Newser Story Index from December, 2007
Welcome to the Newser Story Index. Here you find stories written by Newser writers and editors, assembled with supporting photos and videos from the files of the news story.
Quality Boosts US Exports
Washington Post
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Dec 26, 2007 12:55 PM CST
(Newser) -
The sinking dollar is fueling a booming export market in tractors, medical equipment, and electrical machinery, helping some US manufacturers overcome a falloff in domestic sales, reports the Washington Post. The trend may even help reduce the trade deficit: For 2007, US exports are projected to increase even more than the 12.7% they rose between...
Home Prices Suffer Record Monthly Drop
Bloomberg
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Dec 26, 2007 12:25 PM CST
(Newser) -
Home prices plummeted 6.1% in October, a record year-over-year drop that exceeded forecasts. The index of prices in 20 major markets has dropped every month this year and fell 1.4% from the September figure, another record. The trend threatens overall consumer spending, making it more difficult for homeowners to dig into home equity funds, Bloomberg...
Tsunami Survivors Look Ahead
Christian Science Monitor
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Dec 26, 2007 11:55 AM CST
(Newser) -
As candles are lit today in memory of the 230,000 victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the Christian Science Monitor reports on the results of the $13.6 billion effort to help survivors. The aid has largely been used effectively, but now officials worry about the recovering economies after the rebuilding boom peaks and the aid dries up.
SF Zoo Probes Deadly Tiger Attack
ABC News
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Dec 26, 2007 11:35 AM CST
(Newser) -
Investigators are attempting to figure out how a 350-pound Siberian tiger escaped her enclosure at the San Francisco Zoo yesterday, crossing a 15-foot moat and scaling a 20-foot wall. The tiger, Tatiana, killed a man and severely mauled two others before being shot and killed by police. The surviving victims are listed in critical but stable condition.
Blood Makes Critics Swoon
Rotten Tomatoes
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Dec 26, 2007 10:50 AM CST
(Newser) -
There’s no avoiding it: There Will Be Blood is another long, “indie-flavored, male-centric American art film,” says Variety’s Todd McCarthy. But the “boldly and magnificently strange” flick still has critics enthralled. Following an unsavory and maybe unhinged oil tycoon’s rise to power, the film possesses...
Cisco Goes Green with Energy Gauging
PC World
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Dec 26, 2007 10:42 AM CST
(Newser) -
Green-minded Cisco Systems is looking to improve energy efficiency by monitoring power consumption, operating temperature, and more from its enterprise data network. With energy costs and global warming worries escalating, Cisco plans to expand beyond communications and use its data network to help companies manage their power use and prevent servers...
Ill. Bans Natural Hallucinogen
Chicago Tribune
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Dec 26, 2007 10:21 AM CST
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An impending ban on a hallucinogenic plant used in religious ceremonies by Mazatec Indians in Mexico has defenders of the herb objecting to the fact that it's about to be illegal in Illinois. Possessing salvia divinorum will be a felony beginning Tuesday. Defenders of the herb insist it offers beneficial effects, such as stress relief and spiritual...
Sarko, New Squeeze Hit Egypt
BBC
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Dec 26, 2007 9:58 AM CST
(Newser) -
Nicolas Sarkozy has flown to Egypt, where the French president will meet with his counterpart Hosni Mubarak after spending a few days on the Nile with new girlfriend Carla Bruni. Paparazzi staked out the airport before the arrival of the divorcé and the supermodel-turned-singer, who flew in on a private jet owned by a French billionaire.
UConn Moves to No.1 in Women's Hoops
ESPN
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Dec 26, 2007 9:51 AM CST
(Newser) -
For the first time in nearly 4 years, the UConn Huskies (9-0) are No. 1 in the ESPN/USA Today women's basketball coaches' poll. Connecticut, which has spent the season ranked #2, moved to #1 after previous #1 Tennessee fell to Stanford.
Kids Should Ease Into Baseball Season
HealthDay News
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Dec 26, 2007 9:45 AM CST
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Tossing a baseball around in the off-season might help young pitchers stave off rotator cuff injuries, reports HealthDay. "Most high school athletes go from football to basketball and then start throwing a baseball at full speed," says the Houston Astros' team doc, adding that their arms aren't yet in "baseball shape."
