Four years ago, at the height of the pandemic, Jose Briones was cooped up at home and cut off from his friends and family. So he did what most of us did at the time — he binged Tiger King and scrolled. Before long though, he found himself spending up to 12 hours a day staring at his smartphone. That’s half of a whole day, the entire length of The Lord of the Rings trilogy lost to his Android.  “That’s when I started to notice that I needed to make a change,” Briones tells Katie Couric Media. By that point, Briones had already tried to break his habit by removing the most addictive a ..read more

We’ve all spent time staring at a room in our home, thinking of the infinite ways we could redecorate or rearrange it. New bedding injects color into a bland room, bright pots and pans automatically make cooking more fun, and some comfy patio furniture encourages you to spend more time under the sun (or beneath a patio umbrella). All of those home upgrades sound great, but they also cost a lot of money. To do so without the guilt, we’re constantly on the hunt to refresh our living spaces on a budget without sacrificing quality. If you identify with this scenario, you’ll be happy to hear that ..read more

In a world where headlines often paint a grim picture of environmental challenges, Earth Day stands as a beacon of hope and possibility.  This annual event, which was celebrated worldwide yesterday, serves as a reminder of our collective responsibility to cherish and protect the planet we call home. For those new to the subject, Earth Day is not just a day — it’s a global movement inspiring positive action and change. This holiday traces its origins back to 1970, when millions of people took to the streets to protest environmental degradation, demanding a new way forward. The first Earth ..read more

Over the past five years, Susan Page has penned three books about three immensely influential women. In 2019, she published The Matriarch about Barbara Bush; in 2021, she released Madam Speaker, her biography of Nancy Pelosi; and now she’s back with The Rulebreaker, an in-depth look at the life and groundbreaking career of the one and only Barbara Walters.  For this book, Page — USA Today’s Washington bureau chief and an exceptional journalist in her own right — researched Walters’ rise and how she became one of the most important figures in broadcast history. (Honoring Walters is s ..read more

If I’m going to drink a Bloody Mary, I want it to feel like a full meal. In fact, I measure the quality of a restaurant’s Bloody Mary based on its garnishes: It should look like the cocktail version of going all-out on a giant spread or seafood tower at your favorite breakfast spot. That’s the all-day Sunday brunch spirit I’m going for here, with what’s probably an excessive number of toppings, most of which can be purchased at the market or are quick and easy to make, like a shrimp cocktail made of store-bought cooked shrimp. Mini cheeseburger sliders propped up on long skewers are charming ..read more

Fitness expert Ryan Cooper has brought us plenty of routines that tackle specific aches and pains. From neck tension to back pain relief, he’s got you covered. But what about when you want a classic workout that exercises your whole body? If you’re craving comprehensive intensity, look no further than Cooper’s latest 40-minute YouTube workout. If you’re unfamiliar with Cooper’s philosophy, here’s the deal: He’s designed this workout so that you can do it pretty much anywhere, anytime. Whether that’s in your kitchen between meetings or in that hotel room in the middle of nowhere. All you’ll re ..read more

House Speaker Mike Johnson successfully pushed through a major $95 billion foreign aid package on Saturday — but could it ultimately cost him his job? On Saturday, the House passed a series of separate bills to send funds to Ukraine, Israel, and the Indo-Pacific after months of being stalled by Republican infighting. Though all of these pieces of legislation passed with bipartisan support, the funding for Ukraine proved to be the most contentious as continued U.S. support for Kyiv remains unpopular among a small, but vocal faction within the GOP ranks. Less than 24 hours after Johnson helped ..read more

You’ve felt it before: When you get nervous, your stomach flutters or aches. You’ve been advised to trust this feeling and rely on it, but is your gut actually intuitive? It turns out, there’s evidence to support trusting your gut, literally. Your stomach and brain are directly connected — and can absolutely influence one another. “Think about a high-pressure situation, like a job interview or on a date: You might experience lightheadedness and weird sensations in your stomach simultaneously,” says Arpana Gupta, Ph.D., co-director of the Goodman-Luskin Microbiome Center at UCLA. But the conne ..read more

A cancer advocate doesn’t need to be someone who devotes their entire life to the fight against cancer. Advocacy takes many forms, from the lawyer pressing for congressional reform all the way down to the teenager organizing a fundraising walk at their high school. So what makes a good cancer advocate? It’s not necessarily about how much time you devote or how much money you raise, it’s about the impact you make on patients and survivors — even if you’re helping just one person. To help understand the best way to become an advocate, we spoke with three people well-versed on the topic of cance ..read more

Last month — on the heels of the Alabama Supreme Court ruling that essentially outlawed IVF — women’s rights stepped into the spotlight on Broadway. Suffs, a new musical about the women’s suffrage movement of the early 1900s, offers a stark portrayal of how far women have come in the fight for gender equality, and how many steps they’ve recently been pushed back. And there’s no shortage of heavy hitters involved in the show: After a 2022 off-Broadway stint, Suffs’ Broadway run is being produced by Hillary Clinton and Malala Yousafzai (among others). I saw the show as Women’s History Month cam ..read more