James and Bosh feel Heat have plenty of room to improve

MIAMI (Reuters) - LeBron James and Chris Bosh feel the defending champion Miami Heat have work to do if they are to reach peak form in time for the National Basketball Association (NBA) playoffs, but both embrace the challenge.The Heat (16-6) trail only the New York Knicks (19-6) in the Eastern Conference just past the quarter-mark of the NBA's regular season but Bosh is well aware his team is not...

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Barring setback, Redskins' RG3 looks good to go

ASHBURN, Va. (AP) — Robert Griffin III looks good to go.The Washington Redskins rookie had a full practice Thursday for the second straight day as the team prepares for this week's game against the Philadelphia Eagles."I like what I see," coach Mike Shanahan said. "If there is no setback, he should be ready to go."Griffin missed Sunday's win over the Cleveland Browns with a sprained right knee. On...

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Placido Polanco agrees to $2.75M deal with Marlins

MIAMI (AP) — Former All-Star third baseman Placido Polanco agreed to a $2.75 million, one-year contract Thursday with the Miami Marlins, plugging the final hole in the team's projected lineup following a payroll purge.The 37-year-old, who can earn an additional $250,000 in performance bonuses, battled injuries this year and hit .257 with two home runs and 19 RBIs in 90 games with the Philadelphia...

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AP IMPACT: Steroids loom in major-college football

WASHINGTON (AP) — With steroids easy to buy, testing weak and punishments inconsistent, college football players are packing on significant weight — 30 pounds or more in a single year, sometimes — without drawing much attention from their schools or the NCAA in a sport that earns tens of billions of dollars for teams.Rules vary so widely that, on any given game day, a team with a strict no-steroid...

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Cleared Minnesota college coach fights suspension

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota college football coach who was cleared of child porn charges is fighting a suspension, his union said Thursday, although neither it nor the university would say what prompted the punishment or shed light on his prospects for reinstatement.Coach Todd Hoffner received a written notice from Minnesota State University, Mankato late Tuesday afternoon about a 20-day unpaid...

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McDonald's Canada Reveals How They Make Famous Fries

McDonald's Canada is at it again, demystifying their french fry recipe "from the farm to all the way to the fryer." In their new behind-the-scenes video, Scott Gibson, manager of the company's supply chain, takes customer questions on their world-famous fries. Gibson addresses the first question asking whether or not the potatoes used by the fast food restaurant are real. Standing in the middle...

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Earnings from McDonald's, Microsoft sink stocks

NEW YORK (AP) -- Poor earnings reports from three companies in the Dow Jones industrial average — Microsoft, General Electric and McDonalds — sent indexes down sharply Friday, marking a sour end to an otherwise strong week in the stock market. McDonald's led a broad drop in the Dow, falling 3 percent. The Dow was down 151 points at 13,397 shortly after noon. "I'm concerned about corporate earnings,...

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Who Owns America’s Debt?

As the U.S. continues to rack up more than $1 trillion of new debt every year, Americans are beginning to worry about who we owe this money to and how much power our creditors have over us. According to Barry P. Bosworth, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, our two biggest foreign creditors are Japan and China. Although it may seem as though our debt to these countries renders us a puppet...

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Google filing error shocks investors, exposes process

SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co handles thousands of securities filings a year for corporate clients in a routine process that is invisible to most investors. On Thursday Google and its shareholders found out just what happens when that process goes wrong. Google issued a statement blaming Donnelley, its filing agent, after the Internet search company's quarterly results...

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US housing construction up 15 percent in September

WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. builders started construction on single-family homes and apartments in September at the fastest rate since July 2008, a further indication that the housing recovery is strengthening. The Commerce Department said Wednesday that builders broke ground on homes at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 872,000 in September. That's an increase of 15 percent from the August level. Applications...

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