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JOHN GREEN
) Palo Alto's Merrill Newman, freed by North Korea, lands at SFO  The tense and intriguing international saga of an 85-year-old Palo Alto grandfather with a heart condition and a top-secret past came to an end today when his plane touched down about 9 a.m. at San Francisco International Airport. |
 ( ) Richmond leaders' China, Cuba trips under scrutiny Councilmen Nat Bates and Corky Boozé spent $36,120 of Richmond taxpayer funds on a trade trip to China, while Mayor Gayle McLaughlin and Councilman Tom Butt took a trip to Cuba for $13,000. |
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RAY CHAVEZ
) Review: Vampire Weekend, QOTSA highlight Not So Silent Night Live 105's two-night holiday shindig also offered up AFI, Arctic Monkeys, Kings of Leon. |
 ( ) Disabled would bear brunt of another transit strike BART shutdowns highlighted lack of options, resources for the transit-dependent during a work stoppage |
BUSINESS  (Connie Zhou) Google, Facebook, Twitter bolster digital defenses in wake of NSA revelations Quietly at first, but more vocally in recent months, Google, Facebook and other leading Internet companies have been beefing up their digital defenses in response to reports that the National Security Agency has tracked online communications without the companies' knowledge or cooperation. While Google has led the way in encrypting users' data, privacy advocates say recent moves by other companies are long overdue. And some warn that the companies' efforts may not be a permanent safeguard, as encryption technology continues to evolve. |
SPORTS  (Dan Rosenstrauch/Staff file) Thompson: A promise to Bay Area sports fans Marcus Thompson II introduces himself as the newest voice on the Bay Area sporting scene |
LOCAL NEWS  ( ) Pleasanton: Siren call for last civil defense siren in town A long-inactive siren created to summon volunteer firefighters and to warn of air raids is removed from a pole and fixed up. The future of the city-owned historic device is unknown. |
 Airlift gives 400-plus shelter dogs a second chance The Wings of Rescue 3rd Annual Holiday Airlift whisked 500 shelter pooches aboard 14 flights to 11 cities up to the Pacific Northwest, saving each from near-certain euthanasia. Full Story |
 (Gina Halferty/San Joaquin Herald) Season of giving the perfect time to teach children about charity Even simple acts of charity can touch children and teenagers who participate in giving. Readers share their stories. |
 (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images) Evangeline Lilly upset with magazine's 'butt' reference Women’s Health surprised “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” actress with her cover shot. |
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) 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. |
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Jeff Vendsel
) 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. |
