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She Tuned Into His ‘Commanding’ Voice at Columbia

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She Tuned Into His ‘Commanding’ Voice at Columbia

Chambers Boyd Moore instantly recognized Thomas Philip Moore’s distinctive voice as it rose up from a group standing behind her at a cocktail party kicking off their 30th Columbia Journalism School reunion weekend in April 2022.

“His voice is commanding,” said Ms. Moore, 60, first impressed by that command in a radio class in 1992. “He was a natural. ”

They got to know each other there as they prepared predigital audio “reel to reel” newscasts, which included ripping newswires from The Associated Press off a matrix printer.

“We cut each sound bite with razor blades and pieced them together with tiny bits of adhesive tape,” said Mr. Moore, 61, who goes by Tom, and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in biology from Fairfield University.

In March 1992, after each handed in a master’s thesis, they had more free time, and explored the city together a few days every week. In May, both received master’s degrees in journalism.

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“We partied, drank, danced and had dinners,” and basically dated from March to May, with the end in sight, said Mr. Moore, who grew up in Baltimore. Ms. Moore grew up in Louisville, Ky.

Their escapades included the Cloisters and Jones Beach by day and clubs like the Limelight, the Palladium and Save the Robots, sometimes until sunup.

“After graduation,” he said, “it was adios.”

She already had a job lined up at the New Hampshire Union Leader newspaper in Manchester, N.H., and was upfront from the start about getting back with her boyfriend after graduation.

[Click here to binge read this week’s featured couples.]

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“We were caught up in the fun, in the merrymaking,” said Ms. Moore, who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in legal studies from Simmons College, now Simmons University. The Moore surname is from a previous marriage, which ended in divorce, as did the groom’s.

Mr. Moore, who has three daughters in their 20s, is now an associate professor at the City University in New York — York College in Jamaica, Queens. Until 2023, he worked as a writer at CBS News Radio’s national network in Manhattan.

“I remember going to New Hampshire, leaving it all behind,” said Ms. Moore. “No formal parting.”

Ms. Moore has two sons, one in his 20s and the other a teenager. In 2005, she moved back to Louisville to work in corporate communications, and over the years she lived in Londonderry and West Lebanon, N.H.; Bryn Mawr, Pa.; and Wellesley, Mass. She now works remotely as a vice president and financial adviser for Baird, a financial services firm, based in its Louisville office.

After graduation, Mr. Moore couch-surfed and was a stringer for The New York Times, where Ms. Moore had been a stringer during graduate school. He then lived mainly in Park Slope, Brooklyn, where the couple now lives.

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At their reunion, they eventually greeted each other, then caught up over dinner with two other classmates at Le Monde, a brasserie near Columbia.

That evening he mentioned that he was going through a divorce, and after the reunion she soon realized her marriage was ending, too.

After Ms. Moore reached out to him a few months later, they began texting. In July, when she visited New York, where she rented a loft for the weekend in Red Hook, Brooklyn, they reunited for dinner at Fort Defiance restaurant nearby.

“It was very loud, but kind of cozy and romantic,” said Mr. Moore, thanks to sitting on the same side of the table so they could hear each other.

“He seemed like the same fun-loving person,” she said. He was “into journalism, and into his family as much as I was.”

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They kissed good night after he walked her home, and the next evening they had drinks at Sunny’s Bar, also in the area.

“I had the glorious memory of all the fun things we did,” he said. “I wanted to reignite it.”

That August, when she had a business trip to Lake Tahoe near Truckee, Calif., he joined her, and he visited her in Louisville over Christmas, and the next time he was there in May 2023 they went to the Kentucky Derby.

Since her job was more flexible, and he taught a full load of courses, and worked at CBS at the time, she usually visited New York each month for a week or two.

“I remember liking him in the ’90s,” she said. “I’m happy I liked the person in 2022.”

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They still both like going out, but in a toned down way.

“Tom doesn’t like to have the same day twice,” she said. “My kids’ nickname for me is ‘activity lady.’”

In February, he proposed at his apartment in Park Slope, over a candlelit dinner, with flowers, for which he had made what he called “a rather humble chicken.” They then toasted with Champagne.

On March 22, Jenn Zappola, who is ordained through American Marriage Ministries, officiated before his three daughters and her two sons, as well as a photographer, on the deck of a beach house the couple rented for the weekend in Huntington, N.Y., overlooking the Long Island Sound.

