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House & Home Wellbeing and Active Living Special
In this series we look at how wellbeing priorities are impacting our homes and how we live — from switching up the home gym for a “longevity room” with life-lengthening tech, to the second-home resorts upping their offerings for teens. Is the pivot to a wellness agenda a canny move for country estates hoping to entrench a new revenue model? Should we all be installing water filters, and painting our rooms white? And we step inside the home of the biotech investor behind the Enhanced Games.
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Find a book for your next vacation at Postcard Bookshop in Oregon
Independent bookstores are the heartbeats of their communities. They provide culture and community, generate local jobs and sales tax revenue, promote literacy and education, champion and center diverse and new authors, connect readers to books in a personal and authentic way and actively support the right to read and access to books in their communities.
Each week we profile an independent bookstore, sharing what makes each one special and getting their expert and unique book recommendations.
This week we have Patrick Leonard, owner of Postcard Bookshop in Portland, Oregon.
What’s your store’s story?
Postcard Bookshop is a travel bookstore in Portland, Oregon, with books for all of the many ways that people explore the world. Inspired by our tiny namesake, we pack a lot of stories into our little space – just 300 square feet! Whether you’re a jet-setter, a road-tripper or an armchair traveler, our store is here to help you visit new places with books.
What makes your independent bookstore unique?
Instead of arranging our collection by genre, we’ve shelved everything by geography. For each country, we offer guidebooks and language guides, as well as novels, poetry, cookbooks and nonfiction from and about that place. Reading has always played a big role in how I see the world; novels have inspired my trips and there are many places I’ll probably only ever experience in the pages of a great story. I want to share that curiosity for the world with other readers. When customers are planning a trip, they can pick up a travel guide, but also a novel to read on the airplane or a cookbook to extend that vacation feeling after they return.
What’s your favorite section in your store?
Under our handmade, three-foot piñata of the earth, we have a table that introduces readers to different themes in world literature. In October, I highlighted international horror authors, and then in February, I had a selection of classic love stories from other countries next to modern romance novels with globe-trotting storylines. Right now, I’m featuring translated science fiction alongside books about space and night sky tourism, taking the whole travel theme to other worlds.
What book do you love to recommend to customers and why?
Not a week goes by without me handing someone a book by Peter Hessler. In his latest, “Other Rivers,” he uses his family’s experience in the Chinese education system during the pandemic to explore the social and political changes in China over the last two decades. As tensions rise between the U.S. and China, Hessler’s books feel like they offer a very human window into a large and complicated country. Writing as a “foreigner abroad” has its limits, but I really think Hessler is a great model for how to write with respect and humanity about the places and people we visit.
What book do you think deserves more attention and why?
I love books that have me looking up airfares before I’ve finished the last page. Reading “Water, Wood, and Wild Things” by Hannah Kirshner made me want to immediately visit the Japanese hot spring village of Yamanaka Onsen. Her memoir is a loving ode to the culture embodied by artisans working to preserve their traditional crafts. There is an undeniable romance to the idea of starting a new life abroad, but Kirshner’s book delves deeper into the life of the community that exists beyond the daydreams we have as tourists.
What books/series are you most excited about coming out in the next few months and why?
I’m particularly looking forward to Robert MacFarlane’s “Is a River Alive?” out on May 20. He writes beautifully about how landscapes have influenced people, and how we, in turn, have changed nature. His forthcoming book ventures to Ecuadorian cloud forests, the deltas of Southeastern India and the forests of eastern Quebec to explore the critical fight worldwide to protect our waterways. It blends ambitious travel writing, poetic natural history, and an impassioned plea for ecological justice.
Why is shopping at local, independent bookstores important?
Independent, specialty bookstores stake out a real alternative to online retailers that try to offer everything for everyone. When you visit a romance-focused store, or a science-fiction shop, or a children’s bookstore, you’ll find a community of readers brimming with expertise and excitement to share about a very specific genre. We put so much care into what we carry, and readers can trust that our recommendations are driven by genuine enthusiasm and interest, rather than algorithms.
