presidential race

With the Iowa caucus scheduled for Jan. 3, the Republican candidates met for a final debate there on Wednesday. The Democratic candidates debated there Thursday afternoon, after some mud-slinging by Democratic candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign. A Clinton adviser said voters should consider Sen. Barack Obama's admission of illegal drug use, mentioned in his book, Dreams From My Father, before selecting a candidate. The statement was later said to have not been endorsed by Sen. Clinton or her campaign.

local

The Laces 4 Love shoe drive in Aiken and Edgefield county schools sparked an uproar by Americans United, a group dedicated to the separation of church and state. The Laces 4 Love drive is sponsored by First Baptist Church of North Augusta, and the philanthropy includes a ritual foot washing for the recipients of the shoes. Americans United claims this is a violation of the separation of church and state and should not be allowed. The school systems said no proselytizing has occurred.

entertainment

Music distributor iTunes released a list of the most-downloaded albums and songs of 2007 to MTV News, and though they weren't giving numbers, they were naming names. Maroon 5, Amy Winehouse and Kanye West topped the most-downloaded album list, and Fergie's Big Girls Don't Cry (Personal) was the top downloaded song. Following Fergie on the top-downloaded songs list was Gwen Stefani, with Sweet Escape , and Plain White T's came in third with Hey There Delilah .

environment

It's not hot just here in the Augusta area. According to a report by NASA, 15 percent more summer melt occurred in Greenland, a record amount of surface ice lost, according to a University of Colorado report. The United Nations climate change conference was held in Bali last week, to try to replace the Kyoto Protocol with a new agreement. The Kyoto Protocol is an amendment to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.