Life

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Georgia's got the peach, Maine's got the whoopie pie and now Rhode Island wants to claim calamari as an official state food: Specifically, its signature appetizer. The legislation filed this week by state Rep.

DETROIT - The speedometer on the Toyota Yaris says the tiny car can go 140 miles per hour. In reality, the bulbous subcompact's 106-horsepower engine and automatic transmission can't push it any faster than 109.

LONDON - If dresses could talk, this dark navy, figure-hugging velvet number would have the best stories to tell.

CHICAGO - Imagine students learning their ABCs while dancing, or memorizing multiplication tables while doing jumping jacks.

SALT LAKE CITY - Wine spritzers are a summer favourite at Rovali's near Salt Lake City.

Our dogs are often as fat as we are, according to the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention. Family cats can look like furry ottomans. At Tufts University, they've set up an obesity clinic at the vet school. It's time to get our pets up and at 'em.

We focus so much energy turning a house into a home, we sometimes forget to aim our decorating genius in another notable direction: the office cubicle. Home often expresses who we are, filled as it is with accumulated treasures and trinkets.

WASHINGTON - Wal-Mart is putting special labels on some store-brand products to help shoppers quickly spot healthier items.

WASHINGTON - Steps that retailers, restaurants and others are taking as part of Michelle Obama's campaign to reduce childhood obesity.

PHILADELPHIA - It sounds more like a restaurant order than a school lunch menu: baked ziti with a side of roasted fennel salad and, for dessert, cinnamon apple rice pudding.