Mississippi and Alabama were big wins for Rick Santorum in the fight for the GOP presidential nomination.

While never considered strong for Mitt Romney, those states further revealed the vulnerabilities of his campaign, specifically, problems identifying with many elements of the Republican base.

The next big contest is Tuesday in Illinois.

It's a state rich in delegates (69) and in something else that should be good news for Romney: more moderate Republicans. But he still needs to connect with even those voters.

In a deal with prosecutors, the longtime girlfriend of mob boss James "Whitey" Bulger pleaded guilty to helping him evade capture from police.

Bulger, if you remember, was captured in Santa Monica, Calif., last June. He is the most notorious mob boss in Boston and was wanted for his alleged role in 19 murders.

Women should get screened for cervical cancer far less frequently than doctors have long recommended, according to new guidelines released Wednesday.

More than 12,000 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer every year in the United States, and more than 4,000 die from the disease.

For years, doctors have recommended that women start getting Pap smears every year or two to try to catch signs of cancer early, when it's easiest to prevent and treat.

Disease outbreaks with imported foods are on the rise, and fish and spices are the foods most likely to cause problems.

It's not that imported foods are any nastier than home-grown, according to a presentation today from researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It's that we're eating a lot more of them.

Part of a series

As 2011 was winding down, consumer spirits were starting to rise. Now the momentum has carried into the new year, with polls showing consumer sentiment continuing to improve.

Economists say that negative factors, such as falling home values or rising meat prices, are nowhere near as important as the growth in jobs.

Time for a few unconventional thoughts:

• Newt Gingrich is still in good enough shape to win the Republican presidential nomination at a brokered convention in Tampa.
• By staying in the race, Gingrich actually helps, not hurts, his rival Rick Santorum.
• Gingrich's situation resembles Abraham Lincoln's in 1860.

Several news organizations are reporting that what had at one point been a story-book run by the New York Knicks is crashing back to reality: With the return of star Carmelo Anthony and a six-game losing streak behind him, head coach Mike D'Antoni has resigned.

Yahoo! Sports, which first reported the story, says D'Antoni has clashed with Anthony in the past. They report:

A set of 13th-century Byzantine frescoes — plundered after Turkey invaded Cyprus and on display in Houston for the last 15 years — is headed home at last. It's the closing chapter in what turns out to be a remarkable odyssey.

It all started in the summer of 1974, when the Turkish army invaded Cyprus and nearly 200,000 Greek Cypriots became refugees fleeing south.

"And so all the churches and homes and art was left behind," says Josef Helfenstein, director of the Menil Collection in Houston. "And after years, some of these churches began to be looted."

There's been a major development involving a notorious warlord from Central Africa who snatched thousands of children and sent them to war on his behalf.

While reading over an analysis of decades-old studies of LSD as a treatment for alcoholism last week, I found that the so-called number needed to treat was 6 to prevent alcohol misuse. In other words, treat six people and one would benefit.