Reid: Burris may ultimately get Senate seat

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Roland Burris will not likely take Barack Obama's Senate seat until a court in Illinois rules on a dispute surrounding his appointment.

Bikers strap on fruit to dodge helmet law
Police in Nigeria have arrested scores of motorcycle taxi riders with dried fruit shells, pots or pieces of rubber tire tied to their heads with string to avoid a new law requiring them to wear helmets.

Mississippi now has highest teen birth rate
Mississippi now has the nation's highest teen pregnancy rate, displacing Texas and New Mexico for that lamentable title, according to a new federal report.

U.S. 2008 planned layoffs most in five years
Planned layoffs at U.S. firms eased in December from the previous month's seven-year high but they were up an astounding 275 percent annually, according to a new report.

Lovesick teen's boyfriend jailed over murders
A 20-year-old man who helped kill a lovesick girl's family because the two were forbidden to date has been sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Obama pledges to tackle government spending

President-elect Obama says he'll have to juggle the competing interests of economic stimulus and deficit control, but that restoring general business health must come first.

Coulter ‘delighted' she isn't banned from NBC

After her appearance on TODAY was canceled earlier in the week, conservative author Ann Coulter was on the show Wednesday, speaking out about unwed mothers and "B. Hussein" Obama. She said she was "delighted to hear" she wasn't banned from NBC.

Reports: Gupta approached for surgeon general

CNN says President-elect Barack Obama has approached its medical correspondent, Sanjay Gupta, to be the country's next surgeon general.

CBO sees record $1.2 trillion '09 deficit
The U.S. federal budget deficit will hit an unparalleled $1.2 trillion for the 2009 budget year, according to grim new Congressional Budget Office figures.