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Blair Godbout, Los Angeles Photos, can be reached at 213-626-2500. Tom Gallagher, San Francisco Photos, can be reached at 415-495-1192.
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DEVELOPING:
— EBAY-CRAIGSLIST — Will be led from 7 a.m. trial.
PORN STAR KARAOKE
UNDATED — BURBANK, Calif. — Even the most ardent fans of porn star Julie Meadows are unlikely, it seems safe to say, to have ever seen her like this. But there she is, the star of "Alice in Festishland" and more than 200 other hardcore sex films, standing on a stage, dressed demurely in jeans, matching vest and white top, her blonde hair piled up under a fetching white watchman's cap, belting out an enthusiastic but entirely PG-rated version of that old garage-band rock classic "Wild Thing." By John Rogers.
AP Photos CAJR101-105.
LIVING WITH ROBOTS
PALO ALTO — Eric Horvitz illustrates the potential dilemmas of living with robots by telling the story of how he once got stuck in an elevator at Stanford Hospital with a droid the size of a washing machine. "I remembered thinking, 'Whoa, this is scary,' as it whirled around, almost knocking me down," the Microsoft researcher recalled. "Then, I thought, 'What if I were a patient?' There could be big issues here." By Brooke Donald.
AP Photos NYOL532, CAPS302, CAPS301, WATW301, WATW303, WATW302.
SKY MAPPING SPACECRAFT
LOS ANGELES — NASA's latest space telescope will scan the sky in search of never-before-seen asteroids, comets, stars and galaxies, with one of its main tasks to catalog objects posing a danger to Earth. The sky-mapping WISE, or Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer, is scheduled to launch no earlier than before dawn Friday from Vandenberg Air Force Base on the central California coast aboard a Delta 2 rocket. By Science Writer Alicia Chang.
AP Photo LA201-203.
SEALS-DETAINEE ABUSE
RICHMOND, Va. — Two Navy SEALs are scheduled to be arraigned Monday in military court on charges that they mistreated an Iraqi suspect in the gory slayings of four U.S. contractors in Fallujah. One of the SEALs is accused of punching the detainee after his September arrest, while the other is accused of lying to investigators. A third SEAL also accused of lying to investigators about the episode will be arraigned later. All three men have men have received an outpouring of support from people who view them as heroes. A Facebook page created to support the SEALs had more than 45,000 members as of Friday, and a California congressman is spearheading a campaign to persuade Defense Secretary Robert Gates to intervene. By Larry O'Dell.
BUSINESS:
EBAY-CRAIGSLIST
GEORGETOWN, Del. — Internet heavyweights eBay and Craigslist are set to square off in a Delaware courtroom over a business deal gone bad. A trial was scheduled to begin Monday in a lawsuit filed by Internet auctioneer eBay against Craigslist founder Craig Newmark and CEO Jim Buckmaster. eBay claims the two men, who were the only directors of online classified ads company Craigslist, improperly acted to dilute the minority interest of eBay.
AOL SPINOFF
SAN FRANCISCO — The much-hyped merger blending old and new media ushered in the new decade but didn't survive it. AOL is separating from Time Warner Inc. this week and will try to fend for itself by beefing up Web site content and getting money from online advertising — a strategy few Internet publishers have mastered. By Technology Writer Rachel Metz.
AP Photos.
Also:
— APPLE-LALA — Apple Inc. has purchased online music retailer Lala.com, a Silicon Valley startup that has threatened "the end of the MP3" with its fast song-streaming application.
ENTERTAINMENT:
BOX OFFICE
LOS ANGELES — The football-inspired drama "The Blind Side" has become the underdog hit of the season with a $20.4 million weekend and a box-office victory over "The Twilight Saga: New Moon." The Warner Bros. sports tale had been runner-up for the previous two weekends to Summit Entertainment's vampire romance "New Moon," which fell to second place with $15.7 million. By Movie Writer David Germain.
