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Gas prices keep rising. My electric car keeps saving me money

Gasoline prices have surged to their highest levels since the COVID-19 pandemic and it has me feeling pretty good about my electric vehicle purchase. I know that utility prices are also on the rise, but being able to plug my car in at home instead of paying horrid prices at the pump has still saved our family money. Charging an EV at home costs 40%-65% less than refueling a gas-powered car. Plus, driving an EV is a little gentler on the Earth, and that also feels good as we celebrate Earth Day. Even when factoring in the additional energy required to manufacture an EV’s battery, ...

Dear Annie: Private matters, public knowledge

Dear Annie: I love your advice and the fact you’re able to cut to the chase. I find myself in need of your level head, too! I’ve been (mostly) happily married for 26 years. My husband is very gregarious and never met a stranger. In fact, he happily opens up his life to anyone and everyone. I feel like he constantly overshares, but as long as he keeps it to his own information, that’s fine. However, he doesn’t keep my information private, especially my health information. A few years ago, I had a cancer scare and chose not to tell even my adult children until I knew for sure. ...

Kovels Antiques: ‘Zero waste’ today was a necessity in the past

Today, “zero waste” may be a movement, but in the past, it was a necessity. Scraps were repurposed not out of environmentalism, but because they were too valuable to throw away. Folk art and crafts turned discarded material into useful and beautiful items. For example, a colorful ...

Debunking five tax day myths

Every April, Americans spend more than 7 billion hours filing taxes and roughly the same amount of time arguing over them, almost entirely on the basis of several common myths. Here are the five most consequential. —Myth No. 1: The Rich Don’t Pay Their Fair Share This is the most repeated claim in American tax politics and one of the least supported by actual data. The top 1% of earners take in 22% of total income and pay 40% of all federal income taxes. The top 10% earn about half the nation’s income and pay 72% of its taxes. The bottom half of earners, collectively, pay ...

The President and the Pope

Call him the “antisocial” media president. When a president attacks the Pope, he telegraphs: “There’s nothing I won’t do or say.” That is a profoundly troubling message. There are no lines I won’t cross, no rules I won’t break, President Donald Trump is telling the whole wide world. Nobody is safe nor sacred in my book. Got it? And the White House press corps meekly accepts that. The worse Trump gets, the worse Trump gets, in a vortex of flexing power and expressing anger. This week he insulted the Roman Catholic Church and its 1.4 billion members. Last week, he ...

Dear Annie: The uneven split

Dear Annie: My friend insists on splitting every restaurant bill “evenly,” no matter what. The problem is, she always orders cocktails and appetizers, while I usually stick to one entree. Last week, my $22 dinner somehow became $48 after the “split.” When I suggested we each pay for what we ordered, she laughed and said, “That’s so much more complicated.” I like spending time with her, but I’m starting to dread going out to eat. How do I bring this up without sounding cheap? — Tired of Picking Up the Tab Dear Tired: There are plenty of ways to split a bill that ...