St. Petersburg Times

Does your child throw a fit if you ask him to set the table or have a tantrum if you put back the bag of candy at the grocery store?

Some behavior problems are expected as kids learn what they can and can't do. But some children old enough to know better have serious, daily behavior issues that don't seem to improve. Everyone in the household is affected, and parents feel hopeless and trapped.

A new book by V. Mark Durand, a University of South Florida St. Petersburg professor and researcher, says there is hope, but the change must begin with the parents.

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- Sean Belanger reached into his pocket to show his audience a glimpse of the future.

It was January 2007. The leader of a fledgling telecommunications company run by and for deaf people, he was making a speech to the local deaf community. An interpreter at his side repeated his words in sign language.

The CEO took his BlackBerry out of his pocket and hoisted it in the air. He promised to bring a luxury to the deaf that hearing folks take for granted -- the ability to make a phone call wherever, whenever.

Ever had an orange beet? How about a purple tomato, orange cauliflower or a ruby-red sweet potato?

They may sound funky if your tastes lean toward iceberg lettuce and white potatoes.

But when it comes to picking the best-for-you produce, color really counts.

So does freshness.

And before you laugh at the sight of a purple carrot or golden beet, consider how adding a little excitement to the dinner table might keep you focused on healthy foods and distracted from your bad old favorites.

The latest U.S.

On Cinco de Mayo, the margarita reigns.

Frozen or on the rocks, the tequila and lime cocktail will be hoisted in bars and at home parties in the upcoming days to mark the victory of a meager Mexican army over the much better armed French at the 1862 Battle of Puebla.

Well, that's the official reason.

The Sports Emmy nominations for 2010 were announced last week and included many names familiar to us couch potatoes who spend a lot of our time watching sports. The winners will be announced May 2 in New York. Here's a look at some of the categories, with a few comments and predictions.

-- Best play-by-play personality: Jim Nantz (CBS), Al Michaels (NBC), Joe Buck (Fox), Bob Costas (MLB Network), Mike Emrick (NBC), Verne Lundquist (CBS)

The breakdown: All the usual suspects are here -- Nantz, Michaels, Buck, Costas -- but that's because they are the top play-by-play guys around (though Nantz is a little too vanilla for my taste). It would be nice to someday see on this list Ian Eagle for his NFL work on CBS. He would be a better nominee than Lundquist, a good announcer who did not have his best year in 2010.

TAMPA, Fla. -- Staff Sgt. Brian Dorr is in Afghanistan, but his 2-year-old daughter Paisley sees him every day.

She hugs him. Kisses him. She bites his head.

On a pillowlike doll no bigger than Paisley's baby sister is a picture of their father in his Army uniform.

"My daddy!" Paisley says, doll in arms.

A recent medical study promised good news for thousands of women whose breast-cancer surgery might lead to a painful condition known as lymphedema.

This drastic and persistent arm swelling is a frequent consequence not of breast surgery itself, but of removing nearby lymph nodes.

But it turns out that the women in the study who kept their nodes, even if cancer was present, fared just as well as those who had them removed.