TV-AMAZING RACE
NEW YORK — Cool thinking at the craps table has won a San Diego couple $1 million on the CBS reality television show "The Amazing Race." Meghan Rickey and her boyfriend, Cheyne Whitney, prevailed in the 15th edition of the Emmy Award-winning game show, which has contestants racing around the world while collecting clues and completing tasks. In the finale, televised Sunday, they beat two other couples to the finish line by being quickest to count out $1 million worth of chips at a Las Vegas casino. By Television Writer David Bauder.
SPORTS:
GLF--CHEVRON CHALLENGE FOLO
THOUSAND OAKS — Jim Furyk dressed in red and played the part, holing a clutch par putt and hitting his best shot of the day on the final hole to win the Chevron World Challenge for his first victory in more than two years. He said the choice of color was a coincidence, not a statement. Even so, it was a fitting conclusion to a week dominated by talk of Tiger Woods. By Golf Writer Doug Ferguson.
AP Photos CAMT113, CAMT112, CAMT108.
FBN--RAIDERS-STEELERS FOLO
PITTSBURGH — The Super Bowl champion Steelers are losing their confidence as fast as they're losing leads and losing games. The Oakland Raiders? Suddenly, they're winning like they did in the old days, with remarkable comebacks and surprise finishes. Louis Murphy caught an 11-yard touchdown pass from Bruce Gradkowski with nine seconds remaining, his second score in the final 5½ minutes, and the Raiders scored three late touchdowns to stun Pittsburgh 27-24 on Sunday and deal the Steelers their fourth consecutive loss. By Sports Writer Alan Robinson.
AP Photos PAKS105, PAGP130, PAKS106, PAKS101.
FBN--CHARGERS-BROWNS FOLO
CLEVELAND — LaDainian Tomlinson walked back into San Diego's locker room to meet the special guest who wanted to offer congratulations. Jim Brown was waiting for him. Tomlinson stiff-armed Cleveland's Hall of Famer out of eighth place on the career rushing list and scored his 150th career TD on a 4-yard run as the Chargers won their seventh straight and 15th in a row in December, beating the Browns 30-23. By Sports Writer Tom Withers.
AP Photos OHMD103, OHMD101.
FBC--T25-ROSE BOWL
PASADENA — Ohio State and Oregon had their New Year's Day plans firmed up several days before the BCS got around to making it official. The Big Ten champion Buckeyes will meet the Pac-10-winning Ducks in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1 in a pleasantly traditional finish to two remarkable seasons. By Sports Writer Greg Beacham.
AP Photos ORRB112, ORRB110.
FBC--SUN BOWL
STANFORD — When Jim Harbaugh arrived at Stanford after the 2006 season, he took over a one-win team that struggled to compete against college football powers. At the end of his third season with the Cardinal, Harbaugh has No. 19 Stanford back in a bowl game for the first time in eight years against one of the game's traditional powers. The Cardinal (8-4) accepted a bid on Sunday to play Oklahoma (7-5) in the Sun Bowl on Dec. 31 in El Paso, Texas. By Sports Writer Josh Dubow.
AP Photos.
Also:
— FBC--POINSETTIA BOWL — California and Utah will meet in the Poinsettia Bowl on Dec. 23 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego.
— FBC--EMERALD BOWL — USC will face Boston College in the Emerald Bowl.
— EAGLE BANK BOWL — Temple will play either Army or UCLA in the EagleBank Bowl on Dec. 29 at RFK Stadium in the nation's capital.
ALSO GETTING ATTENTION:
— PEOPLE-WEEZER — The lead singer of the popular Los Angeles alternative rock band Weezer suffered minor injuries when the group's tour bus hit some ice, skidded across the New York State Thruway, struck a guide rail and slid into a ditch, police said.
— GAS PRICES — The average price of regular gasoline in the United States has dropped 1.24 cents over a two-week period to $2.64.
See Also:
— CALIFORNIA NEWS DIGEST, which moves weekdays at 1:30 p.m.
— CALIFORNIA NEWS DIGEST ADD, which moves weekdays at 4 p.m.
— NEVADA NEWS DIGEST, which moves daily at 1:30 p.m.
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