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  • Bankruptcies soar as companies grapple with inflation, tariffs

    Bankruptcies soar as companies grapple with inflation, tariffs

    Corporate bankruptcies surged in 2025, rivaling levels not seen since the immediate aftermath of the Great Recession, as import-dependent businesses absorbed the highest tariffs in decades.

    At least 717 companies filed for bankruptcy through November, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. That’s roughly 14% more than the same 11 months of 2024, and the highest tally since 2010.

    Companies cited inflation and interest rates among the factors contributing to their financial challenges, as well as Trump administration trade policies that have disrupted supply chains and pushed up costs.

    But in a shift from previous years, the rise in filings is most apparent among industrials — companies tied to manufacturing, construction, and transportation. The sector has been hit hard by President Donald Trump’s ever-fluid tariff policies — which he’s long insisted would revive American manufacturing. The manufacturing sector lost more than 70,000 jobs in the one-year period ending in November, federal data shows.

    Consumer-oriented businesses with “discretionary” products or services, such as fashion or home furnishings, represented the second-largest group. This contingent usually tops the list and includes many retailers, and its retrenchment is a signal that inflation-weary consumers are prioritizing essentials.

    The S&P data reflects both Chapter 11 and Chapter 7 filings. In the former, also known as a reorganization, the business goes through a court-administered process to restructure its debts while it continues to operate. Under Chapter 7, the company closes down and its assets are sold off.

    Economists and business experts say the trade wars have pressured import-heavy businesses, which are reluctant to raise prices by too much for fear of alienating consumers. The White House did not respond to requests for comment.

    Though inflation is currently lower than many economists expected — prices climbed at an annual pace of 2.7% in November — many businesses still are eating new costs themselves to hold the line on prices for buyers, experts say. That’s leading to a certain culling of the herd as already-fragile companies struggle to keep up.

    “These companies are acutely aware of the affordability crisis confronting the average American,” said Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a professor at Yale University’s School of Management. “They are doing their best to offset the cost of tariffs and higher interest rates but can only do so much. Those with pricing power will pass on the costs over time. … Others will fold.”

    Among the total was a surge of “mega bankruptcies,” or filings by companies with more than $1 billion in assets, during the first half of 2025. According to the economic consultancy Cornerstone Research, there were 17 such bankruptcies from January through June, the highest half-year number since the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020. Consumer discretionary businesses, including retailers At Home and Forever 21, accounted for several of those filings.

    Matt Osborn, a principal at Cornerstone who wrote the September report, said these large companies cited high inflation and interest rates among the factors that have impinged on consumer demand and made it harder to raise capital. Changing federal policies around renewable energy and international trade also were contributors, he wrote.

    Among industrials, bankruptcies spanned a mix of manufacturers and suppliers, as well as transportation-oriented firms and renewable energy companies. Many of those companies had specific preexisting problems unrelated to tariffs and the economy.

    Louisiana-based PosiGen is among several residential solar companies that filed for Chapter 11, which it attributed to changes in renewable energy policy. The Trump administration has de-prioritized the tax incentives that make solar panels more affordable to homeowners, and imposed “steep tariffs on imported materials that are necessary to construct solar projects, including solar modules, inverters, racking, and structural steel,” the company said in a Nov. 25 filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of Texas.

    The effective tariff rate for imported solar cells and panels climbed to roughly 20% after May 2025, compared with less than 5% in prior years, according to federal data analyzed by Jason Miller, a business professor at Michigan State University. U.S. solar importers paid close to $70 million a month in import duties in the second half of the year for the most common type of panel, Miller said.

    “That places a lot of strain on cash flow, especially for smaller importers,” Miller said. “You then combine this with reduced federal incentives that have to be negatively impacting demand, and you have a perfect storm for elevated rates of bankruptcy.”

    In late February, Nikola Corp., an Arizona-based maker of electric trucks, filed for Chapter 11 protection. It started producing battery-powered trucks in 2022 and scaled up to ship more than 200 vehicles last year. But a battery recall resulting from what it called a “battery pack thermal event” cost it an estimated $56 million, according to its February bankruptcy filing. It also agreed to pay an unrelated $125 million civil fine to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

    Spirit Airlines, the budget carrier known for its rock-bottom prices and bare-bones amenities, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August — its second such filing in less than a year. Verijet, a private jet company based in Florida, filed to liquidate.

    Bankruptcies within this sector reflect the effect tariffs have had on imported raw materials, as well as broader consolidation within the transportation and freight sectors, said Meagan Martin-Schoenberger, senior economist at KPMG.

    Though the government has made some tariff exemptions, they’ve primarily benefited the tech sector, specifically those connected to artificial intelligence, she said, leaving behind some lower-tech industries.

    Surveys have shown consumer sentiment worsening throughout the year. A widely followed survey of consumer sentiment from the University of Michigan tumbled around 28% year over year in November. Many are reticent to spend on nonessentials.