What are some of your store’s events, programs, or partnerships coming up that you would like to share?
This spring, we’ll launch a “World Traveler” book club that features a different country each month, with passports for participants to track their reading. We’re also fortunate to be located inside Portland’s incredible CARGO Emporium, a collective of local and global artists, makers, and retailers. The store hosts a full calendar of craft workshops and art openings and big neighborhood events like our annual community altar for Dia de los Muertos. There is always something happening in the store!
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Diddy, Cassie relationship was ‘mutually violent,’ defense will say
Sean Combs’ names through the years: Puffy, P. Diddy, Love and more
Music mogul Sean Combs, who’s on trial for heading an alleged criminal enterprise, has gone by various names since he rose to fame in the 1990s.
As jury selection wound down and opening arguments inched closer in the trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs, lawyers for the embattled music mogul previewed part of their argument in a courtroom back and forth.
The defense team for Combs, who is accused of sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution, made clear that they planned to paint his fraught relationship with ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura as violent on both sides.
In an extensive courtroom exchange on May 9, Combs’ lawyers insisted that they wanted to be able to cross-examine Victim-1, widely believed to be Ventura, about a “propensity for violence.”
Their line of questioning, they said, would center on “other instances where she has been violent” in an attempt to illustrate her her character and nature for “getting into physical altercations with other people.”
Lawyers for Combs, who has pleaded not guilty on all counts, are attempting to rewrite a narrative that the music producer’s relationship with Ventura featured one-sided abuse − a narrative aided by CNN’s release of a video in 2024 depicting Combs throwing his ex-girlfriend to the ground, kicking her and dragging her down a hotel hallway.
Defense lawyers fought unsuccessfully to exclude the video from evidence and many potential jurors were asked whether they had seen the footage.
On May 9, Combs’ lawyers said they wanted to question Ventura regarding past violence to illustrate she was “a strong, capable person who does not shy away from confrontations,” therefore eroding prosecutors’ argument that she was “coerced” throughout their relationship.
Rather than deny any violence, Combs’ lawyers said they want to show that there was “mutual violence in their relationship” and “hitting on both sides.”
“Domestic violence, we are absolutely admitting that,” Combs’ lead attorney Marc Agnifilo said, but added that it was “mutually violent.”
Characterizing how they will portray Ventura’s alleged violent behavior, Agnifilo leaned on the very language that has been levied against Combs, saying: “I think we’re probably going to refer to that as domestic violence,” according to Reuters.
In November 2023, Ventura sued Combs, accusing her former partner of rape, sex trafficking and physical abuse. The lawsuit was settled a day after it was filed for an unspecified amount.
Ventura’s filing is now widely viewed as the initial string pulled in what has become the unraveling of one of music’s most powerful men.
In addition to the federal case, Combs faces a torrent of civil suits that paint the one-time hip-hop kingmaker as a longtime abuser.
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New pope conclave and ‘The Sopranos’: The odd link
World reacts to first US pontiff, Pope Leo XIV
The papal conclave selected an American pontiff for the first time in history, Pope Leo XIV, and the world is reacting.
You couldn’t have written it any better − the first American pope and a “Sopranos” connection.
As the 133 cardinals who voted during the papal conclave became more known to the public in recent days, enjoying a brief bout of internet fame, some close watchers began to notice that one looked shockingly similar to a television mafioso.
Father Robert Alan Sirico, who was in Rome for the religious vote which ultimately anointed Pope Leo XIV as the next pontiff, is, in fact, the younger brother of Tony Sirico, who played Paul “Paulie Walnuts” Gualtieri on “The Sopranos.”
Tony Sirico, who died in 2022, played Gualtieri, Tony Soprano’s eccentric and paranoid henchman, for all six seasons of the hit HBO mob show.
His brother, Robert Sirico, is both a cardinal and a co-founder of the Acton Institute, a conservative religious think tank based out of Michigan.
