Mary Stratton Rodgers, 82, the District's longtime former elections administrator, who persevered through some of the legendary debacles of Washington's local election nights, died of complications of a hip fracture Nov. 18 at Sibley Memorial Hospital. Mrs. Rodgers was credited with helping tame...

MARIE M. GARBER of Montgomery County and Mary S. Rodgers of the District were two conscientious elections administrators who knew how to get results when it mattered most in their jurisdictions. They held their posts over the same period and -- as fate would...

Jane Fonda makes her first movie in 15 years and gets second billing under Jennifer Lopez? This is how low we've sunk. Still, she turns sour grapes into tasty merlot. The movie is forgettable fluff-a thing called Monster-in-Law-but not to worry: There is nothing forgettable...

[A Billion for Boris is a] deliciously original, engaging and consistently inventive story told by Annabel Andrews of Freaky Friday. Boris, who is Annabel's boyfriend, and Ben, her seven-year-old brother, complete a trio of brilliantly perspicacious and likeable characters, while a supporting cast of adults is equally well-drawn. Boris' defunct TV set, restored to working order by uncannily clever Ben, projects the next day's programs, thus providing remarkably valuable information ...

It's too bad we don't reserve a special set of adjectives for books that really are commendable—witty, original, entertaining, well-plotted and well-wrought; as it is, copywriters … have so diluted those terms that when the genuine article [like "A Billion for Boris"] comes along it's like crying wolf. Wolf!… While I'm not saying this is "Eloise" of the seventies, "A Billion for Boris" does assume an urban and sophist...

God rest ye, Lewis Carroll. Alice, in one guise or another, is still tripping through the looking glass. Listen: "When I woke up this morning, I found I'd turned into my mother." How's that for a trip, eh, Lew? Oh, nothing serious, of course. Not that kind of trip, just one of those wish-fulfillment jobs. The lass doing the wishing is Annabel Andrews, a feisty 13-year-old with crushing problems—a handsome, "fantastically cool" father, an attractive but annoyi...