John Rosen, Doctor Who Pushed to Prevent Lead Poisoning, Dies at 77

Dr. John F. Rosen, a pediatrician whose discovery of high levels of lead poisoning among the New York City children he treated propelled him to campaign for a national effort to prevent the condition, died on Dec. 7 in Greenwich, Conn. He was 77. The cause was colon cancer, his wife, Margaret, said. When he arrived at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx in 1969, Dr. Rosen was mainly...

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DealBook: Sprint Reaches Deal to Buy Out Clearwire

Sprint announced on Monday that it had reached an agreement to buy the nearly 50 percent stake in Clearwire that it did not already own for $2.97 a share — a bump up from the $2.90 a share that was offered on Thursday.The improved $2.2 billion offer, Sprint said, represents a premium of 128 percent over Clearwire’s stock price in early October before speculation emerged — following SoftBank‘s investment...

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The Lede Blog: Sunday Coverage of Newtown School Shooting

Two days after the massacre at a school in Newtown, Conn., a shattered community headed off to church in the misty rain, only to have one service interrupted by death threats that forced the evacuation of the church during noon Mass. Investigators continued their struggle to understand what could have prompted Adam Lanza’s rampage. There were reports that at least one child’s funeral would be held...

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Dr. William F. House, Inventor of Cochlear Implant, Dies

Dr. William F. House, a medical researcher who braved skepticism to invent the cochlear implant, an electronic device considered to be the first to restore a human sense, died on Dec. 7 at his home in Aurora, Ore. He was 89. The cause was metastatic melanoma, his daughter, Karen House, said. Dr. House pushed against conventional thinking throughout his career. Over the objections of...

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As Gold Is Spirited Out of Afghanistan, Officials Wonder Why

Zalmai for The New York TimesA Kabul jewelry shop. Officials are concerned about gold being flown out of Afghanistan. KABUL, Afghanistan — Packed into hand luggage and tucked into jacket pockets, roughly hewed bars of gold are being flown out of Kabul with increasing regularity, confounding Afghan and American officials who fear money launderers have found a new way to spirit funds from the country....

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Adam Lanza Forced His Way Into Connecticut School, Police Say

The principal and another staff member at an elementary school in Connecticut rushed a gunman who had forced his way inside, an act of courage that cost both of them their lives, the school superintendent said on Saturday. The gunman killed 26 people, 20 of them children, in the nation’s second-deadliest school shooting. The principal, Dawn Hochsprung, 47, of Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown,...

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As Conn. story unfolds, media struggle with facts

NEW YORK (AP) — The scope and senselessness of the Newtown, Conn., school shooting challenged television journalists' ability to do much more than lend, or impose, their presence on the scene.Pressed with the awful urgency of the story, TV, along with other media, fell prey to reporting "facts" that were often in conflict or wrong.How many people were killed? Which Lanza brother was the shooter: Adam...

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School Yoga Class Draws Religious Protest From Christians

T. Lynne Pixley for The New York TimesMiriam Ruiz during a yoga class last week at Paul Ecke Central Elementary School in Encinitas, Calif. A few dozen parents are protesting that the program amounts to religious indoctrination. More Photos »ENCINITAS, Calif. — By 9:30 a.m. at Paul Ecke Central Elementary School, tiny feet were shifting from downward dog pose to chair pose to warrior pose in surprisingly...

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Microsoft Battles Google by Hiring Political Brawler Mark Penn

SEATTLE — Mark Penn made a name for himself in Washington by bulldozing enemies of the Clintons. Now he spends his days trying to do the same to Google, on behalf of its archrival Microsoft. Since Mr. Penn was put in charge of “strategic and special projects” at Microsoft in August, much of his job has involved efforts to trip up Google, which Microsoft has failed to dislodge from its...

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The Lede Blog: Latest Updates on the School Shooting in Connecticut

As our colleagues report, 27 people, including 18 children, have been shot at an elementary school with more than 700 students in Newtown, a small town in southwestern Connecticut, about 65 miles from New York City, police officials said.The Lede is providing live coverage of the shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary Scho...

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