Fireworks,food & fun (Tri-County Times)

Ringing in the New Year in downtown Fenton began with a sky full of colorful fireworks, followed by several concerts and other fun and family-friendly activities.

Aught-Eight Oughts: Favorite Books of the Year (and One Aught-Eight Naught) (Blogcritics.org)

Featuring Machiavelli, Clarence Darrow, screechy monkeys, D.W. Griffith, a "very special" Golden Girls, Emperor Akbar's court, "man you shoulda seen them kickin' Edgar Allan Poe..." Although my pick for Best Fiction is of a colorful and considerably multi-layered literary heft, fiction overall for me was put on the back burner in 2008 (bad choice of words perhaps - this isn’t Banned Books Week, ...

Democrats Tighten Grip as 111th Congress Assembles (CQPolitics.com via Yahoo! News)

Fortified by wider House and Senate majorities and the prospect of working in tandem with a new president who shares their legislative goals, congressional Democrats assembled Tuesday to begin the 111th Congress.

Aspen New Year’s Eve Bomb Threat (Columbia Journalism Review)

ASPEN, Colo. — The hottest item in the frigid early morning hours of New Year’s Day in this fashionable ski resort town was the free street edition of The Aspen Times , featuring this stark double-deck headline: “Bomb Threats Paralyze Aspen.”

PGMA awards winners of 2008 Tangub City Christmas symbols contest (Philippine News Agency)

TANGUB CITY, Misamis Occidental, Jan. 6 (PNA) -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo joined Tangubanons last night in honoring the winners of the municipality's Christmas symbols contest by personally awarding trophies to the participants who bested their peers in coming up with the most creative and ingenious décor designs depicting the true spirit of Christmas.