Reinventing the family room

The Lucido family used to spend a lot of weekday time apart — kids in the toy room, mom Kelli working upstairs. So when they moved to a new house in Oakville, Mo., in December, Lucido says she came up with a fix: a whole-family home office, with mom-and-me desks and a new laptop for her 7-year-old. It’s the “heart of the house,” she says.

 

U.S. Economy to Expand in Coming Months

NEW YORK _ The U.S. economy should expand modestly in coming months as a healthy job market continues to trump weakness in housing prices, a gauge of future business activity showed on Thursday.The Conference Board said its index of leading economic indicators rose a higher-than-expected 0.3 percent in May, boosted by rising stock prices, higher consumer expectations and the availability of jobs.

Economists said that jobs should continue to be plentiful, despite an unexpected surge in jobless claims last week.