Ken Stanford

City of Gainesville and Hall County offices will be closed Dec. 24-25 for Christmas and both have announced plans for garbage pickup next week and operating hours for the county landfill and trash compactor sites.

The number of people seeking U.S. unemployment benefits rose 10,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 379,000, the highest since March.

Traffic was slowed for a time Wednesday night on Georgia 365 north of Gainesville after a truck hit and killed a bear.

U.S. officials, frustrated that hundreds of military shipments heading out of Afghanistan have been stopped on the land route through Pakistan because of anti-American protests, face the possibility of flying out equipment at an additional cost of $1 billion.

The stock market had a swift and clear reaction to the Federal Reserve's decision to trim its stimulus efforts: This wasn't so bad after all.

A ribbon cutting was held Wednesday afternoon on Washington Street in Gainesville for a reconstruction project the city's Housing Division has been working on.

Sparse crowds at malls and "50 percent off" signs at The Gap, AnnTaylor and other stores give a clue as to how the holiday season is going.