Kids, Family | featured news

Police say a man fatally shot his 9-year-old daughter and her baby sitter in a New York City suburb.

As more women are starting their families in their late 30, 40s and even into their 50s, it's not a given they'll live long enough to meet their grandchildren or see all of their kids' big milestones. Some are making big changes to add years to their life spans.

This week at the movies, we've got an anime hero (Astro Boy, with voice work from Kristen Bell and Nicolas Cage); a vampire war ( Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant, starring Chris Massoglia and John C. Reilly); an aviation pioneer (Amelia, starring Hilary Swank and Richard Gere); and gore galore (Saw Vi, starring Costas Mandylor and Mark Rolston). What do the critics have to say? Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy is one of anime's most iconic and venerable characters. Now he's getting the big-screen CGI treatment, and the result, critics say, is an energetic but derivative affair.

An associate of the father accused of carrying out the now-infamous balloon boy ordeal to promote a reality TV show was wanted for questioning after e-mails surfaced showing the two had discussed a similar stunt months ago as part of a public relations campaign for the program.

'Where the Wild Things Are' proved a bigger hit with adult audiences than family crowds as the adaptation of Maurice Sendak's children's book debuted at No. 1 with $32.5 million.

Warner Bros didn't know what to expect on such a unique project as Spike Jonze's Where The Wild Things Are since it couldn't find a single comp... Grosses looked to come in past $12M from 3,735 locations, including 145 Imax theaters. And now what even rival studios thought was at best a $30M weekend is "off and running" to go past $38M.

Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar of Tonitown, Ark., who have 18 children and one grandchild on the way, are expecting a new addition to their household baby No. 19 will arrive in the spring.

"We are so thrilled," says Michelle, 42. "We just couldn't believe it is happening." Jim Bob, 44, agrees: "This never gets old. We are so grateful for each child. We are looking forward to our first grand baby and our 19th child."

A woman accused of withholding cancer treatment from her autistic son has been charged with attempted murder.

Too often, working weekends, living out of a suitcase, and bringing the BlackBerry to dinner are the price one pays for being an entrepreneur. But try explaining that to a 6-year-old. "The other day my daughter, Luna, asked why I was sending an e-mail," says Shep Sepaniak, managing partner of Fritz-McDonald, a New York employee benefit brokerage with six employees and $20 million in gross revenue. It was early in the morning, and Sepaniak was working in his home office. When Sepaniak tried to explain that the e-mail was to an important client, Luna replied, "Didn't you do that yesterday?"

Jon and Kate Gosselin both said they want their divorce to be "resolved amicably," but an unexplained Father's Day weekend dispute lurks within written statements released by each of them this week.