News Updates

“I don’t know what to order,” my friend told me over lunch recently. We were sitting in a great new Italian Restaurant near my office. “I know,” I replied, scanning the menu. “Everything looks terrific!” “Yeah, but everything is bad for you!” she exclaimed, practically in tears. “I’m passing on the veal—red meat causes cancer. And the eggplant parmesan—cheese has fat, which gives you high cholesterol. And the bread plate—carbs give you diabetes. I can’t eat anything! And I’m really hungry!” With those kinds of fears, it’s a wonder my “health-conscious” friend didn’t die of starvation: no protein, and no fat, and no carbs? What’s left? Fortunately, as author of Eat This, Not That!, I was able to calm her lunch plate panic, and explain that most of what we consider “bad for you” foods aren’t bad for you at all—they’re just innocent victims of well-intentioned misinformation. A well-balanced diet, combined with some smart choices, is all you need to lose pounds and keep m...

TUCSON , Ariz. – The parents of a man charged with trying to assassinate an Arizona congresswoman are devastated and guilt-ridden, a neighbor said, mourning their own tragedy as Tucson residents prepare Tuesday for a week of funerals and a visit from the president. Jared Loughner's mother has been in bed, crying nonstop since Saturday, neighbor Wayne Smith, 70, told KPHO-TV. Amy and Randy Loughner want to know where they went wrong with their 22-year-old son, who is charged with trying to kill U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and killing a federal judge. "I told them they didn't fail. They taught him everything about right and wrong," Smith said. "We all know you can teach someone everything and have no control how it works out." Roxanne Osler, of Tucson, whose son was a friend of Jared Loughner's, said he had a bad relationship with his parents and had distanced himself from family. "What Jared did was wrong. But people...

Philadelphia Eagles star wideout DeSean Jackson (notes) questioned Michael Vick's (notes) decision to run a play rather than spike the ball with Philly driving for a potential game-winning touchdown with 44 seconds remaining in Sunday's NFC wild-card game. Vick ended up throwing an interception into the end zone on the first-down play, sealing a victory for the visiting Green Bay Packers . Said Jackson of Vick's choice to throw rather than stop the clock (via Philly.com): "I just felt, the last couple of plays, we just kind of rushed it. We didn't really have to rush it. We had 40 seconds, or whatever. We could have downed the ball and regrouped and just come back and not rushed it." (In case it wasn't clear, when Jackson says "we" he means "Vick.") [ Video: DeSean Jackson interrupts Aaron Rodgers' interview for postgame hug ] The intended target of the pass, Riley Cooper (notes) , agreed in principle with his r...

Within an hour of Saturday's tragic shooting in Arizona, the Twittersphere had quickly seized on a map put out by Sarah Palin's political action committee last year that had gun-sight images over the congressional districts of House Democrats she wanted to win for the GOP in 2010. Among her targets: Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona, who was critically wounded by a gunman Saturday. His motives, authorities say, are not fully known. But friends of the suspect, Jared Loughner , have suggested that he had held a grudge for at least three years against Giffords dating back to when he met her in 2007. Still, some believe that incendiary rhetoric like Palin's bears some responsibility in the tragedy. Giffords herself had previously raised concerns about Palin's map: "The way that she has it depicted has the cross hairs of a gun sight over our district. When people do that, they have got to realize there are consequences to that action." [ P...

Billionaire Warren Buffett has made Omaha, Neb ., synonymous with savvy stock investing, but the city is also highly attractive for those seeking an affordable lifestyle. In fact, the Midwestern metro ranks No. 1 on our Best Bargain Cities list. What do we mean by a bargain? The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines it as an "advantageous deal." On that score Omaha qualifies, thanks to a list-leading combination of affordable real estate and a healthy ratio of income to living costs. To compile our bargain city list, we started with the 50 largest U.S. Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) and then compiled a mix of data aimed at handicapping the overall affordability of living in each. In Pictures: America's Most Affordable Cities We looked at the current median asking price of homes on the market in each city, using data from Altos Research, a San Francisco -based real estate research firm. We got the median salaries of workers with bachelor's degrees or...

