Newser Story Index from December, 2010
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.
Girls Gone Wild 's Joe Francis Splits With Wife
PopEater
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Dec 29, 2010 4:45 PM CST
(Newser) -
When you marry the founder of a company that made its money off drunk women, did you really think it was going to end happily? CBS reporter Christina McLarty apparently did, but she hasn't been living at husband Joe Francis' Bel Air home for close to a month. A source tells Radar they're considering divorce after less than 2 months of marriage. Francis...
Blizzard Delays $1B in Retail Spending
Associated Press
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Dec 29, 2010 4:16 PM CST
(AP) -
The blizzard that swept through the Northeast delayed $1 billion in retail spending, according to research firm ShopperTrak. Despite that hit, it won't derail a holiday shopping season expected to be the best since 2007. About $10 billion in retail sales usually occurs Dec. 26-27, ShopperTrak says, and bad weather likely delayed about 10% of that.
Shaken, Stirred, or ... Aged in a Barrel?
New York Times
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Dec 29, 2010 3:43 PM CST
(Newser) -
The New York Times declares a trend in the bartending world: barrel-aged cocktails. Barkeeps across the country are applying the same principle that works on whiskey to their concoctions, writes Robert Simonson. It's as simple as it sounds: Make up a batch, stick it in a barrel for about six weeks, then serve with higher prices.
Rabbis' Wives Advise: 'Don't Date Non-Jews'
AOL News
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Dec 29, 2010 3:06 PM CST
(Newser) -
A letter in Israel signed by 30 rabbis' wives offers clear-cut dating advice to young Jewish women: Stay away from "non-Jews," and especially Arab men. "There are no few Arab workers who use a Hebrew name," warns the letter, as recounted by AOL News . "Yusuf turns into Yossi, Samir turns into Sami and Abed turns into Ami....
NFL Fines Brett Favre $50K in Sterger Fiasco
FOXSports
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Dec 29, 2010 2:34 PM CST
(Newser) -
Roger Goodell fined Brett Favre $50,000 today—but did not suspend him—over the naughty texts he allegedly sent Jenn Sterger, reports Fox Sports . The punishment is for failing to cooperate with the NFL's investigation, not for any actions toward Sterger. Her camp had pressed the league to punish Favre before the season ended, just in case...
Hospitals Ban Early Elective Childbirths
Chicago Tribune
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Dec 29, 2010 2:17 PM CST
(Newser) -
About two dozen hospitals across the country will have a new message for pregnant women in the new year: Don't ask us to induce labor until your 39 weeks are up. The hospitals will ban early elective childbirth under a pilot program sponsored by the March of Dimes, which maintains that the final weeks of pregnancy are crucial for the baby's development....
Feds Investigate O'Donnell's Campaign Spending
Associated Press
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Dec 29, 2010 2:03 PM CST
(Newser) -
Potential trouble for Christine O'Donnell: The FBI is investigating whether she used campaign money for personal expenses, reports the AP . (The story is based on an anonymous source, and it notes that nothing has been referred to a grand jury.) O'Donnell raised $7.3 million in her unsuccessful run for the Senate in Delaware, and she has been hit...
Fans of Boredom Hold Dullest Conference Ever
Wall Street Journal
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Dec 29, 2010 1:56 PM CST
(Newser) -
James Ward’s presentation was the opposite of thrilling. As of June, he informed his 200-strong audience, 45.5% of the ties he owned were a single color—but that had since fallen 1.5%! The crowd gazed at his PowerPoint slides, not even pretending to be interested. They weren’t supposed to be. This was, after all, Boring 2010, a 7-hour...
Lay Off Hugh Hefner: May-December Unions Fine
Slate
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Dec 29, 2010 1:41 PM CST
(Newser) -
The usual complaints emerged with the news that Hugh Hefner, all 84 years of him, got engaged to 24-year-old Crystal Harris. You know the ones—gold digger, "rich old horndog," etc., writes Christopher Beam at Slate . Instead of joining the chorus, Beam offers a defense of the May-December relationship. "Presumably, at least...
Moseley Braun Also Tells Bill Clinton to Butt Out
Chicago Sun-Times
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Dec 29, 2010 1:04 PM CST
(Newser) -
Things continue to get nice and contentious in the Chicago mayor's race: Today, mayoral hopeful Carol Moseley Braun added her own stern warning to Bill Clinton not to campaign for his old pal Rahm Emanuel. The former senator says Clinton will risk his relations with the black community if he follows through on plans to help Emanuel ahead of the February...
