Michelle Obama expected at Hadiya Pendleton funeral today

First lady Michelle Obama is expected to attend Hadiya Pendleton’s funeral this morning at Greater Harvest Baptist Church in...

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Michael Costigan Lands two-Year, First-Look Deal at Sony Pictures

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Sony Pictures Entertainment said Tuesday that it has entered into a two-year, exclusive first-look agreement with producer Michael Costigan and his company COTA Films.The deal reunites Costigan with Sony Pictures, where he previously worked for nine years and served as a production executive. Costigan then served as president of Ridley and Tony Scott‘s Scott Free Productions...

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In Nigeria, Polio Vaccine Workers Are Killed by Gunmen

At least nine polio immunization workers were shot to death in northern Nigeria on Friday by gunmen who attacked two clinics, officials said. The killings, with eerie echoes of attacks that killed nine female polio workers in Pakistan in December, represented another serious setback for the global effort to eradicate polio. Most of the victims were women and were shot in the back of...

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Rosenthal: Chevrolet restores style to Impala name

Because a brand embedded in our subconsciousness can find a space in our garage, the Impala endures.About 16 million Chevys named for an African antelope have hit the road since 1958. And even though the one you recently returned to the airport rental lot bore little resemblance the one whose "giddy-up" the Beach Boys sang of a half-century ago,...

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Blizzard takes aim at East Coast after moving through Midwest

BOSTON -- The northeastern United States braced on Friday morning for a blizzard that could drop up to three feet (nearly one meter) of snow through Saturday and bring...

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Second bank accuses singer Mary J. Blige of defaulting on loan

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – R&B star Mary J. Blige was hit with a lawsuit on Thursday alleging the Grammy-winning singer had defaulted on a $ 500,000 loan – the second such legal action against her in three months.According to the lawsuit filed by Bank of America in New York State Supreme Court, Blige took out the loan in 2005 and stopped making re-payments in June 2012.Bank of America said Blige,...

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The New Old Age Blog: The Executor's Assistant

I’m serving as executor for my father’s estate, a role few of us are prepared for until we’re playing it, so I was grateful when the mail brought “The American Bar Association Guide to Wills and Estates” — the fourth edition of a handbook the A.B.A. began publishing in 1995.This is a legal universe, I’m learning, in which every step — even with a small, simple estate that owes no taxes and includes...

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McDonald's January sales down 1.9%

McDonald's January comparable sales fell 1.9 percent, due to weakness in the Europe and Asia, the company said Friday. The...

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Ex-L.A. cop suspected in shooting of 3 police officers, couple

A manhunt is under way for a double murder suspect, himself a former LAPD officer, after three officers were shot overnight, one fatally. ...

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The Wanted take music to television with E! reality show

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – After storming the U.S. pop charts with their infectious dance songs last year, British-Irish boy band The Wanted are set to invade television screens with a new reality show on the E! channel this summer, the network announced on Wednesday.“The Wanted Life,” co-produced by Ryan Seacrest Productions, will follow the band members as they move into a house in the Hollywood Hills...

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Well: Think Like a Doctor: A Confused and Terrified Patient

The Challenge: Can you solve the mystery of a middle-aged man recovering from a serious illness who suddenly becomes frightened and confused?Every month the Diagnosis column of The New York Times Magazine asks Well readers to sift through a difficult case and solve a diagnostic riddle. Below you will find a summary of a case involving a 55-year-old man well on his way to recovering from a series of...

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Exelon cuts dividend by 41%

Exelon Corp. Thursday morning said it will slash its dividend by more than 40 percent in order to maintain an investment grade rating and free up money to "invest in...

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Post office to end Saturday mail service

United States Postal Service trucks in Manhasset, N.Y. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters...

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“Game of Thrones” writer George R.R. Martin lands overall deal with HBO

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – There just might be a lot more dragons and swords in HBO‘s future.George R.R. Martin, whose “A Song of Fire and Ice” fantasy novel series served as the basis for HBO’s hit drama “Game of Thrones,” has entered an overall deal with the network.The two-year agreement will retain Martin as a co-executive producer of the series, which begins its third season March 31, but will...

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Ipswich Journal: Paul Mason Is One-Third the Man He Used to Be

Paul Nixon PhotographyPaul Mason in 2012, two years after gastric bypass surgery stripped him of the unofficial title of “the world’s fattest man.” IPSWICH, England — Who knows what the worst moment was for Paul Mason — there were so many awful milestones, as he grew fatter and fatter — but a good bet might be when he became too vast to leave his room. To get him to the hospital for a hernia operation,...

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Chicago sees surge in foreclosure auctions

More than 35,000 homes and small multifamily buildings in the Chicago area completed the foreclosure process last year, the...

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Chicago commute one of nation's most unpredictable: study

You can predict with a high degree of confidence that the time it takes to drive from Point A to B on any given day is unpredictable.And...

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NBCU’s Bonnie Hammer to run Cable; Joe Uva to run Telemundo

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – NBC Universal‘s executive lineup underwent a shift of responsibilities on Monday, with Bonnie Hammer, NBCU‘s chairman of cable entertainment and cable studios, taking control of NBC Universal’s full cable portfolio, and executive Lauren Zalaznick being promoted to a new role, and former Univision president and CEO Joe Uva taking over NBCU’s Spanish-language network Telemundo.Under...

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The New Old Age Blog: In Blended Families, Responsibility Blurs

Every year, Fran McDowell waited for the summer week when she would sing in a choral festival in the North Carolina mountains, then spend a few days in a lakeside cabin with close women friends.That getaway grew more complicated to arrange — but perhaps more necessary — after her husband, Herb Beadle, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. They had a “gloriously happy” marriage — her first, his second...

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U.S. sues S&P over mortgage bond ratings

The federal government is embarking on one of its most ambitious efforts to assign blame for the financial crisis, going after...

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Early morning snow snarling morning commute

Commuters got a crash refresher course on driving to work in the winter as the heaviest snow to hit the Chicago area in a year...

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Estonian pleads guilty in U.S. court to Internet advertising scam

NEW YORK (Reuters) – An Estonian man pleaded guilty on Friday in U.S. federal court for his role in a massive Internet scam that targeted well-known websites such as iTunes, Netflix and The Wall Street Journal.The scheme infected at least four million computers in more than 100 countries, including 500,000 in the United States, with malicious software, or malware, according to the indictment. It included...

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Bolshoi ballet chief heads to Germany after attack

MOSCOW (AP) — The artistic director of the Bolshoi ballet said he knows who ordered an acid attack that left him with severe burns to his eyes and face but won’t say, voicing hope that investigators will soon name the perpetrator.Sergei Filin checked out of a Moscow hospital Monday and headed to Germany for further rehabilitation.Filin, 42, wore shades and a bandage on his head, and skin on his face...

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