Usa Today

"USA Today: The Television Show," the dismally rated light-news series, is about to breathe its last on KCBS-TV Channel 2, but the 12-week-old magazine program will soon be resurrected on KNBC-TV Channel 4. Channel 2 said Monday it plans to replace "USA Today," which was the lowest-rated program in the 7 p.m. time slot during the recently concluded November sweeps, with the new tabloid-style news magazine "Inside Edition" on Jan. 9.

President Obama is running statistically even with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in 12 key swing states and is slightly ahead of Texas Gov. Rick Perry and businessman Herman Cain, according to the USA Today/Gallup poll released Friday. The poll, which looks at both national trends and at the races in what everyone considers to be the 12 battleground states that will likely determine the 2012 election, paints a picture of Obama facing a tougher road to reelection than an incumbent should.

USA Today, the Gannett Co. Inc.'s national newspaper, has signed on as an "official sponsor" of President Reagan's inauguration and given inaugural planners free space for 12 full-page advertisements in its pages, inaugural officials say. A USA Today official said Friday that the national newspaper's unprecedented move presents no conflict of interest. "The inauguration is not a partisan event; it's not a government event.

Warning: This story might make your skin crawl. A new study has found that the gas pump is the germiest, filthiest thing we touch in everyday life. That's according to Dr. Charles Gerba of the University of Arizona -- and he should know. A microbiologist, he's known by the nickname "Dr. Germ. " In research results released Tuesday, Gerba found that 71% of gas pump handles and 68% of corner mailbox handles are "highly contaminated" with the kinds of germs most associated with a high risk of illness.

"USA Today"--that is, the TV version scheduled to hit the air in September on a daily half-hour schedule--already has three of its four anchors signed, sources tell us. And staffers from the newspaper version, who had hoped for a shot at video fame, can return to their desks. The jobs went to network pros. Bill Macatee of NBC Sports will anchor the Sports section. Also inked: former ABC White House correspondent Kenneth Walker and Robin Young, who contributed to the "Today" show.

The critically panned "USA Today: The Television Show," which billed itself as TV of the future, is being made "a little more traditional," its executive producer said Wednesday. But Steve Friedman said the alterations do not constitute "a change of format. . . . We're moving things around, working hard to get the stuff that works in the show and eliminate the stuff that didn't work." The changes won't be sudden, he added in a phone interview from the show's offices in Rosslyn, Va.

The fate of the new, still-struggling "USA Today on TV" may depend on how it did in the February ratings sweeps that ended Wednesday, although its demise doesn't seem imminent. That was the word Wednesday from Steve Friedman, creator and the first executive producer of the syndicated news series that was revamped and retitled in mid-season after its much-criticized start last September. What will happen now, Friedman said, is that the stations carrying the half-hour program will study the Feb.

The top 25 teams in the USA Today/ESPN preseason college football poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, 1999 records, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote, and previous ranking: *--* Rec. Pts Pvs 1. Nebraska (36) 12-1 1,442 2 2. Florida State (21) 12-0 1,426 1 3. Alabama (1) 10-3 1,266 8 4. Michigan 10-2 1,196 5 5. Wisconsin (1) 10-2 1,192 4 6. Miami 9-4 1,110 15 7. Florida 9-4 1,065 14 8. Texas 9-5 997 23 9.

A reporter for USA Today resigned after an internal investigation found that he had used without attribution quotations that had appeared last year in another newspaper, USA Today said. Tom Squitieri, who worked for USA Today for 16 years, resigned during a meeting with editors who had examined his March 28 article on armored Humvees and compared it with an account from May 7, 2004, in the Indianapolis Star, USA Today editor Kenneth Paulson said.

USA Today, the flagship of industry leader Gannett Co., said Thursday that it would eliminate about 45 newsroom jobs. The job losses reflect a cut of almost 9% to a current newsroom staff of about 500, USA Today said. In a memo to staff, USA Today Editor Ken Paulson said the paper hoped to reduce the staff through voluntary buyouts, but layoffs were possible. Like other newspapers, USA Today has struggled with declining revenue as advertisers shift spending to the Internet.