Olmert, Abbas to Meet to Salvage Talks
Haaretz (Israel)
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Dec 26, 2007 9:30 AM CST
(Newser) -
Ehud Olmert and Mahmoud Abbas will meet tomorrow in hopes of resolving the settlement crisis that is threatening to derail the Annapolis peace process. Haaretz reports that the Israeli PM and the Palestinian leader will discuss a contested tender by the Israeli housing ministry for 307 homes to be constructed in Har Homa, a southeast Jerusalem neighborhood...
Tsunami Province Returns to Life
Time
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Dec 26, 2007 8:50 AM CST
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Three years after it was hit by a devastating tsumani, Aceh is slowly returning to normal, Time r eports. The disaster killed more than 160,000 people in the Sumatran province and wiped out much of its infrastructure. In the years since, aid from all over the world has helped Aceh's people rebuild their towns and their lives.
2008 Forecast: Oil Prices Dip as Supply Rises, Economy Slows
Christian Science Monitor
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Dec 26, 2007 8:28 AM CST
(Newser) -
A slowing US economy and rising oil production will lower the price of crude to between $80 and $85 a barrel in 2008, predicts the Christian Science Monitor . While still higher than the $71 average for 2007, it’s a drop from current prices near $93. Lower prices could ease inflation worries in the US, experts say.
Commercial Properties Squeezed
Wall Street Journal
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Dec 26, 2007 8:05 AM CST
(Newser) -
Add the once-solid commercial real estate market to the list of sectors felled by the subprime mortgage contagion, as owners of malls, apartment complexes and office buildings have seen financing disappear, prices plunge and the pace of sales dwindle 50%, reports the Wall Street Journal. Lenders, burned by the residential debacle, have become reluctant...
Euro Envoys Booted by Afghanis for Taliban Talks
BBC
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Dec 26, 2007 7:43 AM CST
(Newser) -
European officials were scrambling today to block Afghanistan's ordered expulsion of two high-ranking foreign officials because of an alleged link to Taliban insurgents, the BBC reports. Afghan authorities claim that the men, one an Irish envoy from the EU and the other a British UN official, met with Taliban members and gave them money. The order...
Electronics Giants Join Forces
PC World
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Dec 26, 2007 7:08 AM CST
(Newser) -
Hitachi, Canon, and Panasonic have announced plans to work to together in moving flat-panel display technology forward, PC World reports. Competition is heating up in the industry, and the companies hope the alliance will accelerate development time. The firms will work together on LCD displays and organic light emitting diode displays, which some...
Teachers Need Help as Math Gets Tougher
Washington Post
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Dec 26, 2007 6:55 AM CST
(Newser) -
Having long lagged behind other nations, the United States is finally kicking up the level of mathematics instruction in public schools. But as algebra becomes a subject for middle schoolers, and basics are introduced to elementary students, It's turning out to be as much a challenge for the teachers as their kids, the Washington Post reports.
Indonesian Landslides Kill 81
Reuters
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Dec 26, 2007 6:29 AM CST
(Newser) -
Torrential rainstorms set off landslides and flooding in Indonesia today, the third anniversary of the Asian tsunami, killing as many as 81 people and forcing thousands to flee their homes. The disaster affected several districts on the main island of Java, where residents have been wading through neck-high water. "This is the first time in the...
Luxury Tax Levied on Yanks, BoSox
Associated Press
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Dec 26, 2007 6:12 AM CST
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The Yankees owe Major League Baseball $24 million of competitive-balance "luxury" tax on contracts that pushed the team's payroll over the $148 million limit, AP reports. The might seem like a lot to shell out for the privilege of paying Roger Clemens to go 6-6, but it's actually less than last year.
Art Market Sails Over Turmoil
Associated Press
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Dec 26, 2007 6:01 AM CST
(Newser) -
US financial markets were in chaos this year, but the art market certainly wasn't. The expanding ranks of the super-rich, the weak dollar, and emerging connoisseurs from Russia, China, India, and the Middle East kept auction houses in fine form, the AP reports, with postwar and contemporary works—including a $71 million Warhol—leading the...