The pair grew up on the edge of the Brooklyn borough, in the Bensonhurst and East Flatbush neighborhoods of New York City. From a family of Italian descent, the brothers took wildly different paths, with Robert Sirico going the route of the faithful and Tony heading first for some run-ins with the law, then to Hollywood.
“Where I grew up, every guy was trying to prove himself. You either had to have a tattoo or a bullet hole,” he told the Los Angeles Times in a 1990 profile. “I had both.”
He was arrested over 25 times before and spent two stints in prison before landing his defining role on “The Sopranos.”
Robert Sirico became a priest in 1989 and spoke fondly of his brother at his funeral in July 2022, according to local publication The Brooklyn Reporter.
“As many of the professional actors who are here know, people often confuse the actor with the act,” he said of his brother. “When you look beneath that rough defensive armor, as Michael Imperioli called it last night at the wake, you begin to see a softer, gentler interior.”
Telling a story about a time when his brother skipped Mass after failing to attend communion, Robert Sirico recalled: “I said to him, ‘Junior, you are the last bad Catholic in America.’”
“All the rest think they’re entitled to come to communion without that preparation,” he continued. “That revealed to me a seriousness which he had about repairing himself and an awareness of his own completeness and a necessity for confession before encountering a Holy God. I think that was his redemption.”
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Watch these shows with your mom to celebrate
What shoppers are planning on buying this Mother’s Day
According to a survey conducted by the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics, Mother’s Day spending is set to reach $34.1 billion this year.
unbranded – Lifestyle
“Gilmore Girls” is great, but have you ever cackled with your mammy over the Northern Irish shenanigans of the “Derry Girls”?
May 11 is Mother’s Day, and if you are looking for something easy, fun and rewarding to do with your mom, it can be oh-so cozy and comforting to snuggle on the couch and binge-watch a TV show together. And while plenty of TV shows are known for their known for their mother/child (particularly mother/daughter) relationships, like WB classic “Girls,” starring Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel, your mom might want something a little more off the beaten path.
Here are five shows worth tuning into with mom on Mother’s Day, and all the other days of the year that you should appreciate all she’s done for you. Takeout, flowers and a nice gift go well with a binge-watch, too.
‘Derry Girls’
Nary an episode of this supremely funny series about teenagers in 1990s Northern Ireland amid the Troubles violence doesn’t feature the “mammys” and “das” exasperated with their children. Erin Quinn (Saoirse-Monica Jackson), Orla (Louisa Harland), Michelle (Jamie-Lee O’Donnell), Clare (Nicola Coughlan, of “Bridgerton” fame) and James (Dylan Llewellyn) get into some of the most ridiculous and idiotic troubles of their own over the series’ three seasons, but their weary mothers were always there to bail them out in the end. The seasons are short enough (six or seven episodes each) you could watch the whole series with your own mammy in a single weekend, and the Season 3 episode that flashes back to the parents’ teen years is the perfect reminder of the carefree youth mothers have left behind.
How to watch ‘Derry Girls’
Stream on Netflix.
‘Jane the Virgin’
Besides being a dramatic, fun take on the telenovela genre, the breakout role for Gina Rodriguez and a twisty nighttime soap, “Jane,” which aired on CW from 2014-19, is deeply reflective of the very concept of motherhood. When a woman (Rodriguez) who has never had sex is accidentally artificially inseminated, sure, outlandish plot twists occur. But she also gets to understand her mother and grandmother so much more, and reflect on how being a mother will change and define her own life. The villains, romances and surprises will keep you enthralled and the relationship between Jane and her two maternal figures will fill your heart.
How to watch ‘Jane the Virgin’
Available for purchase on Amazon, Fandango at Home and Apple TV.