Get Ready for the New Middle Ages
Financial Times (UK)
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Dec 29, 2010 12:53 PM CST
(Newser) -
To get an idea of how the 21st century will play out, it might help to look back 1,000 years or so, writes Parag Khanna in the Financial Times . "The world we are moving into in 2011 is one not just with many more prominent nations, but one with numerous centers of power in other ways," he writes. "It is, in short, a neo-medieval...
Peeved Righties Boycott CPAC Over Gay Invite
Talking Points Memo
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Dec 29, 2010 12:24 PM CST
(Newser) -
Culture wars on the right: Two big conservative groups—the Family Research Council and Concerned Women for America—won't participate in the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in February because the gay group GOProud is invited. Controversy over the group surfaced last year when a CPAC speaker publicly rebuked organizers for...
Ashton Kutcher Thinks the End of Days Is Coming...
Just Jared
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Dec 29, 2010 12:04 PM CST
(Newser) -
Ashton Kutcher, prepper ? Count the actor among those who believe Armageddon is close at hand. “It won’t take very much, I’m telling you,” he says in a Men’s Fitness interview excerpted by Just Jared . “The amount of convenience that people rely on based on electricity alone. You start taking out electricity...
Paul Allen Re-Sues Apple, Google, Facebook
Seattle Times
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Dec 29, 2010 11:41 AM CST
(Newser) -
Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has re-filed his mammoth patent lawsuit targeting a host of major web companies including Apple, Google, Facebook, Netflix, eBay, Aol, and Yahoo. Allen’s original lawsuit, filed in August, was dismissed because it was too vague, failing to name specific products or services. The refiling, which you can see at the...
It's Time for the US to Sign a Nuclear Test Ban
New York Times
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Dec 29, 2010 10:56 AM CST
(Newser) -
The START treaty was a great first step in the quest for a nuclear-free world, but now that it’s ratified “we can speak of a serious step forward for both countries,” writes Mikhail Gorbachev in the New York Times . That serious step: a complete ban on nuclear testing. Thirty-five nuclear nations have signed onto the Comprehensive...
Sondheim: West Side Story Lyrics 'Embarrassing'
ABC News
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Dec 29, 2010 10:46 AM CST
(Newser) -
When Stephen Sondheim thinks about the lyrics he wrote for West Side Story —for example, “It’s alarming how charming I feel”—he likes to “put my head under my wing and pretend I’m not there,” he tells Nightline . The universally beloved musical “embarrasses me,” he says. “It's very...
Groupon to Raise Up to $950M
Bloomberg
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Dec 29, 2010 10:02 AM CST
(Newser) -
Online-coupon phenom Groupon has tweaked its articles of incorporation to allow it to raise up to $950 million of new capital, reports VC Experts . That financing could give the Chicago-based company a post-money valuation of $6.4 billion, says VC Experts, in excess of the $6 billion reportedly offered by Google earlier this month. Groupon had a valuation...
Guy Plays Real-Life Frogger, Gets Hit by SUV
Associated Press
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Dec 29, 2010 9:39 AM CST
(Newser) -
In a case of life imitating Seinfeld, a 23-year-old guy in South Carolina thought it would be a great idea to play a real-life version of Frogger—and got hit by an SUV for his trouble. The man was talking about the video game with friends—it involves navigating frogs across a busy road—before shouting “go” and running...
Virginia's History Texts Riddled With Errors
Washington Post
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Dec 29, 2010 9:29 AM CST
(Newser) -
Did you know that colonial Virginians commonly wore full suits of armor? Or that New Orleans started off the 1800s as a US harbor (rather than a Spanish one)? These are just a few of the dozens of errors historians have found in Virginia’s textbooks. Virginia ordered a review of texts from small publisher Five Ponds Press, after news broke that...
5 Arrested in Plot on Danish Newspaper
Associated Press
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Dec 29, 2010 9:20 AM CST
(AP) -
Denmark's intelligence service today arrested four people suspected of planning an "imminent" terror attack against a newspaper that printed the controversial Prophet Mohammad cartoons; Swedish police said they arrested a fifth suspect. The group planned to enter the building where the Jyllands-Posten daily has its Copenhagen newsdesk and...
