Oscar: Meryl Streep collected her 18th Oscar nomination this morning, again for playing a woman with a heavy accent, this time in “August Osage County”. She’s won three times. For Best Picture: “12 Years a Slave”, “American Hustle”, “Captain Phillips”, …

The Gavel: A federal judge in Oklahoma has struck down the state’s ban on same-sex marriage, but hold the wedding bells. The judge set aside his own order to give the state a chance to appeal. The decision was not …

Jersey Shore: Federal examiners are looking into whether Gov. Chris Christie’s administration improperly used a portion of $25 million given the state to promote tourism following Hurricane Sandy. The winning bid of $4.7 million for an advertising campaign was $2 …

World: Iran, the US, and six world powers have reached an agreement to temporarily freeze much of Iran’s nuclear development program. The deal goes into effect Jan. 20. Iran’s stock of weapons grade enriched uranium would be diluted so it …

Bean Ball: Yankee third baseman Alex Rodriguez, the highest paid player in the game, has been suspended for the full 2014 season for using performance-enhancing drugs. It’s the longest suspension for doping in baseball history.  Major League Baseball had sought …

Lane Change: Documents released by the New Jersey legislature reveal a concerted effort by state officials to cover up a plot to snarl traffic entering the George Washington Bridge last September.   In an act of political revenge on the Democratic …

Econ 101: The economy added only 74,000 new jobs in December, the smallest number in three years, but the unemployment rate fell to 6.7 percent. Analysts had expected 200,000 new jobs, the same as previous months, but bad weather may …

Bridge Collapse: Leaked emails indicate that Gov. Chris Christie’s staff helped engineer a traffic jam at the George Washington Bridge last September in an act of retribution against the Democratic mayor of Ft. Lee, NJ. An Aug. 13 email from …

Nation: Eighty retired NY City cops and firefighters were charged yesterday with fraudulently claiming Social Security disability payments. Many of them claimed psychiatric disorders as a result of the 9/11 attacks, including post-traumatic stress, anxiety and depression. The amount of …

But It Feels Like: The National Weather Service says a dangerous cold front is still affecting two-thirds of the eastern US. It was 15 below overnight in Minneapolis and 17 below in Chicago. In Buffalo, the temperature dropped from 2 …