    Retailers have felt this acutely, especially those selling discretionary items such as costume jewelry, crafts, and furniture, which consumers often forgo to afford groceries, utilities, and rent. By one estimate, Americans will spend an additional $1,800 a year because of tariffs.

    The Trump administration’s frequent tariff changes during the peak holiday-ordering period also left some companies off-kilter. Because many rely on imports from China and other Southeast Asian countries, some businesses ended up spending more than they’d budgeted to swiftly move manufacturing and materials to countries with lower tariff rates.

    Others had to cut orders for fear of not having enough cash to pay the levies when their inventory arrived in the United States.

    Claire’s, the mall chain known for its teen and tween accessories, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August and has moved to shutter hundreds of stores. It, too, faced tariff headwinds, with the majority of its products — including earrings, headbands, and key chains — coming from China, Cambodia, and Indonesia. In September, a private holding company acquired the chain’s North American operations for $140 million and said it would keep as many as 950 stores, or nearly 80% of the chain’s U.S. and Canadian locations.

    Meanwhile, specialty retailers have been struggling for years to keep up with big box chains and online marketplaces as consumers look for convenience and a one-stop-shop for certain items. Fabric and craft chain Joann, for example, went out of business early this year, unable to keep up with online retailers offering lower prices.

    Martin-Schoenberger, the KPMG economist, said the bankruptcies reflect contradictions in the economy. Government data released Tuesday showed the U.S. economy grew at the fastest pace in two years from July through September, with an annualized rate of 4.3%.

    Still, economists caution that this growth is driven by more affluent consumers and corporate spending around artificial intelligence.

    “We have an economy that looks strong on paper, but that might not necessarily be reflected in every single industry,” Martin-Schoenberger said.

  • Brigitte Bardot, 1960s French sex symbol turned militant animal rights activist, has died at 91

    Brigitte Bardot, 1960s French sex symbol turned militant animal rights activist, has died at 91

    PARIS — Brigitte Bardot, the French 1960s sex symbol who became one of the greatest screen sirens of the 20th century and later a militant animal rights activist and far-right supporter, has died. She was 91.

    Ms. Bardot died Sunday at her home in southern France, according to Bruno Jacquelin, of the Brigitte Bardot Foundation for the protection of animals. Speaking to the Associated Press, he gave no cause of death, and said that no arrangements had been made for funeral or memorial services. She had been hospitalized last month.

    Ms. Bardot became an international celebrity as a sexualized teen bride in the 1956 movie And God Created Woman. Directed by her then husband Roger Vadim, it triggered a scandal with scenes of the long-legged beauty dancing on tables naked.

    At the height of a cinema career that spanned more than two dozen films and three marriages, Ms. Bardot came to symbolize a nation bursting out of bourgeois respectability. Her tousled blond hair, voluptuous figure, and pouty irreverence made her one of France’s best-known stars, even as she struggled with depression.

    Such was her widespread appeal that in 1969 her features were chosen to be the model for “Marianne,” the national emblem of France and the official Gallic seal. Bardot’s face appeared on statues, postage stamps, and coins.

    ‘’We are mourning a legend,’’ French President Emmanuel Macron said in an X post.

    Ms. Bardot’s second career as an animal rights activist was equally sensational. She traveled to the Arctic to blow the whistle on the slaughter of baby seals. She also condemned the use of animals in laboratory experiments, and she opposed Muslim slaughter rituals.

    “Man is an insatiable predator,” Ms. Bardot told the Associated Press on her 73rd birthday, in 2007. “I don’t care about my past glory. That means nothing in the face of an animal that suffers, since it has no power, no words to defend itself.”

    Her activism earned her compatriots’ respect and, in 1985, she was awarded the Legion of Honor, the nation’s highest recognition.

    Turn to the far right

    Later, however, she fell from public grace as her animal protection diatribes took on a decidedly extremist tone. She frequently decried the influx of immigrants into France, especially Muslims.

    She was convicted and fined five times in French courts of inciting racial hatred, in incidents inspired by her opposition to the Muslim practice of slaughtering sheep during annual religious holidays.

    Ms. Bardot’s 1992 marriage to fourth husband Bernard d’Ormale, a onetime adviser to far-right National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, contributed to her political shift. She described Le Pen, an outspoken nationalist with multiple racism convictions of his own, as a “lovely, intelligent man.”

    In 2012, she supported the presidential bid of Marine Le Pen, who now leads her father’s renamed National Rally party. Le Pen paid homage Sunday to an “exceptional woman” who was “incredibly French.”

    In 2018, at the height of the #MeToo movement, Ms. Bardot said in an interview that most actors protesting sexual harassment in the film industry were “hypocritical,” because many played “the teases” with producers to land parts.

    She said she had never had been a victim of sexual harassment and found it “charming to be told that I was beautiful or that I had a nice little ass.”

    Privileged but ‘difficult’ upbringing

    Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot was born Sept. 28, 1934, to a wealthy industrialist. A shy child, she studied classical ballet and was discovered by a family friend who put her on the cover of Elle magazine at age 14.

