Stories you shouldn’t miss:
1. Holiday shopping got off to a strong start over the weekend, with retail stores reporting an increase in customers and online retailers saying that sales spiked on Black Friday. The Associated Press reports that retail stores saw 2.2 percent more customers over the weekend than in 2009, raising hopes that this could be a good holiday shopping season. And online retailers said their sales jumped 16 percent on Friday compared to the day after Thanksgiving last year. Throughout the weekend, online sales rose by 14 percent over a year ago.