Clooney, Google to Become 'Anti-Genocide Paparazzi'
Associated Press
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Dec 29, 2010 8:50 AM CST
(Newser) -
As southern Sudan votes on a secession referendum Jan. 9, sparking fears of a new civil war with the north, someone will be watching: George Clooney. And the actor hopes you’ll watch, too, via his new Satellite Sentinel Project website, the AP reports. The idea: Train a bunch of cameras on Sudan in an effort to spotlight the region—and...
Sotheby's Halts Sale of Looted Nigerian Mask
Independent
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Dec 29, 2010 8:40 AM CST
(Newser) -
Sotheby's has canceled the planned auction of a 16th-century ivory mask from West Africa after online protesters and the Nigerian government complained that the precious artifact had been looted from the country by British troops, reports the Independent . The mask, believed to have been worn by the king of Benin on ceremonial occasions, was taken...
Guess Who Made the Most Concert Money This Year?
Los Angeles Times
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Dec 29, 2010 8:32 AM CST
(Newser) -
Yep, it’s definitely time to give Bon Jovi some respect : The band boasts the highest grossing concert tour of the year—worldwide. Pollstar ranks the top five touring acts of 2010, via the Los Angeles Times : Bon Jovi : $201.1 million. AC/DC : $177 million. U2 : $160.9 million. Lady Gaga : $133.6 million. Metallica...
Judge Throws Out Joe Miller's Legal Challenge
Politico
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Dec 29, 2010 8:27 AM CST
(Newser) -
A federal judge has tossed out Joe Miller’s legal challenge against Alaska’s vote count, and with it the stay preventing the state from certifying Lisa Murkowski as the state’s senator. She’ll be officially certified tomorrow, Politico reports. US District Judge Ralph Beistline cited the Alaska Supreme Court’s ruling...
As Quest for Palin's Emails Hits Day 834, More Delays
MSNBC
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Dec 29, 2010 8:20 AM CST
(Newser) -
MSNBC.com and a handful of other news organizations have been waiting patiently—very, very, very patiently—for the 25,000 emails Sarah and Todd Palin sent to each other and to 51 key state employees while she was governor of Alaska. And her former staff wants them to wait a little longer. Though state regulations generally require such...
Housing Market Headed for Double Dip
Wall Street Journal
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Dec 29, 2010 7:52 AM CST
(Newser) -
The housing market is cratering again, dousing the optimism that pervaded earlier this year. Prices fell for the third straight month in October, according to the S&P/Case Shiller index released yesterday, and economists expect them to keep dropping through early spring, wiping out any progress made since the market’s low in early 2009. “This...
On Afghan-Pakistani Border, Insurgents Team Up
New York Times
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Dec 29, 2010 7:51 AM CST
(Newser) -
A disturbing new trend on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border: Rival insurgent groups are laying aside their feuds and joining forces to fight American and allied forces. “This is actually a syndicate of related and associated militant groups and networks,” an American officer tells the New York Times . “They cooperate with each other....
Woman Sues Over Halliburton's 'Anti-Procreation Policy'
Jezebel
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Dec 29, 2010 7:49 AM CST
(Newser) -
Does everybody's favorite energy contractor, Halliburton, hate procreation? A former Halliburton employee is suing the company for wrongful termination and sex discrimination because, in the words of her lawyer, "she apparently violated the company's policy against procreation." Halliburton said it fired the pregnant administrative associate...
Karzai Waxed Poetic About 'Golden Age' of Bush
Huffington Post
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Dec 29, 2010 7:48 AM CST
(Newser) -
The White House doesn't bring Hamid Karzai flowers anymore, and the Afghan president is caught in a diplomatic cable waxing poetically over "the golden age" of US-Afghan relations under George W Bush. The cable was sent by Ambassador Karl Eikenberry last year after a meeting with Karzai, reports the Huffington Post. Eikenberry admonished...
Newborn Dies in New York Blizzard
New York Daily News
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Dec 29, 2010 7:42 AM CST
(Newser) -
A newborn baby was one tragic victim of Sunday's East Coast blizzard . The mother, a 22-year-old college senior whose family didn’t know she was pregnant, was making her way to a hospital when she stopped in a building lobby in Brooklyn, unable to walk any farther. Help didn’t arrive until nine hours after the first 911 call was made,...
AIG's Stock Up 97%: Success Story of the Year?
