True love never gets old — especially for 102-year-old WWII vet Harold Terens and his 98-year-old bride, Jeanne Swerlin.

The lovebirds, who tied the knot in 2024 and still gush that they feel like teenagers together, had some Valentine’s Day advice for the lovelorn.

“Never give up.”

“It’s never too late to find love, especially a great love — look at us,” Swerlin, a New York native who lives in Florida, told The Post. “You have to be open — love will find you.”

Terens is among the last of the Greatest Generation, surviving a series of harrowing series of close calls during the war. After enlisting in 1942, he served as a radio repair technician in Great Britain attached to a P-47 Thunderbolt fighter squadron. 

He went on to repair planes on D-Day, returning from France to survive a secret mission that led to a robbery that left him naked in the desert of Tehran and fearing death until he was miraculously rescued by an American military police patrol.

The native New Yorker — who lost his first wife of 70 years in 2018 — declared he’s grateful “for every day I’m alive,” and swore he never looked at another woman until he met Swerlin.

The two were set up on a blind date in 2021 and the nonagenarian became instantly smitten.

“It’s the greatest love I’ve ever known, by far,” said a vibrant Terens, who’s written a book, “Tomorrow Will be the Best Day of my Life.”

Life was “beyond remarkable,” even before Terens met his plucky bride. 

“My whole life changed. It went in a totally different direction,” he said, adding in French, “I regret nothing.

“All the adjectives in the world can’t describe how I feel about her.”

The feeling is mutual.

“He always tells me, ‘I don’t know how I ever lived without you,’” said the youthful-looking bride.

The canoodling couple, who say they can’t keep their hands off each other, recalled their magical wedding day.

The extraordinary couple said they’ve never experienced so powerful a connection. 

“The day of our wedding is the greatest day I’ve ever experienced in 102 years of life,” Terens said of his June 2024 Normandy beach-area wedding that had thousands of well-wishers cheering them on.

Terens, who plans to be bar mitzvahed this year, said finding life-changing love is about sticking to the basics.

“Remember why you fell in love with a person, and don’t try to change them,” said Terens, who still drives and meditates daily. 

Yet there’s another secret ingredient to their passionate romance: 

“The best secret about a successful love affair and marriage is that we don’t live together,” quipped Terens, who maintains a home 30 minutes from his his sweetheart in south Florida, where they see each other about four days a week. “We live happily ever after.”  

As for Valentine’s Day, he surprised his wife with two dozen pink roses with a love letter attached.

“Every day is Valentine’s Day,” said Terens, who plans to make his sixth visit to Normandy to mark the 87th D-Day anniversary in June.

The Kentucky Wildcats are getting set to play in what will not only be their biggest game of the season, but their toughest matchup to this point. Kentucky will take on the Florida Gators, who are ranked 14th in the entire country and have been on a very hot winning streak. Florida has not only been winning their games, they have been dominating opponents.

It will be a very tall task for Kentucky basketball to get the massive road win, but both teams also have a lot on the line. This game will decide first place in the SEC. With Florida currently being in first, the Wildcats will need to win if they want that top spot, what would complete an incredible turnaround job for this Kentucky team after starting SEC play with an 0-2 record. Florida has won their last four games by an average margin of 27.3 points, winning eight of their last nine games overall. Meanwhile, Kentucky has won nine of their last ten, looking to shock the college basketball world with an absolutely massive win.

The Kentucky Wildcats on SI staff is here to give their predictions for the big game between Kentucky and Florida in Gainesville.

Andrew Stefaniak

Florida has been on a tear over their last four games, winning by a point differential of 27.3 points over that stretch. They played three of those four games on the road, so this team might be the hottest in college basketball. While most are talking about the Gators being hot, Mark Pope’s Kentucky Wildcats are also hot having won eight of their last nine. This game is for first place in the SEC, so Pope’s team will be hoping to pull off the upset. Florida’s elite frontcourt will prove to be too much for the Wildcats, but Kentucky will play well enough to prove that they are capable of beating the defending National Champions in Rupp Arena to finish the regular season. 

