Woe is the life of a knife salesman. Or a chef. The New York Times says people who have to travel with knives face an uphill battle. Try to check them and they get stolen. Try to carry them on and you can’t get past the security screening.

Some interesting health news on the front page of the New York Times: a long term study has found that the use of nicotine gum or nicotine patches to quit smoking may backfire. Researchers focused on smokers who used the nicotine replacement products to quit, and then followed up every two years to see if they’d resumed smoking. About one-third had relapsed at each check in.

A Russian fuel tanker is en route to Nome, Alaska after the northwest part of the state got hit with a particularly brutal winter storm which has threatened their fuel supply. But it’s slow going, trudging through the ice. The Anchorage Daily News people in two remote towns are almost completely out and have had to resort to burning things in their house because its too cold to go out and look for wood.

Was it a coincidence or was it…something else? The Sun Sentinel points out that Tim Tebow threw 316 yards in the Broncos game against the Steelers on Sunday. John 3:16 just happens to be one of Tebow’s favorite Bible verses. And if that weren’t enough, he also set an NFL playoff record with 31.6 yards per completion.

‘Til death do you part, indeed. Divorce isn’t just hard on your pocketbook—it can be hard on your health too. A new study conducted by University of Arizona researchers has found that divorce can raise the risk of an early death by as much as 23 percent, about on par with other risks like smoking 15 cigarettes a day, being overweight or drinking heavily.

Two teams were competing for the BSC Championship yesterday, though you’d hardly know that by looking at the score. Alabama won the game, (giving the team its 14th national title) with a score of 21-0, over rival LSU. Or as the Birmingham News puts it, the Crimson Tide “served up a hot, spicy dish of revenge.”

In the aftermath of the BP oil spill it’s the plaintiff’s lawyers, not BP, who are proving to be the greediest of all says New York Times columnist Joe Nocera. He says that while the company “has performed quite admirably” in the spill’s aftermath, there is a certain group of lawyers that is refusing to go through the $20 billion compensation fund set up by BP and instead, is insisting on litigation.

The daughter of Jay-Z and Beyonce has already made her musical debut. She’s featured on a new track just released by her pop—well, her crying is anyways. The New York Post says Jay-Z also reveals that the couple went through a miscarriage before Blue was born, rapping, “Last time the miscarriage was so tragic/ We was afraid you’d disappear but nah baby, you magic.” LISTEN

You’ve probably cleaned your closets in honor of the New Year, but have you cleaned your Facebook account? The New York Post says now is a great time to purge your Friends list of annoying Facebook personalities. Like the Check-In King, or the Inappropriate Oversharer, characterized as someone who “casually drops the word ‘cervix’ in her status updates.”

We’re coming up on the second anniversary of the earthquake in Haiti. An editorial in the New York Times says not enough has been accomplished and that the Haitian government badly needs a national strategy to create permanent housing and jobs.

There’s an impressive photo on the front page of the Orange County Register this morning. Thousands of surfers paddled out in calm waters to honor Sean Collins, a wave forecaster and one of the “most influential surfers of our time,” who died of a heart attack in December. Collins’ wave predictions were so accurate, says the LA Times, that they were used by the U.S. Coast Guard and National Weather Service.

Rachel Ray is banking on a new recipe for success. The celebrity chef is switching publishers in an effort to get a larger online audience as printed cookbook sales continue to slip. Ray says she decided to change things up after seeing a book released by her new publisher—Tom Watson’s “The Timeless Swing”—which linked to exclusive online content via QR bar code.

That was certainly worth a pretty penny. The Orlando Sentinel says a rare penny fetched $1 million at a recent coin show. The copper coin was minted in 1793, the first year the US produced its own coins.

“They have frosting and they’re sweet and yummy.” Enough said. That was 10-year-old Sam Tollison’s argument for why cinnamon rolls should be honored with their own day. Tollison’s passion for the breakfast pastry and a successful petition led to the naming of January 7th as Colorado Cinnamon Roll Day, says the Fort Collins Coloradoan.

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords marked the first anniversary of the tragedy in Tuscon that left her severely injured and six people dead yesterday with a candle light vigil.  She used her left hand to lift her right hand to her heart, says the Arizona Republic, as she led a 3500-plus crowd in the Pledge of Allegiance.

