Region Briefs

By Erica Sandberg, Bankrate.com Vacationing has been on the rise for decades and is undoubtedly here to stay. A 2024 USA Today travel survey reported that the average American takes 2.5 vacations per year. Additionally, 53% of Americans have used or plan to use their travel credit cards or travel rewards points to help pay for these vacations.

By Elin McCoy, Bloomberg News I know. There’s a lot out there to make price-sensitive wine lovers shiver, not least of all inflation and the Trump administration’s looming threat of tariffs. Yet, when I thumbed through my tasting books for 2024, I was once again surprised by how many wines are still relative bargains: succulent, savory reds; crisp, elegant whites; juicy rosés; and even sophisticated sparklers are among the 4,223 wines from 20 countries I sampled this year.

Any time of the year is good to enjoy brunch in South Florida, but it’s particularly fun during the holiday season when friends and family are in town. You can head out on a Saturday or Sunday to savor a traditional spread of yum offerings like eggs Benedict, pancakes, waffles, french toast and omelets.

Martin Philip understands what it’s like to be a beginner bread baker. The former opera singer made a pair of career changes in the early 2000s that led him to the King Arthur Baking Company, where he’s now a lead baking ambassador and award-winning cookbook author. But when he first started in 2006, he was terrified.

By JALAL BWAITEL, Associated Press BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) — Bethlehem marked another somber Christmas Eve on Tuesday in the traditional birthplace of Jesus under the shadow of war in Gaza. The excitement and cheer that typically descends on the Palestinian town in the occupied West Bank on Christmas were nowhere to be found: The festive lights and giant tree that normally decorate Manger Square were missing, and as were the throngs of foreign tourists that usually fill the square. Palestinian scouts marched silently through the streets, a departure from their usual raucous brass marching band.

A new treatment protocol for the most common form of childhood cancer has “instantly” changed how doctors treat pediatric leukemia — and provided a first-in-decades boost for the long-term survival and health of young patients. “This happens once in several generations,” said Dr. Lia Gore of Children’s Hospital Colorado. Gore co-authored a paper published earlier this month describing the effects of the treatment. “We’ve now moved this outcome so that the vast majority of children with this type of leukemia will have a 96% cure rate,” she said. The breakthrough, described in a New England Journal of Medicine paper and presented at a conference in mid-December, is called blinatumomab, an immunotherapy drug delivered to patients over a 28-day IV drip.