Editor’s note: This version has been updated with corrections to a name and comments made by Jennifer Nicholas of Eastpointe.

By Myesha Johnson and Hannah Mackay

Tribune News Service

A steady stream of excited customers welcomed Michigan’s first Sheetz when the convenience chain opened its first site in Romulus this summer.

While many craved the Pennsylvania-based company’s stores, known for 24-hour service and made-to-order food, a growing number of Metro Detroiters now are speaking out and standing up against its 60-store expansion in the state. Their concerns include oversaturation of gas stations, added traffic, potential for more crime and environmental pollution.

Jennifer Nicholas, 59, of Eastpointe is among opponents of the chain’s push into Metro Detroit. After seeing a news report that Sheetz wanted to move into an Office Depot site in her city, she passed out flyers to rally a dozen neighbors to attend a public hearing on the proposed development.

“It seems like they are just forcing their way into whatever city, whatever community they think is going to be beneficial to them, and residents do not have any recourse,” Nicholas said. “They can come out and speak to city council or their planning commission, but they have no voice. It doesn’t matter who was crying or talking.”

Eastpointe city officials did not respond to a request for comment.

Sheetz has announced plans to open stores at numerous Metro Detroit sites, including in Warren at 31925 Van Dyke, Ypsilanti at 2103 W. Michigan Ave., Eastpointe at 19001 E. Nine Mile, Taylor at 8200 Telegraph Road and 20623 Eureka Road; an additional station in Warren and others in Macomb Township at 45011 Garfield Road and in Chesterfield on 23 Mile east of I-94.

Most recently, the company received a site approval in Fraser for a store that is in the engineering process, with construction expected in 2025 at the southwest corner of 14 Mile and Utica Road.

Edie Pearson, 62, a 25-year Fraser resident, says Sheetz is moving into her backyard, with a brick wall being the only thing separating her from the planned convenience mart.

“There’s no positives to putting them in the neighborhood,” she said. “They’re putting a dumpster right on the other side of my fence.”

Pearson says the planned Sheetz contrasts with improvements being made in other Macomb County communities.

“New Baltimore is rehabbing an old building they have, Mt. Clemens is rehabbing their downtown, and we get a gas station,” she said. “We’ve got two gas stations on the corner.

“The city council seemed to have wanted the money more than helping us out,” Pearson said. “I feel city council has no integrity whatsoever. … They all make money, the developer, the multimillion-dollar corporation has money, and us that have the least to lose, we lose.”

Lauren Sayre, the city’s planning and zoning administrator, declined to comment. Other Fraser officials did not respond to a request for comment.

Sheetz defends its expansion plans as positive for the communities where it locates.

“Sheetz strives to be the best neighbor we can be in every community we serve,” Nick Ruffner, the company’s public affairs manager, said in an email. “As a family-owned-and-operated company, we listen closely to local feedback and work with officials to ensure our project aligns with community values. Sheetz will continue to meet with local officials throughout the duration of this project to ensure it represents the Fraser community well.

“Sheetz is a brand new offering in southeast Michigan. When new businesses come to a market, the competition benefits the community at large by driving innovation, enhancing consumer choice, lowering prices and fostering economic growth to deliver better value as well as attract and retain customers.”

Each Sheetz store will employ 30 to 35 workers, the majority of them full-time, the company said. It touted competitive pay, benefits packages to all employees, including medical, dental and vision insurance, 12 weeks of 100% paid maternity leave, a 401(k) retirement plan, tuition reimbursement, quarterly bonuses, paid time off and more. Sheetz ranked second in the latest Best Workplaces in Retail in America by Fortune and in the Top 10 of the “Companies that Care” list from People magazine.

Beyond its push to open dozens of stores in Michigan, mostly in Metro Detroit, the company is raising its local profile as the lead sponsor of next month’s Detroit Policy Conference, a gathering of political and business movers and shakers sponsored by the Detroit Regional Chamber.

Still, the chain’s planned entry into some southeast Michigan communities is meeting stiff resistance.

In Farmington Hills, residents and business owners have been vocal in their opposition to a proposed Sheetz gas station at the intersection of Middlebelt and W. 12 Mile. The city’s planning commission approved the planned unit development at a meeting last month, despite several residents showing up to voice their concerns. Farmington Hills City Council has the final say and will consider the plan and hear from community members at a public hearing that will likely be scheduled for January.

The proposed Sheetz would be at the former site of Ginopolis Bar-B-Q Smokehouse, which closed in 2019 and sits across from two gas stations. It would contain 44 parking spots, 12 gasoline pumps, a restaurant area and a drive-thru.

Four planning commissioners, including former mayor and city council member Barry Brickner, voted in favor of the proposed planned urban development, while one, John Trafelet, opposed it.

“We don’t look at the applicant based upon their name. We look at the applicant, the application based upon what they’re asking to do and whether or not it fits within current zoning or based upon the recent changes we did to the master plan,” Brickner said. “We look at the use and we look at whether or not it fits within zoning or under the new master plan. So four of us decided that it, as far as the use was concerned, was OK.”

Other factors at play in signing off on the development was that the Sheetz would replace an abandoned restaurant and be near other 24-hour businesses.

As a condition of recommending the planned unit development, Sheetz has to maintain lighting standards for commercial use to avoid spill-over illumination into the adjacent neighborhood, Brickner said. The company also will be required to have buffers separating the business from residential areas, Brickner said.

“There were some restrictions put on there based upon the complaints from the residents within … our abilities,” he said.

Ozzie Butt, 47, of White Lake owns the Sunoco gas station across the street and worries the chain would put him out of business. Butt owns another Sunoco gas station at Nine Mile and Farmington Road in Farmington.

“It just doesn’t make sense because … it’s not on the highway, you’re putting a mega-station right in the middle of a subdivision, it just doesn’t add up,” Butt said. “You’re putting a mega-store right in front of a mom-and-pop shop. Of course, we’ll have no choice — shutting the door and moving on.”

Tim Parvin lives less than a mile from the proposed Sheetz location and said the surrounding neighborhood is largely composed of single-family homes and condominiums. He notes the two existing gas stations and says he’s concerned that a 24-hour Sheetz would cause noise and light pollution.

“I just don’t see the fit here for these single-family homes. … Property values would decrease, traffic will increase,” Parvin said. “There are better locations for Sheetz. … Do we need more gas stations? I don’t think so.”

Another resident, Lloyd Banks, started a group to oppose the development, Concerned Citizens Against Sheetz. He said he’s worried the proposed 24-hour gas station would lead to an increase in crime.

“As it relates to crime, we feel, because of its 24 hours in nature, that it causes crime itself,” Banks said. “We know crime happens at many businesses, but in particular for Sheetz, they’ve had some really horrendous crimes that have taken place after 10 o’clock or 11 o’clock at those gas stations around the country.”

Incidents at Sheetz locations have included the fatal shooting of a 21-year-old man in Columbus, Ohio, in October 2022, the shooting of two people outside a Sheetz in Prince George County, Maryland, in March 2024, and a stabbing that injured an 18-year-old man at a Sheetz in Larkville, Pennsylvania, in October 2024.

Banks also expressed concerns about diversity at Sheetz, referencing a lawsuit filed in April by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The lawsuit accuses Sheetz of racial discrimination in hiring.

In a statement reported by CNN, Sheetz said it “does not tolerate discrimination of any kind.”

Nasir Siddiqui, vice president of sales at Bazco Oil, co-founded the Metro Detroit Petroleum Alliance, a group of around 350 local business owners in the gas industry who oppose several proposed Sheetz locations across Metro Detroit. Siddiqui co-owns the Chillbox BP gas station across the street from the proposed Sheetz in Farmington Hills.

“There’s a lot of gas stations already in southeast Michigan, it’s one of the most densely populated areas obviously in the state and makes Michigan one of the most densely populated areas for gas stations,” Siddiqui said.

Siddiqui said the alliance’s members aren’t worried about competition, but large, out-of-state organizations compete on a different playing field and can disrupt local mom-and-pop gas stations in communities like Farmington Hills, Warren and Taylor.

“We’ve been local for all these years supporting local businesses,” Siddiqui said. “And Sheetz … It’s a big conglomerate, which doesn’t make for fair competition for the local mom-and-pop.”

Sheetz has not found success everywhere in Michigan with its expansion plans. In May, Madison Heights City Council voted against approving a Sheetz gas station on Dequindre Road. Officials cited concerns that it was incompatible with adjacent residential land uses, would have adverse effects on the environment, and that Sheetz failed to demonstrate the need for its business in the area.

Sheetz had proposed a location in Rochester Hills but withdrew its application from the Zoning Board of Appeals in January before it could be voted on.

Nicholas, the Easpointe resident who campaigned against Sheetz locating in her Macomb County city, spoke at a planning commission meeting in September and believes the city was “facilitating Sheetz entering the market.”

Nicholas said of the newly approved Fraser site: “It’s a horrible place for the gas station. It will be replacing a 100 year old bank in a small town that already has 2 gas stations at that intersection.”

“They are setting up next to gas stations that are already there. They are setting up in residential neighborhoods,” Nicholas said. “If they were taking over existing gas stations or they’re building in an area where there is not a gas station … that would be all right, but that’s not what they’re doing.

“Why would you want to come into a community that is opposed to you? Why would you want to set up a business when you see people angry and almost in tears saying that they don’t want you?” she said.

The MENA American Chamber of Commerce, representing hundreds of local business owners, is also calling for an end to Sheetz’s expansion. The group cites concerns regarding anti-competitive practices, environmental risks, and impacts on local supply chains, a release said.

Faye Nemer, CEO and founder of the chamber, said Sheetz is using the largest planning and zoning firms in the state as well as political lobbying firms to pursue its expansion.

“The introduction to Sheetz into the Michigan market has been very aggressive in nature,” Nemer said. “Their entering into the market is not what we’re concerned about, we’re not opposed to fair competition … neither are the independent operators, however it’s the unfair business practices that we are challenging and taking issue with.”

MENA will take legal action against municipalities that are approving Sheetz stores versus gas stations from independent operators, Nemer said.

“We’re hoping municipalities will start treating independent operators more equitably compared to corporate-backed entities, whether it’s Sheetz or others, to level the playing field … and make sure … they have the same opportunity as a $7.5 billion operation.”

ALLEN PARK — David Montgomery received positive news regarding his injured knee, with NFL Network reporting the Detroit Lions running back could return for the postseason.

It’s been quite the week for Montgomery updates. To open the week, Dan Campbell said the running back needed season-ending surgery. Then, the Lions head coach said on Wednesday they were exploring a third opinion regarding Montgomery’s injured MCL and that they weren’t ready to close the door just yet.

“… David Montgomery spent the last few days consulting with medical experts, sources are now optimistic that the star avoided the season-ending surgery that was initially feared,” NFL Network reports. “Montgomery will rehab with the hope that he can return at some point this postseason.

“It has taken several days and several experts, but Lions RB David Montgomery now has a path forward. And it’s one that — if all goes well — could put him on the field for the playoffs.”

