Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s choice of a veteran black politician to fill President-elect Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat could be a shrewd move, potentially helping win over black lawmakers eyeballing his impeachment and perhaps even jurors in his corruption case. But is the appointment enough to save the embattled two-term Democrat in the face of nearly universal opposition?
“There’s no empathy for him because he’s done a good thing,” said state Sen. Donne Trotter, a black Democrat from Chicago who would vote whether to convict Blagojevich if the Illinois House impeached …

Hundreds of thousands of revelers packed a frigid Times Square for the descent of the famous Waterford crystal ball on Wednesday, eager to say goodbye to 2008 and hoping to put the nation’s economic troubles in the past.
The wind chill made it feel like 1 degree in the area, but that didn’t deter the throngs who were cloaked in fur hats and sleeping bags.
“We’re worried about the economy but hoping for the best,” said Lisa Mills, of Danville, Ohio.
Mills and her husband, Ken, took her 17-year-old daughter, Kara, to Times …

Millions of cable TV subscribers might see more than a dozen channels from MTV to Comedy Central go dark at a minute past midnight Wednesday if a dispute over carriage fees between Viacom Inc. and Time Warner Cable Inc. spills into the new year.
Time Warner, the nation’s second-largest cable operator, proposed an increase in what it pays for Viacom’s channels, but the offer was rejected as “a pittance,” said Viacom spokeswoman Kelly McAndrew.
High-level phone talks continued Wednesday night.
The impasse, coming at the end of a three-year contract, threatened to blank …

The last trading day of 2008 on Wall Street provided a merciful end to an abysmal year — the worst since the Great Depression, wiping out $6.9 trillion in stock market wealth.
Six years of stock gains disappeared as the economy crumbled and markets crashed around the globe, shaking the confidence of professional and individual investors alike.
But the year’s chaos went far beyond the stock market. Credit markets that drive lending became paralyzed, plunging the country further into recession and touching off an unprecedented rush for the safety of Treasury bills, …

Late on Christmas Eve, one last wish was sent, by e-mail: Please let NASA Administrator Michael Griffin keep his job. It was from his wife. Rebecca Griffin, who works in marketing, sent her message with the subject line “Campaign for Mike” to friends and family. It asked them to sign an online petition to President-elect Barack Obama “to consider keeping Mike Griffin on as NASA Administrator.”
She wrote, “Yes, once again I am embarrassing my husband by reaching out to our friends and ‘imposing’ on them…. And if this is inappropriate, …