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10:18 pm

Thu December 20, 2012

House Pulls 'Plan B' Tax Measure From The Floor

By Melissa Block

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House Speaker John Boehner's alternative plan to the automatic tax hikes set to take effect at year's end fell short of enough votes to pass. The bill would have placed a higher tax rate on income over $1 million a year.

Shots - Health News

6:50 pm

Thu December 20, 2012

YouTube-Inspired Food Dares: Don't Try This At Home, Kids

Credit YouTube

GloZell demonstrates the chubby bunny challenge.

By editor

Originally published on Wed December 26, 2012 11:20 am

Back in March, we told you about the "cinnamon challenge" — a game of dubious origin that involves eating a tablespoon of cinnamon powder without any liquid to wash it down. Experts at the nation's network of poison centers were warning parents about the game after the number of calls related to teens ages 13 to 19 increased dramatically from 2011. Their symptoms included choking, gagging, vomiting and other respiratory problems.

The Two-Way

6:31 pm

Thu December 20, 2012

In Christmas Message, Queen Elizabeth Returns To 3-D After 59 Years

Credit WPA Pool / Getty Images

Queen Elizabeth II wears 3-D glasses during a visit to the University of Sheffield, in 2010. This year, the queen's annual Christmas message will broadcast in 3-D.

By Bill Chappell

It's All Politics

6:16 pm

Thu December 20, 2012

Financial Ties Bind NRA, Gun Industry

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Credit Joe Raedle / Getty Images

In this photo illustration, a Rock River Arms AR-15 rifle is seen with ammunition.

Credit Scott Olson / Getty Images

AR-15-style rifles are offered for sale at a sporting goods store in Tinley Park, Ill.

By Peter Overby

Originally published on Fri December 21, 2012 10:51 am

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Leaders of the National Rifle Association plan to break their weeklong silence Friday and make their first public comments on the mass shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn.

They say they will be speaking for the NRA's 4 million members. But they will also be speaking for the gun industry, which has close financial ties to the association.

The NRA and the gun industry are reeling after last week's massacre. The primary weapon used — an AR-15-style rifle — is one of the most popular guns in America.

U.S.

5:53 pm

Thu December 20, 2012

Immigration Reform Before Border Control, Experts Say

Credit Ted Robbins / NPR

A hilltop view of the 18-foot fence along the U.S.-Mexico border west of Nogales, Ariz.

By Ted Robbins

Originally published on Wed December 26, 2012 8:10 pm

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Since the mid-1980s, the U.S. Border Patrol has quintupled in size — growing from about 4,000 to more than 20,000 agents.

The government has constructed some 700 miles of fencing and vehicle barriers. It has placed thousands of ground sensors, lights, radar towers and cameras along the border. And Customs and Border Protection is now flying drones and helicopters to locate smuggles and rescue stranded immigrants.

So here's the question: Is the Southwest border secure?

The Picture Show

5:28 pm

Thu December 20, 2012

'Miss Subways': A Trip Back In Time To New York's Melting Pot

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Credit Courtesy of Fiona Gardner

Selsey was Miss Subways January-March 1964

Credit Courtesy of Fiona Gardner

Enid Berkowitz Schwarzbaum at home with her artwork in Valley Stream, N.Y., 2008.

Credit Courtesy of Fiona Gardner

Enid Berkowitz, now in her 80s, was Miss Subways in July 1946.

Credit Courtesy of Fiona Gardner

Berkowitz suns on the roof where she lived in 1944.

Credit Courtesy of Fiona Gardner

Kilpatrick was a model in the mid-1970s.

Credit Courtesy of Fiona Gardner

Today, Marcia Kilpatrick has a jazz radio program on public radio in Portland, Ore.

Credit Courtesy of Fiona Gardner

Peggy Byrne at Church of Our Saviour, New York, N.Y., where she continues to work into her 80s as director of operations.

Credit Courtesy of Fiona Gardner

Byrne in an undated vacation snapshot.

Credit Courtesy of Fiona Gardner

Byrne was Miss Subways March-April 1952.

Credit Courtesy of Fiona Gardner

Selsey was Miss Subways January-March 1964.