Newspaper and television giant Gannett Co. is restructuring its executive ranks in the wake of the sudden resignation of its chairman and chief executive over health issues. Craig Dubow, 56, who has been with Gannett for 30 years, resigned Thursday afternoon because of disability, the company said. Dubow had been on a leave of absence since Sept. 15 to deal with a recurring back issue. He had previously taken a three-month leave of absence in 2009 after having back and hip surgery.

Oklahoma is the preseason No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll. The Sooners received 42 of 59 first-place votes to easily outpoint No. 2 Alabama, which received 13 first-place votes. Oregon, which lost last season's BCS championship game, is third and Louisiana State is fourth. The Ducks and Tigers will open the season against each other at Cowboys Stadium on Sept. 3 in Arlington, Texas. They each received two first-place votes in the coaches' poll. Florida State is fifth, followed by Stanford, Boise State, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M and Wisconsin.

Where were you when you found out about the death of Osama bin Laden? Or, a better question: What did you do next? Here's what students at Yale University did. After President Obama finished his speech, they headed to the quad to celebrate. They chanted "U-S-A!" and "Yes we did!"; they waved American flags, blasted vuvuzelas, took pictures with their arms raised or wrapped around one another. They bellowed "The Star-Spangled Banner," along with stadium standbys like "We Are the Champions" and "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye.

NEW YORK (AP) — The Wall Street Journal is the largest U.S. newspaper. Its average weekday circulation is 2.1 million. That's according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, which released newspaper circulation figures Monday for the six months through March. USA Today is at No. 2 with 1.8 million, and The New York Times is third with more than 900,000 on average Monday to Friday. The Times has the most circulation on Sundays, with 1.3 million. The circulation numbers are not comparable with the figures from last year because of new rules governing what counts as circulation.

As football-related bets go, this one truly is a mortal lock: Roger Goodell will not be greeted warmly Thursday night when he steps to the podium at the NFL draft. … Fans loathe lockouts. … Noting the rare confluence of a British royal wedding and the NFL draft within 10 hours of each other, USA Today's Mike Lopresti offered a primer contrasting the overblown spectacles. … "The audience for one will include royals from Swaziland and Romania, dressed in regal splendor," he wrote, while "the audience for the other will include draftniks from Hoboken and New Rochelle, dressed in Giants and Jets jerseys.

With Kemba Walker and Connecticut headed to the Final Four after finishing ninth in the Big East, it's time to consider opening the tournament to everybody. … The regular season already has been rendered virtually meaningless, and quadrupling the size of the field to 256 teams, for instance, would add only one week to the tournament. … The regular season might benefit too because, with tournament bids guaranteed, coaches presumably would be more inclined to schedule nonconference games against quality opponents.

Cathleen Black was named Monday to head the American Newspaper Publishers Assn. in an expanded role as president and chief executive. She said she will use her experience as publisher of USA Today to give the association a visible and strong leader. "I like things where there is a lot of challenge and I think that is where our industry is today," Black said at a news conference that followed the announcement of her appointment.

Citing prohibitive costs, USA Today is phasing out the paperboy and ushering in the mailman to deliver the paper to its almost 3,000 Orange County subscribers. In a letter to area subscribers, the national newspaper said, "In order to provide better service to our customers in this area, USA Today will now be delivered the same day it is published . . . by your local mail carrier."

A stretch in which UCLA has won 12 of 14 games while posting victories over St. John's and Arizona was not enough to thrust the Bruins into the national rankings Monday. Apparently, there's no beating the perception that the Pacific 10 Conference is dreadful. "They're probably getting unfairly dinged by everyone around the country, and me as well, because the league is down," said George Schroeder, a columnist from the Eugene (Ore.) Register-Guard who did not include the Bruins in the Associated Press poll he submitted this week.

Most Americans said they had a positive reaction to President Obama's State of the Union speech, according to the latest USA Today/Gallup poll, posted Thursday on the newspaper's website. Yet the poll was not all good news for the president. More Americans said they supported the Republican call to cut spending than Obama's proposed five-year freeze on discretionary domestic spending at current levels. A majority of Americans also threw cold water on whether there will be a political thaw after Republican and Democratic lawmakers crossed the aisle to sit with each other during the president's speech.