Colorful Cube 'Next Big Thing'
BBC
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Dec 26, 2007 5:42 AM CST
(Newser) -
Santa is already kicking back and thinking what will be under trees next Christmas. High on the list is the Fentix cube, an innovative, colorful, electronic device that can detect up from down. Inventor Andrew Fentem tells the BBC it can be adapted for many uses - games platform, puzzles, as a computer interface, and game controller.
Suns Can't Curb Kobe, Lakers Take It 122-115
Associated Press
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Dec 26, 2007 5:05 AM CST
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The Lakers cruised to their best record all season (eight games over .500) with a late sprint ahead of the Suns yesterday, reports AP. Kobe Bryant unwrapped a productive game with 38 points and seven assists, helped out by Andrew Bynum's 28 points on 11-of-13 shooting, and the Lakers prevailed, 122-115.
Candidates Battling Down to Wire as Iowa Race Nears
Los Angeles Times
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Dec 26, 2007 5:01 AM CST
(Newser) -
Democratic and Republican candidates are racing down to the wire neck-and-neck-and-neck as Iowa prepares for the nation's first presidential contest in just eight days. It's expected to be one of the closest races in US history, the Los Angeles Times reports. "If you can find a three-headed coin, flip it. That's the best projection I can give,"...
Texas Tallies 60% of Executions
New York Times
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Dec 26, 2007 4:47 AM CST
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As the rest of the country backed away from applying the death penalty in 2007, Texas kept up its customary pace, making the state responsible for an astounding 60% of all executions in the US. Of last year's 42 executions, 26 were in Texas, the New York Times reports. In other states, rising doubts about the humaneness of lethal injections and the...
Egypt to 'Copyright' Sphinx™
BBC
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Dec 26, 2007 4:26 AM CST
(Newser) -
Egypt is set to pass a law that would "copyright" the pyramids and the Sphinx, the BBC reports. The law would apply to large-scale replicas anywhere in the world of any ancient Egyptian monument or museum piece. Egypt intends to collect royalties from the duplicates to protect its ancient sites. The law would not apply to artistic drawings....
Blazers Stay Red Hot, Muffle Sonics 89-79
Associated Press
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Dec 26, 2007 4:11 AM CST
(Newser) -
So much for the Christmas gift of watching Oden versus Durant. Instead, Seattle's rookie phenom got to face an Oden-less Portland team on a 10-game winning streak, and while Kevin Durant led all scorers with 23 points, the remarkable Trail Blazers—a 50-game loser last year—nabbed a win.
EBay Fights Web Fraud Gangs in Romania
Los Angeles Times
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Dec 26, 2007 4:03 AM CST
(Newser) -
Internet giant eBay is battling online auction fraud—and the center of the struggle is a Romanian town in the Carpathian mountains. A top eBay investigator, who has US Secret Service protection, forages police files in the region to combat scams. Internet auction fraud is the specialty of Romanian crime gangs, which are part of a hive of organized...
Heat Hits 20 Losses as Cavs Roll
Associated Press
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Dec 26, 2007 3:43 AM CST
(Newser) -
LeBron had 25 points and 12 dimes in a Christmas day Cavaliers-Heat matchup that looked much more interesting at the beginning of the season. The Eastern Conference's past two champions were a combined 20-35 entering the game, which Cleveland won 96-82 with a strong second half. Dwyane Wade's foul-line 8-for-16 didn't help Miami's cause.
Giants Fans Intercept the Green for Pats Historic Day
Star-Ledger
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Dec 26, 2007 3:38 AM CST
(Newser) -
Thousands of New York ticket holders are banking on the Giants losing next Saturday to the undefeated Patriots—or at least that's what they're telling New England fans who are snapping up unwanted tickets online for big bucks. With New York's playoff berth already secure and many starters likely to be benched, there's not much to draw home...
Boston's $14.8B 'Big Dig' All Dug
Associated Press
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Dec 26, 2007 3:00 AM CST
(Newser) -
The most complicated and expensive highway project in American history is finally complete, AP reports. After 16 years of excavating and building, the ambitious "Big Dig" tunnel project under Boston will be turned over to the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority January 1. The final price tag was $14.8 billion—$12 billion over the first...