Campbell said it’s all about trusting the doctors and Montgomery’s recovery. They need to know the knee is stable, for now and in the future, and that he needs to be able to protect himself and play at a high level.

The head coach said these extra opinions and glimmer of hope were why Montgomery hadn’t been placed on injured reserve, with the Lions in wait-and-see mode.

Related: Detroit Lions have a ton of confidence in Jahmyr Gibbs to handle bigger role

Related: Lions waiting on another opinion before deciding David Montgomery’s fate

Montgomery tried to play through the injury in last week’s loss to the Buffalo Bills. But he was limited to 4 yards on only five rush attempts in the team’s first defeat since September. The Lions were stifled on the ground that day, even with their 42 points and 500-plus yards, with only 13 designed runs in the shootout.

Getting Montgomery back in any capacity would be a massive win for this team, no doubt. The hard-charging running back is so much of who the Lions are and what they want to be about. He’s also developed a special bond with fellow running back Jahmyr Gibbs, on and off the field, as the popular “Sonic and Knuckles” duo.

Montgomery has been such a hit since joining the Lions from the Chicago Bears in free agency that he’s already been extended in Detroit. Earlier this season, Montgomery inked a two-year extension worth up to $18.25 million to keep him around for even longer.

Montgomery has 1,790 rushing yards and 25 touchdowns in 28 games with the Lions, including 775 yards and 12 scores this year.

Moving forward, the Lions will lean on Gibbs in the coming weeks, while Craig Reynolds, Sione Vaki and Jermar Jefferson could get more chances. Gibbs has already surpassed 1,000 rushing yards on the year, and the Lions have a ton of confidence in their home-run hitting second-year running back.

“Gibby’s really — he’s ready for this,” Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson said. “We’ve seen a lot of growth from him over the last year and a half, and I think that he’ll take the bull by the horns and run with it. The guys that are depth players beneath him, Craig Reynolds, Jefferson and Vaki, those guys will have a great opportunity here to contribute as well.

“So, hopefully, we don’t miss a beat, and I really do believe that Gibby is ready for this.”

• BETTING: Check out our guide to the best Michigan sportsbooks, where our team of sports betting experts has reviewed the experience, payout speed, parlay options and quality of odds for multiple sportsbooks.

©2024 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit mlive.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

The operators of Carnival Market in Pontiac have agreed for the second time in four years to pay overtime wages to employees that the U.S. Department of Labor says remained unpaid between 2021 and 2023, federal officials announced earlier this week.

It follows another settlement for unpaid overtime in 2020 that the labor department claims led to retaliation against employees.

Carnival Market, a specialty Mexican supermarket and restaurant, has settled with the department for $192,500, which includes paying $91,250 in back wages to 12 employees, the same amount in liquidated damages and $10,000 in other damages and penalties, according to a news release.

The settlement was filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

The Labor Department claims the operators of Carnival Market interfered with the investigation by instructing workers not to talk to investigators or tell them there were no labor violations.

“Employers who shortchange their workers also harm local economies by reducing the amounts workers can spend day-to-day,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Timolin Mitchell in a statement. “Wage theft is a common problem, especially for low-wage workers who may be afraid to question their employers’ pay practices or to share their concerns with authorities.”

Attorneys representing Carnival Market did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday. The settlement says the operators have agreed to the terms “for the purpose of resolving this matter in an amicable manner.”

The market originally agreed in 2020 to pay back wages to 14 employees for overtime violations between October 2018 and September 2020. But after the settlement, the Department of Labor claims the operators retaliated against employees by demanding they kick back those back wages and threatened them if they did not.

Carnival Market also continued to violate overtime law between January 2021 and January 2023, the labor department alleges, which was the subject of the new settlement.

Carnival Market also has to audit and verify its current compliance with federal wage regulations, provide records to the Wage and Hour Division upon request for at least two years, provide Fair Labor Standards Act training to managers and post fact sheets about employees’ federal rights, according to the settlement.

The Department of Labor’s agreement with the market is among several recent investigations into overtime practices in Michigan.

In July, a federal judge ordered an operator of several Leo’s Coney Island franchise restaurants to pay overtime and keep accurate timecards, after labor officials alleged he had a pattern of breaking overtime regulations.

The department sued three Barrio Tacos restaurants in September 2023 for overtime and tipped labor violations, claiming the company failed to keep accurate records of employee pay and and did not pay tipped employees the federal minimum wage.

By Morayo Ogunbayo, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (TNS)

One of the things new retirees look forward to is having the time to travel. Without PTO limits, vacations after retirement can be something new and different.

It can be so new and different, however, that it can be hard to know where to start. Here are a few golden rules you can follow to make each trip as smooth and worthwhile as possible.

Don’t overschedule

Family trips and vacations in your youth were likely packed with activities and excursions that could sometimes make them exhausting instead of refreshing. During retirement, however, there is no rush.

“Before, my travel was based on what I was going to achieve and bring home,” J. Patrice Marandel, a retired art curator, told Condé Nast Traveler. “Now, it’s about my pleasure.”

Go your own way

With time constraints on travel while employed, you may have had to follow a strict itinerary to visit every hot spot in your destination. After retiring, take things easy and see everything you want.

“We know where we’re going to stay along the way, but we hold that really loosely and give ourselves the opportunity to make something else happen,” retiree Kim Kelly Stamp told Condé Nast Traveler.

Start the day early

During previous trips, you may have had to plan things later in order to accommodate the whole family. Without the kids, however, you can start the day earlier and beat the lines of tourists.

Travel slower

Once there is no is no reason to rush back to work, you should make an effort to travel slowly and truly take in your surroundings.

When you cram too much into a single trip, two retirees told Condé Nast, “the whole experience just kind of becomes a blur.”

Explore

This is the best time to book your holiday travel this year

Don’t wait for tomorrow

If there is something you truly want to do, do it. Trips like these should be treasured and not taken for granted.

Ruthie Maldonado-Delwiche, a retiree who spoke to Condé Nast, said she cherishes this advice, because she believes “tomorrow isn’t promised.”

©2024 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Visit at ajc.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

ALLEN PARK— The Detroit Lions are not yet ready to say David Montgomery’s season is over.

Despite head coach Dan Campbell previously labeling Montgomery’s knee issue (an MCL injury) one that would “require surgery that’ll put him out through the rest of the year,” the Lions did not place him on injured reserve Tuesday along with defensive lineman Alim McNeill (knee) and cornerbacks Carlton Davis III (jaw) and Khalil Dorsey (leg).

Campbell described why Wednesday, explaining that Detroit is in “waiting mode” regarding Montgomery because the running back is seeking a third opinion from a doctor. Montgomery suffered his injury against the Buffalo Bills last Sunday, though it’s unclear exactly when because he finished the game.

“It’s a combination, certainly, of the doctors, but him as well, where he thinks he can go with it,” Campbell said of how the Lions will come to their final decision. “And can he protect himself and play at a high level? We’re in a holding pattern, which, as of right now, is a positive.”

Campbell said the focus will be about the stability of Montgomery’s knee — both now and in the future. Montgomery has been a key piece in Detroit’s offense since signing with the Lions in March 2023. He’s rushed for 775 yards and 12 touchdowns this season to go along with 341 receiving yards.

Melifonwu’s 21-day window open; Cominsky return ‘unlikely’

Campbell delivered two other injury notes Wednesday, one positive and one negative.

Starting with the good news: Ifeatu Melifonwu’s 21-day practice window has been opened, meaning he’s eligible to be activated off of injured reserve at any moment. Campbell said Monday the team would think about getting Melifonwu on the active roster for Sunday’s game against the Chicago Bears, but he’d have to see how he looks at practice this week.

Moving to the not-so-good news: It looks like defensive lineman John Cominsky may not be able to get back on the field this season. Cominsky went down with a knee injury in training camp, and the Lions hoped he’d be able to return either late in the regular season or in the playoffs.

“I think it’s unlikely,” Campbell said Wednesday. “Man, he’s tried. He’s rehabbed, he’s doing it. It’s just trying to get over the last little hump here, it’s been tough. He’s doing everything he can, and those guys are doing a heck of a job rehabbing him trying to get him back. But I think it’s unlikely.”

By Luaine Lee, Tribune News Service (TNS)

As holiday deadlines approach, folks are frantically checking off their gift list, replacing burned-out Christmas bulbs and trying to keep the cat out of the tree. But not to worry. Television has plans to ease those last-minute panic attacks.

With everything from kiddie delights to grown-up romances, they are unremittingly on the job.

TBS again offers its 24-hour “A Christmas Story” marathon starting at 8 p.m. Eastern on Christmas Eve. Fans are hotly waiting to see if Ralphie finally gets his Red Ryder BB gun with a compass in the stock and a sundial.

Hulu’s on the job with the inspiring five-parter “Dear Santa, the Series,” about the U.S. Postal Service’s program in which young letter writers pen their Christmas wishes to Santa, and volunteer “elves” do their best to fulfill them. The USPS program has been going on for 112 years and shows no sign of stopping. And, once again, Will Farrell’s enormous “Elf,” who traipses to New York where he finds things he did not expect, is streaming on Hulu.

The Grinch will prove insufferable all over the place including Peacock+, Sling and Prime Video (to rent). He’ll land on NBC Christmas Day. This is the original animated version of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” — by far the best incarnation of the Dr. Seuss classic.

Adults are not forgotten: Barry Manilow brings his evergreens to NBC with “Barry Manilow’s a Very Barry Christmas” on Thursday at 10 p.m. And PBS will offer “Joy — Christmas with the (Mormon) Tabernacle Choir” at 8 p.m. What’s more, viewers can get in the groove with a new iteration of Handel’s “Messiah” with “Too Hot to Handel: the Gospel Messiah” at 9:30, both on Tuesday.

Jeff Dunham and his eternally grumpy puppet, Walter, are discoursing on Prime Video with “Jeff Dunham’s Scrooged-Up Holiday Special,” and Prime indulges British comedian Jack Whitehall, who’s trying to get out of Dodge and make it back to the U.K.

“Jack in Time for Christmas” — now on Prime — is a partially scripted show and pretty funny. All his efforts are aided by the likes of Michael Bublé, Dave Bautista, Rebel Wilson and Jimmy Fallon.

And on Christmas Day the fashionable new Dr. Who, played Ncuti Gatwa, arrives with his special “Joy to the World” on Disney+ at 12:10 p.m.

Lifetime adds a little hot spice to the Christmas rom-com with “A Carpenter Christmas Romance” premiering Saturday at 8 p.m. Mitchell Slagger (sexy and shirtless) and Sasha Pieterse costar in this saucy flick.

On Friday, “Josh Groban & Friends Go Home for the Holidays” celebrates adoptions and the season in one grand display via CBS. Aiding Groban are luminaries like Jennifer Hudson, James Bay, Tori Kelly and The War and Treaty. It’s a unique mix of music, stories and comedy and features a live adoption on stage.

