Tomorrow is Independence Day and the biggest day of the 2008 Sunoco Welcome America! Festival. The day begins with the annual Independence Day Ceremony at Independence Hall with Philadelphia Mayor Michael A. Nutter presiding. At noon, be sure to get your piece of birthday cake of Tastykakes at the Independence Visitor Center. The...

There's a huge festival going on at the lakefront right now, in case you didn't notice. It's called Summerfest. Since it'd be impossible for this one-woman show to compete with the legions of journalists covering the fest right now, I'm going to keep this blog to three rather random thoughts...

Residents living in EBMUD zone -- East Bay water district -- are under mandatory water rationing. The same restrictions don't yet hold true in the rest of the Bay Area. But owing to our bona fide California drought conditions, 11 Bay Area water agencies are uniting under one, water-conservation banner:...