Citing US Troubles, Illegal Immigrants 'Self-Deport'
Reuters
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Dec 25, 2007 10:04 PM CST
(Newser) -
More illegal immigrants in the US are "self-deporting" back to their home countries in the face of stricter immigration enforcement and a worsening economy, Reuters reports. "The situation has got so tough that there don't seem to be many options left for us," said a Mexican immigrant. No exact numbers are known, but Reuters cites...
Zoo Tiger Escapes, Kills Visitor
San Francisco Chronicle
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Dec 25, 2007 10:03 PM CST
(Newser) -
A tiger escaped from its cage at the San Francisco zoo today and killed a visitor, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Two other visitors were attacked during the rampage, but they survived. The extent of their injuries was not immediately known. Police shot the tiger dead as it attacked patrons of a zoo cafe. Officials aren't sure how the tiger...
Warrants May Shed Light on South American Dirty War
BBC
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Dec 25, 2007 8:04 PM CST
(Newser) -
An Italian judge has issued arrest warrants for nearly 150 people in Latin America accused of helping their governments hunt down and kill leftist opponents in the 1970s. The warrants could shed new light on the so-called Operation Condor, an extraordinary scheme in which South American governments cooperated with each other to kill their political...
Choreographer Kidd Dies at 92
New York Times
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Dec 25, 2007 6:20 PM CST
(Newser) -
Choreographer Michael Kidd, creator of some of the most enduring dance steps on Broadway and in Hollywood, has died of cancer at age 92, the New York Times reports. Kidd, who won five Tonys and an honorary Oscar, is best known for his choreography in the 1954 film Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and in the musicals Finian's Rainbow , Guys and...
Buffett to Buy Huge Industrial Firm Marmon
Wall Street Journal
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Dec 25, 2007 5:47 PM CST
(Newser) -
Warren Buffett will pay $4.5 billion to acquire a majority stake in Marmon Holdings, an industrial conglomerate owned by one of America's richest familes, the Wall Street Journal reports. Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway will buy 60% of the company now from the Pritzker family of Chicago, with plans to acquire the rest in stages by 2014.
Debaters Inspires, Critics Argue
Rotten Tomatoes
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Dec 25, 2007 5:01 PM CST
(Newser) -
The Great Debaters , which follows a Jim Crow-era black debate team, aims only for “inspirational pop entertainment in the Oprah Winfrey mode,” but it still manages to resonate, says the New York Times’ Stephen Holden. It is conventional, and sometimes clichéd, in telling the classic underdog story. “The wonder is...
Dad, Daughter Die in Panama Plane Crash
Associated Press
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Dec 25, 2007 3:55 PM CST
(Newser) -
Searchers in Panama tonight found the bodies of a California businessman and his 13-year-old daughter two days after their plane disappeared in the mountains, the AP reports. Another girl, a 12-year-old friend of the family, survived the crash and was hospitalized, but the extent of her injuries was not known. The Panamanian pilot was killed.
Parents Blind to Their Fat Kids
Associated Press
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Dec 25, 2007 3:20 PM CST
(Newser) -
Nearly half the parents of severely overweight children ages 6 to 11 said their child was “about the right weight,” and only 13% recognized that their child had a severe problem, says a University of Michigan study. The results indicate parents think children will “grow out” of obesity or that something will change as they age,...
Volunteers Put PCs to Work for Science
Chicago Tribune
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Dec 25, 2007 2:44 PM CST
(Newser) -
While you sleep, your home PC can forge new worlds in science. More researchers across the nation are embracing the concept of volunteer computing—in which they harness the power of otherwise sleeping computers to speed up the mathematical grunt work of their projects, the Chicago Tribune reports. The concept originated about eight years ago,...
Escape Winter: Live Vicariously in Hawaii
ESPN
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Dec 25, 2007 2:15 PM CST
(Newser) -
Whatever preconceptions you have about the surfer lifestyle, they're probably right, bro. ESPN's Jim Caple braved waves of "dude!" and "whoa!" to get the lowdown on the crests and troughs of the professional surfing scene, which includes huge sponsorships but also hidden dangers that lurk just below the impossibly blue surface of...