    Bardot once described her childhood as “difficult” and said that her father was a strict disciplinarian who would sometimes punish her with a horse whip.

    Vadim, a French movie producer who she married in 1952, saw her potential and wrote And God Created Woman to showcase her provocative sensuality, an explosive cocktail of childlike innocence and raw sexuality.

    The film, which portrayed Ms. Bardot as a teen who marries to escape an orphanage and then beds her brother-in-law, had a decisive influence on New Wave directors Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut, and came to embody the hedonism and sexual freedom of the 1960s.

    The film was a box-office hit, and it made Ms. Bardot a superstar. Her girlish pout, tiny waist and generous bust were often more appreciated than her talent.

    “It’s an embarrassment to have acted so badly,” Ms. Bardot said of her early films. “I suffered a lot in the beginning. I was really treated like someone less than nothing.”

    Ms. Bardot’s unabashed, off-screen love affair with co-star Jean-Louis Trintignant eradicated the boundaries between her public and private life and turned her into a hot prize for paparazzi.

    Ms. Bardot never adjusted to the limelight. She blamed the constant media attention for the suicide attempt that followed 10 months after the birth of her only child, Nicolas. Photographers had broken into her house two weeks before she gave birth to snap a picture of her pregnant.

    Nicolas’ father was Jacques Charrier, a French actor who she married in 1959 but who never felt comfortable in his role as Monsieur Bardot. Ms. Bardot soon gave up her son to his father, and later said she had been chronically depressed and unready for the duties of being a mother.

    “I was looking for roots then,” she said in an interview. “I had none to offer.”

    In her 1996 autobiography Initiales B.B., she likened her pregnancy to “a tumor growing inside me,” and described Charrier as “temperamental and abusive.”

    Ms. Bardot married her third husband, West German millionaire playboy Gunther Sachs, in 1966, and they divorced three years later.

    Among her films were A Parisian (1957); In Case of Misfortune, in which she starred in 1958 with screen legend Jean Gabin; The Truth (1960); Private Life (1962); A Ravishing Idiot (1964); Shalako (1968); Women (1969); The Bear and the Doll (1970); Rum Boulevard (1971); and Don Juan (1973).

    With the exception of 1963’s critically acclaimed Contempt, directed by Godard, Ms. Bardot’s films were rarely complicated by plots. Often they were vehicles to display Ms. Bardot in scanty dresses or frolicking nude in the sun.

    “It was never a great passion of mine,” she said of filmmaking. “And it can be deadly sometimes. Marilyn [Monroe] perished because of it.”

    Ms. Bardot retired to her Riviera villa in St. Tropez at the age of 39 in 1973 after The Woman Grabber. As fans brought flowers to her home Sunday, the local St. Tropez administration called for “respect for the privacy of her family and the serenity of the places where she lived.”

    Middle-aged reinvention

    She emerged a decade later with a new persona: An animal rights lobbyist, her face was wrinkled and her voice was deep following years of heavy smoking. She abandoned her jet-set life and sold off movie memorabilia and jewelry to create a foundation devoted exclusively to the prevention of animal cruelty.

    Depression sometimes dogged her, and she said that she attempted suicide again on her 49th birthday.

    Her activism knew no borders. She urged South Korea to ban the sale of dog meat and once wrote to U.S. President Bill Clinton asking why the U.S. Navy recaptured two dolphins it had released into the wild.

    She attacked centuries-old French and Italian sporting traditions including the Palio, a free-for-all horse race, and campaigned on behalf of wolves, rabbits, kittens, and turtle doves.

    “It’s true that sometimes I get carried away, but when I see how slowly things move forward … my distress takes over,” Ms. Bardot told the AP when asked about her racial hatred convictions and opposition to Muslim ritual slaughter,

    In 1997, several towns removed Bardot-inspired statues of Marianne after the actor voiced anti-immigrant sentiment. Also that year, she received death threats after calling for a ban on the sale of horse meat.

    Environmental campaigner Paul Watson, who was beaten on a seal hunt protest in Canada alongside Ms. Bardot in 1977 and campaigned with her for five decades, acknowledged that “many disagreed with Brigitte’s politics or some of her views.”

    “Her allegiance was not to the world of humans,” he said. “The animals of this world lost a wonderful friend today.”

    Ms. Bardot once said that she identified with the animals that she was trying to save.

    “I can understand hunted animals, because of the way I was treated,” Ms. Bardot said. “What happened to me was inhuman. I was constantly surrounded by the world press.”

  • Winter storm threatens to bring blizzards and ice to parts of the U.S., hampering holiday travel

    Winter storm threatens to bring blizzards and ice to parts of the U.S., hampering holiday travel

    A powerful winter storm was sweeping east from the Plains on Sunday, driven by what meteorologists describe as an intense cyclone, setting off a chain reaction of snow, ice, rain, and severe weather expected to affect much of the country.

    Snow and strengthening winds spread across the Upper Midwest on Sunday, where the National Weather Service warned of whiteout conditions and possible blizzard conditions that could make travel impossible in some areas. Snowfall totals were expected to exceed a foot across parts of the upper Great Lakes, with up to 2 feet possible along the south shore of Lake Superior.

