Week in Review

Sunday

health: People with low cholesterol and no big risk for heart disease had dramatically lower rates of heart attacks, death and stroke if they took the cholesterol pill Crestor, a large study found. The results, reported at an American Heart Association conference, were hailed as a watershed event in heart disease prevention.

college Football: South Carolina's sixth win in seven games -- a 34-21 win over Arkansas -- moved it to No. 24 in the Associated Press poll.

Monday

nation: President-elect Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, called on President Bush and first lady Laura Bush in a White House visit that was part political ritual, part practical introduction. Mr. Obama and Mr. Bush discussed the transition to a new leader, aides said.

TRANSPORTATION: A sweeping audit of the Georgia Department of Transportation found the agency overstated its federal funding by nearly $2.4 billion before the past fiscal year, leading to a massive deficit that has shut down local road construction aid and threatens the jobs of hundreds of employees.

Tuesday

Veterans Day: Coast Guard Capt. Randolph Ridgely Jr., Army Sgt. Frank B. Gresham and Marine Corps Lt. Col. Edwin A. Pollock were remembered during a dedication at Riverwalk's Heroes' Overlook and Memory Walk.

ECONOMY: Retailers say they have seen a surge in the number of applicants seeking holiday work -- many of them laid-off from other industries -- just as the sector is shrinking because of closures and liquidations.

Wednesday

ECONOMY: Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said using billions of dollars to buy troubled assets is "not the most effective way" to use the $700 billion bailout.

BUSINESS: General Growth Properties Inc., the nation's second-largest shopping mall owner, whose holdings include Augusta Mall, warned investors that it might have to seek bankruptcy protection if it can't refinance or extend nearly $1 billion in debt due next month.

EDUCATION: School board committee members proposed an incentive plan under which Richmond County schools would earn money for conservation efforts. If a school cuts back on its utilities, 10 percent of the school system's savings would be given to the school.

HEALTH: New research finds that heart transplant patients have better odds of survival and a lower risk of rejection if they get organs from donors of the same sex.

GAY RIGHTS: Same-sex couples walked down the aisle for the first time in Connecticut after a lower-court judge entered a final order permitting same-sex marriage.

COLLEGE SPORTS: A study released by the Black Coaches and Administrators found almost a third of the coaching candidates interviewed last year were minorities, but only four were hired among the 31 openings in the NCAA's two levels of Division I football.

ECONOMY: Officials announced that South Carolina Department of Education employees must take five days of unpaid leave by the end of June. The mandatory furloughs represent a $569,000 savings.

HEALTH: An American man with AIDS is showing no signs of the disease 20 months after receiving a bone marrow transplant to fight leukemia, his doctors said.

Thursday

ECONOMY: The nation's financial picture grew darker on a day marked by some staggering numbers: a nearly quarter-trillion-dollar budget deficit for the month of October and projections of up to $1 trillion for a year, a half-million new applications for unemployment benefits and a 900-point swing on Wall Street.

POLITICS: Republican John McCain implored Georgia voters to back Sen. Saxby Chambliss in the December runoff, warning that Democrats will increase taxes and cut defense spending.

SCIENCE: Fuzzy photos published in the online edition of the journal Science showed images of four likely planets outside our solar system.

Friday

weather: Heavy thunderstorms brought the most rain Augusta had seen in three years. The 3.2 inches recorded at Augusta Regional Airport was the most for one day in the area since March 27, 2005, when 3.4 inches was measured. During the storms, lightning struck Strait Gate Apostolic Church and started a fire that burned it to the ground.

ECONOMY: A Commerce Department report showed retail sales fell a record 2.8 percent in October from September, the worst monthly drop on record.

IRAQ: After months of tough negotiations, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has decided to back the controversial U.S.-Iraq security deal that calls for the complete withdrawal of American troops by the end of 2011, Iraqi and U.S. officials said.

MILITARY: After 33 years in the Army, Ann E. Dunwoody became the first female to reach the ranks of four-star general.