A “Now Hiring” sign hangs faded in a storefront window across from a “For Sale” sign that’s been up for three years. Forty years ago, that same block had a line out the door on a Friday. These are the Ohio towns that were booming 40 years ago and sit nearly empty now. Youngstown Youngstown’s…
A card table stood beside the grill at almost every South Carolina cookout in the 1980s, loaded with foil-wrapped bowls and a sleeve of Ritz crackers. Somebody’s aunt always brought the same dip, and so did their cousin. Ask that same crowd today, and half of those bowls don’t ring a bell. These are the…
Some habits are difficult to explain to anyone who didn’t grow up with them. For many North Carolina grandparents, local traditions and long-held loyalties remain part of everyday life. Their grown kids, however, don’t always see what the fuss is about. Here are 10 things North Carolina grandparents do that continue to baffle their kids….
An Arkansas summer once came with amusement parks, metal-tipped lawn darts, and rides in the back of a pickup truck. Some of those experiences disappeared when businesses closed. Others faded after new laws, recalls, and safety rules made people realize just how risky they were. These are the old-fashioned summer experiences kids in Arkansas today…
Florida added just 815 retirees to its population last year. That’s the net gain, after 44,881 people 65 and older packed up and left the state. These are the cheaper states where many Floridians are moving to. Note: This is general information, not financial or tax advice. Home prices, tax rates, and insurance premiums are…
Well into the 1980s, Pennsylvania teachers could paddle a smart-mouthed kid without so much as a warning. State law didn’t ban the practice for decades, so Pennsylvania kids learned early to watch what they said in class. These are the back-to-school rules Pennsylvania kids in the ’70s and ’80s followed without question, corporal punishment included….
A basic will in North Carolina costs anywhere from $0 for a handwritten document to $1,000 or more when an attorney drafts it. It rises past $2,500 once a trust joins the plan. Which price you pay comes down to how you make the will, not how much you own. North Carolina lets you skip…
North Carolina’s flat income tax rate dropped to 3.99% this year, and it’ll drop even lower in the coming years. Your 401(k) and IRA withdrawals don’t get a cut of that discount. Many workers in their 50s assume the state treats every kind of retirement money the same way. These are some of the retirement…
The stools at Skeeter’s in Wytheville have held Virginians since 1925. The chili recipe hasn’t budged in all that time. The rest of the menu, at lunch counters and diners from the coast to the coalfields, has emptied out around it. These are the diner foods Virginians still love, even though many of the diners…
Surveyor Andrew Ellicott drove a stone into the ground in 1799 to settle, for good, exactly where Alabama ends and Florida begins. It didn’t work. Alabama and Florida have kept arguing about that line, and plenty else, ever since. These are the fights that stone never settled. 1. Flora-Bama The Flora-Bama’s official address puts it…
