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That tall, amiable sheriff and his little boy, Opie, heading to a fishing hole on the outskirts of Mayberry, North Carolina, at the start of "The Andy Griffith Show," were actually strolling along a backlot in Culver City, California. Ron Howard, the actor who played Opie, is now one of Hollywood's top directors. Most of the other stars – Andy Griffith; Don Knotts, who played his deputy, Barney Fife; and the actors who played Aunt Bee and Floyd the Barber – they've all passed on. After all, it's been 53 years since the show was cancelled. snip ... Koppel asked...

Has anyone started the process of opting out of the Child Tax Credit advance? I have, and it scares the hell out of me. The IRS website sends you to a partner company website called ID.me. They start by asking for your cell phone number so they can establish 2-factor identification. I figure no sweat, so I did that. Then they want you to take photos of the front and back of your driver's license. I figure the federal government probably already has that data anyway, so I did that. Then they want you to take a selfie. A series...

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - June is known as Pride month, and it’s is about the promotion of the self-affirmation, equality, and increased visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people as a social group, taking away the stigma and bolstering the LGBTQ+ rights movement. On the campus of Eastern Kentucky University, those big picture changes start with meeting the most basic needs. “We really just love the opportunity to make students feel more comfortable because statistics show there’s less rates of suicide and students just generally that are happier and more involved on campus and feel comfortable are going to...

SOMEWHERE IN FLORIDA—A missing person alert has been issued for an elderly man wandering down a highway in Florida. The man was spotted early this morning near a freeway off ramp trying to get better reception on his rainbow trout.

Rush apologizes to Sandra Fluke

Bloomington Police say a man threw a tomato at former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin during her Monday appearance at the Mall of America, but didn't hit her. Officers say two of their own were hit by tomato fragments instead, after the tomato hit the stage about 10 feet from Palin. People on the second level balcony, where the tomato was thrown from, helped police apprehend the man accused of throwing it. Police identified him as Jeremiah Wobbe from St. Paul. They said he was arrested and could face assault and disorderly conduct charges. Officers added that they found two more...

Ours is the only industrialized nation that doesn't insure all its people, yet our health care costs are the world's highest by far. That tells us there will be no cure for runaway costs without universal coverage. Rep. Ben Chandler apparently didn't buy that line of reasoning. He was one of 39 Democrats who joined all but one Republican in voting no on the reform plan that emerged from the House after a daylong debate Saturday. Chandler cited the cost and his concerns about the bill's effects on rural hospitals and small businesses as reasons for his vote while also...

Tony Blair admitted yesterday that he became arrogant in his first seven years as Prime Minister as he began a personal campaign to regain the trust of voters in time for the general election. His admission - dismissed by the Conservatives as fake - came as John Prescott appeared to let slip that the election would be held on May 5, undermining efforts by other ministers to keep the timing secret until April. Tony Blair: has developed an 'I know best' attitude The Prime Minister told delegates at Labour's spring conference in Gateshead that he had too often "talked at"...

3 CONSERVATIVE FIGURES IN LEXINGTON DIOCESE GET UNSIGNED WARNINGS NICHOLASVILLE -- Three conservative Catholic priests from the Diocese of Lexington have received threatening letters warning them to "immediately cease and desist from your persecution and outing of gay priests in the diocese." The Nicholasville Police Department is investigating the matter as a case of "terroristic threatening," and Catholic officials are looking into the matter. The letters purport to be from the "Gay Priests Association," although no such organization is known to exist in the Lexington diocese. "The diocese is taking this seriously," said church spokesman Thomas Shaughnessy. "We're looking into...

Once again, Ted Turner's wackiness doesn't look quite so wacky anymore. As when he started the world's first 24-hour news network, some of Turner's recent initiatives have begun to look more farsighted than foolish. When Turner announced in 1997 that he was giving $1 billion to the United Nations, critics said he was wasting his money on a bureaucratic and irrelevant organization. When he said last year that he was spending $250 million to create an organization to fight the spread of nuclear, biological and other weapons of mass destruction, some wondered whether he might have missed the end of ...