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Pope Francis dies at age 88

Pope Francis has died at age 88. History’s first Latin American pontiff charmed the world with his humble style and concern for the poor but alienated many conservatives with critiques of capitalism and climate change. He had suffered from chronic lung disease. He was admitted to a hospital on Feb. 14, 2025, for a respiratory crisis that developed into double pneumonia. He spent 38 days there in the longest hospitalization of his 12-year papacy. He last appeared in public on Sunday with an Easter morning blessing and popemobile tour through a crowd of thousands in St. Peter’s Square.

Today in History

Today is Monday, April 21, the 111th day of 2025. There are 254 days left in the year. Today in history: On April 21, 2016, Prince, one of the most inventive and influential musicians of modern times, was found dead at his home in suburban Minneapolis from an accidental fentanyl overdose; he was 57. Also on this date: In 1836, an army of Texans, led by Sam Houston, defeated the Mexican Army, led by Antonio López de Santa Anna, in the Battle of San Jacinto, the final battle of the Texas Revolution. In 1910, author Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, died in ...

Tips for dealing with annoying scam callers

Dear Heloise: In a recent column of yours in the Marshall Independent, a reader wrote that when they get an call from an unknown person, they pick up, then immediately hang up. It may save time, but it signals to the caller that the number they called is active. It might be better to waste a bit of time and request that the caller put your number on their “Do Not Call” list. –– Harold S., in Minneota, Minnesota Harold, these scam callers have no sense of guilt or shame. They’ll keep calling even if you ask them not to call. It’s best to simply not answer the phone if you ...

Patient avoids using a drug due to its high risk

DEAR DR. ROACH: Could you offer any general advice on how patients should weigh the risks versus benefits when they are prescribed a drug that lists many potentially serious side effects? I once had a specialist suggest that I do a trial of a drug for a noncardiac issue, but my cardiologist cautioned me not to chance it because both my heart status and age put me in a higher risk category for the specific drug. So, I declined to use it, figuring the risk was too great. The drug in question was also very new to the market. This leads me to ask: Do recently approved drugs pose more of a ...

When to speak up to protect your child

Dear Annie: There’s a little boy in my son’s school –– he’s 6 years old –– who has a history of being very physical with other kids, including my son. They were in the same class previously, and my son would come home upset, sometimes with bruises, telling me this boy had hit or shoved him during the day. Thankfully, they’re not in the same class anymore, but they’ve ended up on two different sports teams together in the past year. And the same thing keeps happening. Just recently, my son came home after practice with a bruise on his back where this boy punched him. ...

Time to stamp out the post office

Better buy your “Forever” stamps now, because the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has announced another price increase. On July 13, the cost of a first- class stamp is scheduled to rise from 73 cents to 78 cents. The plan is to raise prices four more times by 2027. Meanwhile, it appears for many people that service is declining. As a kid I couldn’t wait for the “mailman” to arrive, always at the same time and the same person each day. At Christmas, there were deliveries in the morning and afternoon. For a while I collected stamps, especially those from overseas. Before the ...