    In the South, meteorologists warn of severe thunderstorms expected to signal the arrival of a sharp cold front — sometimes referred to as a “Blue Norther” — bringing a sudden temperature drop and strong north winds that will end days of record warmth across the region.

    The snowy holiday season in the Upper Midwest and Northeast comes as springlike warmth continues in much of the nation’s midsection and South, where record high temperatures had Santa sweating in recent days.

    The high temperature in Atlanta was forecast to be around 72 degrees Fahrenheit on Sunday, continuing a warming trend after climbing to 78 F to shatter the city’s record high temperature for Christmas Eve, the National Weather Service said. Numerous other record high temperatures were seen across the South and Midwest on the days after Christmas.

    But that record heat is quickly coming to an end, forecasters say.

    A cold front was expected to bring rain to much of the South late Sunday night into Monday, bringing much colder weather on Tuesday. The abrupt change will drop the low temperature in Atlanta to 25 F by early Tuesday morning. The colder temperatures in the South are expected to continue through New Year’s Day.

    Over the next 48 hours, the cyclone is expected to produce heavy snow and blizzard conditions in the Midwest and Great Lakes, freezing rain in New England, thunderstorms across the eastern U.S. and South, and widespread strong winds.

    The storm is expected to intensify as it moves east, drawing energy from a sharp clash between frigid air plunging south from Canada and unusually warm air that has lingered across the southern United States, according to the National Weather Service.

    It follows thousands of flight delays and cancellations across the Northeast and Great Lakes regions over the weekend due to snow, as thousands took to the roads and airports during the busy travel period between Christmas and New Year’s.

    On the other side of the country, California was experiencing a fairly dry weekend after powerful storms battered the state with heavy rains, flash flooding, and mudslides. At least four people were killed including a man who was found dead Friday in a partially submerged car near Lancaster, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department reported.

  • Philly’s year in weird stories | Morning Newsletter

    Philly’s year in weird stories | Morning Newsletter

    Good morning.

    Sunday will be slightly warmer, but some showers are possible in the evening.

    Some truly bizarre stuff happened in and around Philadelphia this year. In our main story, we recap the strangest stories of 2025.

    And for the more than 550,000 people who drive on the Pennsylvania Turnpike every day, stopping for a meal can feel like a trip back in time.

    Scroll along for these stories and more.

    — Paola Pérez (morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

    If someone forwarded you this email, sign up for free here.

    2025 was wild

    No matter how hard we try, there are certain tales we just can’t forget from this roller coaster of a year.

    In reflection, Inquirer columnist Stephanie Farr collected a handful of Philly-area stories that captured the peculiar. For example:

    💩 At least one kind of tush push was deemed illegal. A viral video of a road rage incident in April “put a stain on Delco that won’t be wiped away anytime soon,” Farr writes.

    🗑️ When Philly got trashed over the summer, things went from stinky to strange. A major city workers strike over eight hot days led to dead bodies piling up at the medical examiner’s office, slashed car tires, and plenty of memes.

    🐢 And we can’t leave out our “shellebrities” Mommy and Abrazzo, the nonagenarian tortoise couple at the Philadelphia Zoo that fascinated the country in hatching a historic count of 16 kids.

    Between the Phillies Karen situation and Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s “Eagles” chant gone wrong, there was no shortage of sports-related wackiness, too. Read on for Farr’s list of the 10 weirdest stories of 2025.

    Turnpike fare

    🎤 Now I’m passing the mic to reporter Brett Sholtis.

    Driving west on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, Mary Wright was hoping for a Chick-fil-A. But as she watched the limited options on road signs pass, fond memories of roast beef sandwiches lured her to Roy Rogers.

    “My mother liked Roy Rogers,” said Wright, who is in her 60s and from Collingswood. “That’s how long it’s been around.”

    That’s pretty typical of the food offerings on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, where old-school brands such as Auntie Anne’s, Baskin-Robbins, and Sbarro dot many of the 17 service plazas.

    That puts the turnpike behind the times compared with similar toll roads in New Jersey and New York, where travelers can hold out for newer brands like Chick-fil-A, Pret a Manger, and Shake Shack.

    “I think the older generation likes Roy Rogers and all that, but younger people are more likely to like Shake Shack, for example,” said John Zhang, professor of marketing at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business.

    Once on the toll road, people are faced with dining options decided almost entirely by one company. It’s what Zhang called a “captive consumer” environment. The reasons for this involve state policy, a corporate contract, and a little business history. — Brett Sholtis

    Sholtis explains how consumer preferences have shifted over the decades, and the commercial stakes at play.

    What you should know today

    ❓Pop quiz

    Which famous Eagle made a surprise performance at the War on Drugs’ performance at Johnny Brenda’s last weekend?

    A) Swoop

    B) Jason Kelce

    C) Jordan Mailata

    D) Joe Walsh

    Think you got it right? Test your local news know-how and check your answer in our weekly quiz.

