfather is not a “scamp.” He’s an old man who appears to be losing control of his faculties. You were not wrong to defend yourself. If there is any more talk of “suing you for assault” after what Gramps did, tell them you will file a police report about his inappropriate behavior, which was far from harmless. His next victim could be a minor.

    ** ** **

    DEAR ABBY: In high school, I had a friend who constantly told me he loved me. I never returned the feelings. We remained friends through high school, college and early adulthood. We married others and had children, occasionally popping into each other’s lives.

    Four years ago, we started texting a lot — probably 100 times a day. Two years ago, we met up (we live in different states now and met halfway) and started a sexual relationship. For 18 months we met once a month. The sex is awesome. Conversations are amazing. Then we stopped. For the next six months we both worked on our marriages. Neither of us is happy.

    Two months ago, we started meeting again. I think I’m falling in love with him. I think he loves me, but I also don’t think he will leave his family. We have known each other for 40 years. We know the sex is so good, but we are also such good friends. What should I do?

    — RECONNECTED IN THE MIDWEST

    DEAR RECONNECTED: You and this man are mature adults. Ask him where he sees your love affair going. Does he plan to continue the status quo, or does he plan to leave his family? If he is as good a friend as you feel he is, he will give you an honest answer, and you will know what to do.

    ** ** **

    DEAR ABBY: When it’s hot, I like to take my shirt off in store parking lots and toss it into the cart while I unload. It gives me some relief from the scorching summer temperatures. This seems relatively harmless to me, but what do you think?

    — BARE-CHESTED GUY

    DEAR GUY: The answer depends upon how “hot” you are. If you’re a buff, furry-chested male, it’s fine with me as long as you’re wearing sunscreen.

  • Horoscopes: Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025

    ARIES (March 21-April 19). Your capacity for curiosity is remarkable. You have the instinct to ask how and why things work as they do, and because of this orientation of mind, your questions will keep leading you to fresh discoveries no one else has noticed.

    TAURUS (April 20-May 20). Doing carries more weight than saying. You might not be able to fully articulate what you’re experiencing, learning and feeling right now, but that’s OK because what really speaks is the action you take. Action is the difference in the world.

    GEMINI (May 21-June 21). Love makes space for you to be yourself. If you feel you have to shrink or act a certain way, it’s not love; it’s control or dependency. You’ll know the kind of love that delights in who you are, not just in what you provide.

    CANCER (June 22-July 22). You’ll appreciate circumstances that are not ideal. You don’t ignore the fact that they are hard, but you see something beautiful in them — something that couldn’t exist if things were any other way than exactly how they are.

    LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). When plans come together, it’s really exciting. You may feel eager to talk about the budding success, but things are still in the fragile, early stage. Don’t share too soon — much is going to change.

    VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). Efficiency is wonderful, but sometimes the long way around is richer. Let the conversation meander if it wants to. Hint: it wants to. The detours and other “inefficiencies” will bring information to light. Side trails have better scenery than the main road.

    LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). Balance isn’t always about symmetry; sometimes it’s about giving more weight to what really matters, or what doesn’t seem to matter at all, because you never know. Think of it as a check to make sure the scales are calibrated correctly.

    SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). Share your way of seeing. What’s ordinary to you may be dazzling to someone else. Even your routines are filled with novelty others would thrill to know. You’ll realize you’ve been living with treasures so familiar you’ve forgotten their worth.

    SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). Control is overrated. Even when you think you have it, surprises still happen. Today you’ll discover the relief in letting go. It’s not about surrendering your power, but refusing to waste it in places it can’t do much.

    CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). Authority will be shown in ways outside of rank or title. Sometimes the most influential voice in the room belongs to the one who listens the most carefully. Your steady attention changes dynamics, quietly shifting the direction of the group.

    AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). Memory is unreliable. It edits, changing the meaning. It exaggerates, inspiring unhelpful takes. It plum erases. But what remains is often what matters most: the feeling. Your body recalls things your mind doesn’t. Trust sensation as much as story.

    PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). There’s wisdom in boredom. When nothing entertains you, your mind starts to wander. Out of the lull comes brilliant connections and ideas. So don’t be afraid of gaps. They are incubation chambers for your next adventure.

    TODAY’S BIRTHDAY (Oct. 22). Welcome to your Year of Secret Doors. What seems ordinary opens to a whole new world. A casual chat turns into an extremely fortuitous relationship, a short trip changes your life. More highlights: A clever pivot starts new streams of income. You’ll be someone’s most inspiring muse, then use what you learn to create masterpieces. You’ll bond with a furry companion or marvel at creatures in the wild. Pisces and Sagittarius adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 7, 16, 25, 33 and 44.