“Klaus” is a worthy animated feature about a shy toymaker who teams up with a self-centered postman to deliver toys to children in the middle of the night. It’s a new take on the “Father Christmas” theme and stars J.K. Simmons as the voice of the toymaker. The movie, which earned an Oscar nomination, streams on Netflix.

On Sunday everybody’s favorite towering matriarch, Madea, arrives on the CW with “Tyler Perry’s a Medea Christmas.” Here Madea (Perry) and a friend trek to a rural town for a Yuletide visit only to be shocked by the goings-on in this little burgh. Costarring are the impressive Anna Maria Horsford, Kathy Najimy and Lisa Whelchel.

Hulu is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Fox cartoon series “Family Guy” with “Family Guy: Holiday Special,” starring the usual suspects: Seth MacFarlane, Alex Borstein and Mila Kunis.

For those nostalgic for the old days, MeTV presents a week of vintage sitcoms. On Sunday you’ll find an episode of “Happy Days,” titled “All I Want for Christmas,” followed by “Snoopy Come Home,” “The Love Boat’s,” “Santa. Santa, Santa/Another Dog Gone,” and four “All in the Family” chapters devoted to the holidays.

Peacock+ sparkles with the special “Little Big Town’s Christmas at the Opry,” showcasing guests like Sheryl Crow, Kirk Franklin, Kelsea Ballerini and Kate Hudson on tap, streaming now.

Husband-wife team Alexa and Carlos PenaVega costar in Great American Family’s original movie “Get Him Back for Christmas,” running all this week.

Sabrina Carpenter makes a holiday splash with “A Nonsense Christmas with Sabrina Carpenter,” streaming on Netflix. Special guests on this entry include Shania Twain, Quinta Brunson, Cara Delevingne, Sean Astin and Jillian Bells.

It looks like they’re still having babies over at PBS’ “Call the Midwife,” and the series will honor the yuletide season with a “Holiday Special” on Christmas Day at 8 p.m.

Clint Eastwood at it again

Clint Eastwood is still hot on the job again with a new film, “Juror #2,” streaming on Max Friday. The show stars Nicholas Hoult as one of the jurors on a murder trial who struggles with a moral dilemma.

Costarring is Toni Collette, who seems to be in everything lately. We’ve seen the Australian actress in projects like “Knives Out,” “Stowaway,” “Nightmare Alley,” “Pieces of Her” and “The Staircase.”

She tells me, “I was a loud little girl – all singing, all dancing, all annoying. I come from a very blue-collar working class, grounded, no-BS kind of a family, which I’m very thankful for because I don’t buy into what I possibly could buy into. I was a little bit of a clown — always performing, putting on shows in the neighborhood; also going through the bookworm phases,” she says.

“Acting started with dancing. I used to do dance lessons and got into singing, musicals, and that led to straight acting. That was it. I’d been doing musicals with a youth theater group while I was in school, and then I started doing some plays with them, and I realized that was what I wanted to do. And I left school at the age of 16, which is something that in retrospect I would never make that decision now. But I think I was so in love with what I had discovered and just felt like it was a rush and I just kind of fell into it.”

Samantha Morton stars in sci-fi flick

Sweet little Samantha Morton is starring in yet another dystopian sci-fi movie depicting our soon-to-be horrible future. Called “1973,” opening in theaters on Dec. 27, it’s reckoning not too far in advance, and has some axes to grind.

Morton, who’s starred in projects like “Sweet and Lowdown” with Woody Allen and “The Serpent Queen,” tells me, “Other than being a mother and a friend and partner, acting is what I’m good at. It’s what I know how to do. It’s what I’m passionate about. It’s my life, it’s my breath. If I didn’t do it, I’d go slightly bonkers, I think.”

It was a teacher who first spotted Morton’s talent. “The teacher said to me I should consider doing drama, and so I went to some actors school that was very advanced in its training — very, very heavy on method and improvisation and comedy improvisation. And I ended up getting a job at the World Court Theatre when I was 16 and I’ve not stopped. I’m very lucky.”

‘Friends’ spawns game show

Super fans just won’t let “Friends” die. So Max has created a new quiz show to exploit those lovers of the long-running sitcom. Called “Fast Friends,” the series features teams that compete to see who knows the most about the long running comedy.

“Fast Friends’” debuts on Thursday. New episodes of the four-part game show will debut subsequent Thursdays. Filmed on the real sets that once were populated by Joey and Chandler and Rachel and Monica, the quizzer’s host is comic Whitney Cummings.

Cummings, who started as a standup, has exploited various facets of her talent on TV including two sitcoms (one in which she starred), writing, producing, and TV comedy specials.

Recalling her days on the road, Cummings says, “I think the traveling is the hardest part. The being on stage is the reward. It’s just what you have to go through to get there. One year I did more than 80 cities. And so it’s like traveling and airport security, and hotel, and you spend all day getting there. And then you get there at 8 o’clock and you get to sort of be onstage for an hour, and that’s the reward. But it’s to get a lot of stage time and to have to tour, I think that’s the most exhausting.”

©2024 Tribune Content Agency, LLC

By Meredith Deeds, The Minnesota Star Tribune (TNS)

Creamy and comforting, a good risotto doesn’t have to be complicated. It only takes a few ingredients — rice, broth, cheese and butter — to make one of Italy’s most iconic dishes.

In its most basic form, risotto can be an elegant backdrop for more complex dishes, like the famous osso buco, veal shanks braised in a rich sauce until tender, which is typically served with a saffron-flavored risotto.

For this week’s recipe, though, we’re adding a few more ingredients that transform a dish often relegated to the side of the plate into a showstopping star.

Along with onions and garlic, leeks are a member of the allium family. Although leeks will never make you cry, when cooked, like onions, they become sweet and meltingly tender. In this risotto, we sauté them just until softened, which keeps the flavor subtle and leaves room for its co-star in this production, butternut squash.

Winter squash, in this case butternut, gives this dish a heartiness that would satisfy anyone at the dinner table, which is why it’s the perfect choice when feeding a group that includes vegetarians.

Like soup, risottos love a garnish, and for this recipe the choice was obvious. Most recipes call for the white and light green parts of the leeks, but we use the tops, too. They are fried in oil in the microwave, a much easier and cleaner way to frizzle the leek tops than deep-frying them on the stove. The leftover flavored oil can be saved and used in dressings or to cook other foods.

While it isn’t absolutely necessary to take the extra step to make the garnish, it does elevate the dish, which is a particularly nice touch if you’re serving it as the main attraction.

If you want to provide a protein, just make sure to keep it simple, like roast chicken or pork.

Leek and Butternut Squash Risotto

Serves 6.

Creamy and tender, this hearty risotto is slightly sweet from the leeks and butternut squash with a salty savoriness from a generous showering of Parmesan cheese. From Meredith Deeds.

• 3 c. homemade or low-sodium chicken or vegetable stock
• 2 medium leeks, thoroughly cleaned
• ⅔ c. vegetable oil
• 1 ¼ tsp. salt, divided
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 small butternut squash (about 2 lb.), peeled, seeded and cut into ½-in. cubes
• 4 tbsp. unsalted butter, divided
• 2 c. Arborio rice
• ¼ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• ½ c. dry white wine
• ½ c. grated Parmesan, plus more for serving

Directions

In a large measuring cup, combine the stock and enough water to make 5 cups of liquid. Set aside.

Thinly slice the white and light green parts of the leeks. Separately, cut the 4 inches above the light green part of the leeks into thin strips.

Combine leek tops and ⅔ cup vegetable oil in medium bowl. Microwave for 5 minutes. Stir and continue to microwave 2 minutes longer. Repeat, stirring and microwaving in 30-second increments, until lightly browned. Using slotted spoon, transfer leeks to paper-towel-lined plate; season with ¼ teaspoon salt. Set aside.

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add the squash and cook, stirring, until it begins to soften and brown around the edges, about 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer squash to medium bowl.

Heat 2 tablespoons butter into the same saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the sliced leeks and cook, stirring, until softened, about 5 to 7 minutes. Add the rice and remaining 1 teaspoon salt and cook for 3 to 5 minutes or until the grains are translucent around the edges.

Add the white wine and cook, stirring, until the liquid has almost evaporated, about 2 minutes. Add 3 cups of the broth mixture and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, until most of the liquid has evaporated, 8 to 10 minutes. Continue to add liquid, ½ cup at a time, stirring until each addition is absorbed. Cook, stirring, about 8 to 10 minutes more, until rice is creamy and slightly al dente (use more water if you run out of liquid).

Remove from heat and vigorously stir in the Parmesan cheese, the remaining 2 tablespoons butter and sautéed butternut squash. (The vigorous stirring helps give the risotto its creaminess.) Season with more salt if necessary. Divide among serving bowls. Top with fried leek tops and serve with more Parmesan cheese on the side.

Meredith Deeds is a cookbook author and food writer from Edina. Reach her at meredithdeeds@gmail.com. Follow her on Instagram ­at @meredithdeeds.

©2024 The Minnesota Star Tribune. Visit at startribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Shelia Poole | (TNS) The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

ATLANTA — Holidays are a time for families and friends to gather, but for older people with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, it can cause so much stress and confusion that they could be in danger of what experts calls wandering.

“I would say around the holiday time is the biggest challenge for people with dementia,” said Kim Franklin, senior manager of programs and services at the Georgia chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association. “Schedules are changing, people are traveling, families are coming together and friends are coming over. There’s a lot of chaos going on and that can cause a person to wander. They want to get away. It’s hard for them to process what’s happening.”

The Alzheimer’s Association reports 72% of dementia patients who wander are found alive by the next day. Alerting 911 as soon as the person goes missing is critical. The odds of survival decrease as more time passes.

Angel Alonso, president of Georgia Emergency Search and Recovery based in Gwinnett County, said the vast majority — between 60% and 70% — of the 30 to 40 calls the nonprofit received last year involved people with the disease.

The GESAR is a volunteer-driven organization that works with law enforcement to find people who have gone missing, including children, people with Alzheimer’s and dementia, and people lost during major disasters.

“We get so many Alzheimer’s calls,” said Vice President John Clark, who is also volunteer instructor with the Georgia Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association. For caregivers and loved ones, a relative who goes missing is devastating.

Two of Clark’s grandparents had dementia, so he gravitated to search and rescue to help other families and caregivers keep their loved ones safe. He’s consulted with police departments across metro Atlanta on the best ways to find people with Alzheimer’s.

Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias can cause people to lose their ability to recognize people and places that are familiar.

According to the Alzheimer’s Association there are often warning signs that a person might wander. Six in 10 people with dementia will wander during the course of the disease.

That includes people returning from a regular walk or drive later than usual. Or they may talk about fulfilling former obligations, such as going to work or talk about going home even when they’re at home. Sometimes they become restless and pace or make repetitive movements.

Clark recounted one call for help when a family reported a missing relative, but they insisted she couldn’t have gone far because of a bad knee that limited her to walking no further than the mailbox. Searchers found the missing woman 7 miles from home.

Even those who have never shown an interest in wandering might start without warning.

