Washington, DC Tops Sexiest State List

Opera-singing Laura Kaeppeler nabs 2012 crown

(NEWSER) - Miss Wisconsin Laura Kaeppeler sang opera, wise-cracked, spoke candidly about being the child of a convict, and refused to get drawn into politics en route to grabbing the 2012 Miss America crown last night. Kaeppeler, when asked if beauty queens should bare their politics, responded: "Miss America represents everyone, so I think the message to political candidates is that they represent everyone as well. And so in these economic times, we need to be looking forward to what America needs, and I think Miss America needs to represent all." More»

New year, new trends

(NEWSER) - If your New Year's Resolution is to "be more adventurous," this is the list for you. Writing for Time , Josh Ozersky lays out the five foods that he predicts will be hot in 2012, while admitting that these forecasts are typically "about as reliable as the photos on a Latvian dating site." That's because food writers consistently overestimate how much Americans will glom on to ethnic foods—Peruvian food hasn't exactly taken the country by storm, he notes. But "that doesn’t mean that things aren’t changing," writes Ozersky, who presents a pretty exotic list:

1. Banh Mi: If you want to seem adventurous without actually having to be adventurous, these Vietnamese sandwiches (pronounced bon-mee) are for you. They're basically "crispy French bread filled with fresh, bright, firm vegetables, hot sauce, and what usually looks like six different kinds of pork."

End-of-year lists brings out the worst in Internet comments: Linda Holmes

(NEWSER) - As the end of the year approaches, bloggers, journalists, and other writers whip up plenty of end-of-year, top-whatever list. NPR's Linda Holmes creates a list of her own: a look at 20 of the less-than-merry folks who frequent the comment sections of those lists:

• The guy who is 100% right: He's the one who will snipe that your "list of things you thought were good is just your opinion."

...the killing of Osama bin Laden, says AP poll

(NEWSER) - Between the protests, the natural disasters, and the economy, it was quite the newsy year. So which story was the top dog? The killing of Osama bin Laden takes the No. 1 slot, according to the AP's yearly poll of US editors and news directors. Of the 247 ballots cast, the death of the al-Qaeda leader at the hands of Navy SEALs received 128 first-place votes. The remainder of the top 10:

2. Japan's "triple disaster": the 9.0-magnitude earthquake, tsunami, and Fukushima nuclear crisis
3. Arab Spring uprisings: from Tunisia to Egypt to Libya to Syria

Lindsay Lohan's rotting teeth, and 44 other items

(NEWSER) - As the year draws to a close, it's hard not to reflect on the events that have made 2011 the glorious year it was. Well, almost. Writing for Buzzfeed , Dave Stopera, argues that there are about 45 things from the past year we should forget, while toasting to "a much less trashy 2012!" in the process.

1. The ton of people ready to vote for Donald Trump for president