‘Call the Midwife’
A fantastic medical drama on the one hand and a visceral and vivid reminder of what moms go through to bring you into this world, this long-running British series is a sweet and sentimental watch. “Midwife” follows obstetric nurses in an impoverished area of London the 1950s and ’60s, riding twee bicycles to deliver babies in falling-down flats. At least one birth scene is featured in each episode, plus a host of complications and maladies affecting the mothers who are just trying their best in the rapidly changing post-World War II society. The episodes can be everything from life-affirming to deeply tragic, and there is nothing that will make you appreciate your mother more.
How to watch ‘Call the Midwife’
Stream on Netflix; Season 14 airs on PBS (Sundays, 8 ET/PT; check local listings).
‘Schitt’s Creek’
Not every TV mom is what you might call nurturing, but they can be hilarious and quotable nonetheless. Perhaps one of the most quotable is Catherine O’Hara’s Moira Rose from this 2015-20 Canadian comedy, which aired on Pop TV. As a snobbish actress and socialite stranded in a small town with no money O’Hara’s Moira was an aloof delight over the series’ rolicking six seasons. Her relationship with children David (Dan Levy) and Alexis (Annie Murphy) was combative, competitive, cackle-worthy and ultimately loving. Just don’t ask her to explain what it means to “fold in the cheese.”
How to watch ‘Schitt’s Creek’
Stream on Prime Video, Hulu, Fubo TV and Philo.
‘One Day at a Time’
Shows about mothers and their adult children often get put on lists like this, because so many series with families with young children can be cliché and tiresome. The kids are annoying, the moms are screechy and the dads are checked out. Netflix’s canceled-too-soon 2017-20 remake of the 1970s Norman Lear sitcom falls into no such tropes and traps depicting a single mom, two kids and a grandmother in a Los Angeles apartment. Justina Machado’s Penelope Alvarez is a deeply venerable and vulnerable mom, trying her best to make a living and raise good humans with the help of her mother Lydia (the legendary Rita Moreno). She has the good times and the hard talks, and all of her interactions with her kids feel emotionally believable. Every other part of the series is authentic, heartfelt and hilarious, too.
How to watch ‘One Day at a Time’
Stream on Netflix.
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Diddy lawsuits came after these New York laws opened the door
Diddy denies 1991 assault claims; legal team responds
A California woman has accused Sean “Diddy” Combs of allegedly drugging and assaulting her when she was a college student in 1991.
unbranded – Entertainment
New York’s highly cited Adult Survivors Act, which gave victims of sexual abuse a one-year window for claims that would otherwise be barred by time limits, is a key factor in the civil lawsuits filed against Sean “Diddy” Combs.
The act, which expired in November 2023, led to an avalanche of complaints and lawsuits filed in its final days, with figures including Combs and his former Bad Boy president Harve Pierre, Jamie Foxx, Axl Rose, Russell Brand, Interscope Records co-founder Jimmy Iovine, music executive L.A. Reid, Cuba Gooding Jr. and more sued for sexual assault ahead of the deadline.
More than 2,500 lawsuits were filed under the law. And not all of the suits were against entertainment figures; the large majority were filed against the state of New York, New York City and local counties and involved allegations of abuse at state prisons and local jail systems.
Over a dozen were filed by Wigdor LLP, a New York-based law firm, partner Douglas Wigdor previously told USA TODAY. The attorney behind Cassie Ventura’s lawsuit against Combs, a woman’s lawsuit against Iovine and Julia Ormond’s suit against Harvey Weinstein, Wigdor said one reason so many lawsuits against people in the entertainment industry came out in the last few days of the law was because of the publicity Ventura’s case had received.
“I think that our case, involving Sean Combs, really got a lot of publicity. And people read about the Adult Survivors Act, and I think that provided impetus for people to come forward even though there were only a few days to do so,” he told USA TODAY in a November 2023 interview. “And so, my hope is that at some point, they’ll extend the ASA again, which is a possibility. And so that way other people can come forward.”
He said at the time that public perception could change the entertainment industry in response to credible sexual misconduct claims.
