My Tease Picks for Today

So I thought it might be helpful to pull up a list of stories and tell you which ones I'd tease and why. I'm looking through the AP natl/intl wires today (Thursday, Dec. 4th). Here's a short list of stories I came across:

Canada political crisis
Iraq Obama
ATT Job Cuts
Mattel Bratz Battle
Firefighter Fight
Congress Auto Execs
Bernanke Latest
Meltdown Kashkari

Of these... my eyes immediately zoom to the Mattel Bratz battle. Mattel says Bratz are copies of their product... The company behind Bratz says Mattel's the one doing the copying. A federal judge ruled Mattel is in the right and Bratz dolls has to stop making them! I'd show video of both.. and say "It may be a blue Christmas for lots of little girls. That's after a battle between two toy companies means some hugely popular dolls will be pulled off store shelves in the New Year." Show both video suggesting both companies so you don't give away the story.

My second pick-
The "Bernanke latest" story doesn't sound great... but tucked away in there is something mentioning the Treasury department considering backing a 4.5% home loan program (for new 30-year fixed mortgages). That's huge for anyone thinking about buying a home-- and sour grapes for anyone stuck with a higher interest mortgage (everyone who already owns a home). A quick google search pulls up lots of information on the proposal. Be sure to give an example on the cost savings. Realtor.com is one site where you can find calculators. So you could say... "On a two hundred thousand dollar mortgage, that new rate would save you more than a hundred bucks each month when compared to today's rate... which is about a percentage point higher." You could show file of home sales for video and maybe even break out a graphic.