This Week in Words: August 6 - 10, 2018

The house used as the home of The Brady Bunch in the classic sitcom that aired from 1969-1974 was sold this week to the corporation that owns home improvement network HGTV. There was a bit of a bidding war for the house, with former *NSYNC member Lance Bass also hoping to buy the house. In the end though, the network was victorious. HGTV announced plans to build a show around the remodeling of the pop culture icon.

Chris “Ludacris” Bridges paid for a woman’s entire grocery bill at a Whole Foods this week. The lucky woman didn’t recognize the rapper at first, but after the random act of kindness occurred, Whole Foods staffers told the woman who this generous stranger was. It’s nice when you hear about celebrities doing pleasant things for regular people, and picking up a hefty Whole Foods tab is especially kind.

The trial of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort continued this week. Manafort's former confidante Rick Gates testified that he helped hide the defendant's revenue to avoid paying taxes. This trial is a direct result of a special investigation into Russian meddling in the last presidential election, although these charges do not implicate the president in any wrong-doing.

An environmental group is claiming that a discount brand of crayon contains asbestos, the well-known cancer-causing chemical. More tests have to be run to confirm the presence of asbestos, but in the meantime the U.S. Public Interest Research Group is pressuring merchants and Amazon.com to remove these particular crayons from their stores.

Crayons weren’t the only thing alleged to contain dangerous chemicals this week. Rachael Ray is being sued by people who claim that there is a harmful chemical in her brand of dog food, which is marketed as all-natural. The maker of the dog food was just acquired by another company, but it is unclear if manufacturing practices have changed because of this acquisition. Rachael Ray is standing by her product, insisting that it is what she feeds her own dog.

Donald Trump said in a tweet that a meeting that took during place during his presidential campaign, which was attended by his son Don Jr. and Russian representatives, was about getting “dirt” on Hillary Clinton. The president's team had previously claimed that the meeting was about helping Russian orphans. Mr. Trump did not attend the meeting, and maintains that he did not know about it at the time it occurred.

Charlotte Rae, best known for playing Mrs. Garrett on beloved '80s sitcoms Different Strokes and The Facts of Life, died this week at the age of 92. Rae’s most famous character was a flighty woman with a heart of gold who was a fountain of sage advice to her young charges.

A massive earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter Scale hit the island nation of Indonesia this week. The rising death toll has counted more than 250 people, and more than 20,000 others are homeless because of the damage.

This week the Trump administration put sanctions against Iran back into effect, which were suspended after the president pulled the U.S. out of the nuclear deal that President Obama had negotiated with Iran. These sanctions are designed to punish Iran and any country that trades with them. It is hoped that the sanctions will force Iran to the negotiating table and pressure them to give up their nuclear ambitions.

A drone filled with explosives blew up near Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro this week, in what appears to have been an assassination attempt. Several people were injured in the blast, but Maduro himself was not hurt. Critics of Maduro, who is known for brutal retaliation against his enemies, suggest he may have staged the drone attack as a way to solidify his power.