Companies that marketed “light” cigarettes may be sued, the Supreme Court ruled in a 5-to-4 decision.

Top Court Lets Smokers Sue for Fraud

Price cuts are welcome at the pump, but delays may cut future supplies, setting the stage for another price surge.

Big Oil Projects Put in Jeopardy by Fall in Prices

Having prostate cancer makes you feel like you’ve been reduced to an abstraction, merely a wrinkle in the business of repairing prostates.

Person, Patient, Statistic

The creators of the car parts incubator, which can be built for less than $1,000, say it could prevent millions of newborn deaths in the developing world.

Looking Under the Hood and Seeing an Incubator

Around the country, nonprofits are reeling from the Madoff scandal.

Wall St. Fraud Leaves Charities Reeling

Is gift-giving a competition, an art, an expression of affection? That depends on the gift, and the giver.

Tips From the Potlatch, Where Giving Knows No Slump

Michael S. Dell’s weariness toward questions about what has gone wrong at his company, once the world’s largest PC vendor, is understandable.

Dell Trails Its Rivals in the Worst of Times

There are growing concerns that the automakers’ problems in the United States will weigh down their more successful units in Europe, Asia and Latin America.

Global Car Industry Fearful for Detroit

The tapes of Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich talking about benefiting from his Senate pick may fall into a legal gray area.

In Blagojevich Case, Is It a Crime, or Just Talk?

Officials who had refused to risk taxpayers’ money on Lehman Brothers before it collapsed did just that after it collapsed. The mystery loan is one piece of a larger puzzle.

How the Fed Reached Out to Lehman

Arne Duncan is known for taking tough steps to improve schools while maintaining respectful ties with unions.

Schools Chief From Chicago Is Cabinet Pick

Investigators have found no evidence so far that members of Bernard L. Madoff’s family aided in what may be the largest financial fraud in history, according to a person briefed on the case.

Inquiry Finds No Signs Family Aided Madoff

The cartel will slash its oil production by a further 2 million barrels a day, the Saudi oil minister said.

OPEC Plans Further Output Cut

Having reduced its key rate to a record low, the Fed said that it would use “all available tools” to fight the recession and downward pressure on prices.

Fed Cuts Key Rate to a Record Low

In bolstering authoritarian regimes in neighboring states, the Kremlin helps create the illusion of democracy.

Electoral Rot Nearby? The Russians Don’t See It

When baking cookies, the most common mistakes made by home bakers, professionals say, have to do with the care and handling of butter.

Butter Holds the Secret to Cookies That Sing

Rocco DiSpirito has, for a segment of the gastronomic elite, come to embody the talented chef who squanders his gifts in the scattershot pursuit of fame and fortune.

Taking Heat for Not Cooking

The actors in the National Theater of Scotland’s production of “Black Watch,” which closes Sunday, are sharing their final beers before going their separate ways.

A Band of Brothers With Camaraderie Forged on the Boards

Renee A. Reijo Pera works at ground zero of the controversy over human embryonic stem cells and hopes to make fertility treatments safer.

Using Embryos to Put Fertility First

Though it may count as a corporate finance achievement, Rupert Murdoch’s gambit for Dow Jones has played out poorly for his investors.

Murdoch Investors Are Groaning

Leaders of the Screen Actors Guild came under pressure from a roster of A-list stars to call off plans for a vote to approve a possible strike against studios.

Actors Petition Their Guild to Cancel Vote Over Strike

As the marketplace for their albums continues to dry up, more bands are lending their song libraries and likenesses to video games.

Shred Along With Metallica in New Video Game

HBO is Oprah Winfrey’s choice for scripted television.

It’s Not Just HBO, It’s Oprah TV

Got a hankering to see hundreds of jazz, rock and R&B musicians perform in a bayou location over two weekends? The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival has announced the lineup for its 2009 events, and it’s almost easier to list the artists who aren’t performing than those who are: the roster includes headliners like Wynton Marsalis, Aretha Franklin, Dave Matthews Band and James Taylor, as well as the country duo Sugarland, the soul singer Solomon Burke, the Southern rock band Drive-By Truckers, and Mr. Music himself, Tony Bennett. The festival runs from April 24 to 26 and April 30 to May 3, and a full list of performers can be found online at nojazzfest.com; tickets can be purchased at that Web site and at ticketmaster.com, or by calling (800) 745-3000.

Festival Lineup Is Set for New Orleans

A holiday concert scheduled for Tuesday night featuring the soprano Deborah Voigt and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s was canceled because, the hall said, Ms. Voigt had a throat infection. The concert will not be rescheduled. Purchases made by phone or online will be automatically refunded. Those who bought their tickets in person can return them to the box office for a refund. ... The Joyce Theater has announced its spring season, featuring a dozen companies and an appearance by Savion Glover. Mr. Glover will introduce his Hooferz style, a combination of tap dance and flamenco music, as part of “Savion Glover’s Solo in Time,” which is to run from March 3 through 22. Other highlights include performances by the Nederlands Dans Theater II, the Joe Goode Performance Group (featuring puppetry by Basil Twist), and Ballet-Tech, with artistic direction by Eliot Feld, a founder of the Joyce. A full schedule is at joyce.org.

December 16, 2008

Headlines from December 16, 2008

Top Court Lets Smokers Sue for Fraud

Big Oil Projects Put in Jeopardy by Fall in Prices

Person, Patient, Statistic

Looking Under the Hood and Seeing an Incubator

Wall St. Fraud Leaves Charities Reeling

Billboard 200

808s & Heartbreak

Fearless

Chinese Democracy

I Am...Sasha Fierce

Theater Of The Mind

Historical Context for December 16, 2008