One less-serious conclusion to draw from the alarming specter of global warming: This might be a good time to go ice skating. But where?

Ice, Served Two Ways: Plain or Glamorous

For the roughly 160 million people who get insurance through an employer, the result of the long, angry health care debate may be just more of the same.

Health Care Changes Wouldn’t Have Big Effect for Many

The law bars soliciting employment from passing drivers by gesturing, waving signs or yelling. Critics say it criminalizes “waving while Latino.”

Town Divides Over Law Aimed at Day Laborers

As temperatures drop, efforts to curb pollution from burning wood are clashing with tradition.

Where There’s Smoke ... There’s a Trade-In

To remain free while on trial, wealthy defendants are paying large sums for round-the-clock monitors. Nick Casale, a former police detective, is one of them.

Bail Sitters

After the Nov. 5 shootings, the post is trying to show that it can care for its frailest and most battle-weary soldiers.

At Fort Hood, Reaching Out to Soldiers at Risk

Microfinancing is becoming a popular way of donating to nonprofits by giving or lending money through an online marketplace of sorts.

Doing Good by Paying Forward

Some lawyers believe a judge might consent to move the trial of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed from Manhattan, but such an outcome is not guaranteed.

Deciding Terror Trial’s Venue Is a Complex Case

As the U.S. has clamped down on sophisticated money-laundering schemes, drug money is being smuggled the old-fashioned way.

Along U.S.-Mexico Border, a Torrent of Illicit Cash

Open Letter Books is a small, year-old press affiliated with the University of Rochester that publishes nothing but literature in translation.

Small Publisher Finds Its Mission in Translation

For the month of January, roughly 500 cabs will display artworks by Shirin Neshat, Alex Katz and Yoko Ono.

Soon You Can Hail an Artist as You Hail a Cab

The specter over “Ragtime” has required some adjustment for Bobby Steggert, whose critically praised performance has career breakout potential.

Show Strives to Live Down Web-Driven Rumor Mill

Every element of the Metropolitan Opera’s new production of “The Tales of Hoffmann,” has been chewed over by critics and opera lovers.

The Backstage Tale Behind the Met’s ‘Hoffmann’

Kelly Clark, who is seeking her second gold in Vancouver, manages to sail mostly below the pop-culture radar.

Snowboarding Veteran Is Still the One to Beat

Dwyane Wade scored 30 points, including 10 in the last six minutes, as the Heat snapped the Knicks’ three-game winning streak.

Down the Stretch, Dwyane Wade Propels Heat Past Knicks

Soledad Barrio’s intensity is striking, even when she’s standing still or walking slowly around the stage.

Drama Whose Subject Is Both Nothing and Everything

The executive director of the A.C.L.U. craves a quiet Sunday, usually spent in the Hamptons.

Taking a Break From Outrage

The conglomerate run by Warren E. Buffett, reported 21,000 fewer employees than it had at the end of 2008 amid a slump at its manufacturing and retail units.

Berkshire Has Shed 8% of Workers

If the tax preparer loses the ability to make loans to customers backed by anticipated tax refunds, it may hurt its position relative to rivals.

Jackson Hewitt Slips After Losing Partner’s Support

As with many giants, it’s hard to cut Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac down to size. The government, which controls the mortgage behemoths, planned to shrink them by 10 percent in 2010. Don’t count on it.

Mortgage Titans Resist Shrinkage

The 60-39 vote was for a $290 billion rise in the debt ceiling, and it allowed the House and Senate to adjourn until Jan. 19.

Senate Passes an Increase in Debt Limit

An article on Tuesday about lavish spending by college heads misstated the events that led to the 2002 resignation of Mark Perkins, who as president of Towson University was accused of making costly renovations to his university-owned residence. He resigned after the Maryland Regents passed a resolution calling for him to do so; he was not forced to resign after students rioted.

Corrections

Because of an editing error, an article on Dec. 12 about building projects by arts institutions that have been delayed or canceled because of the economic downturn erroneously included one museum among those that have delayed plans to build additions. The Columbus Museum of Art says that while fund-raising has been delayed for its addition, the project itself has not.

An article on Thursday about mental health services for soldiers at Fort Hood, Tex., in the wake of killings there misstated the given name of a soldier with post-traumatic stress disorder who deserted the post last year. He is Specialist Eric Jasinski, not Chris.

An article in some editions on Dec. 17 about legal arguments on behalf of families of 9/11 victims who want the city to relocate tons of material atop a landfill in Staten Island, where debris from the World Trade Center collapse was taken, to a cemetery misidentified one of the three judges hearing the case. He is Guido Calabresi, of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit  not Anthony O. Calabrese Jr. (Judge Calabrese is a state appeals court judge in Ohio.).

James Victor Chesnutt was an American singer-songwriter from Athens, Georgia. His first album, Little, was released in 1990. His commercial breakthrough came in 1996 with the release of Sweet Relief II: Gravity of the Situation, a charity record of alternative artists covering his songs.

December 25, 2009

Headlines from December 25, 2009

Ice, Served Two Ways: Plain or Glamorous

Health Care Changes Wouldn’t Have Big Effect for Many

Town Divides Over Law Aimed at Day Laborers

Where There’s Smoke ... There’s a Trade-In

Bail Sitters

Billboard 200

I Dreamed A Dream

My Christmas

Glee: Season One: The Music Volume 2

Fearless

Play On

Notable Deaths

Historical Context for December 25, 2009