Blackout looms in Time Warner Cable-Viacom fight
(AP)

AP – A spat between Time Warner Cable Inc. and Viacom Inc. over how much the cable company pays to carry channels such as MTV and Comedy Central headed down to the wire on New Year’s Eve — with little sign of movement as a blackout looked likely at a minute past the stroke of midnight.

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Banned words list offers no ‘bailout’ to offenders
(AP)

AP – A movie about a “maverick,” his journey “from Wall Street to Main Street,” his “desperate search” for a “monkey” and a “game-changing” revelation about his “carbon footprint” probably would make the nation’s word-watchers physically ill.

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Israel moves forward and sends more troops to Gaza
(AP)

AP – Israel sent more troops to the Gaza border Wednesday, rapidly moving forward with preparations for a possible ground offensive as the next stage of its military assault on the coastal territory’s Hamas rulers. Israel rebuffed calls by world leaders for a truce, and Hamas also was cold to a cease-fire.

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Ex-wife’s friend: Gunman distant after marriage
(AP)

AP – When Roxanne Jauregui heard on Christmas Day that there had been a horrible shooting on her best friend’s street in Covina, she picked up her cell phone and called her soul mate of 30 years to get some firsthand details.

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Ore. woman, 88, gives naked intruder the ‘squeeze’
(AP)

AP – The Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office said an 88-year-old woman fended off a naked intruder by grabbing the man’s crotch and squeezing. Deputy Paul McRedmond said the man got into the house Tuesday through a sliding door. He backed the woman into her living room and pushed her face down onto a chair.

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Ex-Bush aides say he never recovered from Katrina
(AP)

AP – Hurricane Katrina not only pulverized the Gulf Coast in 2005, it knocked the bully pulpit out from under President George W. Bush, according to two former advisers who spoke candidly about the political impact of the government’s poor handling of the natural disaster.

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Palin’s daughter gives birth to son named Tripp
(AP)

AP – The daughter of former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has given birth to a son, a magazine reported Monday.

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Girl dies on cold walk; dad charged with murder
(AP)

AP – The father of an 11-year-old girl who died, likely of hypothermia, after trying to walk 10 miles in the snow on Christmas Day has been charged with second-degree murder and felony injury to a child.

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Scientists eye unusual swarm of Yellowstone quakes
(AP)

AP – Yellowstone National Park was jostled by a host of small earthquakes for a third straight day Monday, and scientists watched closely to see whether the more than 250 tremors were a sign of something bigger to come. Swarms of small earthquakes happen frequently in Yellowstone, but it’s very unusual for so many earthquakes to happen over several days, said Robert Smith, a professor of geophysics at the University of Utah.

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Israel mulls truce offer on Day 4 of Gaza assault
(AP)

AP – Israel is considering suspending its Gaza offensive for 48 hours to give Hamas militants an opening to halt their rocket fire, but the threat of a ground offensive remains if the truce does not hold, Israeli officials said Tuesday.

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