More workplaces becoming baby-friendly

ANN MARIE BUSH, The Topeka Capital-Journal

TOPEKA, Kan. — Eileen Wiedwald is a good multitasker.

At the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services, Wiedwald determines eligibility for food, cash, child care and medical care assistance, which entails answering telephone calls, working on her computer and more. For six months, she has juggled those responsibilities with an even bigger one — taking care of her baby, Lillian, at work.

“It can be stressful,” Wiedwald said of her job. “That’s when I can say, ‘I’m going to take five minutes and just look at my Lillie.’ I’m basically a stay-at-home mom at work.”

Wiedwald was nine months pregnant with her first child, William, when she...

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New York post office launches Operation Santa

KILEY ARMSTRONG, Associated Press

NEW YORK — An 8-year-old girl says she and her little brother were sad last year when Santa “flew right over our house and didn’t stop.”

Caitlyn and 6-year-old Joshua are among the many children — from the U.S. and other countries — hoping for help through the New York City post office’s Operation Santa program, which began in 1912.

This year’s effort was launched Tuesday at the James A. Farley Main Post Office in Manhattan. It opens for responses from the public, charities and businesses on Wednesday.

New York postal officials say their Santa program is the largest in the country; it gets about 500,000 letters a year, some of them heartwrenching, with such undeliverable addresses...

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Game review: Sesame Street: Elmo’s A-to-Zoo Adventure for the Wii

By Eric Goodwin, McClatchy-Tribune

For over 40 years, Sesame Street has been teaching preschoolers about the ABCs and 123s. Those decades of experience and expertise are put to good use in the new Wii game “Sesame Street: Elmo’s A-to-Zoo Adventure” (The Wii version has a suggested retail price of $39.99. The game is also available for the PC and Nintendo DS, which both retail for $29.99).

In the game, your child helps Elmo, Zoe, Zookeeper Chris and their animal friends solve word, letter, shape and color puzzles. Instead of passively operating a joystick, they’ll get to jump, scoop and shake their way through the activities. While the game targets preschoolers, even kindergarten-aged kids will benefit from some of the exercises, especially...

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72,000 kids drinking glasses recalled

By JUSTIN PRITCHARD, Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — It didn’t take long for federal regulators to put new rules on what makes a consumer product a “children’s product” to a very public test.

Last month, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission published a detailed explanation of the distinction between the two — a distinction that makes a big difference because it can trigger a range of strict rules.

On Monday, commission staff declared that sets of drinking glasses depicting comic book and movie characters were indeed children’s products, undercutting the position of the importer of the glasses, which said they were marketed to adults.

That decision meant the glasses — which featured images of superheroes...

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SF approves healthier kids’ meals ordinance

By The Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco lawmakers have voted to override Mayor Gavin Newsom’s veto and to pass a law prohibiting fast-food restaurants from including toys with children’s meals that do not meet nutritional guidelines.

The city’s Board of Supervisors gave the measure final approval with an 8-3 vote on Tuesday. It goes into effect in December 2011.

The ordinance prohibits toy giveaways in fast-food children’s meals that have more than 640 milligrams of sodium, 600 calories or 35 percent of their calories from fat.

The law also limits saturated fats and transfats and requires fruits or vegetables to be served with each meal that includes a toy.

Supervisor Eric Mar, the measure’s chief...

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GM recalls midsize pickups for child seat problem

By TOM KRISHER, AP Auto Writer

DETROIT — More than 192,000 General Motors and Isuzu midsize pickup trucks are being recalled because of a problem with the system that anchors child safety seats, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Wednesday.

The recall affects Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon models from the 2004 to 2011 model years. Also affected are Isuzu I-280 and I-350 pickups from 2006 and I-290 and I-370 models from 2007 and 2008. The Isuzus were built by GM at its factory in Shreveport, Louisiana.

NHTSA said on its website that the trucks all have bench front seats and no rear seats. Owners can’t get to the top child seat anchor for the center of the front seat, and the owner’s manual has no instructions on how to...

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Jays Original Potato Chips recalled

About 180 12-ounce bags of Jays Original Potato Chips, distributed by Krunchers! Inc. of Jeffersonville, Ind., because of undeclared milk allergen.

No illnesses have been reported.

People who have allergies to milk or dairy products run the risk of allergic reaction if they consume these undeclared dairy-affected products. The chips may have been distributed in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin and Illinois.

The affected product carries a code in the upper right corner of the bag reading JAN16CA542011. Questions: Contact the company at 1-800-233-7125....

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Holiday fashion trends transcend generations this year

By The Associated Press

NEW YORK — The list of gifts can be short this year: Fair Isle knits, plaid anything, pea coats, flannel shirts, maybe some skinny-leg cargo pants or something in red.

That should cover everyone from grandpa to the kids. It’s the rare occurrence this holiday season that some of the biggest fashion trends transcend demographics.

“Now that communication is so much faster, trends are quicker and everyone has access to them,” explains Nina Garcia, fashion director at Marie Claire. “All these trends get adapted quickly to men’s, women’s, children’s, and the trends from the celebrities and runways are generalized so quickly for the broader market.”

It helps that many of this...

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Black Friday a holiday tradition for many families

By The Associated Press

MESA, Ariz. — After the thanks are said, the turkey is gone and the bellies are full, Shelly Flores will gather the ads from Thursday’s newspaper and map out plans for Black Friday with friends and family.

One person will hit Target. One will hit Kohl’s. Another goes to Walmart. They all have each other’s shopping lists.

By midnight, they’ll be in lines with chairs and reading material.

“I’m usually finished shopping by 7 or 8 in the morning. Then I come home and take a nap for a couple of hours,” she said.

It’s been a tradition for years for the Mesa mom of four.

Retailers — especially the brick and mortar kind — are hoping many others follow Flores’...

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Round glasses make a beautiful table for holiday entertaining

By Michelle Chan, McClatchy-Tribune

If you’re old enough to drink out of these beautiful glasses, you’re probably also old enough to avoid spilling, but just in case … get the Vippe Glasses set.

Normann Copenhagen, a design company founded in 1999 by Jan Anderson and Poul Madsen and based in Copenhagen, created the modern glasses so that they wouldn’t spill. The rounded bottoms of the glasses make it feel like you’re holding a sphere. Think how fun they will be at your holiday dinner table this year. They can be used to hold everything from cocktails, appetizers (shrimp cocktail!) and even desserts.

A set of four glasses costs $36 and each cup is 3.5 inches wide at the diameter. Hurry and get these though, because while their...

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