Morning Edition

This Christmas, the Beyblade is sure to be a popular stocking stuffer. What's a Beyblade — it is a sophisticated top. Hasbro has taken the simple concept and added all kinds of cool features.

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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Walk into the Supreme Court gift shop, and there, among all the books on the history of the court, is a cookbook — yes, a cookbook. Put together by the spouses of the Supreme Court justices, it is a tribute to a master chef, the late Martin Ginsburg, husband of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

By day, Marty Ginsburg was one of the nation's premier tax law professors and parishioners. By night, he was one of the nation's most innovative and accomplished amateur chefs.

Coca-Cola withdrew its secret recipe from a SunTrust bank this week and drove it over to a new Coke museum in downtown Atlanta. But you can't see it: The 1886 recipe is in a box, and the box is in another vault. The company says the move has nothing to do with the bank's selloff of millions in dollars of Coke stock.

Spirit Airlines has launched a new promotion mocking former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was sentenced to 14 years this week for crimes including trying to sell a vacant U.S. Senate Seat. Spirit's "Slammer Sale" features $14 fares in and out of Chicago. The airline is calling this a "seat-selling" sale.

This winter, our independent booksellers have selected books that range in subject from toasters to typeface, odd bookmarks to old Volkswagons, department stores to pasta design. Whether you need a picture book for a toddler, kid lit for a young reader, or quirky non-fiction for the grown-up set, these booksellers have just the thing on their shelves.

Jim and MaryAnn Fletcher met when they were just children, in the first grade. Later, they became high school sweethearts. But then they split up — until they found each other again, more than 20 years later.

Both Jim and MaryAnn are now 50 years old. And they spoke recently about how they met, and the twists and turns their lives have taken since that day. Jim started by recalling the first time he laid eyes on MaryAnn.

"It was the first day of first grade. And there was this kid who said to me, 'That's MaryAnn Lando. She can read.'"

Republicans joined together to stop a vote on the nomination of former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray to run the new federal consumer protection agency.

The lower part of Michigan is shaped like a mitten, which helps people recognize the state on a map. But now nearby Wisconsin has an official website featuring a picture of a mitten, saying Wisconsin is mitten-shaped. That might be true, if the thumb is smashed. Michiganders are furious, and officials accuse Wisconsin of "mitten envy."

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LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

Good morning. I'm Linda Wertheimer with news of a cocktail on a stick. It's coming from an ice cream company - popsicles laced with booze, dreamed up during a night of drinking and eating ice cream, says a spokeswoman. They're trying out margarita and cosmopolitan flavors.

And KPHO-TV in Phoenix says kids can't tell they're spiked by looking at them. That's another reason they'll only be sold at liquor stores. It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.