Ashley Wagner has been named to the U.S. Olympic team, on the heels of one of her worst performances in years at the U.S. championships. The selection committee has the option of looking at a skater’s entire body of work over the past year, which is why they chose Wagner over Mirai Nagasu, whose bronze medal performance ordinarily would have guaranteed her a spot on the Olympic team. It’s only the third time a medalist at the U.S. Championships was left off the Olympic squad.

Sometime this year, the first space tourism flight will take place aboard Richard Branson’s SpaceShip Two. Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides spoke with the Orange County Register about how it will work. The ride will cost you $250,000. You’ll fly 50 miles above Earth where you’ll be able to see the curvature of the Earth and experience weightlessness.

Disney’s animated musical Frozen just keeps on surprising. It passed The Lion King over the weekend to become the highest grossing Disney-produced animated film of all time, and just last night it won the Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature. The Wall Street Journal says Frozen’s success marks a renaissance for Disney Animation, which had been in the shadow of its sibling studio, Pixar.

A new test for those 50 and over can help identify signs of Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. The Cleveland Plain Dealer says the 15-minute test can be taken anywhere and may be less intimidating that a test performed at a doctor’s office. Experts say one of the big problems with dementia is that it’s often diagnosed too late.

With many newbies hitting the gym, the New York Post has a great selection of fashion dos and don’ts for all kinds of workout scenarios from yoga and weightlifting to spinning and Crossfit. Don’t wear your Tour de France gear to spin class - and make sure you’re not revealing too much in your downward dog pose at yoga class.

After seeing 2010 Olympic freestyle aerial skiing in 2010, then 17-year-old Kendal Johnson fired off an email to the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association telling them he would be the greatest aerialist ever, if given the chance. This despite never having been on skis.  The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel says now four years later, Johnson has a shot at making the U.S. Olympic squad, in part because someone read his email and told him to send in a video. VIDEO

New rules meant to prevent another widespread mortgage crisis take effect today. The Washington Post says a new category of “qualified mortgages” will limit upfront fees and forbid no-interest periods that can lure in unqualified buyers. In exchange, lenders are protected from lawsuits by borrowers. Experts say the changes will help ensure buyers can afford their homes.

In this day and age when we can watch almost anything at any time - people are still longing for the shared viewing experience. The New York Times asked readers about how they go about “synchronized viewing,” that is, watching something at the same time as a friend who is somewhere else. For their weekly movie nights, one couple, split between Barcelona and Mexico City, used “more technological firepower than was required for the first moon landing: two laptops, two iPhones, iTunes, Skype and FaceTime.”

The New York Post’s Michael Goodwin says Governor Chris Christie put on a master class for dealing with a crisis with his nearly two-hour long news conference over the bridge lane scandal. That is, unless he was lying when he said he had no idea what was going on. If he was being honest, Goodwin says, Christie may even gain some new followers based on his performance.

American Idol is no longer the ratings bonanza it once was. But with another season right around the corner, the show has made some changes it hopes will lure old viewers back. The show’s producers are promising better chemistry from the panel of judges, which this year includes Keith Urban, Jennifer Lopez and Harry Connick Jr. Gone are the oft-dueling Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj.

T-Mobile is making another bold move to gain customers. The company announced it will cover the termination fees for new customers who leave their carrier. The New York Times says the offer removes one of the biggest barriers that customers had for switching to T-Mobile.

In his quest to find a kidney donor, a Minnesota man sculpted a kidney out of snow in his front yard. It might have worked. The St. Paul Pioneer-Press says a neighbor who lives a few blocks from the man has come forward as a potential donor. If he’s found to be a match, the neighbor’s kidney will be transplanted.

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune explores the new trend of quick workouts, some as short as 4 minutes a day, to find out if they really work. The theory is that ultra-intense workouts produce the same results as longer bouts of exercise. But experts caution that high intensity workouts are too much for most people. And those looking to lose weight do better with longer, lower intensity routines.

The Wall Street Journal ranks the nation’s airlines after a year where on-time arrivals dropped to 78% from 80% in 2012. Of the major US carriers, Alaska Airlines ranked first overall, and first in on-time arrivals. United brought up the rear with poor scores for cancelled flights, lost baggage, and bumped passengers.

After seeing some obscure people with their own Wikipedia pages, New York Times writer Judith Newman set out to get her own entry in the online encyclopedia. What she discovers is that there IS a limit to what shows up in Wikipedia. Newman also uncovers the underbelly of Wikipedia, from Wikipedia Whisperers to sock puppets.