Dan Goerke is fortunate. His late wife, Diane, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2012, once went missing from the car of a caregiver.

The caregiver had stopped for an errand. Diane had waited alone in cars as people ran errands before. But this time, when the caregiver returned, Diane was gone but her seat belt was still fastened.

“It was like she disappeared into thin air,” said Goerke, who said he doesn’t blame the caregiver. Fortunately, she was found uninjured and nearby a short time later that same day.

Goerke said it’s hard for caregivers to always be on guard for wandering. “We have so many things to juggle that’s not necessarily at the top of our minds. We have to manage medications, take them to doctor’s appointments, cook meals and taking care of things day to day,” he said.

Clark said when searching for someone with dementia, one of the keys is to know what the person was like before their diagnosis. Often their long-term memories are still strong. They once found a woman who walked out of her home and went to where she used to shop and to her old job, although it had closed.

Recently, GESAR unveiled a new tool to search for missing people: Maverick.

An 8-month-old chocolate Labrador retriever, Maverick is in training to be part of the GESAR search and research team that will track missing people, including wandering dementia patients in metro Atlanta.

In cases involving children and people with dementia, a dog’s personality can also be an asset. Labs like Maverick are friendly and affectionate, not imposing or threatening like some other breeds — and less likely to scare the person who is lost.

Canines can be used in searches in both rural and urban areas.

“He’s an asset,” said Maverick’s handler, Carmen Alonso. “His nose can pick up odors and track where a person has been that we might not think to go that direction.”

At the Cobb County Police Department, Public Information Officer Sgt. Eric Smith said if dogs are needed to search for a wanderer they call the sheriff’s department, which has bloodhounds. “They’re not apprehension dogs so there’s little or no likelihood of a bite,” he said.

Technology can also help, Smith said. Searchers can use drones and families can install technology on a person’s car to help locate it or use other kinds of trackable devices including on their phone.

“We get so many Alzheimer’s calls,” said Clark, who is also a volunteer instructor with the Georgia Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association.

Most cases they’ve worked on have had favorable results, according to the Georgia Emergency Search and Recovery organization.

No two searches are the same, said Sgt. Jeremy Blake of the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office.

“When responding to calls for a missing person, the response is different than that of a fleeing suspect,” he wrote in an email. “The K-9s that are used to track missing persons are not trained in the apprehension of suspects. … Often times, if the K-9 cannot locate the missing person, they can provide officers with a more accurate direction of travel than they may previously had.”

Nearly 7 million U.S. residents age 65 and older were living with Alzheimer’s according to the most recent Facts & Figures report. Of those, more than 188,000 Georgians ages 65 and older also have been diagnosed with the disease, according to the Alzheimer’s Association Georgia Chapter.

Facts on wandering:

There is a better chance of being found in urban environments because of a higher probability of a “good Samaritan” stepping in.

Wanderers may give no forewarning. Often those with memory issues wander away during activities they’ve done safely in the past, such as shopping or sitting on a front porch.

Some people who still drive can become disoriented and drive for miles away from home.

According to the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office, on average, half the calls for missing persons involve the elderly or someone with disabilities.

If a loved one with Alzheimer’s or dementia disappears:

Call 911 as soon as possible.

Have a photograph available for first responders and an article of clothing to provide a scent for search dogs.

Sharing what the missing person liked to do in prior years can be a key: Did they have a job they went to every day? Did they like to fish or go to a certain spot?

Searchers will need to know the last time the person was seen to help determine how far a person might have wandered.

(Source: Alzheimer’s Association and Cobb County Police Department.)

©2024 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Visit at ajc.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

By Sono Motoyama, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (TNS)

If you’re a traditional carnivore, you may treat vegetables as an afterthought, throwing some steamed green beans or broccoli on your plate just to add color. But if you have kids, they can turn up their noses at this fare fast enough to give them whiplash.

Even Aeros Lillstrom, who runs Who Cooks for You Farm in Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, with her husband, Chris Brittenburg, is familiar with the scenario. The couple has two kids, and even though they’re exposed to the finest organic vegetables, their children are less than enthusiastic about steamed carrots.

But Lillstrom knows the solution to this common problem: sugar, or more specifically, caramelization. No marshmallow topping necessary.

“For kids, and even adults, the roasting of many roots brings out their sweetness, so it’s really a nice way to introduce people to roots,” she said. “Beets blow people out of the water. It’s just a wonderful flavor.”

You can prepare many kinds of vegetables this way, but fall root vegetables are especially good for roasting, and for roasting together. They have similar densities and therefore similar cooking times. Many contain sugar that comes to the fore after cooking and caramelize beautifully.

They make a flavorful side dish or even a whole meal when scooped over a bowl of fresh greens for a dinner salad — or topped with a dollop of yogurt.

Lillstrom recommends turnips, carrots, beets, potatoes, sweet potatoes, celeriac, parsnips and beets for roasting. (Check out the Who Cooks for You stands at the Bloomfield and Squirrel Hill farmers markets for most of these items.)

You can roast these individually or — as I do — diced and mixed together. I like to do potatoes and sweet potatoes together (with onions, carrots, garlic and herbes de Provence).

I find that regular potatoes have a longer cooking time, so I nuke those in the microwave for a couple minutes to give them a head start. Lillstrom points out that you can blanch vegetables to speed things up before putting them in the oven to caramelize.

Another factor in cooking time is how large you cut the veggies. So if you’re in a rush, cut them smaller.

Make sure to space out the vegetables. Otherwise they will steam in their own vapor and won’t get browned.

I’m sometimes — OK, often — impatient. So if the vegetables are cooked but not browned, I’ll put them under the broiler. But be sure to keep an eye on them if you do this, or they’ll burn.

If you want to throw in, say, some mushrooms or cherry tomatoes, wait until mid-cooking cycle or longer, as these will cook much faster.

For her kids, Lillstrom cuts sweet potatoes into fries, puts them on a lard-covered sheet pan (she says you can also use vegetable shortening) and drizzles them with olive oil. She then sprinkles the fries with salt and pepper, and mixes to make sure the fries are coated before roasting them.

Roasting vegetables is simple — simple enough that you don’t need a recipe. But if you’re like me, you’ll want one anyway, so guidelines are below.

“Good, roasty caramelizing is my favorite,” Lillstrom said. “That’s always a sure win for the kids or really anyone who is like, ‘I don’t like beets.’ And you’re like, ‘Well, have you roasted them yet?’”

Roasted vegetables

• 2-3 pounds root or dense vegetables, peeled if you like and cut into 1-inch chunks or wedges (carrots, beets, potatoes, sweet potatoes, turnips, radishes, rutabaga, winter squash)
• Oil (olive, coconut or grapeseed)
• Salt and pepper
• Fresh herbs, torn or chopped (rosemary, thyme or parsley)

Heat oven to 425 degrees.

Peel vegetables (optional) and cut them into 1- to 2-inch chunks.

Lay them on a baking pan and toss with oil and a sprinkling of salt and pepper.

Put the vegetables in the oven and roast without stirring for 20 minutes, then check. If they look dry and are sticking to the pan, drizzle with more oil.

Continue roasting, stirring or turning them once, for another 20 minutes or so.

Stir in herbs, then return the pan to the oven for another 20-40 minutes, until crisp.

Remove from the oven and garnish with rosemary or thyme.

Serves 4-6.

— adapted from The New York Times

Other options

Instead of root vegetables, you can use 2 pounds of high-moisture vegetables (eggplant, peppers, zucchini, fennel, onions, Brussels sprouts). Slice and cut into chunks or wedges. Roast at 450 degrees until golden brown all over, 10-40 minutes depending on variety and the size of the pieces.

Or use 1 or 2 pounds of hardy green vegetables (broccoli rabe, snow peas, green beans, kale, collard greens, chard) or cherry tomatoes, trimmed.

Roast at 450 degrees for 7-15 minutes. If you are using vegetables of different densities, you will have to stagger their cooking times.

Roasted Vegetable Tostadas

PG tested

The joy of this recipe is that you can pick whatever ingredients make you happy. I stacked the tostadas in two layers for a heartier meal, but it can be made with just one layer.

For roasted veggies

• 3 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 2 red bell peppers, seeded and sliced
• 1 red onion, sliced thin
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• Kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon oil

For bean layer

• 1 (15-ounce) can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin, or more to taste
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/4 cup minced white onion
• Generous pinch of salt

For pico de gallo

• 1 cup diced fresh tomato
• 1 jalapeno, seeded and finely diced
• 1/4 small red onion, diced
• 1 garlic clove, finely diced
• Juice of 1/2 lime
• Chopped cilantro, to taste
• Salt, to taste

For tostadas

• 8 packaged tostadas
• Shredded iceberg lettuce
• 1/2 cup crumbled queso fresco, or finely shredded Monterey jack cheese
• Diced avocado, optional
• Chopped cilantro, optional
• Lime crema, optional

Prepare vegetables: Place sweet potatoes, peppers and red onion in a large bowl. Season with chili powder and a generous pinch of salt, then toss with oil.

Transfer to a rimmed baking sheet and roast in a preheated 450-degree oven until tender, tossing halfway through, about 25-30 minutes.

While veggies are roasting, prepare beans. Combine drained pinto beans, cumin, chili powder and onion in a small saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat for about 10 minutes, until beans and onions soften. Mash with a fork and keep warm.

Prepare pico de gallo: In a medium bowl, combine diced tomato, jalapeño, onion, garlic, lime juice, cilantro and a generous pinch of salt. Stir to combine, adding more salt if necessary.

Let rest for 15 minutes before serving so flavors can mingle.

Assemble tostadas: Spread a tostada shell with mashed beans. Top with shredded lettuce, roasted vegetables, pico de gallo, crumbled or shredded cheese, diced avocado and chopped cilantro if using. Drizzle lime crema on top, and repeat with a second layer. Serve immediately.

Serves 4.

— Gretchen McKay, Post-Gazette

©2024 PG Publishing Co. Visit at post-gazette.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Shalina Chatlani | (TNS) Stateline.org

Andrea Deutsch, the mayor of Narberth, Pennsylvania, and the owner of a pet store in town, doesn’t get health care coverage through either of her jobs. Instead, she is enrolled in a plan she purchased on Pennie, Pennsylvania’s health insurance exchange.

Deutsch, who has been mayor since 2018, is paid $1 per year for the job. Her annual income, from Spot’s – The Place for Paws and her investments, is about $50,000. The 57-year-old, who is diabetic, pays $638.38 per month for health care coverage — about half of the $1,272.38 she’d owe without the enhanced federal subsidies Congress and the Biden administration put in place in 2021.

But that extra help is set to expire at the end of 2025. It would cost an estimated $335 billion over the next decade to extend it — a step the Republican-controlled Congress and the Trump administration are unlikely to take as they seek budget savings to offset potential tax cuts.

States say they don’t have the money to replace the federal aid. In Pennsylvania, for example, doing so would take about $500 million per year, according to Devon Trolley, the executive director of the state’s exchange.

