The Oakland Press

TROY/BIRMINGHAM – Construction plans for the Troy-Birmingham Multi-Modal Transit Center took a step forward as the U.S. House of Representatives voted 221-200 on Thursday to approve the $447 billion U.S. Transportation, Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill. Full Story »

NEW YORK (AP) — A jump in exports lifted stocks Thursday, offsetting concerns about an increase in unemployment claims. Full Story »

DETROIT (AP) — Stripper Tamara Greene has found more notoriety in death than she ever did dancing under the name “Strawberry” in dimly lit topless clubs and private parties around Detroit. Full Story »

OSLO (AP) — President Barack Obama entered the pantheon of Nobel Peace Prize winners Thursday with humble words, acknowledging his own few accomplishments while delivering a robust defense of war and promising to use the prestigious award to “reach for the world that ought to be.” Full Story »

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm said Thursday she won’t start imposing a $127-per-pupil spending cut this month, giving school districts a holiday gift that could carry over into January. Full Story »

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama as well as Democratic liberals and moderates all found something to like Wednesday in an emerging compromise to expand the role of government in the nation’s health care system, raising hopes inside the party that passage of overhaul legislation might be within reach after a struggle lasting decades. Full Story »

DETROIT (AP) — Detroit’s former mayor is burning through cash — from $158 nail salon visits to leases of luxury vehicles and a suburban Dallas mansion. Full Story »

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Bank of America Corp. said Wednesday it has repaid the entire $45 billion it owed U.S. taxpayers as part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Full Story »

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — General Mills — the maker of Lucky Charms, Trix and Cocoa Puffs — plans to reduce the amount of sugar in its cereals marketed to children. Full Story »

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — A new government report examining whether increased biofuels use could pinch the nation’s water resources says farmers in the Northern Plains use considerably more water to produce a gallon of corn ethanol than growers in other parts of the country. Full Story »

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A fierce storm left dangerous ice, heavy snow and vicious winds in its wake as it slogged eastward Wednesday, snarling traffic and closing hundreds of schools from the Upper Midwest through New England. Full Story »

DECATUR, Ill. (AP) — A longtime central Illinois newspaper reporter is dead of carbon monoxide poisoning. Full Story »

NEW YORK (AP) — Facebook is giving users better control over who sees information on their personal pages. Full Story »

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama called for a major new burst of federal spending Tuesday, perhaps $150 billion or more, aiming to jolt the wobbly economy into a stronger recovery and reduce painfully persistent double-digit unemployment. Full Story »

CHICAGO (AP) — Officials say a week-long search turned up no Asian carp south of Chicago where the invasive fish’s DNA was discovered this fall. Full Story »

WASHINGTON (AP) — House and Senate leaders proposed a compromise plan Tuesday to give shuttered General Motors and Chrysler dealers an appeals process to keep their showrooms open. Full Story »

COPENHAGEN (AP) — This decade is on track to become the warmest since records began in 1850, and 2009 could rank among the top-five warmest years, the U.N. weather agency reported Tuesday on the second day of a pivotal 192-nation climate conference. Full Story »

CHICAGO (AP) — The supersized recession that was a boon for business last year caught up further with McDonald’s Corp. in November, as high unemployment ate into sales. Full Story »

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is promoting help for highways and small businesses, bridges and energy-efficient homes in a broad pitch to get Americans back to work and roll back the double-digit unemployment that’s approaching a quarter-century high, an administration official said Tuesday. Full Story »

As a strong storm barrels across the U.S. from the southwest to the northwest, drivers will want to be alert this evening as forecasters are calling for slippery conditions with snow starting at 7 p.m. and then changing over to rain at 1 a.m. Wednesday. Full Story »

LANSING (AP) — The Michigan House has voted to prohibit the use of cell phones to send text messages while driving. Full Story »

OCOEE, Fla. (AP) — Emergency crews were summoned to Tiger Woods’ Orlando-area mansion for the second time in less than two weeks Tuesday, this time because his mother-in-law was having stomach pains. Full Story »

BOSTON (AP) — A graduate student who must pay four record labels a combined $675,000 in damages for downloading and sharing songs online has been ordered to destroy his illegal music files — but a judge declined to force him to stop promoting the activity that got him in trouble. Full Story »

WINDERMERE, Fla. (AP) — Fire department medics responded early Tuesday to a 911 call at Tiger Woods’ Orlando-area home and took an adult to the hospital. Full Story »

WASHINGTON (AP) — With time growing short, Senate Democratic liberals are seeking expansion of two large federal programs, Medicare and Medicaid, as part of a compromise that drops a government insurance option from health care legislation sought by President Barack Obama, several lawmakers said Monday. Full Story »