    🧩 Unscramble the anagram

    Hint: World-renowned _ Guitars

    MIN TAR

    Email us if you know the answer. We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here.

    Cheers to Linda Chaga, who correctly guessed Saturday’s answer: “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” One of America’s great Christmas songs, it was first composed and heard in a Philadelphia church before it spread across the world.

    Photo of the day

    Canada geese at sunrise in Evans Pond in Haddonfield, during the week of the Winter Solstice for the Northern Hemisphere.

    🎶 Today’s track goes like this: “Now we can begin again / For then was then, and now is now.”

    One more musical thing: The forthcoming week is full of concert options for Philly-area fans. Pop critic Dan DeLuca picked these highlights.

    👋🏽 I’ll be back in your inbox in 2026, so I want to take this opportunity to wish you a very happy and bright new year. Julie will bring you Monday’s news. Thanks for reading, and take care.

  • Horoscopes: Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025

    ARIES (March 21-April 19). Today, the adage “just do it” applies. If you’re reasonably sure your action helps (or at least won’t harm anyone), go without hesitation, because if you waste time explaining or asking permission, you’ll miss your chance.

    TAURUS (April 20-May 20). There’s often one person whose quick wit lifts the whole room, and right now, that’s you. Your timing is impeccable, your instincts are on point, and your humor is sharp. Things get done because you inspire.

    GEMINI (May 21-June 21). What good is a fancy shoe if it doesn’t fit? If it gives you blisters, it’s the wrong shoe for you. Similarly, no one is “better” because they are popular. If you can’t relax around them, they’re not your person. Happiness is finding a good fit.

    CANCER (June 22-July 22). Something in your life may feel like a relic from an older version of you. Notice what distracts from your true purpose. Notice what feels redundant. Streamlining now removes static and lets you focus on the main goal.

    LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). “No one wants to see how the sausage is made,” they say — except the other sausage makers, who adore the gritty details. Likewise, you’ll find yourself among people who get your weird process and actually want to hear about it.

    VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). Your rational side may take charge for a while, but the emotions don’t just disappear, they wait. You may need to compartmentalize a feeling, but make time to return to it later so it doesn’t weigh on you.

    LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). Theme of the day: Happiness is something you take in, not something you collect or display. “Trying to be happy by accumulating possessions is like trying to satisfy hunger by taping sandwiches all over your body.” — Roger Corless

    SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). You want to feel special and connected to someone, but not owned. Relationships need freedom and respect. Choose people who understand that closeness isn’t achieved by trying to own or control another person — rather, it’s about showing up for each other.

    SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). People care what you think of them much more than you might guess. So any gesture that lets them know you like them will be well received and will promote a sense of calm and comfort. Everything is easier from there.

    CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). You love to learn. It feels good when your brain absorbs the information to connect ideas. You’ll have the sensation today akin to the particular kind of pleasure that happens when a puzzle comes together.

    AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). Some use a situation for all its worth, and the moment something “better” comes along, they jump. Not you. You value loyalty and make moves that aren’t just based on self-interest. You strongly consider your effect on others, too.

    PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). Lean into reinvention. You’re not obligated to remain recognizable to anyone except your own spirit. Change your habits, your look, your approach — whatever makes your life feel more like “you.”

    TODAY’S BIRTHDAY (Dec. 28). Welcome to the Year of “You’re IT, Baby.” You’ll know how it feels to rule the room, be the source of the buzzy excitement and handle the special attention your charisma attracts. It comes about with clever micro-moves that add up to major life upgrades — the kind no one sees coming until suddenly you’re that person. More highlights: Money becomes easier to track and even easier to grow, romance reinvigorates your aesthetic sensibilities, and a skill becomes unexpectedly profitable. Virgo and Aries adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 7, 15, 26, 31 and 48.

  • Dear Abby | Jilted wife blames herself for marriage’s collapse

    DEAR ABBY: My ex-husband and I were best friends. We shared everything — dreams, laughs and struggles. I was convinced we’d grow old together. When he proposed, I said yes without hesitation. We had plans to start a family, but he asked me to wait until we purchased a home. I waited five years, trusting that the dream we had built together was still alive.

    In time, we bought our house, but when I asked about having children, something had shifted. He told me he no longer wanted kids. I was heartbroken. The life we had talked about for years suddenly dissolved. Soon after, he invited his mother, sister, brother-in-law and their daughter to move in with us. I tried to be understanding, but I began feeling like a guest in my own home — like he loved me, but prioritized them. Eventually, he told me he was moving out. He bought a condo and moved with his entire family, and I was left alone — emotionally and physically.

    I have tried to convince myself that this was never really about the kids, but I can’t shake the guilt. Part of me keeps thinking if I had said no to children, would he have stayed? Even now, years later, I still care for him and cannot seem to let go. I don’t know how to move forward when someone who was once my everything still occupies so much of my heart, even if he’s no longer in my life. How do I let go of someone who let go of me so easily?