“That is a significant amount of money, an insurmountable amount of money,” Trolley said.

The disappearance of the federal help would make coverage unaffordable for millions of Americans, including Deutsch. She said it would be a struggle to pay double what she is paying now.

“You try not to go bankrupt by the end of your life,” Deutsch told Stateline. “You need assets to take care of yourself as you get older and to have a little bit of security.”

Enhanced subsidies

The 2010 Affordable Care Act included some subsidies to help people purchase health insurance on the exchanges created under that law. Under the enhanced subsidies that started in 2021, some people with lower incomes who qualified for the original subsidies have been getting bigger ones. And those with higher incomes, who wouldn’t have been eligible for any help under the original rules, are now receiving assistance.

Thanks to the enhanced subsidies, people making up to 150% of the federal poverty level, or $22,590 for an individual, are now getting free or nearly free coverage. And households earning more than four times the federal poverty level, who didn’t qualify for subsidies before, are getting some help.

The enhanced aid also has helped push ACA marketplace enrollment to record levels, reaching more than 21 million this year. Southern states that have not expanded Medicaid as allowed under the ACA have seen the most dramatic growth in marketplace enrollment since 2020, according to KFF, a health policy research organization. The top five states with the fastest growth are Texas (212%), Mississippi (190%), Georgia (181%), Tennessee (177%) and South Carolina (167%).

If the enhanced subsidies go away, premium payments will increase by an average of more than 75%, according to KFF. Some people, like Deutsch, would see their payments double.

Given those premium hikes, millions of Americans would no longer be able to afford the coverage they’re getting on the exchanges, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. CBO estimates that enrollment would drop from 22.8 million in 2025 to 18.9 million in 2026 to 15.4 million in 2030. Some of those people would find coverage elsewhere, but others would not.

Edmund Haislmaier, a senior research fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, said Republicans view the expiration of the enhanced subsidies as “an opportunity to rework and address some of the basic flaws in the ACA.”

Before the ACA, Haislmaier said, many self-employed people, such as small-business owners and freelancers, were able to find their own private insurance at competitive prices. But the health care law destroyed that market, he said, leaving such people with a selection of expensive and subpar plans.

Haislmaier said it would take time for the Trump administration to determine how it wants to change the ACA — which President-elect Donald Trump unsuccessfully tried to repeal during his first term — but that “you can do that in a way that preserves access and preserves subsidies for the lower-income people who were the primary focus of the ACA.”

States’ limitations

But Jared Ortaliza, a research associate at KFF, said letting the enhanced subsidies expire could result in higher premiums for everyone. That’s because higher prices likely would prompt many healthier people to forgo insurance, he said. Their departure would leave only chronically ill people on the exchanges, and the cost of their care is higher.

“If sicker enrollees need coverage because they need care, they’ll still choose to buy it, potentially. And if the market were sicker as a whole, that could drive premiums upward as well,” Ortaliza told Stateline.

Ortaliza said states might consider keeping premiums down through so-called reinsurance, or reimbursing insurers for their most expensive enrollees. Theoretically, they also could try to replace the expiring federal aid with their own money.

But few if any states have the financial flexibility to do that, said Hemi Tewarson, executive director of the nonpartisan National Academy for State Health Policy.

“There might be a couple states who don’t have current state subsidies that might add that, but that will be very nominal,” Tewarson told Stateline, adding that officials from different states have been discussing potential solutions. “They are all assuming that they would just have to absorb the loss of coverage across the population.”

Trolley, the head of the Pennsylvania exchange, said her state is working to provide its own subsidy to make the marketplace plans even more affordable. But even when fully implemented, it would spend only $50 million on that help, a tenth of what it would need to replace the federal aid.

Two-thirds of the 435,000 Pennsylvanians who purchase insurance on the marketplace joined after the enhanced federal subsidies were put in place in 2021. If they expire, Trolley said, she worries that 100,000 or more exchange participants will leave.

Jessica Altman, executive director of California’s exchange, said her state is in a similar situation. California currently receives $1.7 billion annually in enhanced subsidies from the federal government and spends an additional $165 million of its own money to keep costs down.

California estimates that if the subsidies expire, monthly premiums for the state’s enrollees would increase by an average of 63%. More than 150,000 people would no longer be eligible for federal help, and between 138,000 and 183,000 would disenroll, the state estimates.

©2024 States Newsroom. Visit at stateline.org. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

After significant injuries to defensive tackle Alim McNeill and cornerback Carlton Davis, it was hard to imagine the Detroit Lions‘ injury outlook could get much worse.

But it has.

According to a league source, Lions running back David Montgomery suffered an MCL injury in Sunday’s 48-42 loss to the Buffalo Bills and will be out indefinitely. The initial fear is that Montgomery’s injury is season-ending, pending further testing.

The Lions (12-2) are amid one of the worst runs of injury luck in recent memory, and it comes in a season in which the team was, at one point, drawing comparisons to the 2007 New England Patriots.

Montgomery is a critical part of the Lions’ dynamic rushing attack alongside Jahmyr Gibbs. He has rushed for 775 yards and 12 touchdowns with 341 receiving yards this season.

Like McNeill, Montgomery signed a contract extension with the Lions earlier this season. He tacked two years onto his existing deal, adding more than $10 million in guaranteed money, which will keep him in Detroit through 2027.

Nada Hassanein | (TNS) Stateline.org

If President-elect Donald Trump follows through on his pledge to deport millions of immigrants, it could upend the economies of states where farming and other food-related industries are crucial — and where labor shortages abound.

Immigrants make up about two-thirds of the nation’s crop farmworkers, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, and roughly 2 in 5 of them are not legally authorized to work in the United States.

Agricultural industries such as meatpacking, dairy farms and poultry and livestock farms also rely heavily on immigrants.

“We have five to six employees that do the work that nobody else will do. We wouldn’t survive without them,” said Bruce Lampman, who owns Lampman Dairy Farm, in Bruneau, Idaho. His farm, which has been in the family three decades, has 350 cows producing some 26,000 pounds of milk a day.

“My business and every agriculture business in the U.S. will be crippled if they want to get rid of everybody who does the work,” said Lampman, adding that his workers are worried about what’s to come.

Anita Alves Pena, a Colorado State University professor of economics who studies immigration, noted that many agricultural employers already can’t find enough laborers. Without farm subsidies or other protections to make up for the loss of immigrant workers, she said, the harm to state economies could be significant.

“Farmers across the country, producers in a lot of different parts, are often talking about labor shortages — and that’s even with the current status quo of having a fairly high percentage of unauthorized individuals in the workforce,” Pena said. “A policy like this, if it was not coupled with something else, would exacerbate that.”

Employers have a hard time hiring enough farm laborers because such workers generally are paid low wages for arduous work.

In addition to hiring immigrant laborers who are in the country illegally, agricultural employers rely on the federal H-2A visa program. H-2A visas usually are for seasonal work, often for about six to 10 months. However, they can be extended for up to three years before a worker must return to their home country.

Employers must pay H-2A workers a state-specific minimum wage and provide no-cost transportation and housing. Still, employers’ applications for H-2A visas have soared in the past 18 years, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a trend reflecting the shortage of U.S.-born laborers willing to do the work. The number of H-2A positions has surged from just over 48,000 in 2005 to more than 378,000 in 2023.

But agricultural employers that operate year-round, such as poultry, dairy and livestock producers, can’t use the seasonal visa to fill gaps, according to the USDA.

Farmers also employ foreign nationals who have “temporary protected status” under a 1990 law that allows immigrants to remain if the U.S. has determined their home countries are unsafe because of violence or other reasons. There are about 1.2 million people in the U.S. under the program or eligible for it, from countries including El Salvador, Ethiopia, Haiti, Honduras, Lebanon and Ukraine. Many have been here for decades, and Trump has threatened to end the program.

Support for the program

Immigration advocates want a pathway for H-2A workers to gain permanent legal status, and agricultural trade organizations are pushing for an expansion of the H-2A program to include year-round operations.

The National Milk Producers Federation says it’s too early to say how it would cope with mass deportations under the Trump administration. But the group states it “strongly supports efforts to pass agriculture labor reform that provides permanent legal status to current workers and their families and gives dairy farmers access to a workable guestworker program.”

Immigrants make up 51% of labor at dairy farms across states, and farms that employ immigrants produce nearly 80% of the nation’s milk supply, according to the organization.

“Foreign workers are important to the success of U.S. dairy, and we will work closely with members of Congress and federal officials to show the importance of foreign workers to the dairy industry and farm communities,” Jaime Castaneda, the group’s executive vice president for policy development and strategy, wrote in an email.

Adam Croissant, the former vice president of research and development at yogurt company Chobani, which has manufacturing plants in Idaho and New York, said he’s seen a lot of misinformation around immigrants’ workforce contributions.

“The dairy industry as a whole understands that without immigrant labor, the dairy industry doesn’t exist. It’s as simple as that,” said Croissant.

Tom Super, a spokesperson for the National Chicken Council, lambasted U.S. immigration policy and said the poultry industry “wants a stable, legal, and permanent workforce.”

“The chicken industry is heavily affected by our nation’s immigration policy or, more pointedly, lack thereof. … The system is broken, and Washington has done nothing to fix it,” Super wrote in an email.

Changes ahead?

But major changes to the H-2A visa program are unlikely to happen before deportations begin. In an interview with NBC News’ “Meet the Press” last weekend, Trump repeated his promise to start deporting some immigrants almost immediately.

He said he plans to begin with convicted criminals, but would then move to other immigrants. “We’re starting with the criminals, and we’ve got to do it. And then we’re starting with the others, and we’re going to see how it goes.”

Some farmers still hope that Trump’s actions won’t match his rhetoric. But “hoping isn’t a great business plan,” said Rick Naerebout, CEO of the Idaho Dairymen’s Association. “Our ability to feed ourselves as a country is completely jeopardized if you do see the mass deportations.”

If the deportations do happen, agricultural workers will disappear faster than they can be replaced, experts say.

“The H-2A program will not expand instantly to fill the gap. So, that’s going to be a problem,” said Jeffrey Dorfman, a professor of agricultural economics at North Carolina State University who was Georgia’s state economist from 2019 to 2023.

In Georgia, agriculture is an $83.6 billion industry that supports more than 323,000 jobs. It is one of the five states most reliant on the federal H-2A visa program, depending on those workers to fill about 60% of agricultural jobs.

Dorfman argued that even the fear of deportation will have an impact on the workforce.

“When farmworkers hear about ICE [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] raids on a nearby farm, lots of them disappear. Even the legal ones often disappear for a few days. So, if everybody just gets scared and self-deports, just goes back home, I think that would be the worst disruption,” said Dorfman, adding that even more jobs would need to be filled if the administration revokes temporary protected status.

Antonio De Loera-Brust, communications director for the farmworker labor union United Farm Workers, said the nation’s focus should be on protecting workers, no matter their legal status.

“They deserve a lot better than just not getting deported,” he said. “They deserve better wages, they deserve labor rights, they deserve citizenship.”