Score prediction: Florida 78, Kentucky 69

Kentucky MVP: Malachi Moreno

Wyatt Huff

This one is obviously the toughest team Kentucky has faced and will have for the entire season when it’s all said and done. It’s hard for me to see Mark Pope and the Wildcats pulling off some magic this time around. Florida has been playing like a juggernaut lately and have shown no signs of slowing down. Not to mention, they are good on both sides of the ball. Kentucky has handled physicality well up to this point, but Florida is just on another level in that area. I say Florida wins this one easy, especially with it being on their home floor.

Score prediction: Florida 86, Kentucky 71

Kentucky MVP: Otega Oweh

The Kentucky Wildcats have already shocked the college basketball world with multiple comeback wins, including victories over Arkansas on the road and a regular-season sweep over Tennessee, but can they do it against the toughest competition they have faced yet? The Florida Gators have been playing the best basketball of anyone in the country over the last month. Kentucky has a tall task at hand, especially with the Florida bigs. Can they overcome the big challenge?

The budgets are out in Tallahassee, but that doesn’t mean the negotiations are over, and a key inflation measure falls to a nearly five-year low.

State Senate and House budgets reveal possible friction points

The budgets are out, but that doesn’t mean the negotiations are over.

In Tallahassee, the state Senate rolled out its proposed budget, one day after the house surprised everyone by releasing its proposed budget.

We’ve picked out some highlights and some of the possible friction points between the chambers.

The Senate is proposing a $115.1 billion budget, while the House spending plan comes in at $113.6 billion.

Here is one point where there could be a fight over dollars: the governor’s emergency fund.

The Florida House wants to prevent emergency dollars from being spent on immigration. That would be a big change. By declaring illegal immigration a state emergency, Gov. Ron DeSantis has spent more than $600 million from the emergency fund on immigration enforcement, including building Alligator Alcatraz.

The state has not been reimbursed so far by the federal government.

The House now wants that emergency fund limited to $100 million and to only be used for natural disasters.

Another DeSantis priority that the House’s budget does not fund is the Florida State Guard.

DeSantis revived the state guard and was requesting $63 million to fund it for the next year. The state guard has faced allegations of mismanagement, and the House currently has no money in budget to keep it going.

Another potential friction point is DOGE. Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia has been traveling the state and auditing local governments as part of the administration’s push to eliminate property taxes.

The House does not include funding for codifying DeSantis’ DOGE agenda. Instead, the House has proposed creating an accountability office that would report directly to the legislature and not to the governor.

As of right now, the House does not have money for improving the campus of Hillsborough College, the potential new home of the Tampa Bay Rays. DeSantis had said that while state dollars would not directly fund a new stadium, there would be money to improve HC’s campus. This could still be negotiated with the Senate, as Republican state Sen. Danny Burgess is requesting $50 million be appropriated for HC improvements.

We’ve told you recently how the state is looking at a $120 million shortfall in the Florida AIDS drug assistance program. That shortfall could lead to thousands of people being unable to afford life-saving medication.

The House is trying to alleviate the shortfall by providing $68 million for it in the budget.

Finally, it looks like the House is on board to transfer the University of South Florida Sarasota Manatee campus to New College. The House budget proposal directs nearly $37 million to New College while setting up a potential transfer of funds from USF.

— Holly Gregory, Spectrum News

DHS appears headed into shutdown. What will be affected?

The nation is stumbling toward another lapse in government funding this weekend as most lawmakers have left Washington with no agreement to keep the Department of Homeland Security fully running.

The likely partial shutdown that will take place after midnight Friday will mark the third during President Donald Trump’s second term in office. But unlike the record-long shutdown this past fall and the short lapse in funding for a handful of departments just weeks ago, this one will only affect the Department of Homeland Security.

DHS houses several agencies that will see the impacts of a funding lapse and directly affect Americans.   