  • Trump hosts Senate Republicans at renovated White House as the shutdown drags into fourth week

    Trump hosts Senate Republicans at renovated White House as the shutdown drags into fourth week

    WASHINGTON — Head Start programs for preschoolers are scrambling for federal funds. The federal agency tasked with overseeing the U.S. nuclear stockpile has begun furloughing its 1,400 employees. Thousands more federal workers are going without paychecks.

    But as President Donald Trump welcomed Republican senators for lunch in the newly renovated Rose Garden Club — with the boom-boom of construction underway on the new White House ballroom — he portrayed a different vision of America, as a unified GOP refuses to yield to Democratic demands for healthcare funds, and the government shutdown drags on.

    “We have the hottest country anywhere in the world, which tells you about leadership,” Trump said in opening remarks, extolling the renovations underway as senators took their seats in the newly paved over garden-turned-patio.

    Medicare coverage for telehealth suspended as result of government shutdown

    It was a festive atmosphere under crisp, but sunny autumn skies as senators settled in for cheeseburgers, fries, and chocolates, and Trump’s favored songs — “YMCA” and “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” — played over the new sound system.

    And while Trump said the shutdown must come to an end — and suggested maybe Smithsonian museums could reopen — he signaled no quick compromise with Democrats over the expiring healthcare funds.

    Later at another White House event, Trump said he’s happy to talk with Democrats about healthcare once the shutdown is over. “The government has to be open,” he said.

    Some Philly federal workers are working through the shutdown. It’s ‘awful’ and ‘depressing.’

    Shutdown drags into record books

    As the government shutdown enters its fourth week — on track to become one of the longest in U.S. history — millions of Americans are bracing for healthcare sticker shock, while others are feeling the financial impact. Economists have warned that the federal closure, with many of the nearly 2.3 million employees working without pay, will shave economic growth by 0.1 to 0.2 percentage points per week.

    The Democratic leaders Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries had outreached to the White House on Tuesday, seeking a meeting with Trump before the president departs for his next overseas trip, to Asia.

    “We said we’ll set up an appointment with him anytime, anyplace before he leaves,” Schumer said.

    With Republicans in control of Congress, the Democrats have few options. They are planning to keep the Senate in session late into the night Wednesday in protest. The House has been closed for weeks.

    The Republican senators, departing the White House lunch with gifts of Trump caps and medallions, said there is nothing to negotiate with Democrats over the healthcare funds until the government reopens.

    “People keep saying ‘negotiate’ — negotiate what?” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said after the hour-long meeting. He said Republicans and the president are willing to consider discussions over healthcare, “but open up the government first.”

    Federal shutdown may bring a halt to food assistance for half a million Philadelphians

    Missed paychecks and programs running out of money

    While Capitol Hill remains at a standstill, the effects of the shutdown are worsening.

    Federal workers are set to miss additional paychecks amid total uncertainty about when they might eventually get paid. Government services like the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, known as WIC, and Head Start preschool programs that serve needy families are facing potential cutoffs in funding. On Monday, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the National Nuclear Security Administration is furloughing its federal workers. The Federal Aviation Administration has reported air traffic controller shortages and flight delays in cities across the United States.

    At the same time, economists, including Goldman Sachs and the nonpartisan CBO, have warned that the federal government’s closure will ripple through the economy. More recently, Oxford Economics said a shutdown reduces economic growth by 0.1 to 0.2 percentage points per week.

    The U.S. Chamber of Commerce noted that the Small Business Administration supports loans totaling about $860 million a week for 1,600 small businesses. Those programs will close to new loans during the shutdown. The shutdown also has halted the issuance and renewal of flood insurance policies, delaying mortgage closings and real estate transactions.

    Trump and his budget chief are making this a government shutdown unlike any other

    Rising healthcare costs

    And without action, future health costs are expected to skyrocket for millions of Americans as the enhanced federal subsidies that help people buy private insurance under the Affordable Care Act, come to an end.

    Those subsidies, in the form of tax credits that were bolstered during the COVID-19 crisis, expire Dec. 31, and insurance companies are sending out information ahead of open enrollment periods about the new rates for the coming year.

    Most U.S. adults are worried about healthcare becoming more expensive, according to a new Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll, as they make decisions about next year’s health coverage.

    Members of both parties acknowledge that time is running out to fix the looming health insurance price hikes, even as talks are quietly underway over possible extensions or changes to the ACA funding.