And though economists and the agriculture industry have said that mass deportations could raise grocery store prices, De Loera-Brust called that particular argument a sign of “moral weakness.”

“As if the worst thing about hundreds of thousands of people getting separated from their families was going to be that consumers would have to pay more for a bag of strawberries or a bag of baby carrots,” De Loera-Brust said. “There’s a moral gap there.”

©2024 States Newsroom. Visit at stateline.org. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

The Detroit Lions‘ worst fears about injuries to defensive tackle Alim McNeill and cornerback Carlton Davis III have come true.

McNeill suffered a torn ACL and is out for the season, while Davis suffered a broken jaw that’ll keep him out at least six weeks, a league source confirmed to The Detroit News on Monday.

After Sunday’s 48-42 loss to the Buffalo Bills at Ford Field, Lions coach Dan Campbell speculated that both players’ injuries could be season-ending. The one silver lining is that Davis’ six-week return timeline could put him in line to return for the NFC Championship, should the Lions make it that far.

In the meantime, however, the loss of both players is significant. Assuming both players — and cornerback Khalil Dorsey, who also suffered a devastating ankle injury on Sunday — are placed on injured reserve, that’ll make it a whopping 14 defensive players on injured reserve for the Lions at the most critical point of their season.

More: That’s a wrap: The Detroit News’ coverage from Lions’ 48-42 loss to the Bills

Sunday’s 48-point outburst from the Bills was a reminder of how quickly things can change; Detroit had the league’s best-scoring defense entering the game.

Besides the injured Aidan Hutchinson — who, despite only playing five games, still leads the Lions with 45 pressures — McNeill led the Lions in that category with 40. He had 3.5 sacks rushing from the interior and was a critical piece of the team’s excellent run defense, recording 25 tackles.

Davis is second on the team in pass defenses (11). He has two interceptions, a forced fumble, two recoveries and 42 combined tackles. The Lions’ defense was predicated on Davis and rookie cornerback Terrion Arnold holding their own in man coverage.

McNeill, a third-round pick in the first draft class (2021) of general manager Brad Holmes, signed a four-year contract extension with Detroit in October, so his future with the team is certain.

But it’s possible we’ve seen the last of Davis in a Lions uniform.

The veteran cornerback was acquired from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers via trade last offseason and is on an expiring contract. The Lions might want to bring him back after an excellent season, but Detroit also drafted a pair of cornerbacks (Arnold, Alabama; Ennis Rakestraw, Missouri) with their first two picks in the 2024 draft and inked cornerback Amik Robertson to a two-year deal.

The Michigan State football team potentially bolstered its offense for 2025 on Sunday.

The Spartans landed verbal commitments from a pair of transfers, in receiver Omari Kelly from Middle Tennessee State and offensive lineman Luka Vincic from Oregon State.

Last season, the 6-foot, 180-pound Kelly registered 53 catches for 869 yards (16.4 yards per catch) and four touchdowns in 11 games en route to All-Conference USA honors.

His best game last season came against Western Kentucky on Sept. 14, when he tallied nine catches for 239 yards and three touchdowns in the 49-21 loss.

Kelly, a Hewitt-Trussville (Alabama) product spent the 2022 and 2023 seasons at Auburn, where he appeared in 19 games combined, making five catches for 101 yards.

The 6-foot-5, 303-pound Vincic appeared in 10 games as a redshirt sophomore for Oregon State, where Michigan State head coach Jonathan Smith served as head coach from 2018-23. Vincic played both center and guard, and did not allow a sack in 344 snaps, per Pro Football Focus.

Michigan agencies and nonprofits that work with immigrants and refugees say they are bracing for “chaos” but are educating their clients as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office in January and carry out his vow for mass deportations.

At least one organization is advising some clients to potentially carry copies of their green cards, even receipts of rent or mortgage payments in case they are stopped by law enforcement officials. Other groups that work with immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees across the state have been hosting “know your rights” events to educate various groups.

“Since the election, our phones have been ringing off the hook because clients are calling tearfully,” said Christine Suave, policy, engagement, and communications manager for the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, a legal resource center for the state’s immigrant communities that has offices in Detroit and other cities.

The nonprofit is one of the largest groups in the state working with people going through the often years-long immigration process.

“They are calling tearfully because they’re fearful about what might happen to their pending applications,” Sauve said.

Trump supporters argue the Biden administration created chaos with its lax border policies that allowed an influx of migrants into the country who created problems in some U.S. cities.

“Trump’s plan includes reinstating policies that worked, like the Remain in Mexico policy, which deterred illegal migrants from entering the country and entering bogus asylum claims in the expectation that they would be released into the U.S.,” wrote Joey Chester, communications manager for the Federation for American Immigration Reform group in Washington, D.C., in a post on the group’s website. “Construction on the border wall will resume, and ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) will once again be empowered to remove those who break our laws.”

FAIR estimated at least 16.8 million illegal immigrants resided in the country as of June 2023.

There are an estimated 90,000 undocumented residents in Michigan, based on an analysis of 2019 U.S. Census Bureau data by the Migration Policy Institute. But the range of people who might be at risk of deportation is far beyond that, according to a half dozen groups that work with immigrants statewide. It includes Ukrainian and Afghan refugees, high-tech workers on H2B visas, child victims of human trafficking and others who have noncitizen or temporary status, according to five statewide groups that work with immigrants.

Trump has vowed to immediately start the largest deportation operations in U.S. history once he takes office. In an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” that aired last week, Trump said his mass deportation effort would first start with convicted illegal immigrant criminals.

“… We’re starting with the criminals, and we’ve got to do it,” he told “Meet the Press” host Kristin Walker. “And then we’re starting with the others, and we’re going to see how it goes.”

The incoming Trump administration and his appointees also might eliminate or seek to restrict many federal immigration programs that allow many noncitizens to be in the U.S., the immigration rights groups contended.

When immigrants are detained by law enforcement officials, they are given the opportunity to make a free telephone number to call for legal advice and assistance. That number is for the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center. MIRC has gotten about 1,500 calls from immigrants who are being detained.

A variety of agencies are bracing for “chaos,” said Julie Powers, executive director of Immigration Law & Justice Michigan, a nonprofit that provides legal services to low-income immigrants.

Powers’ group, which has advised some clients to carry copies of their green cards, is one of the main organizations providing assistance to Ukrainian refugees statewide. They are among the refugees who have temporary deportation protection under a Biden administration program called humanitarian parole, which is granted to people fleeing countries considered too dangerous to return to. Trump intends to take that status away, according to immigrant rights groups.

Some are asked to carry their green cards because “who knows what kind of (entitled, racist person) is going to start calling the cops?” Powers said, particularly when it comes to people of color. “I hope that won’t happen, but I also know that is some of the rhetoric we have heard.”

‘Know Your Rights’ sessions

Trump has said he wants to use the military and law enforcement to detain the millions of people in the United States illegally and deport them.

When asked in the “Meet the Press” interview, Trump said families with mixed immigration status would be deported.

“I don’t want to be breaking up families, so the only way you don’t break up the family is you keep them together, and you have to send them all back,” he said.

“There are a host of potential legal and logistical issues that brings up,” Powers said about the promised deportations.

Currently, in Michigan, people picked up through immigration raids are detained in county jails, said MIRC’s Suave. Immigration courts are already “working at capacity,” she said.

Scores of churches, public schools and businesses, meanwhile, have requested presentations on “know your rights” for when an individual or a loved one gets detained, according to the groups.

Veronica Thronson, a clinical professor of law and director of the Immigration Law Clinic at Michigan State University’s College of Law, said she’s adjusting her program, which has second-year and third-year law students, to do more community education. The students are doing some of the “know your rights” presentations “to make sure that people are not afraid to go call the police, for example, or go to the hospital if they are having a heart attack,” she said.

“People are scared. They are already scared because they know what’s coming because we already had this experience with the first (Trump) administration,” Thronson said. “So people are trying to prepare. I definitely am trying to prevent them from panicking. ‘Yes, you can still send your kids to school. No, you can still call the police if you are a victim of a crime.'”

But it’s the uncertainty of what’s ahead that’s frightening so many, she said, and she can’t assure them one way or another about what’s to come. Trump has not detailed a specific deportation plan other than setting a priority to deport convicted criminals first and nominating supporters who back his deportation policy for key positions, including Tom Homan, an acting leader of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency in 2017-18, as his “border czar.”

“People don’t know, right? And so that’s difficult to capture because how are you going to tell someone who’s undocumented: ‘Oh, don’t worry, they won’t come after you?'” Thronson said. “I cannot tell them that. If you constantly threaten people with the possibility of getting deported, then how are you going to function? I would be scared to death. I couldn’t even go to work or send my kids to school.”

Thronson said she’s working with her clients on things such as setting up guardianships or referring them to family law attorneys who can help with custody or powers of attorney. This would ensure that if a child doesn’t get picked up by a parent, a relative could do so instead and avoid having the child end up in foster care, she said.

“These were things that we definitely were not prepared for during the first (Trump) administration,” Thronson said. “… Now that we know what he’s capable of, we’re getting smarter. We are working harder trying to figure out what advice we can give people.”

Many immigrants are “mixed-status” families, with some members having permanent residence while others are awaiting their applications to be approved for citizenship or some other status, said Diego Bonesatti, director of legal services for Michigan United, an organization that works with immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers.

“It’s not like there’s a neat incision that ICE can make and affect only undocumented immigrants,” Bonesatti said. “There’s a lot of people who are going to be hurt. We’re just trying to get the word out for people to prepare for it as best they can.”

While some Trump supporters say illegal immigrants cause a net drain on the economy, it remains one of the many points that fuels the polarizing debate.

Undocumented immigrants’ spending power totaled more than $254 billion in 2022, and undocumented households had a combined income of $330 billion — paying nearly $76 billion in taxes, according to the Council of Foreign Affairs.

According to a FAIR study, illegal migration costs the American taxpayer $182.1 billion annually as of the beginning of 2023. Those immigrants contribute around $31.4 billion in taxes at the state and federal levels.

Trump supporters, including FAIR, some of whose staffers got hired into the first Trump administration, said the current illegal immigration situation is unfair to citizens and people seeking legal immigration status.

“Illegal immigration has serious, long-lasting impacts on every aspect of American society,” according to the group. “It undermines our sovereignty, the rule of law, public safety and imposes tremendous burdens on our immigration agencies. In particular, it exacerbates our legal system and diverts resources from serving those who seek to come to the U.S. legally.”

Driver’s licenses, undocumented residents

Not having a driver’s license or a state ID is one the main ways an undocumented resident gets on the radar of law enforcement officials, immigrant rights groups said.

That’s why about 150 people held a rally last week at the Michigan Capitol in Lansing urging lawmakers to pass legislation called the Drive SAFE (Safety, Access, Freedom and Economy) Act. The package would allow Michigan residents to obtain driver’s licenses even if they’re unable to show they’re living in the U.S. legally. It is unclear whether the legislation will be advance during the lame duck session in the next two weeks.