It’s apparently illegal to be drunk in a bar in Alaska. And cops are cracking down on the rampant problem with sting operations that work like this: undercover officers go into a bar, order some drinks and look for the drunkest person in the room. The Anchorage Daily News says “likely suspects might include the guy falling off his bar stool or the lady stumbling and swaying while barely staying on her feet.”

This might make you think twice about going bungee jumping on your next vacation. The Daily Mail says an Australian tourist plunged into crocodile-infested water at Victoria Falls, in Zambia after the rope she was tethered to snapped, mid-jump. VIDEO shows her battle the rapids, and swim to safety—all the while with her feet tied together.

It’s Little Girl Blue! Beyonce and Jay-Z announced the birth of their daughter, Blue Ivy Carter, yesterday. The New York Daily News says the proud parents spent $1.3 million to rent out the entire 4th floor of Lenox Hill hospital, and that tape was placed over the maternity wing’s security cameras to prevent unauthorized images from leaking to the public.

Before you go join the Occupy Wall Street movement, you might want to check your phone bill—you may, in fact, be part of the one percent. According to the New York Times, the top one percent of cell phone users are responsible for half of the country’s bandwidth traffic. The top ten percent take up 90 percent.

This little monkey has six parents. The Oregonian calls him chimeric, after the half-goat, half-lion, half-serpent of Greek mythology. Researchers at the University of Oregon created him and his siblings from the stem cells of six different embryos—a scientific first. 

There’s a sad-looking snowman on the front page of the Fargo Forum this morning. Temperatures around the midwest have been unseasonably high this week. The photo on the bottom left shows roof-high snow in North Dakota on January 5, 2011. On the right is the same stretch of driveways this year.

According to a new survey, you’re probably your worst enemy on the road. The Washington Post says, when asked, most drivers admit to dangerous behavior behind the wheel. For example, 75 percent of drivers said driving 15 miles over the speed limit was dangerous, yet more than 50 percent said they’d done exactly that in the last year. Ditto texting behind the wheel, which 94 percent said was dangerous, but more than a third admitted doing.

Do your ears hang low, do they wobble to and fro? Can you tie ‘em in a knot, can you tie ‘em in a bow? Plastic surgeons say they are seeing an uptick in young patients wanting to get rid of a nagging problem: their saggy earlobes. Once a popular form of body modification, earlobe stretching, apparently, doesn’t look so great as you age.

President Obama wants to trim the fat from the Pentagon’s budget. His plan, which was unveiled yesterday, imagines a much smaller military, only capable of “one major conventional war at a time.” The news played big in San Diego, which has a huge military presence. But the Union-Tribune says the city would likely be safe from cuts because “Asia, special operations troops and technology” are major components of the president’s new vision.

The Peruvian murder trial of Joran van der Sloot is underway in Lima, reports the Birmingham News this morning. Federal authorities in Alabama say that if he’s released after his trial, they have a plan to bring him to the US to face charges for the disappearance of Natalee Holloway.

The New York Times reports on a major study this morning that says great teachers make great citizens.  According to researchers, the impact of a good teacher continues long after a student has graduated from the class and extends to other aspects of life such as teen pregnancy rates and earnings as an adult.

A couple months ago we told you that notoriously press-shy Chelsea Clinton had been hired by NBC as a reporter. Today, the New York Post says it’s unclear whether she’ll be around for much longer. Apparently, she only signed a 90-day contract, which is almost up, and there’s been no indication that the network wants to hire her full-time.

The New York Daily News has a crazy photo of the ice tunnels under Vatnajokulll, Europe’s largest glacier. Located in Iceland, the caverns form when heat from the volcanoes under the glacier melt water, which then eats through the ice. Very cool.

There’s an interesting guest editorial in the New York Daily News this morning by Bill McKibben, a climate change advocate. He says the average Manhattanite uses 90 gallons of gasoline in a year. Compare that to the 540 gallons per year used by residents of the “green” state of Vermont. Smaller homes, more walking, and a better transit system make New York one of the greenest places to live.

Crazy photo in the Las Vegas Review-Journal this morning. That’s animal superintendent Larry Carden getting some love from his charges before they perform in a local circus. But the way the picture is shot, it looks like he’s got himself a camel head.