Area home sales up 19% in December

More than 7,000 consumers in the Chicago-area bought themselves a home last month, the best finish for the year since December...

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Obama lays out 2nd-term agenda

In his inaugural address, President Barack Obama says enduring security and lasting peace do not require perpetual war. But he said the U.S. will defend itself through 'strengths of arms and rule of law.' (Jan. 21) ...

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Rumored Xbox 720 specs: 8-core processor, 8GB of RAM, 800MHz GPU

Console gamers frustrated that their Xbox isn’t holding up well compared to high-end gaming PCs can relax a bit, because it looks like the next-generation Xbox is going to be a monster. It seems that website VGleaks has gotten ahold of leaked specifications for the Xbox 720, which it says will include an 8-core 1.6GHz processor, 8GB of RAM, an 800MHz graphics processor, a 50GB 6x Blu-ray Disc...

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Joseph Gordon-Levitt mines the humor in porn for “Don Jon”

PARK CITY, Utah (Reuters) – After a remarkable run with leading roles in films such as “The Dark Knight Rises” and “Inception,” actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt stepped behind the camera to direct “Don Jon’s Addiction,” a raunchy comedy that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.“Don Jon’s Addiction,” which Gordon-Levitt also wrote and stars in, leads a slate of films about sex on this year’s Sundance...

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Really?: The Claim: In Children, Flu Vaccine Can Prevent Ear Infection

Really?Anahad O’Connor tackles health myths.THE FACTSFor many children, flu season means an increased risk of ear infections as well.Although many people do not realize it, the middle ear has a direct link to the upper respiratory tract: the auditory, or Eustachian, tube. Infections in the nose or sinus cavities thus can spread to the ear.Ear infections are a common scourge of childhood. Most children...

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Investigators probe 787 battery maker

U.S. and Japanese aviation safety officials investigating problems with Boeing Co.'s 787 Dreamliner visited the headquarters...

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Man shot at 22nd-floor party in Loop hotel

A man was shot in the historic Palmer House Hotel downtown. A 25-year-old man was shot in the leg early this morning during a...

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Notre Dame football star says he was not in on hoax – ESPN

(Reuters) – Notre Dame football star Manti Te’o has denied ever being in on an elaborate hoax, telling ESPN he had believed his relationship with a woman who turned out to be an online fabrication was real.The tragic story of his girlfriend and her injuries from a car accident and death from leukemia was one of the most widely recounted U.S. sports stories last year as Notre Dame made a drive toward...

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Singer Randy Travis reaches plea deal in assault case: TV

DALLAS (Reuters) – Country music singer Randy Travis has reached a plea agreement in a misdemeanor assault case arising from an altercation last summer in a Texas church parking lot, KTVT-TV reported on Saturday.The Grammy winner will serve 90 days of deferred adjudication under a plea he entered on Friday in a municipal court in Plano, a Dallas suburb, the CBS-affiliated station in Dallas/Forth Worth...

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Steel company forges ahead with new South Side plant

One evening during a Cubs game in 1988, A. Finkl & Sons Co. received a frantic phone call: The ballpark's lights were flickering....

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