Now that New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s aides have been implicated in closing down bridge lanes to punish a local mayor, The Bergen Record columnist Charles Stile says Christie’s 2016 Presidential hopes could be damaged. If he’s found to have ordered the closings, it paints him as a partisan bully. But if he was unaware of what was going on, it damages Christie’s reputation for managerial competency.

Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates pulled no punches in his new memoir - criticizing President Obama’s leadership and his commitment to the war in Afghanistan. In “Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War,” Gates writes that Obama was skeptical if not outright convinced the troop surge in Afghanistan would fail. In the Washington Post, Bob Woodward says that’s one of the most serious charges a Defense Secretary can make against a Commander-in-Chief.

The New York Times writes an obituary for the much-debated Bowl Championship Series, which came to an end with Florida State’s comeback win over Auburn Monday night. Next year college football’s national champion will be decided by a playoff among the top four teams. The Times says the main cause of death was money, as there was more to be made in a playoff system.

The backlash against trans fats has led to a resurgence for the once-maligned stick of butter. The Los Angeles Times says butter consumption in the U.S. is at a 40-year high. Butter’s comeback is also due in part to a better understanding of the health issues associated with butter alternatives.

USA Today says today’s teens need to get moving. Only one in four kids ages 12 to 15 gets the recommended hour of moderate to vigorous physical activity each day. The numbers are significant because research shows the physical activity habits of children often continue into adulthood.

Did you hear something? Car makers hope the answer is no. The Wall Street Journal says the auto industry is going to great lengths to quiet your ride. They’ve done such a good job of quieting engines and road noise that drivers now hear all sorts of interior sounds which in some cases lead them to believe there’s a problem when there really isn’t one.

With Lindsey Vonn announcing she’ll miss next month’s Winter Olympics in Sochi, the American contingent lost its most visible star. The Washington Post says snowboarder Shaun White is arguably the next most popular U.S. Olympian. Other stars, such as Apolo Anton Ohno, have retired. NBC executives say there’s still plenty to watch, noting that Vonn only accounted for 2 of Team USA’s 37 medals in Vancouver.

The New York Times offers a selection of 20 wines for $20 that offer “value and intrigue.” More obscure wines tend to offer better value, since there’s not as much demand. Eric Asimov says that while you can find plenty of interesting wines for $10, the number of “fascinating” bottles rises exponentially in the $15 to $25 range.

There’s an essay in the New York Times from a doctor who admits to Googling his patients. Dr. Haider Warraich says learning more about his patients can help build empathy. It can also expose fraud, like the patient who wanted a double mastectomy but was discovered to have been collecting donations to help treat cancers she’d never had. But Dr. Warraich admits it’s a tricky ethical balance.

AT&T is now allowing companies to subsidize the cost of using their services on smartphones and tablets - sort of like a 1-800 number - but for data. The hope is that companies like Google or Netflix will use the setup to promote their products without having the data count against a user’s plan. Customers would see a logo alerting them to the fact that the content they’re accessing won’t use up any of their data plan.

New Jersey lawmakers have introduced five new bills in the state legislature aimed at stopping the so-called “knockout game.” But the Bergen Record says law enforcement officials have no proof that the “knockout game” is a trend in the state. Some lawmakers say they are sponsoring legislation as a deterrent.

A new study finds good looking CEOs are better for a company’s bottom line. Andrew Ross Sorkin writes about the study in the New York Times. It found investors value companies higher if they’re run by attractive chief executives and those CEOs get paid more than their less-attractive counterparts. Better looking executives are also better at making successful deals.

The Polar Vortex that’s gripped much of the country presents a challenge to forecasters: How do you describe how ridiculously cold it is? The Washington Post spoke with forecasters in some of the coldest places in the U.S. who say they favor words like “extreme” and “intense” because a term like “frigid” isn’t quite enough. One forecaster joked that he couldn’t say how cold it was because of FCC rules.

The Wall Street Journal has advice on how long you should keep your makeup to make sure you’re not spreading germs. Replace mascara and liquid eyeliner every three months. Your lipstick can last up to a year, as long as you clean the top layer with alcohol after any illness. And you’ll want to wash your makeup brushes once a month, using baby shampoo.

You won’t find Danville, Florida on a map. But it has its own Irish pub, City Hall, movie theater and bed-and-breakfast. And it’s built inside an airplane hangar. The Orlando Sun-Sentinel introduces us to Dan Shaw, the “Mayor” of Danville. He says he came up with the idea when he decided to build an airplane hangar that would also serve as a guest house for his flying buddies. VIDEO