Maria Ibarra-Frayre, deputy director of We The People Michigan, was among those at the Lansing event. She is a former “DACA” — someone who came to the U.S. as an undocumented youth. Through a President Barack Obama executive order in 2012, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival, or DACA, granted temporary reprieves of deportation and authorized them to find work. They have to periodically renew their immigration status but they can’t seek a path to citizenship.

An estimated 6,700 people in Michigan have DACA reprieves, according to Census Bureau data. Ibarra-Frayre was able to get on a permanent path to U.S. citizenship when she married a U.S. citizen. Many DACA residents are adults.

“Like so many things, we are not sure what is going to happen with” DACA, Ibarra-Frayre said. “I know a lot of people who are just prepared for disruption.”

In the “Meet the Press” interview, Trump indicated he might make an exception through legislation for the recipients of DACA, also known as “Dreamers,” children who were brought into the United States illegally but have lived here for years.

“I will work with the Democrats on a plan,” said Trump, while praising “Dreamers” who have landed jobs and started businesses. “We’re going to have to do something with them,” he told NBC’s Kristin Welker.

If Trump does pursue mass deportations, there will be a cost associated with those cases, experts said. Removing undocumented workers will hurt the U.S. economy, said Sarah Yore-VanOosterhout, founder and advocacy director and managing attorney at Lighthouse Immigrant Advocates. She argued undocumented migrants are “the backbone of our economy.”

Still, she said Trump’s threat could be a smokescreen. Even when he pledged to build a wall before being elected in 2016, she said what he was really doing was constructing an “invisible wall” of executive actions — policies, guidances and priority memos that drove immigration to a grinding halt.

“There were about 1,025 executive actions that impacted immigration alone during his (first) four years in office, and only a third of those, I think, have been peeled back by the current administration,” Yore-VanOosterhout said.

Based on what happened before, she said it led to “mass panic where a lot of people self-deported, or they went into hiding, or it drove companies to start using the E-verify system.”

“And so a lot of companies were going through the process of maybe not deporting people, but they were eliminating them from their payroll because they didn’t want to get in trouble. They didn’t want to be one of those companies that was raided,” she said.

Gretchen McKay | (TNS) Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

PITTSBURGH — Many Americans consider social media a scourge, but for a home cook, it can be a fun and informative place to get help deciding what to eat.

Sure, some of the recipes would-be influencers recommend are in fact pretty abominable — check out @chefreactions on TikTok, Instagram or X for many, many examples — but I have stumbled across some pretty good recipes on many occasions, too.

One that’s been going viral for a while and but only recently caught my eye shines a spotlight on the creamy, tomatoey dish known as Marry Me chicken.

There are probably as many recipes for Marry Me chicken on social media as there are cooks. (Delish claims to have created the video recipe for the original dish, also known as Tuscan chicken, in 2016.) But in my opinion, the best variations hang their chef’s hat on a sauce made with sun-dried tomatoes, garlic and cream. Yum!

This rich and luxurious entree is a definite step above the “engagement” chicken that caused a similar stir when it made its debut in Glamour magazine in 2004. That proposal-worthy recipe — saved for posterity in the 2011 cookbook “100 Recipes Every Woman Should Know: Engagement Chicken and 99 Other Fabulous Dishes to Get You Everything You Want in Life” — featured a whole chicken roasted with lemon and herbs. Awesome for sure, but not nearly as swoon worthy.

I’ve been married for a very long time, so I’m not looking for a dish that will get me engaged. But who wouldn’t want applause when they put dinner on the table? That’s how Delish’s original recipe made it into the latest installment of “Dinner for Four for $25.”

Usually when I’m building these economical meals, I do all my shopping in one store. This time, I shopped over the course of a weekend at some of my favorite haunts to see if that made a difference. (And no, I didn’t factor in the cost of gas, but maybe should have!)

First stop after downing my Saturday morning latte and Nutella mele at a street-side table at Colangelo’s in the Strip District: Wholey’s Market, where I found boneless chicken breast at the bargain price of $3.89 per pound. I then crossed the street and headed down the block to Pennsylvania Macaroni Co., where I found several varieties of sun-dried tomatoes to chose from. I went with a jar of Ponti sun-dried cherry tomatoes for $5.09 — a definite splurge when your budget is only $25, but an ingredient I knew would deliver plenty of flavor.

At Aldi, I found a bag of five huge lemons for $3.89, or 78 cents apiece, and a nice package of fresh broccoli for $2.28. A bargain, considering I would only use about two-thirds of it.

The German supermarket chain known for its low prices and no-frills shopping experience (you have to deposit a quarter to get a shopping cart) also had butter — a main ingredient in my sandwich cookie dessert — on sale for $3.99 a pound. A bag of powdered sugar was pretty cheap, too, at just $2.09 for a two-pound bag.

“Shopping” my pantry for ingredients I always have on hand, including garlic, olive oil, spices, rice, molasses and vanilla, once again helped keep costs down. Total bill: $24.38, or 62 cents under budget.

Not bad when you consider the homemade dessert recipe makes more oatmeal sandwich cookies than a family can/should eat at one sitting.

Marry Me Chicken

PG tested

Sun-dried tomatoes could be considered a splurge item because even a tiny jar is expensive, but their concentrated, sweet and tangy tomato goodness add so much flavor to a dish! They are certainly the star of this chicken dish that has been making the rounds on social media platforms.

Some say the entree is so good, you’ll get a marriage proposal out of it. At any rate, the Parmesan cream sauce that gets spooned on top of the chicken and rice will certainly make your diners swoon.

This original recipe from Delish.com is a pretty easy dish to get on the table in quick fashion. Just remember to use a dry pot holder to take the pan out of the oven because it will be very hot; I very stupidly used a damp dish towel and now have another cooking scar.

4 (8-ounce) boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

3/4 cup chicken broth

1/2 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan

Fresh basil, torn, for serving, optional

Cooked rice, for serving

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat, heat 1 tablespoon oil. Generously season chicken with salt and black pepper and cook, turning halfway through, until golden brown, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer chicken to a plate.

In same skillet over medium heat, heat remaining 2 tablespoons oil. Stir in garlic, thyme and red pepper flakes. Cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in broth, tomatoes, cream, and Parmesan; season with salt. Bring to a simmer, then return chicken and any accumulated juices to skillet.

Transfer skillet to oven. Bake chicken until cooked through and juices run clear when chicken is pierced with a knife, 10-12 minutes.

Arrange chicken on a platter. Spoon sauce over. Top with basil, if using, and serve with cooked rice.

Serves 4.

— delish.com

Broccoli with Lemon

PG tested

Broccoli is a reliable veggie when you need a little something extra to round out a meal and don’t want to spend a fortune. Here, it’s blanched until crisp-tender and then tossed with lemon juice and zest and a pinch of red pepper flakes. I used lemon olive oil (already on hand) for an extra burst of citrus flavor.

1 large bunch broccoli, separated into florets

2 tablespoons olive oil or butter

1 clove garlic, minced

Juice and zest of 1/2 lemon

1 pinch (or two) red pepper flakes

Flaky salt and freshly ground ground black pepper, to taste

Place broccolini in a large skillet with about 2 inches of water; bring to a boil and cook until bright green, 1-2 minutes. Drain.

Heat olive oil in the same skillet over medium heat. Stir in garlic and cook until golden and fragrant, 1-2 minutes. Add broccoli; cook and stir until heated through, 2-3 minutes.

Squeeze lemon juice and zest over broccoli and season with red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper.

Serves 4.

— Gretchen McKay, Post-Gazette

Oatmeal Cream Cookies

PG tested

Remember how if you were lucky when you were a kid you got an individually wrapped Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pie in your lunchbox? These soft and chewy oatmeal cookies sandwiched with vanilla buttercream taste exactly the same. Actually, they’re better because they’re not made with corn syrup and artificial flavorings, but rather real butter and brown sugar.

It’s important to let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring them to a rack. Otherwise they will fall apart. The icing is very sweet, so you might want to reduce the amount of powdered sugar.

For cookies

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup packed light brown sugar

1 tablespoon molasses

1 large egg, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup old-fashioned oats

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

For filling

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

3 cups powdered sugar

2 tablespoons heavy cream

2 teaspoons vanilla

Pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 325 degrees and line two sheet pans with parchment paper.

In stand mixer outfitted with whisk attachment add butter, brown sugar and molasses and beat on low speed until combined. Gradually increase speed to medium-high and beat until smooth, about 2 minutes.

Scrape down sides and bottom of bowl with spatula, then add egg and vanilla extract. Beat on medium-high speed until combined.

Add flour, oats, baking soda and salt and beat on low speed until just combined and no streaks of flour remain.

Use a 1/2 -ounce cookie scoop tor tablespoon measure to portion out equal amounts of dough. Roll the dough in your hands to smooth the edges, then place 2 inches apart on prepared pans.

Bake until cookies have puffed up and are set and firm around the edges but still somewhat soft in the middle, 9-11 minutes. Remove sheet pans from oven and allow cookies to rest on the pans for 5 minutes, then use a metal spatula to transfer cookies to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Once cookies have cooled, make filling. In stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine butter, confectioners’ sugar, cream, vanilla and salt. Beat on low speed, gradually increasing the speed to high, until creamy and fully incorporated, about 45 seconds. If filling is dry, add a small splash or two of cream.

Assemble cookies. Using a small offset spatula or butter knife to spread about 2 tablespoons of filling onto the bottom side of one cookie, then place second cookie on top to sandwich. Repeat with remaining cookies and serve.

Makes 16 sandwich cookies.

—”Sweet Tooth” by Sarah Fennel (Clarkson Potter, $35)

©2024 PG Publishing Co. Visit at post-gazette.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Hal B. Klein | (TNS) Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

PITTSBURGH — There’s a universality to the charm of carrots.

Daucus carota come long and slender, short and squat and everywhere between. Nowadays, carrots are typically orange — the product of careful cultivation by Dutch farmers in the 16th and 17th centuries — but you can find a rainbow of purple, red, white and yellow carrots at the markets, too.

The mighty roots have played a starring role in cucina povera (Italian “cuisine of the poor”) and haute (Italian for “high”) cuisine for centuries, and are grown across the globe.

Cooked alongside onions and celery stalks, carrots are the foundational flavors of mirepoix in France and sofrito in Italy. Carrots join with celery root and leeks in Germany to become suppengrün. In the Philippines, a blend of carrots, garlic, onions and tomatoes serves as the base for many dishes.

A carrot’s flesh is crisp and juicy when used raw. It’s the perfect companion for apples and turnips or parsnips in an autumn salad, or finely sliced and blended with cabbage for a robust coleslaw. Raw carrots tend to sweeten and have deeper notes of baking spice with the first frost of the season (which we typically would have seen by now in Western Pennsylvania).

Carrots deliver a tender, mellow sweetness when cooked.

Chop them into chunks to simmer as the trumpet in an international roster of soup. Steam them to just tender and dress with a hint of olive oil, honey, mint and lemon juice for a spa-cuisine side to glazed salmon. Roast the roots over hot coals to add a touch of smoke and maximize a carrot’s meatiness.