Here is what we know about how the department and the public could feel the partial shutdown. 

What a DHS shutdown means for agencies and Americans

DHS is often associated with the border and immigration but, despite being the crux of the potential shutdown, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, is expected to be the least affected by a lapse in funding because of the influx of money Republicans and Trump allocated to it in their “one big, beautiful bill” signed into law this past summer. 

At a hearing on Capitol Hill this week on the impacts of a potential lapse in funding, Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nev., noted ICE and Customs and Border Protection “will be largely unaffected by a shutdown.”

The Coast Guard, on the other hand, also falls under the department and is expected to be affected. Appearing at the House Appropriations Subcommittee hearing this week, Vice Adm. Thomas Allan, the Coast Guard’s vice commandant, warned a shutdown at the department could disrupt pay for 56,000 active duty, reserve and civilian personnel and particularly affect morale. 

He said that a lapse in funding requires the Coast Guard to suspend all missions except for those essential for national security and protection of life and property. 

“Although missions like law enforcement, national defense, and emergency response continue, a funding lapse has severe and lasting challenges for the Coast Guard’s workforce, operational readiness, and long-term capabilities,” he said. He also noted certain training for those such as pilots and boat crews would also stop, adding, “A shutdown also erodes mission readiness.”

Meanwhile, the Transportation Security Administration, or TSA, is often one of the most front-facing aspects of a government shutdown for many Americans and this one has the potential for the same. Past shutdowns have often led to major snags at airports across the nation — including flight cancellations and delays and longer wait times — as TSA employees, who must work without pay, call out sick or take other jobs.

At the House hearing this week, TSA acting Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill noted that the rate of TSA workers who left their jobs from October to November last year amid the fall’s shutdown was a 25% increase from the same period the previous year. McNeill noted the “strain” shutdowns pose on the agency’s workers and said it can be hard for them to justify staying in a job where they could not be paid for weeks. 

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which works to protect infrastructure around the country from cyberattacks and other physical risks, would also be affected. Acting CISA Director Madhu Gottumukkala said that under a shutdown at the department, work would be “strictly limited to those essential to protecting life and property” and noted many employees would work without pay. 

“A shutdown forces many of our frontline security experts and threat hunters to work without pay — even as nation-states and criminal organizations intensify efforts to exploit critical systems that Americans rely on — placing an unprecedented strain on our national defenses,” Gottumukkala’s opening statement for the House hearing this week read. 

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which is already facing major changes in the Trump administration, would also be touched by a lapse in funding. Gregg Phillips, associate administrator of FEMA’s Office of Response and Recovery, said “lifesaving missions for supporting disaster response efforts” would continue. But he warned in his written opening statement for the hearing that a delay in funding “could undermine our readiness for major incidents, including terrorism or large-scale disasters, by disrupting critical preparedness and response activities” and “erode public trust in the federal government’s ability to respond to emergencies.”

He also said it would affect FEMA’s ability to reimburse states for disaster relief costs and impact coordination with local partners. 

Where things stand

Lawmakers in the House and Senate have largely left the nation’s capital as of Friday, and both chambers are scheduled to be on break next week, with the short-term funding patch they passed to keep the Department of Homeland Security funded through Feb. 13 set to expire at midnight. 

Congress passed the last of its funding bills for the 2026 fiscal year last month, except for DHS, as Democrats push for changes to ICE following the shooting of two people in Minnesota by federal agents amid the administration’s immigration crackdown. 

Democrats, Republicans and the White House have all said they are open to negotiating an agreement. But proposals sent back and forth between Congressional Democrats and the White House have yet to result in a deal.

Trump said Thursday that Democrats are proposing things that would be “very hard” for him to approve and told reporters on Friday that we “have to protect our law enforcement” when asked about where things stand. 

Meanwhile, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said Friday that “Donald Trump and Republicans have decided that they have zero interest in getting ICE under control.”

— Maggie Gannon, Spectrum News