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Two decades after NAFTA created a giant North American free trade zone, the U.S. is negotiating more big trade deals that would span the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. President Obama has embraced the potential agreements as a way to improve the U.S. economy.

Along with the usual traffic citations, police in Melbourne, Fla., gave out scratch-off lottery tickets. The cops themselves paid for them — in the spirit of the season, they said. No word of any big winners, just yet.

After making its way into Dick's Sporting Goods in Spring Township, Pa., the hapless creature promptly slipped on the floor.

Robert Ressler spent his career researching crimes that were tough to understand. He thought that by figuring out how — and why — violent criminals worked, he could help police identify suspects. He came face to face with notorious killers like Ted Bundy and John Wayne Gacy. Ressler died earlier this year. He was 76.

This is not the set up for a bad joke, it's a real conundrum faced by an Oregon man last week. The solution, it turns out, involves draining the pool. Along with a series of straps and ropes, a ramp, a bucket of oats and 10 firefighters to haul the cow out.

The millionaire tax was a campaign promise from French President Francois Hollande. Film star Gerard Depardieu famously fled the country to avoid paying the tax.

For the past 14 years, people in the Pennsylvania capital have been lowering a giant strawberry to mark the new year. During a test drop, the 65 pound fiberglass strawberry dropped three stories and shattered. Organizers say they'll have a new one ready for New Year's Eve.

Now is a good time to spot gray whales off the coast of Southern California, but scientists have been seeing an unusually high number of other whales. "The fact that we're getting a chance to see at this time of year fin whales, blue whales, is really a mystery," says a marine biologist.

In a 7,000-word investigative report published by The New York Times on Sunday, David Kirkpatrick revisits last year's assault on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya. Kirkpatrick finds that — contrary to much commentary from mostly Republican members of Congress — al-Qaida was not involved. He joins Robert Siegel to talk about his reporting and the backlash against his conclusions.

Later this week the American Dialect Society will announce its word of the Year. Renee Montagne discusses word contenders with linguist Ben Zimmer, who is the language columnist for The Wall Street Journal.