WATERCOOLER STORIES

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Microsoft has a new weapon in its Internet search duel with Google -- full access to Twitter's communications hotbed.

NEW YORK (AP) -- News Corp. says that Hulu, its jointly owned free online video site, will start charging fees for access at some point in the future.

STOCKTON, Calif. (NBC) -- Authorities in northern California found several hundred marijuana plants in a Stockton home and several hundred more growing in a nearby office.

TORONTO (NBC) -- Rubik's cubes and Leonardo da Vinci a strange combo? Not in Toronto where five people worked two months to recreate "The Last Supper" from Rubik's cubes.

MCKINNEY, Tex. (NBC) -- Halloween is big business for retailers. It's the second busiest shopping season of the year, second only to Christmas.

BOSTON (AP) -- Thousands of funeral directors, mortuary science students and others in the industry plan to gather in Boston to learn ways to survive the recession and become more profitable.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Tammy McLeod solved an advanced puzzle in 7 minutes, 41 seconds to defeat former world and U.S. champion Thomas Snyder and win the third Philadelphia Inquirer Sudoku National Championship on Saturday.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House scored a stroke for gender equality in sports on Sunday.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Longtime character actor Lou Jacobi has died at the age of 95.

BOSTON (AP) -- The winner of the reality TV show "Big Brother 9" is headed to federal court to face drug charges.

FORT WORTH, TX (NBC) -- A female Boy Scout volunteer in Fort Worth. Texas was arrested and charged with sexually assaulting a 16-year-old scout in the troop she helped oversee.

MINNEAPOLIS (NBC) -- Like many of the 144 passengers aboard Northwest flight 188 last Wednesday, Robyn Blilie had no idea there was anything wrong until the next day.

SUN CITY WEST, Ariz. (NBC) -- Two residents of Arizona's Sun City West retirement community are facing charges of resisting arrest and trespassing after they refused to leave a recreation club tennis court.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (NBC) -- If you read between the lines of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's veto of a bill by San Francisco Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, it spells out a common, but crude, phrase.

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (NBC) -- Rocker Lenny Kravitz had what may be the ultimate Spinal Tap moment on Saturday.

ORONO, Minn. (NBC) -- Sweeping views, elegant spaces and countless amenities are all part one of the most expensive homes in Minnesota, and it's about to go on the auction block.

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Wayne Newton is telling fans "Danke schoen" after 50 years in Las Vegas and hinting that his latest run could be his last.

PORTLAND (AP) -- People will have to prove they're 21 to buy a bottle of a century-old British lemonade in Maine because the drink contains alcohol.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- A Sacramento County jury has awarded $16.5 million to the family of a 28-year-old woman who died after participating in a radio station's water-drinking contest.

VERO BEACH, Fla. (NBC) -- At eight months pregnant, Cristina Rangel is about to welcome a new member to her family. But what happened Monday night nearly sent her into early labor.

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A judge has ordered Anna Nicole Smith's boyfriend and two doctors to stand trial on charges of illegally funneling prescription drugs to the former Playboy model.

NEW YORK (AP) -- A Michael Jackson costume is one of the top sellers for Halloween this year.

GASTONIA, N.C. (NBC) -- Neighbors thought it was a Halloween prank. But yes, it really was a deer swimming laps in a pool.

TURNER (NEWS CENTER) -- Ten year old Alex Whitehouse learned the Heimlich Maneuver in Cub Scouts. Thank goodness he did.

BARNSTABLE, Mass. (AP) -- Residents of the Cape Cod town of Barnstable have voted to change the community's form of government by a single vote.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Rihanna said she feels ashamed that she returned to Chris Brown after he attacked her in April, leaving her bruised and bloody.

TROY, Mich. (NBC) -- A Michigan man has turned his 16-year-old daughter in to police after he discovered she was growing marijuana in her bedroom closet.

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. (NBC) -- The detention deputy was sitting at his desk when the inmate attacked. The deputy is 64; the inmate is 40 years his junior.

BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. (NBC) -- Residents living along Northwest First Court in Boynton Beach, Florida are used to problems with their mail service.

STANDISH (NEWS CENTER) -- Imagine working on your feet 10 hours a day for 55 years? It may sound unbelievable but that's been the case for Roy St. Clair. The 77-year-old Naples man is the oldest licensed pharmacist in Maine.