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As a child, Josh Patner became accustomed to stepping over his mom, who used to lie down in the kitchen whenever her mother-in-law would call.“My grandmother would talk her ear off,” Mr. Patner, 61, recalled. To cope, his mother would “lie on the floor and hold the phone away from her head.” Mr. Patner’s father, also a fan of the floor, took a 20-minute nap under the family’s piano each night after work.So it is unsurprising, perhaps, that Mr. Patner enjoys floor time at his home in Brooklyn or even at his friends’ places — in part to stretch and…

Rob McElhenney takes the duty of care he has as Wrexham’s co-owner seriously.When Phil Parkinson was still coming to terms with what remains the nadir of the club’s return to the EFL after a 15-year non-League exile, the co-owner reached out to his manager just moments after September’s 5-0 thrashing at Stockport County via text.Hollywood actor and writer McElhenney did something similar with Paul Mullin during the latter’s recent run of eight games without a goal — comfortably the striker’s most barren period in almost five years.The level-headed Liverpudlian’s response was no surprise. “I feel pretty good,” he told McElhenney,…

Several fans of the Kansas City Chiefs who attended a playoff game on a bitterly cold January day in Missouri suffered frostbite that required amputations, according to the hospital that treated them.Twelve people — including some football fans who were at Arrowhead Stadium on Jan. 13 — had to undergo amputations involving mostly fingers and toes, the hospital, Research Medical Center in Kansas City, said in a statement on Saturday.The center said it treated dozens of patients who experienced frostbite during an 11-day cold snap. Not all of the patients who had amputations attended the Chiefs game. Some were people…

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The poet has been upstairs in his office, tapping at the keyboard on various projects. Most of his mornings begin this way … so much work to do. Some days he tends to his blog, and on other days he tidies up his memoir that is nearing publication. Or he may put the finishing touches on another of his mystery novels. And of course, his poetry. There is always his poetry.Much of his poetry chronicles his remarkable life. He was born in Manchuria to Russian parents, and from ages 3 to 6 lived in a World War…

The chairmen of five key Senate committees on Thursday warned the chief executives of major convenience stores and wholesalers to stop sales of illicit flavored vaping products that they called “widespread violations of federal law.”The senators voiced their concerns in letters to the companies, amplifying the frustration among some lawmakers in Congress over the continued availability of e-cigarettes in vivid colors and candy flavors that attract young people who could become addicted to nicotine. The unchecked sales, they wrote, “pose a tremendous public health threat.”“F.D.A. and the industry must do more to address the youth vaping epidemic and remove unauthorized…