DAILY DIGEST
      MONDAY TOPS (TAKING OFF POUNDS SENSIBLY) meets Mondays 5:30-6:30 at St. Luke's UMC. For information call Linda Myhand 903-934- 6794 or Linda Brotherton at 903-258- 3463. Come join a group well known for losing and loving it.
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Rusk and Gregg County officials are slated to be sworn in this week.
By KATHRYN PENROSE news1@kilgorenewsherald.com
      While Gregg County offices are closed on New Year's Day, the 188th Courtroom is open briefly for the swearing in of elected and re-elected officials, including: Jim Worthen, chief justice 12th Court of Appeals; Bill Jennings, 124th district judge elect; Maxey Cerliano, Gregg County sheriff; Charles Davis, Pct. 1 commissioner; James Plumlee, pct.
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Kilgore Police Report
      On Monday Kilgore police officers worked 40 calls and made two arrests. The average call time was about 14 minutes.
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Mercers bring in the new year for the 65th time together
      Laverne Hill and Talmadge Mercer were married Dec. 31, 1943, at Eastview Baptist Church in Kilgore. Talmadge and Laverne have spent their entire married life on the Mercer family farm, where Talmadge's family has lived for four generations. Laverne is a "boomer.
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2008 a year of triumph and tragedy for China
By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN Associated Press Writer
      BEIJING (AP) — From a devastating earthquake to the Beijing Olympics, China witnessed a tumultuous year of triumph and tragedy in 2008 that sorely tested the Communist Party's ability to manage.
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Washington state mulls deporting jailed illegals
By MANUEL VALDES Associated Press Writer
      SEATTLE (AP) — The state of Washington wants illegal immigrants serving time in state jails deported, a move intended to save the state more than $9 million in the next two-year budget. The deportation proposal is modeled after a program in Arizona that has saved the state more than $18.
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