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A key part of the NBA All Star Weekend is the Slam Dunk Contest. We look at how both pro basketball and dunking have evolved and why fans can't get enough of it.

Thousands of federal inmates are being released because of a change in the way the U.S. government sentences drug criminals, but few are going straight from prison to freedom.

Momentum for sentencing reform grows as leaders of the House Judiciary Committee introduce a bipartisan bill. But rising violence in some big cities could complicate the legislative forecast.

The U.S. Geological Survey reported a 6.8 magnitude earthquake centered just off the Pacific Coast, about 50 miles south of Guayaquil, Ecuador's second-largest city.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed above 10,000 points Wednesday, fueled by better-than-expected retail sales numbers and big profits at JP Morgan Chase. The bank reported third-quarter earnings of $3.6 billion, but warned that it still expects more problems with consumer loans.

The Labor Department has said the nation's unemployment rate rose to 6.5 percent in October, its highest rate in 14 years. The report said 240,000 jobs were lost, worse than expected. This year, 1.2 million jobs have been lost.

It's been six months since 42 people were killed when U.S. forces struck a hospital in northern Afghanistan. The injured and families of the dead are to receive condolence money of up to $6,000.

Boeing said Monday it made a “best and final offer” to striking machinists, but the workers' union said the proposal isn't good enough and there won't be a ratification vote before Boeing's deadline.

German Catholics are facing a stark choice: Pay a church tax or forget about receiving the sacraments, including baptisms, weddings and funerals. Germany taxes registered Catholics, Protestants and Jews. In 2011, the tax raised $6.5 billion for the Catholic Church alone. Many progressives and conservatives are up in arms over the German bishops' decree.

Parts of "The Big Apple" could see at least 6 inches of snow, while somewhere between 8 inches to a foot could fall in Boston. Public schools in both cities will be closed Tuesday.