Updates and analysis from Times reporters on the Republican contests.

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The Caucus: Updates from Republican Contests in Minnesota, Colorado, and Missouri

LAS VEGAS — After a likely second-place finish in the Nevada caucuses Saturday, former House speaker Newt Gingrich sought to dispel the idea that he might drop out of the Republican presidential nomination any time soon, promising a hotel ballroom filled with reporters that he will fight on to the convention in the summer. Read full article > >

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Gingrich vows to fight on to the convention

Harry Redknapp’s admission of lying to a News of the World reporter is “extremely telling”, a court is told.

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Redknapp lies ‘extremely telling’

Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.), who has faced a series of primary challenges in recent years, has decided not to seek a 16th term this year. Burton , who began his congressional career in the 1960s, told members of the Indiana House on Tuesday that he’ll serve out his term but not run again, the Associated Press reported . The 73-year-old didn’t elaborate on his decision during his brief address to lawmakers, but he told reporters beforehand that he was resigning because of family health issues. Read full article > >

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Rep. Dan Burton, Republican from Indiana, to retire

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — It was approaching 11 p.m. at the Hyatt hotel bar here on Sunday, and reporters covering Newt Gingrich’s campaign were enjoying a few drinks when a familiar figure approached. Gingrich put a hand on the shoulders of two women at the table and imparted a big scoop. “There’s a new poll coming out,” he announced. “I’m within five points of Romney. . . . I’ve got all the momentum.” Read full article > >

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The end of the road for Newt Gingrich?

Times reporters look into the specifics of the Romney tax returns.

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The Caucus: Inside the Romney Tax Returns

A reporter will discuss the challenges posed by increasingly globalized high-tech industries, based on a deep look inside the economics of Apple’s manufacturing.

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Economix Blog: Charles Duhigg Responds to Readers on Apple and the iEconomy

Unconventional narrator Randall and his snarling, snake-eating honey badger have trotted their way before YouTube viewers more than 33 million times since the video debuted one year ago. Now the Hollywood Reporter has announced the “Crazy, Nasty” animal and its creator are in talks for an animated/live-action TV show. Read full article > >

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Honey Badger viral video to become TV show

Brad Pitt has been walking with a cane in recent days, but not because he likes how dapper he looks with the accessory. The “Moneyball” actor told reporters at the International Palm Springs Film Festival he injured his ACL after he slipped while carrying daughter Vivienne down a hill during a recent skiing trip. Read full article > >

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Brad Pitt explains why he’s walking with a cane; Katy Perry thanks fans for ‘love and support’

Nearly a century ago, when Agatha Christie and others were pioneering the English mystery novel, to provide one corpse at the outset was considered sufficient and a second might be tolerated, but anything beyond that was thought to be in extremely poor taste. No more. My best estimate is that I’ve read 187 serial-killer novels in the past decade (and escaped, as I keep insisting, with my sanity). Most were mercifully forgettable, but I do remember a few with admiration. John Katzenbach’s “ The Traveler ” (1987) was inspired by Ted Bundy, whose trial Katzenbach covered as a young reporter. Thomas Harris’s “ Red Dragon ” and “ The Silence of the Lambs ” introduced arguably the most memorable villain in modern popular fiction, that charming cannibal Dr. Hannibal Lecter. Stieg Larsson’s “ The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo ” is at heart a serial-killer novel, even though the wondrous Lisbeth Salander steals the show. Michael Connelly’s “ The Poet ” was his breakthrough novel in 1996 and remains one of his best. Read full article > >

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Val McDermid’s ‘The Retribution’ a big disappointment

Washington Post NFL reporter Mark Maske took a closer look at each of the four wild-card weekend matchups in advance of the first week of the NFL playoffs. The first round features a pair of tantalizing matchups featuring the high-octane New Orleans Saints hosting the resurgent Detroit Lions and Tim Tebow leading the Denver Broncos against banged-up Ben Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Here’s what each team must do to advance to the second round. Read full article > >

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NFL Playoffs 2012: Wild-card weekend schedule, previews

BURLINGTON, Iowa — After months of talking and thousands of words, the Republican campaign in Iowa reached its terminal phase on Tuesday. There was only time for insults. “Ron Paul is disgusting,” former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum told a handful of Fox News reporters Tuesday morning. He was blaming Rep. Paul (R-Tex.) for automated phone calls in Iowa, which told voters that the vehemently anti-abortion Santorum was, instead, more supportive of abortion rights. Paul’s campaign did not immediately respond. Read full article > >

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2012 Iowa Caucus: Campaign ends with candidate attacks

Ben Johnson recently huddled with fellow Occupiers. How, he asked them, could they maximize their impact on the Iowa caucuses? “I have a lot of friends hurt by the recession, who deserve to go to better colleges than me,” said the American University freshman. “They’re a lot smarter than I am, and have more to offer the world. But they are being held back by their parents’ poor finances.” “An educational system that privileges people by wealth, but does nothing for talented people whose families are not wealthy is screwing over a lot of good people. I’m not getting the shaft. But my country is.” Not bad for an 18 year-old Iowan who was doing only the third interview in his life. You could even say that he was learning his major – Journalism – from the bottom up, as a spokesman first, a reporter second. Still, Johnson and his fellow Occupiers could not find a single Republican candidate who reflected their concerns. So they hit on an unorthodox strategy. They would caucus for the most overlooked candidate on the ballot: Uncommitted. If “Uncommitted” (alias “No Preference” or “None of the Above”) places in the top three, the Occupiers would have scored. And they have precedent – on the Democratic side. When President Jimmy Carter ran for election in 1976, “Uncommitted” won 14,508 votes (37%) to Carter’s 10,764 votes (27%). A weak one term presidency followed.

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The Occupiers’ Plan to have “Uncommitted” Win the Iowa Caucus

Whether on purpose or by coincidence, the White House and federal agencies released several notable nuggets of news over the holidays when most reporters and were out of town or preoccupied with college football bowl games and the beginnings of the presidential campaign. Some might call it the holiday edition of “ Take Out the Trash Day ” — as described in a classic “West Wing” episode — when the White House and federal agencies release potentially embarrassing or politically tricky policy decisions and personnel changes on a day when reporters and the general public are less likely to notice or care. (The EPA is most guilty of the practice, according to colleague Emily Heil .) Read full article > >

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What you missed over the holidays

The Iowa caucuses are almost here! In less than 48 hours, Republicans will gather across the Hawkeye State to pick the man or woman they think should be the next president. At this point, there’s not much left for the candidates — or the reporters who cover them — to do but wait and wonder. Now, the Fix isn’t a betting man, but there is no better way to wile away the hours between now and Tuesday night than to do a bit of odds-setting. Read full article > >

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The line on the Iowa caucuses: Romney has best odds, Santorum has the momentum