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Pickles, Pigs & Whiskey, by John Currence.

Here's your holiday gift guide for foodies

No matter how many recipes are online, people still want printed cookbooks to hold, to flip through...

Whip up something new for dinner

Find recipes and more in our Food section every Wednesday.

Sports

North Carolina’s Nate Britt (0) tries to get a first-half shot off over Michigan State’s Keith Appling (11).

UNC stuns No. 1 Michigan State 79-65

For the second time in two weeks, the North Carolina Tar Heels defeat a top-5 opponent -- this time the top-ranked Michigan State Spartans. 1 hour ago

Local/State News

FILE - In this Saturday, Sept. 4, 2010, file photo, traffic backs up on the Bonner Bridge near Nags Head, N.C., as people return to Hatteras Island following mandatory evacuations of the barrier island for Hurricane Earl. On Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2013, North Carolina transportation officials closed the Bonner Bridge, the only bridge onto a 60-mile stretch of the Outer Banks, after discovering the deteriorating span posed an immediate safety threat. The state Department of Transportation declared last week that the inlet had scoured out sand around the base of supports at the southern end of the bridge, near Hatteras Island. Subsequent sonar tests and divers found there was more sand gone in that section of the bridge than previously thought, DOT spokesman Mike Charbonneau said. Reopening the bridge will require fortifying the bridge's support columns and bringing in additional sand, he said.

McCrory and Outer Banks leaders blast environmental group over bridge delay

After safety concerns forced NCDOT, without warning, to close the Bonner Bridge that links Hatteras Island to the mainland, political leaders blamed the Southern Environmental Law Center.

Business

European Union Competition Commissioner Joachim Almunia gives a press conference Dec. 4 on banking competition case at the EU Headquarters in Brussels. The European Union fined eight finance groups a record 1.7 billion euros for rigging the Euribor and Japanese yen Tibor interest rates.

EU fines global banks $2.3 billion for market rigging

The European Commission has fined a group of major global banks a total of 1.7 billion euros ($2.3 billion) for colluding to profit from the manipulation of key interest rates.

The Rev. William Barber, the architect of the weekly protests at the N.C. legislature this summer, has been found guilty of second-degree trespass and violating one of the N.C. Legislative Building rules, but had another charge dismissed.

Nation/World News

Members of the media pick up a cd containing recordings of 911 calls from the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2013, in Danbury, Conn. The recordings show town dispatchers urged panicked callers to take cover, mobilized help and asked about the welfare of the children as the boom of gunfire could be heard at times in the background. The recordings are released under court order after a legal challenge from The Associated Press.

911 calls show anguish and tension in Conn. school

As gunfire boomed over and over in the background, a janitor begged a 911 dispatcher to send help, saying, "There's still shooting going on! Please!" A woman breathlessly reported seeing a gunman run down a hall. And a teacher said she was holed up... 30 minutes ago