Well, that's that. After more than three years of rumors, speculation, and plain old wishful thinking, Verizon Wireless finally announced Tuesday that it will soon be offering its own version of the iPhone, bringing AT&T's long monopoly on the wildly popular handset to an end. The long-expected news came at a packed press conference at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City, just a couple of days after the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas wrapped up. Verizon's jubilant CEO, Lowell McAdam, was joined onstage by Apple COO Tim Cook (no sign of Steve Jobs, by the way) and Verizon Wireless CEO Dan Meade. McAdam confirmed that discussions to bring the iPhone to Verizon began as early as 2008. The iPhone 4 will become available for pre-order for existing Verizon subscribers on February 3, with general availability to begin on February 10. The 16GB version of the iPhone will sell for $199, with the 32GB to cost $299—both with a two-year contract. Details...

When the Denver Broncos recently announced the hire of former all-time quarterback John Elway as their new Executive Vice President of Football Operations, it marked an entirely new way of doing things than we had seen under the ineffectively secretive Josh McDaniels or in the history of the NFL. All of a sudden, Elway popped up on Twitter, announcing everything from the names of new potential head coach candidates to his thoughts on the future of quarterback Tim Tebow (notes) . It's been refreshing for fans, and a look in the eye to those NFL organizations who believe that CIA-level confidentiality must accompany every single move they make - down to a change in the brand of bathroom tissue in the coach's office lavatory. [ Rewind: NHL implements social media innovations ] Now, Elway and his team have upped the ante when it comes to giving the fans an inside view. They've posted snippets of the pre-interviews with current interim coach Eric Studesville ...

My apartment is neither particularly large nor small for New York City standards. Its rent isn't shockingly high or low; its location isn't either desirable or damnable. It's a small slice of real estate mediocrity and it's also my proudest New York triumph. More from CNNMoney.com : • Your Favorite Products - Now 20% Smaller • Resolution: Lose Weight - Not Money • How to Slay New Checking Account Fees [Click here to check home equity rates in your area.] Living roommate-free in its quirky, wallpapered walls is by far the biggest financial luxury a girl like me can have. You see, in New York, roommates are an inescapable fact of life for those not blessed with a trust fund or a lucrative drug-pushing business. But my decision to live alone came after years of clingy boyfriends and loony roommates. I once had a roommate that would drunkenly throw up in the bathtub and not clean it up until the next day. Another put a dead pet rat in the freezer in...

BRISBANE, Australia – Greg Kowald was driving through the center of Toowoomba when a terrifying, tsunami-like wall of water roared through the streets of the northeast Australian city. Office windows exploded, cars careened into trees and bobbed in the churning brown water like corks. The deluge washed away bridges and sidewalks; people desperately clung to power poles to survive. Before it was over, the flash flood left at least 10 dead and 78 missing. "The water was literally leaping, six or 10 feet into the air, through creeks and over bridges and into parks," Kowald, a 53-year-old musician, told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "There was nowhere to escape, even if there had been warnings. There was just a sea of water about a kilometer (half a mile) wide." The violent surge in Toowoomba brought the overall death toll from weeks of flooding in Queensland state to 20, a sudden acceleration in a crisis that had been unfolding gradua...

See which degrees you can bank on for job security and good pay in the long run. Looking for a solid financial future? While there are no guarantees in today's world, getting a degree that promises job security and good pay - in good times and bad - is what many people are seeking to do. But how do you know which degree to pick? To determine our list of degrees you can bank on, we took a look at job security data from various sources. We also looked at Pay Scale's 2010-2011 College Salary Report, which analyzed over 100 college majors to see what average salaries come with each bachelor's degree. The results are clear: some degrees greatly outperform others. [Click here to find the right degree program] Read on for six degrees that offer job security and growth potential - in the long run. Degree #1 - Business Starting Salary: $41,100 Mid-Career Salary: $70,600 Long considered the old reliable of college degrees, studying business gives you a firm foundatio...