Wall Street Journal
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Dec 29, 2010 7:00 AM CST
(Newser) -
Don’t look now, but financial crisis punchline AIG has had a monster year on the market, with its stock soaring 97% to $58.93. Of that, 42% was gained in December alone. That makes the insurer the fourth-best performer on the S&P 500 this year, and puts the government in a position to make a profit when it sells off its 92% stake, the Wall...
Tucker Carlson: Vick Should Have Been Executed
Mediaite
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Dec 29, 2010 6:55 AM CST
(Newser) -
Safe to say Tucker Carlson doesn’t agree with President Obama’s controversial support of Michael Vick . While filling in for Sean Hannity last night, Carlson said that while he’s a Christian and "all for forgiveness," Michael Vick killed dogs—and Carlson believes “he should have been executed for that.”...
All First-Class Stamps to Be Marked 'Forever'
Associated Press
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Dec 29, 2010 4:34 AM CST
(Newser) -
No more struggling with one-cent stamps every time the Post Office raises the price of mailing a letter. Beginning in January, all stamps for 1-ounce, first-class mail will simply be marked "forever." Forever Stamps were first issued in 2007 and designed for use regardless of changes in postal rates; so far the Postal Service has sold $12.1...
Chris Matthews Demands Obama's Birth Certificate Now
Gawker
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Dec 29, 2010 4:06 AM CST
(Newser) -
Add MSNBC commentator Chris Matthews to the ranks of people who are demanding to see President Obama's long-form birth certificate—not because he doesn't believe the president is American, but to quiet the "birthers" who don't believe it. "I am not a birther, I am an enemy of the birthers," Matthews said. Matthews referenced...
Julian Assange: Sleazebag or Sex Offender?
New York Times
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Dec 29, 2010 4:02 AM CST
(Newser) -
Julian Assange is probably a dirtbag, but how far do we go in calling him a sex offender? That's the question posed by Katrin Bennhold in a column in today's New York Times . “It cheapens rape,” she quotes a friend of hers as saying. “He sounds really sleazy,” said another friend, “but not exactly like a rapist.”...
Passengers Brawl as Storms Paralyze Russia's Airports
USA Today
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Dec 29, 2010 4:00 AM CST
(Newser) -
Furious Moscow airport passengers scuffled with employees and hundreds tried to rush a passport barrier at Sheremetyevo to board planes as weather continued to paralyze travel. Russian President Medvedev is calling for prosecutors to investigate what is being called the worst meltdown in Russian air travel in 15 years after ice storms shut down the...
Alfalfa Sprouts Linked to 16-State Salmonella Outbreak
Associated Press
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Dec 29, 2010 3:58 AM CST
(Newser) -
Momma didn't say eat these greens: Alfalfa sprouts have been linked to 94 cases of salmonella poisoning in 16 states. The contaminated sprouts stem from Tiny Greens Organic Farm in Illinois, CDC officials said yesterday. California is the latest state to join the salmonella contamination, although half the cases were in Illinois. No deaths have been...
Spider-Man Musical Suffers Another Blow
New York Daily News
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Dec 29, 2010 3:45 AM CST
(Newser) -
A female star of the ultra-expensive, problem-plagued Spider-Man Broadway musical has walked out of the production following a stuntman's injury in a 30-foot plunge. Natalie Mendoza, 30, who plays the evil spider Arachne, suffered a concussion last month when she was hit in the head by a heavy rope on the first night of previews. The last time...
Did Usher Rip Off a Homer Simpson Song?
PopEater
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Dec 29, 2010 3:04 AM CST
(Newser) -
A hilarious YouTube crew thinks they have proof positive that Usher ripped off Homer Simpson. Mississippi's Y101 radio show staffers discovered that Usher's OMG, written this year by will.i.am, is strikingly similar to a Homer song from 2003—except that Simpson croons about Christmas presents 'sted of his baby's booty. "Christmas in...
Mama Lohan May Sue Over LiLo 'Biopic'
CBS News
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Dec 29, 2010 2:40 AM CST
(Newser) -
No one would dispute that an upcoming film starring heiress Lydia Hearst playing a wild young ne'er-do-well actress is about troubled starlet Lindsay Lohan. Even the film's writer says Hearst will play a "bratty movie goddess in and out of rehab and hounded by predatory paparazzi—a role obviously based on Lindsay Lohan." That's the...