    — DREAM DESTROYED IN VIRGINIA

    DEAR ‘DREAM’: You feel guilty for having wanted children, after your husband led you on for years pretending that he did? You were grossly misled and then deserted. If that reality hasn’t been enough to help you “let go,” then what you need is professional help from someone who is licensed to give it. You are clinging to the fantasy of this person, not the reality.

    ** ** **

    DEAR ABBY: My retired husband of 15 years, “Seth,” is pushing me to the edge of divorce. He’s extremely negative, verbally abusive and estranged from many friends, which has harmed my relationships with friends and family. He drinks almost all day (I drink as well), calls me horrible names I won’t repeat and refuses to respect my sleep needs (I’m still working). He thinks he’s being “funny” when he acts this way. Seth doesn’t hear well, so he talks softly, and this also leads to unnecessary arguments.

    I love Seth, but I feel like he is destroying my spirit and who I am. I used to be an independent, capable person. Now I feel like I am always walking on eggshells. I dread coming home from work some days. I just want to run away. Your thoughts?

    — END OF MY ROPE IN IDAHO

    DEAR ‘END’: Go online to Al-Anon (al-anon.org/info), find a location near you and attend some of the meetings. Then, if you are really at the end of your rope, draw the line with your disrespectful, alcoholic verbal abuser. Tell him LOUDLY, when he’s a little more sober than usual, that you have had it and that if he doesn’t stop drinking, his marriage is over. Then save yourself and follow through.

  • Jeffrey R. Holland, 85, next in line to lead Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

    Jeffrey R. Holland, 85, next in line to lead Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

    SALT LAKE CITY — Jeffrey R. Holland, a high-ranking official in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who was next in line to become the faith’s president, has died. He was 85.

    Holland died early Saturday morning from complications associated with kidney disease, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced on its website.

    Holland, who died in Salt Lake City, led a governing body called the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, which helps set church policy while overseeing the many business interests of what is known widely as the Mormon church.

    He was the next longest-tenured member of the Quorum of the Twelve after President Dallin H. Oaks, making him next in line to lead the church under a long-established succession plan.

    Henry B. Eyring, who is 92 and one of Oaks’ two top counselors, is now next in line for the presidency.

    Holland had been hospitalized during the Christmas holiday for treatment related to ongoing health complications, the church said. Experts on the faith pointed to his declining health in October when Oaks did not select Holland as a counselor. He attended several church events that month in a wheelchair.

    His death leaves a vacancy in the Quorum of the Twelve that Oaks will fill in coming months, likely by calling a new apostle from a lower-tier leadership council. Apostles are all men in accordance with the church’s all-male priesthood.

    Holland grew up in St. George, Utah, and worked for many years in education administration before his call to join the ranks of church leadership. He served as the ninth president of Brigham Young University, the Utah-based faith’s flagship school, from 1980 to 1989 and was a commissioner of the church’s global education system.

    Under his leadership, the Provo university worked to improve interfaith relations and established a satellite campus in Jerusalem. The Anti-Defamation League later honored Holland with its Torch of Liberty Award for helping foster greater understanding between Christian and Jewish communities.

    Holland is widely remembered for a 2021 speech in which he called on church members to take up metaphorical muskets in defense of the faith’s teachings against same-sex marriage. The talk, known colloquially as “the musket fire speech,” became required reading for BYU freshmen in 2024, raising concern among LGBTQ+ students and advocates.

    Holland was preceded in death by his wife, Patricia Terry Holland. He is survived by their three children, 13 grandchildren and several great-grandchildren.

  • Winter storm snarls U.S. holiday travel across Northeast, Great Lakes

    Winter storm snarls U.S. holiday travel across Northeast, Great Lakes

    BOSTON — More than a thousand flights were canceled or delayed across the Northeast and Great Lakes regions due to snow as thousands took to U.S. roads and airports during the busy travel period between Christmas and New Year’s.

    New York City received around 4 inches of snow Friday night into early Saturday — slightly under what some forecasts had predicted. At least 1,500 flights were canceled from Friday night, according to flight-tracking service FlightAware. But by Saturday morning, both the roads and skies were clearing.

    “The storm is definitely winding down, a little bit of flurries across the Northeast this morning,” said Bob Oravec, a Maryland-based forecaster at the National Weather Service.

    Oravec said the storm was quick-moving from the northwest toward the Southeast U.S., with the largest snowfall in the New York City area reaching over 6 inches in central eastern Long Island. Further to the north in the Catskills, communities saw as much as 10 inches of snowfall.

    Newark Liberty International Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport, and LaGuardia Airport posted snow warnings on the social media platform X on Friday, cautioning that weather conditions could cause flight disruptions.

    The National Weather Service warned of hazardous travel conditions from the Great Lakes through the northern mid-Atlantic and southern New England, with the potential for tree damage and power outages. Forecasters said the storm was expected to weaken by Saturday morning.

    In Times Square on Saturday, workers in red jumpsuits worked to clear the sludge and powder-coated streets and sidewalks using shovels and snowblowers.