“It was important to let the kids know how important they are to us,” she said.

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Their children also showed how much they cared — they pitched in with a charcuterie board, blasted soap bubbles at them after the ceremony and performed the Cupid Shuffle dance.

The couple are still hooked on journalism.

“We consume a lot of news together,” she said.

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Lifestyle

Thanksgiving could be more expensive this year. Here’s how to navigate higher prices

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Thanksgiving could be more expensive this year. Here’s how to navigate higher prices

Frozen turkeys are displayed for sale inside a grocery store on Nov. 14, 2022 in New York City.

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Americans will likely face higher prices on items for their Thanksgiving dinners this year.

Turkey, typically the centerpiece of the Thanksgiving meal, will be one of the biggest sticker shocks for consumers. Wholesale prices for a turkey have jumped 40% from a year ago, according to the Department of Agriculture. Outbreaks of avian influenza, or bird flu, and increased demand have contributed to these higher prices.

Those opting for beef instead of turkey should also prepare to pay more. Beef prices are nearly 15% higher than they were last year, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Canned vegetables are 5% more expensive compared to last year, due to higher packaging costs from the steel and aluminum tariffs the Trump administration put in place earlier this year.

President Trump announced Friday that he would be rolling back tariffs he imposed on beef, coffee, tropical fruits and other commodities, in an effort to combat high prices at grocery stores.

David Ortega, a professor and food economist at Michigan State University, said those rollbacks won’t lower prices completely, as tariffs aren’t the only cause of increasing prices.

“By removing the tariffs, what we’re doing is we’re slowing down the increase in the price of many of these goods,” Ortega said. “So while we may not see prices go down for the holidays, it helps in terms of moderating the price increases that we’ve been accustomed to at the grocery store.”

Some grocery items have seen some price decreases in time for the holiday season. Egg prices have seen a decline from earlier this year, and domestic wine prices are down about 1.2% from last year due to a steady supply and softening demand.

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Ortega says buying fresh produce rather than canned fruits or vegetables is one way consumers can avoid higher prices from aluminum packaging. He also recommends shoppers plan their meals out in advance, look for private label or store brands over name brands, and shop early for certain items to take advantage of sales or promotions grocery stores might have.

“It really pays off to plan ahead and create a shopping list, making sure you’re sticking to it and avoiding impulse purchases,” Ortega said.

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Lifestyle

Explainer: What the EU’s Moves to Water Down Sustainability Rules Means for Fashion

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Explainer: What the EU’s Moves to Water Down Sustainability Rules Means for Fashion
After months of political wrangling, Europe’s Parliament has reached a deal to significantly scale back landmark corporate sustainability rules, paving the way for much laxer environmental reporting and due diligence requirements for large fashion brands.
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Lifestyle

‘Wait Wait’ for November 15, 2025: With Not My Job guest Tiffany Haddish

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‘Wait Wait’ for November 15, 2025: With Not My Job guest Tiffany Haddish

US actress Tiffany Haddish attends Netflix’s “WWE Monday Night RAW” premiere at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California on January 6, 2025. (Photo by Michael Tran / AFP) (Photo by MICHAEL TRAN/AFP via Getty Images)

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This week’s show was recorded in Chicago with host Peter Sagal, judge and scorekeeper Bill Kurtis, Not My Job guest Tiffany Haddish and panelists Brian Babylon, Paula Poundstone, and Roxanne Roberts. Click the audio link above to hear the whole show.

Who’s Bill This Time

What About His Emails!?; A Holy Film Festival; A Wreck Gets Celebrated

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Panel Questions

Flatulent Design Flaw

Bluff The Listener

Our panelists tell three stories about a woman named Tallulah in the news, only one of which is true.

Not My Job: Girls Trip‘s Tiffany Haddish answers our questions about female-fronted comic strips

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Tiffany Haddish, comedian, actor, and star of the comedy Girls Trip, plays our game called, “Girls Trip, Meet Girl Strip.” Three questions about comic strips with female leads.

Panel Questions

New Life For Old Sweats; Saxy Wedding Music

Limericks

Bill Kurtis reads three news-related limericks: Getting Deep on the Beach; Turn the Lights Off; A Starchy Cold Remedy

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Lightning Fill In The Blank

All the news we couldn’t fit anywhere else

Predictions

Our panelists predict what will be The Pope’s favorite movie of 2026.

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