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Here's what it takes to be middle class in St. Louis

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:14:50 GMT

(The Hill) – What does it take to be middle class? Roughly $82,000 a year in household income in San Francisco, $74,000 in Seattle and $60,000 in Washington, D.C., a new study says, but only $24,000 in Cleveland. Researchers at SmartAsset, the consumer finance site, tabulated the low and high end of middle-class salaries in 100 large cities and every state.  The analysis adopts a Pew Research Center definition of middle class: Americans whose incomes range from two-thirds to two times the median household income. (Pew also offers a nifty “Are you in the American middle class?” income calculator.) By applying Pew’s multiplier to city and state medians, the SmartAsset report reveals an income spread that defines what it means to be middle class in different parts of the United States.  These airlines have lost, damaged the most luggage: data “America’s middle class has many different faces,” said Jaclyn DeJohn, managing editor of economic analysis at Sm...

Letters: Denver voters could already have a mayor by now with ranked choice voting

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:14:50 GMT

We could have chosen our mayor by nowRe: “Denver election: Mayoral runoff set for Johnston and Brough,” April 7 news storyThe League of Women Voters of Denver urges the Denver City Council to propose a change in the charter to allow for alternative voting methods – preferably ranked choice voting.Our recent mayoral election offered voters a long and diverse list of candidates from which to select a mayor. As predicted, using our current voting system for mayor, which requires a majority vote for the winning candidate, necessitated a costly runoff election to select the mayor.There are alternative voting methods that would improve Denver voters’ ability to identify and elect their preferred candidate. After in-depth study, the League of Women Voters of Denver developed a position in favor of offering alternative voting methods, including Ranked Choice Voting (also known as “instant runoff” voting), in appropriate situations. Ranked Choice Voting is an alternative vo...

Douglas County School District pays $832,733 to settle fired Superintendent Corey Wise’s unlawful termination claim

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:14:50 GMT

The Douglas County School District paid former Superintendent Corey Wise an $832,733 settlement after he brought state discrimination charges against the district and several school board members over his firing last year after he advocated for students with disabilities and youth of color, Wise’s attorneys announced Monday.Wise filed the discrimination claims with the Colorado Civil Rights Division and the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment alleging Douglas County Board of Education members Becky Myers, Michael Peterson, Christy Williams and Kaylee Winegar unlawfully terminated him without cause in violation of his First Amendment and due-process rights, as well as multiple state and federal civil rights laws, according to the Rathod Mohamedbhai law firm.“The not-so-thinly-veiled discriminatory and retaliatory animus exhibited by Board Members Myers, Peterson, William and Winegar towards historically vulnerable and disenfranchised students in the district and t...

Meet Abstract Painting Proponent Edwin Marcelin 

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:14:50 GMT

Edwin Marcelin is a thoughtful proponent of abstract painting’s power to act as a prompt, a boost, a gateway, and a spark of spiritual reconsideration within the black experience. A polymath with 30 years of exquisite design work and interests in fashion, photography, poetry, sculpture, and video, in his oil paintings Marcelin adeptly redeploys the language of modernist shape and color to hold space for new thought patterns and “the making of a black iconography.” His current show, Elevation: Abstract Meditations on Iconic Black Discipline, is now on view at 100 S. Grand in DTLA, presented by UNREPD—in a thrilling coincidence, concurrent with and adjacent to the landmark Basquiat: King Pleasure exhibition. Accompanying a suite of Marcelin’s sharp, fulsome, fleetingly figure-evoking, dynamic, and richly hued works on canvas is an affecting video installation that further demonstrates the need to get clear before beginning again.Edwin Marcelin: Meditations on Black Jesus No.2, 7...

Recipe: Rahanna Bisseret Martinez’s Jalapeño Shrimp with Chard and Grits

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:14:50 GMT

At 19 years old, Oakland’s Rahanna Bisseret Martinez has interned at some of the top restaurants around the world, including Chef Panisse in Berkeley and Californios in San Francisco.During her time at Curtis Stone’s Gwen Butcher Shop & Restaurant in Los Angeles, the “Top Chef Junior” finalist made this “hearty yet light” shrimp and grits dish for a staff meal, and all 50 team members cleaned their plates. Bisseret Martinez suggests serving it with a green salad and a peach agua fresca.The recipe is one of 70-plus global dishes in her debut cookbook, “FLAVOR+US: Cooking for Everyone” (4 Color Books, $30).Jalapeño Shrimp with Chard and GritsServes 4INGREDIENTSGrits:2⁄3 cup stone-ground grits, preferably organic1⁄3 cup 2-percent milk2 tablespoons unsalted butterKosher saltShrimp:1⁄2 yellow onion3 garlic cloves2 jalapeños, seeded1⁄4 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided use1 pound jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveinedChar...

