WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich said Thursday he is willing to go before the NAACP and urge blacks to demand paychecks, not food stamps.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is highlighting companies that have returned jobs to the U.S. and he says that's one more way of putting people back to work.

HONOLULU (AP) — Leaving behind a year of bruising legislative battles, President Barack Obama enters his fourth year in office having calculated that he no longer needs Congress to promote his agenda and may even benefit in his re-election campaign if lawmakers accomplish little in 2012.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — U.S. troops are increasingly using an easy-to-get herbal mix called "Spice," which mimics a marijuana high and can bring on hallucinations that last for days.

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (AP) — President Barack Obama has laid a wreath at a memorial honoring those killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.

NEW YORK (AP) — Verizon Wireless, the country's largest cellphone company, said Thursday that it will start charging $2 for every payment subscribers make over the phone or online with their credit cards.

DETROIT (AP) — Samuel Logan Jr., the publisher of the prominent African-American newspaper the Michigan Chronicle who was known for his dedication to news coverage of the black community and a willingness to make tough stands, has died. He was 78.

HONOLULU (AP) — President Barack Obama exchanged gifts with his family, sang carols and attended church services as he celebrated Christmas in Hawaii.

Bank of America agreed to pay $335 million to resolve allegations that its Countrywide unit engaged in a widespread pattern of discrimination against qualified African-American and Hispanic borrowers on home loans.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has signed legislation extending a payroll tax cut for two months. The action concludes an end-of-year drama that split Republicans and threatened a tax hike on 160 million Americans.