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The Seattle songwriter covers unsettling topics, including teen suicide and his own mother's experience with sexual abuse.

It was a busy year for federal authorities pursuing insider trading cases, such as the one against hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam. Investigators say that success comes largely from their decision to attack insider trading the way they take down the Mafia and drug cartels — with wiretaps, informants and cooperators.

This year has seen an explosion of professional online videos, eclipsing home videos of cats and babies. In 2012, 8 of the top 10 YouTube videos were professional — and Hulu, Netflix and multichannel networks like MiTu all produced exclusive new programming.

Holiday Sales rose by less than 1 percent from the year before, according to MasterCard's SpendingPulse unit. That's the slowest growth in spending since the 2008 recession. Even online sales — which posted double digit gains over the past few years — were lackluster this year.

The call to the online shoe retailer lasted more than 10 hours. For one thing, the customer on the line wanted to know how the Zappos employee likes living in Las Vegas. The conversation even ended with a sale of Uggs boots.

The obesity rate in preschoolers dropped a fraction of a point between 2010 and 2003, a federal study found. Although the change was small, it may signal that the obesity epidemic has peaked.

"I still have to get ready to see how much of the neighborhood I can burn down and do what I like doing best: killing people," William Spenger wrote, according to police. He set a fire at his Webster, N.Y., home, then shot at the first responders. Authorities think Spengler also killed his sister.

The suburban Journal News took publicly available information to produce an interactive database. Critics say the newspaper has treated gun owners as if they are sex offenders.

The House Democratic caucus will include a record number of women and minorities next year. But when it comes to top statewide offices, minorities do better running as Republicans.

Gerry Anderson, the man who created the iconic TV series Thunderbirds in the 1960s, has died, the BBC reports. Anderson, whose work was honored by a special set of moving-image stamps in Britain last year, had suffered from Alzheimer's Disease.