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When it comes to credit issues and identity theft, I sometimes feel like what we used to call a broken record. Almost incessantly, I urge readers to check their credit reports by visiting www.annualcreditreport.com or by calling 1-877-322-8228. Both will get you to the "central source" mandated by Congress a decade ago for consumers to request free reports from TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax, the nation's three main credit bureaus. If the reports are clean, I tell readers, there's no need to pay for a credit score - which Congress, alas, did not require the credit bureaus to provide, and did not bar them from pitching via side deals to consumers who request their free reports.

Compared with his many siblings, Rachel Zeldin's great-uncle Rafe led an adventurous life. He headed west, worked as a musician and as a roadie and hairstylist for jazz groups, and eventually settled in New Mexico. But he never married, had no children, and left no will or final directions. When he died at 73, Rafael Perno had few resources. But he may have left his grand-niece a valuable legacy anyway: the germ of an idea for an online business Zeldin calls I'm Sorry to Hear L.L.C.

Valentine's Day is Saturday, Feb. 14, and stores are selling tons of flowers and candy. But how many know the holiday's real history? Legend has it that the holiday became St. Valentine's Day in honor of a priest in ancient Rome. Emperor Claudius II had forbidden Roman soldiers to marry; he thought it would make them weak. Valentine ignored the emperor's decree and secretly married the young couples. He was arrested, and while in prison converted a prison guard and his family to Christianity.

Poor maintenance and vandalism threaten the survival of two historical sites in Gloucester and Camden Counties, a report published Wednesday by a nonprofit preservation group says. The Green Castle Hotel at Cooper Street and Railroad Avenue in Woodbury, built in 1881 by five-time Mayor Lewis M. Green in the Second Empire style, is vacant and suffers from "neglect and poor stewardship" by its owner, says Preservation New Jersey's annual 10 Most Endangered Historic Places list. The brick hotel was subdivided into apartments and is now owned by Holy Angels Catholic Church.

Compared with his many siblings, Rachel Zeldin's great-uncle Rafe led an adventurous life. He headed west, worked as a musician and as a roadie and hairstylist for jazz groups, and eventually settled in New Mexico. But he never married, had no children, and left no will or final directions. When he died at 73, Rafael Perno had few resources. But he may have left his grand-niece a valuable legacy anyway: the germ of an idea for an online business Zeldin calls I'm Sorry to Hear L.L.C.

Q: I went online recently and noticed that a guy I've been seeing, sort of off and on, is back on the Internet dating site where we originally met. He has new pictures and says he's ready to settle down and that he wants a long-term relationship. His description of the type of woman he's looking for sounds a lot like me. Meanwhile, I haven't seen him in a few weeks. Whenever we get together, we have a nice time but there's no spark. We never kiss. Just hang out. He pays for dinner, though, and is always a perfect gentleman.

A secure retirement usually depends on years of careful preparation. You need to know what the obstacles are, where to turn for help, and what resources will be waiting for you once you retire. These sites can help. You need to get familiar with the Social Security website. Use it to apply for benefits, including for disability and Medicare. Long before retiring, the site can help you estimate the benefits you'll be entitled to. If, say, you are a victim of domestic abuse or identity theft, you can use the site to block access to information about you. www.ssa.gov Social Security 's "retirement planner" has links that will reveal the age at which you'll qualify for full Social Security benefits, how you'll get dinged if you retire early, and your life expectancy.

CAIRO - Egypt's interior minister said Saturday that security authorities have arrested three suspected al-Qaeda-linked militants who were planning to carry out suicide attacks on vital installations and an unspecified foreign embassy. Mohammed Ibrahim told a news conference that the men had been in contact with Dawood al-Assady, a leader of al-Qaeda in southeast Asian countries such as Pakistan, and that the group was planning to attack government buildings and a foreign embassy. He did not disclose details.

Now that Sunoco Logistics Partners L.P. has taken ownership of the closed Marcus Hook refinery, the pipeline company has big plans for the Delaware River industrial site. Sunoco Logistics chief executive Michael J. Hennigan provided analysts with details Thursday about how the pipeline and terminal company plans to repurpose the refinery as a hub for shipping liquid fuels produced from natural-gas drilling in the Marcellus and Utica Shales. "We plan to create a world-class natural-gas liquids hub on the East Coast," Hennigan said.

A sewage spill in March that has been a concern to some Haddonfield residents has been adequately cleared away and the area has been remediated, according to a spokesman for Camden County. But even if the mess is gone, the furor rages on, with a contested Board of Commissioners race less than a week away. A county Health Department inspector issued no violations to the borough during site visits this week and last, but instructed that the solid matter on the site, in a wooded area not far from the Wedgewood Swim Club, be raked up and the area spread with lime to control bacteria growth, county spokesman Ron Tomasello said.

BOSTON - Nineteen days after Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev died following a gun battle with police, cemeteries still refused to take his remains and government officials deflected questions about where he could be buried. On Wednesday, police in Worcester, west of Boston, pleaded for a resolution, saying they were spending tens of thousands of dollars to protect the funeral home where his body is being kept amid protests. "We are not barbarians," Police Chief Gary Gemme said.

THIS YEAR'S City All-Star Football Classic will include a missing Linc. As in . . . The 39th annual game, featuring Philly's top high school seniors in a Public/Non-Public format, will not be played at the Eagles' Lincoln Financial Field, as had been the case the last 3 years. To say Brian Fluck, West Catholic's coach and president of the organization that runs the game, is disappointed, is to put it mildly. He remains especially bewildered by the fact he tried to finalize plans for this year's game - now set for May 18, 7 p.m., at Northeast High - a shade before Thanksgiving and didn't receive an official ya-gotta-look-elsewhere statement from Eagles brass until mid-February.

LOS ANGELES - Fire officials were dispatching a hazardous-materials team to deal with a store of highly toxic pesticides that have caught fire in a huge Southern California wildfire. Capt. Scott Dettorre said the pesticides were stored at the Laguna Farms property near the 5,000-student California State University Channel Islands campus. Dettorre said nearby residents were being warned to stay out of the smoke. The blaze erupted during morning rush hour along U.S. 101 in the Camarillo area, about 50 miles west of Los Angeles.