    Democrats are focused on Nov. 1, when next year’s enrollment period for the ACA coverage begins and millions of people will sign up for their coverage without the expanded subsidy help. Once those sign-ups begin, they say, it would be much harder to restore the subsidies even if they did have a bipartisan compromise.

    What about Trump?

    Tuesday’s White House meeting offered a chance for Republican senators to engage with the president on the shutdown after he had been more involved in foreign policy and other issues.

    But senators left the meeting, some saying it was more of a luncheon than a substantial conversation. They said they could hear, but not see, the ballroom construction nearby.

    Trump had previously indicated early on during the shutdown that he may be willing to discuss the healthcare issue, and Democrats have been counting on turning the president’s attention their way. But the president later clarified that he would only do so once the government reopens.

  • Trump-Putin summit planned for Budapest is on hold after Rubio spoke with Lavrov, U.S. official says

    Trump-Putin summit planned for Budapest is on hold after Rubio spoke with Lavrov, U.S. official says

    WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s plan for a swift meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin is on hold, a U.S. official said Tuesday, the latest twist in his stop-and-go effort to resolve the war in Ukraine.

    The meeting was announced last week and was supposed to take place in Budapest, Hungary, in the near future. However, the idea was paused after a call between U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, according to the official, who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

    The decision to hold off on a meeting between Trump and Putin will likely relieve European leaders, who have accused Putin of stalling for time with diplomacy while trying to gain ground on the battlefield.

    Trump says he’s doubtful Ukraine can win the war with Russia as he prepares for Putin meeting

    The leaders — including the British prime minister, French president and German chancellor — said they opposed any push to make Ukraine surrender land captured by Russian forces in return for peace, as Trump has occasionally suggested.

    They also plan to push forward with plans to use billions of dollars in frozen Russian assets to help fund Ukraine’s war efforts, despite some misgivings about the legality and consequences of such a step.

    Trump has not yet commented publicly about the change in plans for his meeting with Putin. They previously met in Alaska in August, but the encounter did not advance Trump’s stalled attempts to end a war that began almost four years ago.

    The Kremlin didn’t seem to be in a rush to get Trump and Putin together again either. Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday that “preparation is needed, serious preparation” before a meeting.

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been trying to strengthen Ukraine’s position by seeking long-range Tomahawk missiles from the U.S., although Trump has waffled on whether he would provide them.

    “We need to end this war, and only pressure will lead to peace,” Zelenskyy said Tuesday in a Telegram post.

    He noted that Putin returned to diplomacy and called Trump last week when it looked like Tomahawk missiles were a possibility. But “as soon as the pressure eased a little, the Russians began to try to drop diplomacy, postpone the dialogue,” Zelenskyy said.

    Trump’s stance on the war has shifted throughout the year. He initially focused on pressuring Ukraine to make concessions, but then grew frustrated with Putin’s intransigence. Trump often complains that he thought his good relationship with his Russian counterpart would have made it easier to end the war.

    Last month, Trump reversed his long-held position that Ukraine would have to give up land and suggested it could win back all the territory it has lost to Russia. But after a phone call with Putin last week and a subsequent meeting with Zelenskyy on Friday, Trump shifted his position again and called on Kyiv and Moscow to “stop where they are” in the more than three-year war.

    On Sunday, Trump said the industrial Donbas region of eastern Ukraine should be “cut up,” leaving most of it in Russian hands.

    Trump said Monday that while he thinks it is possible that Ukraine can ultimately defeat Russia, he’s now doubtful it will happen.

    Ukrainian and European leaders are trying hard to keep Trump on their side.

    “We strongly support President Trump’s position that the fighting should stop immediately, and that the current line of contact should be the starting point of negotiations,” the leaders’ statement said. “We can all see that Putin continues to choose violence and destruction.”

    Russia occupies about one fifth of Ukraine, but carving up their country in return for peace is unacceptable to Kyiv officials.

    Also, a conflict frozen on the current front line could fester, with occupied areas of Ukraine offering Moscow a springboard for new attacks in the future, Ukrainian and European officials fear.

    The statement by the leaders of Ukraine, the U.K., Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Poland, Denmark and EU officials came early in what Zelenskyy said Monday would be a week that is “very active in diplomacy.”

    More international economic sanctions on Russia are likely to be discussed at an EU summit in Brussels on Thursday.

    “We must ramp up the pressure on Russia’s economy and its defense industry, until Putin is ready to make peace,” Tuesday’s statement said.

    On Friday, a meeting of the Coalition of the Willing — a group of 35 countries who support Ukraine — is due to take place in London.