    Jennifer Yokley, who was in Times Square on a holiday trip from North Carolina, said she was excited to see snow accumulating as it dusted buildings, trees, and signs throughout the city.

    “I think it was absolutely beautiful,” she said.

    Payton Baker and Kolby Gray, who were visiting New York City from West Virginia on Saturday, said the snow was a Christmas surprise for their third anniversary trip.

    “Well, it’s very cold and it was very unexpected,” Baker said, her breath visible in the winter air. “The city is working pretty well to get all the roads salted and everything, so it’s all right.”

    Ahead of the storm, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency for more than half of the state.

    4 dead in California

    On the other side of the country, California was experiencing a fairly dry weekend after powerful storms battered the state with heavy rains, flash flooding, and mudslides. At least four people were killed including a man who was found dead Friday in a partially submerged car near Lancaster, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department reported.

    Some mountainous areas received 10 to 18 inches of rain over three days, peaking on Christmas Eve, National Weather Service meteorologist Rose Schoenfeld said. There were varied amounts of rain in other populated areas, including up to 4 inches across the Los Angeles Basin and many coastal areas.

    There was significant damage to homes and cars in Wrightwood, a 5,000-resident mountain town about 80 miles northeast of Los Angeles, as floods and mudslides turned roads into rivers and buried vehicles in rock and debris.

    Before rain reappears in the forecast later next week, California was expected to experience Santa Ana winds with gusts of over 60 mph in mountainous areas from Sunday night through Tuesday. The winds could uproot saturated trees and cause power outages.

  • Russian attack pummels Kyiv as Zelensky prepares to meet Trump

    Russian attack pummels Kyiv as Zelensky prepares to meet Trump

    KYIV — Russia launched a massive attack on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine early Saturday, targeting the Kyiv region’s energy grid and leaving one-third of the capital without heating, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said, as residents face freezing temperatures and frost.

    The assault, which also triggered power cuts throughout Kyiv, comes just one day before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is set to meet with President Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida to discuss the latest draft of a peace plan to end the war — a document that Russia has not signaled it is prepared to sign.

    Zelensky told journalists Saturday that he was en route to Canada, where he would meet with Prime Minister Mark Carney and speak via videoconference with European leaders ahead of the Trump meeting.

    The key issues Trump and Zelensky are expected to discuss include territorial control, future U.S. security guarantees for Ukraine, and investment in Ukraine’s reconstruction.

    “Putin deliberately ordered a massive bombing of residential areas and critical infrastructure of Kyiv just as leaders of Ukraine and the US are preparing to meet and advance peace,” Sybiha wrote on X. “ … Putin must realize that further rejection of peace will come at a very heavy price for him and his regime.”

    Zelensky pleaded for European partners to provide new air defense systems to Ukraine and described the Russian attacks as a reaction to “peaceful negotiations between Ukraine and the United States regarding ending Russia’s war against Ukraine.”

    By midmorning Saturday, Russia had launched nearly 500 Shahed drones and 40 missiles at Ukraine, including ballistic Kinzhals, Zelensky said in a post on Telegram. Several residential buildings were hit. Footage showed vehicles on fire on a major road in Kyiv.

    At least one person was killed and 28 people wounded in Kyiv, including two children, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. One woman was killed in the nearby city of Bila Tserkva. The assault lasted 10 hours — and air raid sirens blared again throughout the afternoon as more drones closed in on Kyiv’s airspace. The attacks followed others elsewhere in Ukraine in recent days, including a glide-bomb strike on Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city, on Friday night that killed two civilians and wounded a 9-month old girl and her mother.

    Russia has spent months targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in a bid to damage the country’s economy and its people’s resolve in the coldest and darkest months of the year. In many parts of the country, including the capital, scheduled blackouts have been in place that leave civilians without power for much of the day. New emergency outages were implemented Saturday in response to the latest attack.

    The Kremlin refused Ukraine’s request for a Christmas ceasefire. Fierce battles continue across the front line in the country’s east and south. The Russian Volunteer Corps, a group of Russian soldiers fighting for Ukraine, announced Saturday that its commander, Denis Kapustin, was killed in a Russian drone attack in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region.

    “If Russia even turns the Christmas and New Year’s time into a time of destroyed buildings and burned apartments, ruined power stations, then this sick activity can only be responded to with really strong steps,” Zelensky wrote Saturday on Telegram. “America has this opportunity, Europe has this opportunity, many of our partners have this opportunity. The main thing is to take advantage of it.”

    A frenzied effort to draft a workable peace plan has been in the works since last month, when the White House threatened to cut all aid to Ukraine unless Kyiv signed on to a controversial 28-point proposal by Thanksgiving. That draft made major concessions to Russia, stirring outrage in Ukraine and Europe. Washington eventually backed down on the threat, and delegations from Kyiv and Washington have since met several times to draft a new version, which Zelensky said Friday numbers 20 points and is 90% complete.

