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WRKF's News Team

Ashley Westerman
Ashley Westerman
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Elizabeth Eads
Elizabeth Eads
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Kelly Connelly
Kelly Connelly
Government & Politics Reporter
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Amy Jeffries
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NPR News

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The Record
11:55 pm
Wed January 2, 2013

Patti Page, Who Dominated The '50s Pop Charts, Dies

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By editor

Originally published on Thu January 3, 2013 5:27 am

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Sports
5:08 pm
Wed January 2, 2013

Game, Set And Match: U.S. Tennis Tournaments Move Abroad

Credit Danny Moloshok / AP
Pete Sampras returns a forehand against Russia's Marat Safin during an exhibition tennis match at the L.A. Tennis Open tournament in 2009. The tournament, which has been around for decades, is now relocating to Colombia as America's dominance in the sport declines and global appeal surges.
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Originally published on Thu January 3, 2013 6:16 am

Throughout most of its 86 years, Los Angeles' premier tennis tournament attracted the biggest names in the game. But over the years, stars stopped coming, and so did fans.

Now the Farmers Classic, which has been in L.A. since 1927, is headed to Bogota after it was bought by a Colombian sports marketing and entertainment company.

"There's a big hole in my heart. And believe me, this is something we didn't see coming, I'll be honest," says Bob Kramer, longtime tournament director of the Farmers Classic.

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The Two-Way
4:23 pm
Wed January 2, 2013

How Will President Obama Sign The Fiscal Cliff Bill?

Credit Mandel Ngan / AFP/Getty Images
President Barack Obama steps off Air Force One at Hickam Air Force Base near Honolulu, Hawaii, Wednesday. Obama returned to Hawaii to continue his vacation — prompting questions about how he will sign the fiscal cliff bill.
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Originally published on Thu January 3, 2013 6:43 am

Update at 7:35 a.m ET, Jan. 3. Signed By Autopen:

As many had expected he would, the president did sign the fiscal cliff agreement with an autopen. The bill was back in Washington, D.C., while Obama was in Hawaii on vacation. So, it was signed by an autopen machine that produces a copy of the president's signature. As we outlined earlier, this has been done before.

Our original post — "How Will President Obama Sign The Fiscal Cliff Bill?"

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Science
4:10 pm
Wed January 2, 2013

'Stand Your Ground' Linked To Increase In Homicides

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Credit Joe Burbank / AP
George Zimmerman (left) and his attorney appear in court for a bond hearing in June. Zimmerman's case sparked a nationwide debate about so-called "stand your ground" laws.
Credit Alyson Hurt, Adam Cole & David Schultz/NPR
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Originally published on Thu January 3, 2013 9:54 am

If a stranger attacks you inside your own home, the law has always permitted you to defend yourself. On the other hand, if an altercation breaks out in public, the law requires you to try to retreat. At least, that's what it used to do.

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All Tech Considered
4:10 pm
Wed January 2, 2013

Tech Idea List: Five Nerds To Watch In 2013

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Credit Francis Specker / Landov
Gina Bianchini speaks during a conference in Palm Desert, Calif., in 2010. She is founder of Mightybell, a company she hopes will unlock social media's power by helping small groups organize easily and quickly in the real world.
Credit Jeff Chiu / AP
Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of Internet software and services, speaks at an Apple event in San Francisco, last March.
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Originally published on Thu January 3, 2013 11:32 am

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Middle East
2:43 pm
Wed January 2, 2013

On Multiple Fronts, Russian Jews Reshape Israel

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Credit Oded Balilty / AP
Russian-speaking Israelis mingle at the Soho nightclub in Tel Aviv. The club caters to the Russian-speaking immigrant community, featuring hired dancers and extravagant decorations rarely seen in informal Israel.
Credit Oded Balilty / AP
People gather for a Russian folk music festival in northern Israel in May. About 2,000 immigrants from the former Soviet Union attended the two-day festival, singing Russian standards, barbecuing and drinking vodka.
Credit Oded Balilty / AP
Children of immigrants from the former Soviet Union attend a ballet class in Lod, central Israel. Some prominent ballet dancers left the former Soviet Union for Israel, forming ballet schools and continuing a dance culture highly regarded in their countries of origin.
Credit Oded Balilty / AP
Immigrants from the former Soviet Union practice sword-fighting in full knight armor at a public park in Ramat Gan, central Israel. Medieval combat simulation is popular in ex-Soviet countries, and some immigrants have continued the hobby in Israel.
Credit Oded Balilty / AP
Russian-speaking Israeli immigrants train at a boxing club in Ashdod, a southern Israeli city heavily populated by immigrants from the former Soviet Union.
Credit Oded Balilty / AP
A choir practices in a government-funded elderly care facility catering to Russian-speaking immigrants in Ashdod. The choir sings Russian standards and Israeli folk songs translated into Russian.
Credit Oded Balilty / AP
Canned sardines are served at a family dinner at the home of Moldovan immigrant Puma Rotner in Ashdod. Rotner left her native city of Bendery in Moldova in 2006, bringing her dishes and silverware to Israel.
Credit Oded Balilty / AP
Bella Perlin (center) and Avraham Shapiro (left), Belarusian immigrants, eat breakfast at their home in Hadera, northern Israel. They moved to Israel in 1991 at the height of the wave of immigration from the former Soviet Union.
Credit Oded Balilty / AP
Alexandra Bahman, who immigrated to Israel from Moldova in 2006, sits in her bedroom with her cat in Ashdod. Bahman left Moldova with the carpet and photos that now decorate her bedroom walls.
Credit Oded Balilty / AP
Two immigrants from the Ural region of the former Soviet Union rinse off after bathing in the Mediterranean Sea on an early December morning in Tel Aviv. Many Soviet immigrants gather at the beach for a traditional winter dip, the closest substitute to the freezing waters of the former Soviet Union.
Credit Oded Balilty / AP
Acrobats wait in a dressing room before their show at L'Chaim, a Russian restaurant in Ashdod. Many circus performers in Israel emigrated from the former Soviet Union, and acrobatic shows are a unique feature of Russian restaurants in Israel.
Credit Oded Balilty / AP
People attend a 2011 New Year's party catering to the upper crust of Israel's Russian-speaking immigrant community, in Tel Aviv.
Credit Oded Balilty / AP
An employee of the Mizra pork factory poses with a pig's head in a refrigerated warehouse in Kibbutz Mizra, northern Israel. The million-strong Soviet immigrant community has increased customer demand for pork in the country, a nonkosher food rarely eaten by Israeli Jews.
Credit Oded Balilty / AP
Russian-speaking Israelis mingle at the Soho nightclub in Tel Aviv. The club caters to the Russian-speaking immigrant community, featuring hired dancers and extravagant decorations rarely seen in informal Israel.
Credit Oded Balilty / AP
Gymnasts from Russian-speaking immigrant families warm up at a gymnastics competition organized for Israel's immigrant community, in the southern resort city of Eilat. Most of Israel's Olympic gymnasts are immigrants from the former Soviet Union.
Credit Oded Balilty / AP
A waiter serves traditional Russian food at a seaside restaurant in Ashdod, a southern Israeli city heavily populated by immigrants from the former Soviet Union.
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Originally published on Sun January 6, 2013 7:54 am