5 stellar new spring cookbooks by John Ash, Andrea Nguyen and more

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:14:50 GMT

Fall has always been the season for cookbooks, but spring is now gaining on it, so to speak.Dozens of titles start hitting our desktops as early as February offering everything from glossy, chef-penned cookbooks to unofficial Dollywood Theme Park recipes and a volume on cat-themed baked goods.This quintet quickly rose to the top with their mix of delicious dishes and Northern California appeal — three of these authors are from Oakland, San Francisco and Santa Cruz. We hope they inspire some great cooking this spring and beyond.Flavor +UsAfter taking second place on the first season of “Top Chef Junior,” Oakland’s Rahanna Bisseret Martinez began staging at more than a dozen restaurants around the world, from Berkeley’s Chez Panisse — Alice Waters is a big fan — to London’s Ikoyi and New Orleans’ Compère Lapin. Somehow, the ambitious teenager also found time to pen a deliciously colorful debut with 70+ recipes, which lands in books...

America’s top 10 national park lodges in the West showcased in new book

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:14:50 GMT

There’s something so eye catching and recognizable about the National Park Service’s historic lodges, there’s even a name for it: Parkitecture. These rustic 19th and early 20th century inns are all built with materials native to the area, from stonework to timber, and designed to complement their spectacular settings. Think Yosemite’s majestic Ahwahnee, which opened in 1927.“Lodge: An Indoorsy Tour of America’s National Parks” (Gibbs Smith, 2023) Portland-based interior designer Max Humphrey captures the glories of 10 of those lodges in his new book, “Lodge: An Indoorsy Tour of America’s National Parks” (Gibbs Smith, $40), co-written with Kathryn O’Shea-Evans. The prose shares tales about the history, players and even occasional pop culture tidbits for each lodge, from the Inn at Death Valley to the Old Faithful Inn at Yellowstone, with images captured by photographers David Tsay and Rob Schanz.Reading about the ...

Recipe: Andrea Nguyen’s Shaking Salmon

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:14:50 GMT

Santa Cruz cookbook author and Vietnamese food expert Andrea Nguyen has shaken cubes of beefsteak and tofu for the famous Vietnamese main dish salad. It was just a matter of time before she created a pescatarian version.As she writes in her latest cookbook, “Ever-Green Vietnamese: Super-Fresh Recipes, Starring Plants from Land and Sea” (Ten Speed Press, $35), she uses salmon for its rich flavor, removing the skin so that the salmon cubes sear well in their rice flour batter. Not one to waste food, Nguyen bakes the skins into crisp chips to serve with the dish. And she finishes things off by adding ginger for a spritely contrast to the garlicky, peppery sauce.Shaking Salmon (Cá Hồi Lúc Lắ)Serves 4INGREDIENTS1 1⁄3 pound center-cut salmon fillet, skin removed and reservedFine sea saltFresh ground black pepper2½ teaspoons toasted sesame oil, divided use2 teaspoons minced peeled fresh gingerThe Vietnamese food expert is back: Andrea Nguyen’s latest title tackles vegetar...

Teen shot by homeowner after going to the wrong address to pick up his brothers

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:14:50 GMT

(CNN) — A 16-year-old boy was shot by a homeowner in Kansas City, Missouri, after he went to the wrong address to pick up his younger brothers, police said.Ralph Yarl in a photo shared by family in a GoFundMe page.Credit: GoFundMe Ralph Yarl was “shot twice and struck in the head and arm” on Thursday, April 13, his family’s attorney said in a statement. He remained hospitalized Sunday; the attorney said he was in critical condition.Ralph’s parents had asked him to pick up his brothers Thursday evening from a friend’s home on 115th Terrace, in a subdivision at Kansas City’s northeast edge. He accidentally went to a home a block away on 115th Street, where the street numbers are duplicated.He rang the doorbell and was shot by a resident, the police said.The resident — who has not been identified — was taken into custody and placed on a 24-hour hold, then released while police gather more evidence, Police Chief Stacey Graves sa...

A short history of the long fight over breakfast tacos

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:14:50 GMT

By Forrest Brown | CNNTwo simple words can spark mouth-watering bliss or a series of blistering retorts in Texans: Breakfast tacos.In the Lone Star State, who gets the credit for these morning tortilla sensations can be a matter of habañero-hot debate.A highly contested Eater article in 2016 helped start a full-on Breakfast Taco War between Austin and San Antonio. While that particular battle eventually settled down, flare-ups continue.But to get a true picture of this simple food with a complex history, we must go beyond Texas and first look at another place: Mexico.Mouthwatering tacos in MonterreyThe breakfast taco is actually part of a long parade of foods (pizza, for instance) whose fuzzy origins and various claims of authenticity spark ferocious debate.There’s one thing we know for darn sure: Today, breakfast tacos are enjoyed on both sides of the Rio Grande River. In her CNN “Searching for Mexico” series, actor Eva Longoria traveled to Monterrey in the state ...