Suicide Attacks in Iraq Kill 34
Washington Post
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Dec 25, 2007 2:08 PM CST
(Newser) -
Two suicide attacks in big cities north of Baghdad today killed at least 34 and injured up to 100, underscoring the dangers still posed by insurgents, the Washington Post reports. A bomber killed 12 at a funeral in Baqubah, following an earlier car bomb explosion in Baiji that killed at least 22. The bombings are the worst attacks in several months...
Joker Sends Holiday Cards From Afterlife
Associated Press
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Dec 25, 2007 1:37 PM CST
(Newser) -
Chet Fitch got the last laugh on family and friends again, this time from beyond the grave. The 88-year-old, who died in the fall, arranged to have 34 Christmas cards sent this year, all marked with a return address of Heaven. "I asked Big Guy if I could sneak back and send some cards," Fitch wrote. "At first he said no; but at my insistence...
Nepal Bridge Fails; 200 Missing
CNN
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Dec 25, 2007 1:04 PM CST
(Newser) -
Nepalese rescuers were searching into the night for about 200 people who plummeted into a swirling river when a suspension bridge collapsed. Another 15 bodies have been recovered, and 32 were taken to nearby hospitals. Up to 1,000 Hindu pilgrims were on the bridge when it failed in a remote part of Nepal. Most swam to safety after the 100-foot plunge.
5 GOP Frontrunners All Have Fighting Chance
Politico
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Dec 25, 2007 12:53 PM CST
(Newser) -
Just days before the primary polling starts, the GOP presidential race is so unsettled, there's a plausible scenario that gives any of the top four candidates—and even the trailing Fred Thompson—the nomination. Politico plays out what would have to happen for each of them to prevail. Romney needs Iowa; if he gets it, with New Hampshire...
Persepolis an Animated Triumph
Rotten Tomatoes
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Dec 25, 2007 12:24 PM CST
(Newser) -
Persepolis isn’t just a good animated movie. “It’s a small landmark in feature animation,” writes Nick Pinkerton of the Village Voice . Rendered with handcrafted charm in black and white, it tells the poignant-yet-funny story of a girl growing up amidst the Iranian revolution. But “bare synopsis doesn’t begin...
Rose Bowl Party Tab: $2M
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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Dec 25, 2007 12:15 PM CST
(Newser) -
The Big Ten conference has given Illinois $2.1 million to spend on its nine-day, 600-head Rose Bowl jaunt—a sign of the times, says the St. Louis Post-Dispatch , in an era of increasingly lavish college football bowls. The Missouri Tigers program, meanwhile, will have to make do with a budget of only $1.3 million for the 800 people it has joining...
Spoiled Chinese Kids Get Traditional Lessons
Washington Post
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Dec 25, 2007 11:47 AM CST
(Newser) -
China's new millionaires have ridden the waves of the country's transforming economy, but not so their children, writes the Washington Post . Raised in privilege and coddled by parents who obeyed the country's one-child policy, the nation's "little emperors and princes" have little experience of hardship and spend money lavishly. Now parents...
$100 Laptops Fetch $600 on eBay
San Jose Mercury News
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Dec 25, 2007 11:11 AM CST
(Newser) -
The $100 laptop is turning into the $600 laptop on eBay, reports the San Jose Mercury News, sealing the novelty value of the computer aimed at children in developing countries . Nonprofit One Laptop Per Child is also hawking the laptops through year's end, but many shoppers shelled out extra in private auctions to ensure Christmas delivery.
Candidates' Mates Have Us Running
Washington Post
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Dec 25, 2007 10:30 AM CST
(Newser) -
One has a life-threatening illness. One broke up her husband's earlier marriage. Several are more charismatic, and more beloved, than their mates. Never before have candidates' spouses played such an important and unpredictable role in a presidential election, writes Emily Yoffe in the Washington Post —whether they're assets, like the articulate,...
Blue Hose's Transition to D-I A Rocky Road
ESPN
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Dec 25, 2007 10:15 AM CST
(Newser) -
South Carolina's tiny Presbyterian College is still adjusting to life in the world of Division I hoops. The school of 1200 students, whose team nickname is the Blue Hose, made the switch this year to attract better recruits. Though the team is 1-10 thus far, coach Gregg Nibert and players couldn't be happier with the results, ESPN.com reports.