Many signs are in the Cyrillic alphabet. The men and women sitting in the cafes are speaking Russian. The shops sell vodka, black bread, pickled herring and Russian-brewed Baltika beer. You have to pinch yourself to remember where you are.

This scene, with all its echoes of the former Soviet Union, is not in St. Petersburg or Vladivostok, or anywhere else in that vast sweep of bleak northern lands. It is in Ashdod, Israel, a palm-lined, pastel-colored port city that sprawls along the mild shores of the Mediterranean.

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National Security
2:34 pm
Wed January 2, 2013

At $130 Million A Plane, Critics Question The Cost Of The F-35

Credit Roslan Rahman / AFP/Getty Images
Visitors look at a Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jet at the Singapore Airshow in 2010. The cost of the plane keeps on rising and is now $130 million or more per plane, depending on the model.
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Originally published on Wed January 2, 2013 6:51 pm

Second of two parts

In a mile-long building on the edge of Fort Worth, Texas, an assembly line is taking shape to build the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Lockheed Martin, which got the contract to build the jet back in 2001, is slowly cranking up production. It's hard to keep a plane current, when it takes so many years to develop.

But Lockheed's Kevin McCormack says the F-35 is designed to change as technology evolves.

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It's All Politics
2:29 pm
Wed January 2, 2013

Bidding Adieu To Congressional Trailblazers

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Credit J. Scott Applewhite / AP
Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., the nation's most prominent gay politician, speaks in Washington last month about his imminent retirement.
Credit Jacquelyn Martin / AP
Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, delivers her farewell speech to the Senate last month.
Credit Joe Raedle / Getty Images
Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, speaks at the University of South Florida in Tampa in August.
Credit Kevin Winter / Getty Images for AFI
Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, speaks in Culver City, Calif., in June.
Credit Saul Loeb / AFP/Getty Images
Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., last month in Washington.
Credit Drew Angerer / Getty Images
Sen. Joe Lieberman, a Connecticut independent, speaks on Capitol Hill last month.
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Originally published on Wed January 9, 2013 9:15 am

The drama over the fiscal cliff and the familiar up-against-a-deadline dysfunction of Congress have largely overshadowed the leave-taking of some Capitol Hill originals.

So we wanted to remember a few true congressional trailblazers whose long Washington careers are ending. They include the first openly gay member of Congress, a leader of the libertarian movement, the first Jewish candidate to run on a major party presidential ticket, and the most fervent supporter of a U.S. Department of Peace.

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Shots - Health News
2:04 pm
Wed January 2, 2013

Drug Fulfills Promise Of Research Into Cystic Fibrosis Gene

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Credit Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Kalydeco is one of the first drugs that is effective at combating the root causes of a genetic disease.
Credit Jeffrey Sauger
Emily Schaller suffers from cystic fibrosis. New treatments that target the genetic basis of her disease allow her to live an active, healthy life.
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Originally published on Wed January 2, 2013 6:53 pm

The promise of genetic medicine is beginning to be fulfilled, but it's been a long, hard slog.

Take the story of Kalydeco. It's designed to treat people with a lung disease called cystic fibrosis. While not quite a cure, the drug is extremely effective for some CF patients.

But the success of Kalydeco has been more than two decades in the making.

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It's All Politics
1:56 pm
Wed January 2, 2013

Cliff Deal: What We Learned; What Comes Next

Credit J. Scott Applewhite / AP
Although the fiscal cliff deal was passed by majorities in both chambers, it has still drawn criticism from the left and right.
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Originally published on Wed January 2, 2013 3:03 pm

The budget negotiations that led to a frantic New Year's deal on taxes confirmed many lessons about the way Washington works today.

For one thing, many of the most important relationships in the capitol appear to be broken. President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner led negotiations on a budget deal for most of the post-election period, but once again they came up empty.

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