PHILADELPHIA Should a 97-year-old man undergo an expensive, dangerous open-heart operation to repair a lethal tear in a main artery of his heart?

MIAMI Marilyn Carroll used to watch her 28-year-old daughter and her friends spend hours on Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. So she decided to join the social networking scene, too - but on a site geared exclusively to her interests.

Dear Babs,

PHILADELPHIA Should a 97-year-old man undergo an expensive, dangerous open-heart operation to repair a lethal tear in a main artery of his heart?

PHILADELPHIA Steel girders, plywood guardrails, windblown sawdust and gloomy caverns of concrete are all there is to see at the National Museum of American Jewish History on Independence Mall in Philadelphia.

MINNEAPOLIS Three years into a relationship that started with him watching her dance and progressed to money for sex, the Rev. Mark Ostgarden had a proposal for exotic dancer Bunny Byington.

INDIANAPOLIS One of the nation's largest Christian denominations is addressing the nation's financial crisis with what it hopes will be a spiritual teaching moment as well as a cost-saver.

BATON ROUGE, La. The state and the ACLU Foundation of Louisiana have filed an agreement in federal court that will allow a death-row inmate at Angola to practice his Roman Catholic faith.

Voices of faith: How can I help my dad, who is filled with hatred?

GALLANT, Ala. Camp Sumatanga has meant Bible stories and softball games for generations of Methodist families. Young and old alike come to the old church retreat for renewal in its quiet coves and chapels.

Several years ago, my eighth-grade son told me about a friend whose mother hires a housekeeper weekly to clean their house.

Q: My mother receives Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits. She may have to enter a nursing home. How does this affect her SSI benefits?

Q: You always say that you need to work with your ex - but I have no desire to even see mine again. She's 22 and I am 25. About six months ago she said, "I'm outta here" and left to follow her dreams in LA. We have a 2-year-old daughter. It's hard to raise her by myself but the last thing I want to do is see her mother again. You tell me what's good ex-etiquette about this one?

Reefer Madness! Is marijuana a medical benefit or just a high time for stoners?

For years our family vacations have come closer to resembling hostage-taking events than relaxing getaways.

Dear Mr. Dad: Our 12-year-old daughter does well in school but apparently hates us as parents. She never speaks kindly to us, refuses any kind of parental authority, and insists that "no one can tell me what to do." She is very interested in boys and has been involved in "kissing sessions" on a school outing. We're just about at the end of our rope. Is there anything we can do?

Q: Under normal circumstances, which are rare, our 4-year-old son goes to bed uneventfully by 7:30 and is usually asleep before 7:45. He never sleeps past 6:15 the next morning, and I can tell he's tired by early afternoon, but he refuses to take a nap. As a result, he's a little monster by 4:00 because he's so overtired. Then, if I put him in his room for bad behavior, he falls into a very deep sleep. If I wake him, his behavior is atrocious, so I let him sleep, which means he has difficulty falling asleep when he put him to bed at 7:30. How can I get out of this vicious cycle?

The good news is we are all going to live longer than we ever imagined.

MIAMI Deon Davis didn't set out to write a book about her gay teenage son. It began as a diary she kept during her struggle to accept him.

One of the more embarrassing aspects of having children is that you meet so many people whom you know by sight, but you couldn't recall their names on a bet.