Winners

Internal Revenue Service: Amnesty program uncovers almost 15,000 taxpayers with secret overseas bank accounts. The taxpayers won’t face prosecution, but the U.S. Treasury stands to reap billions of dollars in uncollected taxes.

New Haven

: Residents will have more options for garbage and recycling collection over next three years even as prices drop.

Flood control

: Fort Wayne receives $1.5 million in federal dollars through the Indiana Department of Homeland Security to buy 40 flood-prone homes in the Junk Ditch area.

National Archives

: Federal agency diligently continues to try to fill in the infamous 18-minute gap in a key tape of a conversation between President Nixon and aide H.R. Haldeman during the height of the Watergate coverup.

Katrina victims

: Federal judge rules ineptitude by Army Corps of Engineers caused much of the damage after Hurricane Katrina, ordering the government to pay five property owners $750,000 and opening the door to a lot more lawsuits.

Tossups

President Obama

: While supporters are pleased to see the president carefully weigh options in Afghanistan, some are beginning to wonder how long it will take for his decision. Prudent diligence or indecisiveness?

College smoking

: Ivy Tech bans smoking throughout the entire Fort Wayne campus, eliminating the outdoor smoking areas. But Purdue keeps some designated outdoor areas at West Lafayette.

Milestones

Oprah

: Renowned talk-show host announces her syndicated program will end on its 25th anniversary in 2011. But her presence is expected after that on her own cable network, OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network).

Robert Byrd

: West Virginia senator, who was first sworn in as a U.S. representative on Jan. 3, 1953, becomes all-time longest-serving member of Congress.

Losers

Charlie Weis: Notre Dame coach’s days look numbered as the Irish fall to No. 8 Pittsburgh and fans grow increasingly restless.

Township trustees

: More evidence of inefficiencies comes in an investigation into townships in four southwestern Indiana counties by the Evansville Courier & Press, which found that 63 cents out of every dollar was spent on administrative costs.

Children everywhere

: For the last 55 years, volunteers in the tiny town of North Pole, Alaska, have responded to thousands of letters written to Santa Claus, complete with “North Pole” postmarks. But no more. The U.S. Postal Service is dropping the program. The official reason is postal authorities discovered that one of the volunteers was a sex offender; the real reason probably has more to do with costs.

Cuba: Acting leader Raul Castro continues brother Fidel’s repressive policies, wrongfully imprisoning citizens, the group Human Rights Watch reports.