“With at least Cassie’s case, from what I observed, she received almost uniform support for coming forward,” Wigdor said. “When someone has evidence and support and a story that resonates as being truthful, the public is very receptive to holding people accountable for these heinous acts.”
Combs has denied all the allegations against him, and he’s pleaded not guilty to federal charges of sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution.
What is the Adult Survivors Act?
The act, signed by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Nov. 24, 2022, was modeled after a previous New York law offering people abused as children a temporary window to file claims. Under the new iteration, adults were able to file a lawsuit against their abusers regardless of when the abuse occurred.
Wigdor said similar laws – including New York City’s Gender Motivated Violence Act, which had a look-back period that expired in February 2025, and California’s Sexual Abuse and Cover-Up Accountability Act, for claims occurring between 2009 and 2019, and expires in 2026 – could be another means for victims to receive justice.
Wigdor shared hope that similar laws would be enacted in other cities and states, such as Washington, D.C. “I don’t think politicians should be immune from these sorts of cases,” he said.
One of the first Adult Survivors Act cases filed after the window opened was against former President Donald Trump. His accuser, writer E. Jean Carroll, was awarded $5 million after Trump was found liable for the 1996 sexual abuse. Trump has denied the allegation.
What is the Gender Motivated Violence Act?
New York City’s Gender Motivated Violence Act allows survivors of gender-based violence to file civil lawsuits against their alleged abusers or those who facilitated the abuse, if the incident occurred in New York City. The typical timeframe to file a claim is nine years from the time of abuse, but in December 2022, a two-year “lookback window” was introduced.
Lawsuits under the act had a deadline of Feb. 28, 2025.
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs hit with lawsuits under Adult Survivors Act, Gender Motivated Violence Act
The first lawsuit filed against Combs under the Adult Survivors Act and the Gender Motivated Violence Act was from R&B singer Cassie.
The November 2023 lawsuit alleged that Cassie, who began a professional and sexual relationship with the rap mogul when she was 19, was trafficked, raped and viciously beaten by Combs over the course of a decade.
Combs and Cassie reached a settlement one day later.
A second lawsuit was filed by Joi Dickerson-Neal under both acts less than a week later, on Nov. 23, 2023. The lawsuit alleges that the then-college student was sexually assaulted and abused by Combs in 1991 and that she was the victim of “revenge porn.” Combs videotaped the January 1991 assault and distributed the tape to others in the music industry, according to the suit.
A third lawsuit was filed the same day under the Adult Survivors Act, by a woman now identified as Liza Gardner, who claimed Combs and Guy singer Aaron Hall took turns raping her and a friend after meeting the pair at an MCA Records event in either 1990 or 1991, when she was 16 years old.
The fourth lawsuit filed against Combs, as well as Bad Boy Entertainment and its former president, Harve Pierre in December 2023, was under the Gender Motivated Violence Act. Pierre, who worked with Bad Boy since its inception in 1993, was accused by a former employee – now identified as Anna Kane – of using “his position of authority” as her boss “to groom, exploit, and sexually assault her.”
Many of the other nearly 70 civil lawsuits filed against Combs now also cite the Gender Motivated Violence Act.
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence, RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline offers free, confidential, 24/7 support to survivors and their loved ones in English and Spanish at: 800.656.HOPE (4673) and Hotline.RAINN.org and en Español RAINN.org/es.
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Netflix’s ‘Nonnas,’ ‘The Pitt,’ John Wick doc
Joe Manganiello explains why he had to hit the gym for film ‘Nonnas’
Joe Manganiello tells USA TODAY’s Ralphie Aversa why he had to hit the gym while filming his latest movie, “Nonnas,” which is streaming on Netflix.
Love movies? Live for TV? USA TODAY’s Watch Party newsletter has all the best recommendations, delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now and be one of the cool kids.
Moms rule.