Calif. Researchers Hack Kinect for World Of Warcraft
Los Angeles Times
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Dec 29, 2010 2:20 AM CST
(Newser) -
It's about time academics applied their brain power to something really useful. Researchers at the University of Southern California have hacked Microsoft's touchie-feelie Kinect camera for the XBox to play the hugely popular World of Warcraft online game. What's even better is that the software they developed to do it—Flexible Action and Articulated...
Hubby: Shooting Wife in Head Was Sex Fantasy Gone Bad
CNN
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Dec 29, 2010 2:02 AM CST
(Newser) -
Pressing the muzzle of a gun to his 50-year-old wife's head and pulling the trigger while they were having sex apparently was a major turn on for an Oklahoma man—until the gun actually fired and killed her. At least that's the story husband Arthur Sedille, 23, is giving cops. The couple didn't realize the gun was loaded the very last time they...
Kidnapping Leaves Mexican Town Without Police
BBC
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Dec 29, 2010 1:39 AM CST
(Newser) -
A lawless Mexican town is now left without a police force after the last cop in town was kidnapped and likely killed. Officer Erika Gandara was snatched and her house torched last week by suspected drug cartel gunmen. All of her colleagues had already quit or been killed in Guadelupe's raging drug wars. Gandara, 28, had patrolled the town of 9,000...
Ammo Caps Explode at Miami Airport
CNN
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Dec 29, 2010 1:20 AM CST
(Newser) -
Hundreds of bullet detonation caps exploded in a passenger's luggage at Miami International Airport yesterday, triggering a terror scare. A 37-year-old man was arrested and charged with transportation of hazardous materials after the caps blew up as a baggage handler unloaded the suitcase from the Boston plane onto the tarmac. The detonation was likely...
'Living Earth Simulator' Would Track ... Everything
BBC
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Dec 28, 2010 8:18 PM CST
(Newser) -
If this gets off the drawing board, it would be what the BBC describes as one of the "most ambitious computer projects" in history. The so-called Living Earth Simulator would crunch mind-boggling amounts of data in supercomputers around the world to keep track of and help predict pretty much everything happening on the planet, from disease...
Reese Witherspoon Engaged
PopEater
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Dec 28, 2010 7:21 PM CST
(Newser) -
It's shaping up to be the week of celebrity engagements . Oscar-winner Reese Witherspoon is engaged to boyfriend/Hollywood agent Jim Toth, PopEater reports. The two have been together for almost a year. This will be the second marriage for Witherspoon; she was previously married to actor Ryan Phillippe, with whom she has two kids. Click to read...
GOP Voters Sour on Palin, Warm Up to Huckabee
CNN
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Dec 28, 2010 6:56 PM CST
(Newser) -
A new CNN poll shows President Obama and Sarah Palin trending in opposite directions ahead of 2012, and Mike Huckabee sitting pretty: The percentage of GOP voters who'd support a Palin run for the nomination dropped to 49, down 18 points from two years ago. Two-thirds say they'd back Huckabee, followed by Mitt Romney (59%), and Newt Gingrich...
Bank Robbers Hide AK-47s in Baby Carriage, Steal $800K
Associated Press
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Dec 28, 2010 6:16 PM CST
(Newser) -
Russian police are on the watch for a unique band of robbers: a group that hid AK-47 assault rifles inside a baby carriage. Bandits pulled the rifles from their deceptive carrying case and robbed an armored car as it pulled into a bank. They opened fire, killing two guards and a bystander walking his dog while making off with over $800,000 in Russian...
10 Classy and Classic New Year's Eve Party Ideas
Huffington Post
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Dec 28, 2010 5:47 PM CST
(Newser) -
Want to usher in 2011 in a memorable fashion? Look to, oh, 1921 for inspiration. Lesley M M Blume reminds us that "there are still plenty of sublime, old-fashioned, glamorous amusements that we can import from bygone eras" to help us ring in the new year. She looks back, and presents the best party ideas of yesteryear on the Huffington Post...
Bloomberg: 'I Regret Everything in the World'
New York Daily News
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Dec 28, 2010 5:35 PM CST
(Newser) -
Rough day for Mayor Bloomberg, who faced the media to plead for patience with storm cleanup. He was at various times "chastened" ( Daily News ), "testy" ( New York Post ), "conciliatory" ( New York Times ) and even sarcastic—as when he replied, "I regret everything in the world" after being pressed...