Cookbook author Marcella Hazan extols the virtue of braising carrots (with a good knob of butter) in her seminal work, “Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking.”

In it, she writes:

“I know of no preparation in the Italian repertory, or in other cuisines, for that matter, more successful than this one in freeing the rich flavor that is locked inside the carrot. It does it by cooking the carrots slowly in no more liquid than is necessary to keep the cooking going so that they are wholly reduced to their essential elements of flavor.”

Sweet and sour carrots

This is one of my go-to lunch and weeknight side dishes to highlight the savory sweetness of carrots. It takes less than 10 minutes from start to finish and hits a bunch of big flavor notes. If you don’t have sushi vinegar you can use white wine or apple cider vinegar plus a pinch of sugar instead. This recipe is easy to scale up.

1/2 pound carrots

1 shallot

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 tablespoon butter, split in half

2 teaspoon sushi vinegar

1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint

Slice carrots into 1/4 -inch rounds.

Dice shallot.

Add olive oil and half of the butter to a hot pan.

Add carrot and shallots and cook until just tender, approximately 2 minutes.

Remove from heat and add vinegar, mint and the second half of the butter, shaking pan to incorporate all the ingredients.

— Hal B. Klein, Post-Gazette

©2024 PG Publishing Co. Visit at post-gazette.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

After the birth of a baby girl last year, Jim Racine and his family began looking for a new home with more space in a school district they liked.

The Redford Township resident started his search in late September, found a 1,400-square-foot, three-bedroom home in Livonia within weeks and closed on it a month later for $280,000. He’s among buyers in Metro Detroit having an easier time finding a home as mortgage rates ease and more properties hit the market.

“That was the first one that really checked all the boxes,” he said. “And then, on top of it, it was the best school district in our budget. And then we said, well, we would be foolish to not (make an offer) based on the school district. So we went and took our shot.”

Metro Detroit home prices experienced the biggest increase of the year in November, rising 10.3% compared to the previous year, according to a housing report released this week by RE/MAX of Southeastern Michigan. This pushed the median sale price to $323,500. Home sales fell by 1.9% year over year; however, pending sales increased by 11.1%.

“For late in the year, for November to be up 10% over last November, that’s a little bit notable,” Schneider said. “This tends to be the time of the year that seasonality starts to kick in. Some buyers take themselves out of the market for the holidays or for winter. They’ll come back in spring. So to have that robust of a median sales price increase says that the market is still competitive from a buyer’s perspective. There are buyers still out there willing to pay at, near or above asking to get homes when they come on the market.”

The latest RE/MAX housing report shows that Oakland County led in home sales, increasing 8.5% year-over-year. Wayne County saw the largest growth in price, with a 13.5% increase. Homes in Oakland County sold the fastest, averaging 28 days on the market.

Home buying activity continues to build as mortgage rates decreased last week to their lowest level in more than a month. As of last week, the average 30-year mortgage rate was 6.69%, down from 6.81% the previous week, according to Freddie Mac.

“Despite just a modest drop in rates, consumers clearly have responded as purchase demand has noticeably improved,” Freddie Mac said in a report last Thursday. “The responsiveness of prospective homebuyers to even small changes in rates illustrates that affordability headwinds persist.”

Ted Easterly, an agent with RE/MAX Team 2000, said that while interest rates influence a homebuyer’s budget planning, inventory levels have a greater impact on activity.

He began seeing a significant uptick in real estate activity in November following the presidential election. Easterly, who largely works in the Dearborn area, said he began receiving more phone calls, increased showings and guided buyers putting offers on properties.

“There was so much stress around the election that the pent-up demand has been released, so we’re busy now,” he said. “Not that whoever won mattered. What mattered is that it’s over now. We try and find normalcy, whatever that is.”

According to the RE/MAX data, the median sale price rose in November by 10.1% in Oakland to $375,000; 10.6% in Macomb to $272,000; 13.5% in Wayne to $191,750 compared to November 2023,

The median sales price across 18 Michigan counties reached $265,000 as of October, up 10.4% from $240,000 the year before, according to data released this week by Realcomp, the state’s largest multiple listing service that looks at Genesee, Hillsdale, Huron, Jackson, Lapeer, Lenawee, Livingston, Macomb, Monroe, Montcalm, Oakland, Saginaw, Sanilac, Shiawassee, St. Clair, Tuscola, Washington and Wayne counties.

The Realcomp report notes significant price growth in Detroit in November with the median sale price increasing by 18.1%, to $94,500 from $80,000 year over year. Pending sales in the city also continued to grow, with 535 pending closings in November, up from 426 during November 2023.

In the report Wednesday, Karen Kage, CEO of Realcomp, called Detroit and its pending sales a bright spot for residential real estate.

“This underscores what our REALTORS® continue to report as higher than usual activity — especially for this time of year,” she wrote.

Still a seller’s market

The real estate market in southeastern Michigan is more balanced, offering some flexibility for buyers, said Steve Stockton, an agent with Keller Williams who works mostly in Oakland County.

While it remains a seller’s market, Stockton said that buyers no longer face the intense competition of a year ago, when multiple offers and over-ask bids were common.

“Right now, people have a little bit of breathing room to think,” he said, adding that buyers aren’t required to overbid or waive contingencies like inspections.

Racine, a 33-year-old office manager, said he found the home-buying process to be smooth. His advice is to avoid being too hesitant and to make practical, common-sense decisions throughout the process.

His agent, Rachel Reaves of RE/MAX Leading Edge, said that although home prices are rising it’s taking some homes slightly longer to sell, creating opportunities for buyers: “There are some deals to be had out here.”

The price range between $200,000 and $350,000 is especially competitive, with homes in this range selling fast, particularly in Wayne County, Reaves said. Homes that are move-in ready and “easy on the eyes” are also going fast. Properties that are priced higher or require more work are lingering on the market  longer.

By Jazmin Orozco Rodriguez

Eloisa Mendoza has spent 18 years helping people who aren’t fluent in English navigate complex legal documents. She guides them through stressful events and accompanying dense paperwork, such as citizenship applications, divorces, and birth certificate translations.

Mendoza works in Elko, Nevada, situated in a remote region in the state’s northeastern corner. Her work has become increasingly important as the town’s Hispanic or Latino population has grown to about 26%. The share of people age 5 or older who speak a language other than English at home increased to 18% as of 2022, while Spanish is the language spoken in nearly 15% of households.

Despite rising demand for local rural governments to communicate with residents in languages other than English, state lawmakers in Nevada left out smaller counties from a recently enacted statewide language-access law. More state and local governments have enacted similar measures during the past few years, but they’re mostly concentrated in urban or suburban jurisdictions.

Rural America is largely white and predominantly English-speaking but has rapidly grown more diverse. Implementing state and local language-access laws, however, is a challenge, researchers say, given standards can vary across state agencies and localities, making it difficult to ensure high-quality assistance is provided to speakers of various non-English languages. Not providing language access to people who need it is not only a violation of civil rights protected by Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, but it also can create public health and safety concerns, said Jake Hofstetter, a policy analyst for the Migration Policy Institute, a think tank focused on immigration policy and research.

While language access is a federal protection, 11 states and Washington, D.C., have created broad policies targeted to their populations. And some states have laws targeting specific sectors, such as education or health care. Other language-access laws have taken root in such municipalities as Austin, Texas; Philadelphia; and Portland, Maine.

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, state and local governments lacking strong language-access systems struggled to communicate vital public health information to diverse communities. An analysis of COVID information posted on health department websites of the 10 most populous U.S. cities found it was not fully provided in Spanish.

The number of white residents in rural parts of the nation decreased by about 2 million from 2010 to 2020, according to an analysis by the Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire. And the percentage of people who are members of a racial or ethnic minority living in rural areas increased from 20% in 2010 to 24% in 2020, with the largest share being Hispanic.

As of 2021, 25 million people age 5 or older in the U.S. had limited English proficiency, of whom nearly two-thirds were Hispanic, according to KFF, a health information nonprofit that includes KFF Health News. Nevada is one of nine states where at least 10% of people have limited English proficiency.

According to a 2023 KFF-Los Angeles Times survey of immigrants, about 31% with limited English proficiency said they faced language barriers when trying to access health care. A quarter said they struggled to apply for government financial help with food, housing, or health coverage. And immigrants limited in their ability to speak English were twice as likely to be uninsured as immigrants who were proficient in English, and they had worse health outcomes.

Since the pandemic emergency ended, Hofstetter has seen a significant number of state policies addressing language access, he said, but he doesn’t see many local policies that focus on the issue in rural areas.

Hofstetter said Nevada’s most recent law on language access, approved in 2023, is unique in that it specifically identifies and requires the state’s most populous counties — Clark and Washoe — to create and implement language-access plans. A separate bill, also approved last year, appropriated $25 million to agencies for implementing language access plans.

Democratic state Sen. Edgar Flores, who represents part of Clark County and was a cosponsor on the most recent language-access law, said lawmakers have faced pushback from state agencies for various attempts at strengthening requirements to provide information and documents in languages other than English. He said officials cite limited staffing and funding.

“I think, unfortunately, our rural jurisdictions are already incredibly limited with resources and, at the time of this request, there was a concern that they were not in a position to meet the requirements,” Flores said. “That’s the bottom line.”

He said that while some agencies and jurisdictions had created language-access plans in past years, legislators found they were not always implemented and enforced. For this reason, Flores said, lawmakers decided it would be better to focus on the state’s two largest counties first while they work toward expanding policies to “every ZIP code, every agency.”

“We have folks from all walks of life who have now made Nevada their home,” Flores said. “We have an obligation to them.”

People living in rural areas may still benefit from a patchwork of resources through state agencies that provide services in their counties or local programs that are required to address language access because of federal funding.

But gaps in the framework of federal, state, and local protections exist nationwide, Hofstetter said.

The degree to which local governments offer communications in languages other than English varies for several reasons, including enforcement of civil rights protections. That enforcement relies on civil rights complaints, which often must be filed by residents who may not know their rights related to language access, Hofstetter said.

Community members may also face resistance from local leaders on expanding access to services and information in other languages. In 2018, Mendoza supported offering ballots in Elko County in Spanish as well as English. County commissioners, three of whom are still on the board, unanimously voted to recommend the county clerk delay offering bilingual ballots as long as possible after questioning census demographic data and stating they didn’t have funding to translate the ballots.

Having access to ballots in their preferred language helps voters better understand initiatives affecting them, many of which are health-related, such as a Nov. 5 ballot question that asked voters to weigh in on whether to enshrine a right to abortion within the state’s constitution. The measure passed with 64% of voters in favor and needs to be approved once more in 2026 to be implemented.

The Nevada Legislature convenes again in February, and Flores said he’s certain there will be at least one language-access bill. Hofstetter said he anticipates more state and local policies addressing the issue within the next few years.

“I would imagine that that’s going to include some rural areas,” he said.

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