No, really. With Mother’s Day upon us, it’s time to shout out matriarchs everywhere and celebrate the joy they’ve brought to us. (For much of my childhood, my mom was straight up my best friend and mostly encouraged my pop culture loves – though she wasn’t too sure about the pro wrestling or Stephen King books!)
The new Netflix dramedy “Nonnas” is a perfect watch for this weekend, with Vince Vaughn as a dude who starts a restaurant with Italian grandmothers as his chefs. If your mom digs TV, why not share with her one of the many, many medical shows on TV? And if your mom loves action flicks and/or Keanu Reeves by chance? Well, there’s a new “John Wick” documentary out – and also, your mom is crazy cool.
Now on to the good stuff:
See Joe Manganiello celebrate Italian food and grandmas in ‘Nonnas’
Netflix’s new “Nonnas” is a celebration of moms, grandmas and scrumptious food, with Vince Vaughn starring as a man who honors his beloved Italian mom after her death by opening a family-friendly eatery. Joe Manganiello, who plays the best friend of Vaughn’s character, said that huge meals were just a part of the filmmaking process. “For the whole movie, three or four times a week, I’m at home after these giant meals in my hotel room, just staring at the ceiling, just trying to breathe. Then, off to Crunch gym in Hoboken the next day to try to work it all off,” the actor tells my pal Ralphie Aversa in a wide-ranging interview.
“Nonnas” is just one of several new movies hitting streaming services this month. And, yep, you guessed it, I rounded up a guide full of ’em. (Pro tip: Get on “Black Bag” ASAP. ‘Tis a banger.)
Stream ‘The Pitt’ and the best medical TV shows ever
In case you weren’t aware, medical TV dramas are back in vogue. Max’s “The Pitt” has proven to be a popular, real-time binge (think “24” with a lot more stress and ventilators) but there’s also a bunch of other new shows like “Watson,” “Pulse,” “Doc” and my personal guilty favorite, “Doctor Odyssey.” Where else are you going to find shark attacks, medical love triangles AND Hot Tub Week?
TV critic Kelly Lawler wrote an essay about why we’re so obsessed yet again with doctor shows, writing that “they’ve showed up at the right time to heal ailing viewers.” She also put together a ranking of the best medical TV series ever – “Grey’s Anatomy” is somehow above “St. Elsewhere” and “The Knick” but folks do love that soapy bunch at Seattle Grace!
Revisit the making of Keanu Reeves’ ‘John Wick’ movies with ‘Wick Is Pain’
“John Wick” is one of the coolest franchise success stories in recent years, taking an original idea (ex-hitman gets forced out of retirement when some baddies kill his dog) and creating a deep and expansive neo-noir mythology. Not to mention it revived Keanu Reeves’ movie-star career, plus has given us some awesome and unforgettable action-movie sequences.
The new documentary “Wick Is Pain” chronicles the behind-the-scenes journey of the franchise, including how tumultuous the making of the 2014 original “Wick” was. I talked with Reeves and director Chad Stahelski about the intriguing revelations in the film, from stuntwork and the physical toll “Wick” has taken on its star to the key moment where a tearful John holds his murdered puppy. “To have that moment of grief was really fun for me to play,” Reeves says.
Even more goodness to check out!
- Lewis Pullman has a breakout role in Marvel’s “Thunderbolts*” (aka “The New Avengers”) and he’s hoping to share screen time with Robert Downey Jr. in “Avengers: Doomsday.”
- A couple of cops are leaving “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”: Octavio Pisano and Juliana Aidén Martinez are off duty following the season finale.
- More “Yellowstone,” y’all! Luke Grimes is heading up the new “Marshals” spinoff.
- Tina Fey spills on how original “The Four Seasons” star Alan Alda was recruited for a cameo in the Netflix remake.
- Amy Poehler is reuniting with her “Parks and Recreation” boss Mike Schur for a new show.
Got thoughts, questions, ideas, concerns, compliments or maybe even some recs for me? Email [email protected] and follow me on the socials: I’m @briantruitt on Bluesky, Instagram and Threads.