    The U.S. has pressured Ukraine to organize elections, including a presidential vote, which has been postponed since last year because of martial law, which has been in place throughout the war. Putin, meanwhile, changed Russia’s constitution to extend his stay in office indefinitely. Zelensky said recently that he would urge lawmakers to discuss how best to organize a presidential election but has insisted that Ukraine will require security guarantees to host any vote.

    Kyiv and European partners have repeatedly warned that Russia will attempt to disrupt any vote in Ukraine. Some elements of the latest draft peace plan, especially those regarding territory, would require a referendum in Ukraine, which also would face challenges with millions of people displaced or serving on the front line.

    “I am not clinging to the chair; we are ready for this,” Zelensky said Saturday of elections. But he insisted that the legal and security framework be established before any vote. “After today’s strikes — again, I repeat, because this happens daily, because Russia attacks us every day — the sky must be safe, and security ensured throughout our territory, at least for the duration of the elections or a referendum.”

    Any U.S. security guarantees, Zelensky said, will depend on Trump — “what he is ready to give, when he is ready to give it, for what term. Without a doubt, I will be grateful to him if his decision aligns with our wishes.”

    Ukraine continues to refuse to cede territory to Russia but has signaled openness to establishing a demilitarized zone in the Donbas region if Russia withdraws its troops — a proposal that Moscow, which remains adamant it wants to control all of Donbas, may refuse.

    Ukraine also rejected an earlier suggestion that its military be restricted to 600,000 troops, which would make it incapable of fighting off any future Russian attack, instead writing into the latest draft that its peacetime military could be capped at 800,000 troops.

    “Where is the Russian response to the proposals to end the war, which were put forward by the United States and the world?” Zelensky wrote on Telegram. “Russian representatives are having long conversations, but in reality, it’s the Kinzhals and Shaheds that speak for them. This is the real attitude of Putin and his entourage. They don’t want to end the war and are trying to use every opportunity to inflict more pain on Ukraine and increase their pressure on others in the world. And this means that the responsive pressure is not enough.”

  • Times Square to feature patriotic crystal ball for New Year’s Eve, kicking off U.S. 250th birthday

    Times Square to feature patriotic crystal ball for New Year’s Eve, kicking off U.S. 250th birthday

    After the crystal ball drops on New Year’s Eve in New York City, it will rise again, sparkling in red, white, and blue to usher in 2026 and kick off months of celebrations for the nation’s upcoming 250th birthday.

    The patriotic touches at this year’s Times Square gathering, including a second confetti drop, will offer an early glimpse of what’s ahead: hundreds of events and programs, big and small, planned nationwide to mark the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776.

    “I’m telling you right now, whatever you’re imagining, it’s going to be much more than that,” said America250 Chair Rosie Rios, who oversees the bipartisan commission created by Congress in 2016 to organize the semiquincentennial anniversary. “It’s going to be one for the ages, the most inspirational celebration this country and maybe the world has ever seen.”

    Rios and her group worked with the Times Square Alliance business district and One Times Square, the building from which the ball is dropped, to make the changes to this year’s ceremonies. They’re also planning a second ball drop event on July 3, the eve of the nation’s birthday, “in the same beautiful style that Times Square knows how to do it,” Rios said.

    It will mark the first time in 120 years there will be a ball drop in Times Square that doesn’t occur on New Year’s Eve, she said.

    A New Year’s Eve ball was first dropped in Times Square in 1907. Built by a young immigrant metalworker named Jacob Starr, the 700-pound, 5-foot-diameter ball was made of iron and wood and featured 100 25-watt light bulbs. Last year, the Constellation Ball, the ninth and largest version, was unveiled. It measures about 12 feet in diameter and weighs nearly 12,000 pounds.

    The only years when no ball drop occurred were 1942 and 1943, when the city instituted a nightly “dimout” during World War II to protect itself from attacks. Crowds instead celebrated the new year with a moment of silence followed by chimes rung from the base of One Times Square.

    This year, the stroke of midnight will also mark the official launch of America Gives, a national service initiative created by America250. Organizers hope to make 2026 the largest year of volunteer hours ever aggregated in the country.

    On the following day, America250 will participate in the New Years Day Rose Parade in Pasadena, Calif., with a float themed “Soaring Onward Together for 250 Years.” It will feature three larger-than-life bald eagles representing the country’s past, present, and future.

    “We want to ring in this new year from sea to shining sea. What better way to think about it than going from New York to California,” Rios said. “This has to be community-driven, this has be grassroots. We’re going from Guam to Alaska, from Fairbanks to Philadelphia, and everything in between.”

    President Donald Trump has also announced the “Freedom 250” initiative to coordinate additional events for the 250th anniversary.

    Rios said she sees the wide range of celebrations and programs planned for the coming months, from large fireworks displays and statewide potluck suppers to student contests and citizen oral histories, as an opportunity to unite a politically divided nation.

    “If we can find something for everyone … having those menus of options that people can pick and choose how they want to participate,” she said. “That’s how we’re going to get to engaging 350 million Americans.”