The World - Jan. 14, 2010

THURSDAY

Two more victims of the September 11, 2001, attacks have been identified through DNA tests of human remains from the World Trade Center site. More than eight years after terrorists hijacked two jetliners and killed 2,759 people, 8,976 human remains are still being tested in order to be linked to a victim.

Alabama claimed its first college football national championship since 1992 when they defeated Texas 37-21 in the BCS championship game at the Rose Bowl.

New Jersey’s state Senate defeated a bill that would have legalized same-sex marriage. The Senate, after an afternoon of debate, voted 20 to 14 against the bill.

Newark Liberty International Airport was shut down for hours because of a security scare caused by a man who slipped into a secure area to give a woman a goodbye kiss.

FRIDAY

Florida’s citrus crop again escaped widespread destruction from an overnight freeze, but some damage was reported to fruit, especially in northern growing areas. Sub-freezing temperatures have hit the Sunshine State which produces more than three-quarters of the U.S. orange crop.

U.S. regulators closed Horizon Bank of Bellingham. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp said Horizon Bank had approximately $1.3 billion in total assets and $1.1 billion in total deposits. The failure is expected to cost the FDIC’s insurance fund a total of $539.1 million.

Tribune Co.’s Los Angeles Times said it would close its printing operations in Orange County, California, resulting in about 80 layoffs, as part of cost-cutting measures.Other cost-cutting measures at the paper include eliminating the stand-alone business section on Mondays and reducing the width of the newspaper to 44 inches from 48 inches.

Some 1,500 Elvis Presley fans braved 11-degree temperatures to celebrate the late rock’n’roll legend’s 75th birthday on Friday at his Graceland shrine.

WEEKEND

A 6.5-magnitude earthquake hit off the coast of northern California on Saturday. There were no immediate reports of damage from the offshore quake, which was 22 miles west-northwest of Ferndale, which is 265 miles north of San Francisco.

Art Clokey, the creator of the bendable sensation and pop culture icon Gumby dies in his home in San Rafael, Calif., at the age of 88.

Norman Buwalda, a 66-year-old collector of wild animals, was found dead in the pen of his 650-pound pet tiger, after apparently being mauled to death on Sunday afternoon at the property in western Ontario.

MONDAY

Rep. Brendan Williams of Olympia Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles of Seattle and Rep. Mary Helen Roberts introduced bills into the Legislature to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana by adults, making it a civil infraction subject to a $100 fine that could be paid by mail, like a traffic ticket. They said the move would save an estimated $16 million in court and jail costs and raise about $1 million yearly.

After years of speculation, Mark McGwire admitted to using steroids when he broke baseball’s home run record in 1998. McGwire hit a then-record 70 homers in 1998 to break the record of Roger Maris, who had hit 61 dingers in 1961. McGwire retired with 583 homers and ranks eighth on the all-time list.

TUESDAY

The latest count of Americans receiving food stamp benefits released today shows one in eight people are enrolled in the federal anti-hunger program.

Chicago police reopened the unsolved 1939 murder of Edward O’Hare, the lawyer who put the finger on gangster Al Capone for tax evasion.

Wild horses tore up a cemetery in Green River, Wyo., this week, leaving mounds of manure on the lawn and toppling monuments and headstones.

WEDNESDAY

A 7.0 magnitude earthquake rocked Haiti, killing possibly thousands of people as it toppled the presidential palace and hillside shanties alike and left the Caribbean nation appealing for international help. The quake’s epicenter was 10 miles from Port-au-Prince.

Abduwali Abdukhadir Muse, a Somali teenager extradited to New York last year on charges he attempted to hijack a U.S. ship in the Indian Ocean, pleaded not guilty to taking part in two additional attacks.

North Korea announces it is opening its borders to visitors from the United States, increasing the trickle of tourists from its sworn enemy who provide the reclusive state with hard cash.