 ((Patrick Tehan/Bay Area News Group)) Commerce Department report shows strong start to holiday shopping season Retail sales for stores and restaurants were up 3.5 percent in November over the previous year, the U.S. Department of Commerce reported Thursday, pointing to a strong kickoff of the holiday shopping season despite earlier gloomy reports that shoppers weren't in a spending mood this year. |
 (Laura A. Oda/Staff) Beastie Boys sue Oakland toy company GoldieBlox The legal battle GoldieBlox thought it had laid to rest escalated on Tuesday when the Beastie Boys sued the Oakland toy company over a copyright dispute after it used the group's song in a video advertisement. |
 (
Craig Ruttle
) One year after Newtown, the gun control debate rages on The year since the Newtown school massacre has seen a boom in business for lobbyists and the gun industry, thousands more U.S. firearms deaths, congressional paralysis and a spate of new state laws that some claim protect the public and others claim infringe on basic rights. |
 (Mercury News archives) California report: Bay Area population gains are strongest in state The Bay Area is the only region in California where more people are moving in from elsewhere in the United States than moving out, another sign of the tech industry's rebound and the creation of more jobs here, with Alameda and Contra Costa counties leading in domestic migration, according to a new state population report released Thursday. |
BUSINESS  (
ANDA CHU
) Tech giants popping up in shopping malls  From Google to Intel and HP, tech giants are descending on malls and shopping outlets to convert less tech-savvy consumers into gadget buyers by allowing them to swipe, type and tinker with the new technology. |
SPORTS  49ers' Aldon Smith readjusting nicely five games back Chatter has subsided about San Francisco 49ers linebacker Aldon Smith's personal issues. Instead, he's again drawing attention for his on-field exploits. |
LOCAL NEWS  (
Doug Duran
) Young couples seek townhouses and condos with an urban feel Buying instead of renting is a decision that’s being made by increasing numbers of young couples, according to experts, and it’s one that has Bay Area builders scrambling to meet the demand |
 Reminder: Muhammad Ali was able to do amazing things Even at age 35, the best boxer in the world still had it. Full Story |
 (Michael Montgomery) Merry mishaps: When holiday decor goes bad Many have dropped the ball while decking the halls. They may have knocked over a Christmas tree or blown fuses with an overabundance of festive bulbs, but these are sometimes the most memorable part of the holidays. |
 (John P. Filo/CBS ) Julie Chen criticizes Jenny McCarthy 'The Talk’ hosts says 'The View’ should not have hired the former Playboy model. |
 (
) Bay Area residents live longer; here's why Bay Area residents are among the nation's longest-lived people, surviving on average more than a decade longer than residents of rural Kentucky, West Virginia or Mississippi. |
 (HERALD FILE) Mi Pueblo files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Mi Pueblo, the festive Bay Area supermarket chain and icon of family-grown Hispanic businesses, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Monday, citing a dispute with its primary lender, Wells Fargo. |