Credit Courtesy of Fiona Gardner

A headshot from Selsey's modeling portfolio in the mid 1960s.

Credit Courtesy of Fiona Gardner

Sanora Selsey with her granddaughter at her home in Brooklyn.

Credit Courtesy of Fiona Gardner

Thelma Porter

Credit Photo by Ed Clarity/NY Daily News Archive/Getty Images / Courtesy of Fiona Gardner

Miss Subways Dorothy Calaghan poses in a new subway car at Willis Point.

Credit Courtesy of Fiona Gardner

In 1948, Thelma Porter became the first African-American Miss Subways.

By editor

Originally published on Thu May 2, 2013 7:13 pm

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For more than 35 years, riders on the New York City subways and buses during their daily commute were graced with posters of beaming young women. While the women featured in each poster — all New Yorkers — were billed as "average girls," they were also beauty queens in the nation's first integrated beauty contest: Miss Subways, selected each month starting in 1941 by the public and professionally photographed by the country's leading modeling agency.

It's All Politics

5:27 pm

Thu December 20, 2012

House Republicans Face Threat Of Primary Challenges In 'Plan B' Vote

Credit John Hanna / AP

Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kan., shown in 2010, has said he would deserve a primary challenge if he voted for House Speaker John Boehner's "fiscal cliff" proposal, which would extend the Bush-era tax cuts only on income of less than $1 million.

By Tamara Keith

Originally published on Thu December 20, 2012 10:18 pm

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House Republicans are under a lot of pressure.

House Speaker John Boehner and his leadership team are urging them to support his "Plan B" to avoid the automatic tax hikes of the "fiscal cliff." But they're also facing pressure from outside groups that could mount primary challenges against them if they do.

Boehner argues his plan — which would allow the Bush-era tax cuts to stay in place for income under $1 million a year — isn't a tax increase. But a number of conservative groups have come to a very different conclusion.

Movie Reviews

5:04 pm

Thu December 20, 2012

'Jack Reacher': Well Beyond Cruise's Grasp

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Credit Karen Ballard / Paramount Pictures

Helen (Rosamund Pike) and Reacher (Tom Cruise) work together after being summoned by an accused killer.

Credit Karen Ballard / Paramount Pictures

Emerson (David Oyelowo) helps investigate the case, which is much more complicated than it appears.

By Stephanie Zacharek

Whenever James Stewart played a character, he was always a little bit James Stewart; that's a good thing. Cary Grant was always a little bit Cary Grant — also a good thing. But Tom Cruise, through a career that's spanned some 30 years, is almost always very much Tom Cruise. And that, particularly in Jack Reacher, can be a very tiresome thing.

Movie Reviews

5:03 pm

Thu December 20, 2012

Reliving An 'Impossible' Catastrophe

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Credit Jose Haro / Summit Entertainment

Maria (Naomi Watts) and Lucas (Tom Holland) are ripped from their family by a tsunami.

Credit Jose Haro / Summit Entertainment

The Impossible is based on the true story of a family's brush with disaster while vacationing in the Pacific.

By editor

Starring flying debris and surging walls of water, The Impossible takes the template of the old-timey disaster movie, strips it to the bone and pumps what's left up to 11.

Decades ago, perched in front of Earthquake and The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno, audiences were rewarded with thrills that depended on fleshed-out characters (Steve McQueen as a fire chief!) and multiple interconnected storylines. How pampered we were.

Movie Reviews

5:03 pm

Thu December 20, 2012

Sparks Of '60s Spirit, And Then A Slow 'Fade'

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Credit Barry Wetcher / Paramount Pictures

Wells (Will Brill, from left), Joe (Brahm Vaccarella), Douglas (John Magaro) and Eugene (Jack Huston) try to make it big as a rock band in the 1960s.

Credit Barry Wetcher / Paramount Pictures

Grace Dietz (Bella Heathcote) and Douglas discover the highs and lows of young love.

By Mark Jenkins

Basically, Not Fade Away is the saga of a 1960s teenager who plans to become a rock star, but slowly realizes he won't. The movie is set mostly in the New York suburbs. So why does it open in South London, where two lads — you may know them as Mick and Keith — bond over imported blues LPs?

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