Winners

Ellen DeGeneres: The comedian and talk-show host wins the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.

Technophiles: Apple unveils its new iPad Mini, while Microsoft rolls out its very first company-branded computer – the Surface, a super-tablet that will compete against the iPad, among others.

“Fargo”: Is it true that a cable TV series based on the quirky 1996 Coen brothers film is coming to FX? You betcha.

John Franklin Stephens: Special Olympics athlete, 30, sends open letter to conservative commentator Ann Coulter, calling her out for using the word “retard” in a Twitter post during Monday’s presidential debate.

Tossups

Property owners: The city Board of Parks and Recreation rejects a proposed $10 fee on each parcel to finance removal of thousands of dead and dying ash trees. But the proposal may resurface next year, and in any case, city taxpayers will have to pay for it one way or another.

Losers

Mystery Monkey: Rhesus macaque monkey on the loose in Tampa Bay neighborhoods for more than three years is captured after biting a woman earlier this month.

Township government: The lack of oversight is demonstrated yet again when a woman is sentenced for being paid $40,000 by Penn Township in St. Joseph County for work she didn’t perform. The woman, who pleaded guilty to ghost employment, was the girlfriend of the township trustee, who previously resigned and pleaded guilty to official misconduct.

Carlton Fisk: Hall of Fame catcher refuses blood-alcohol test after he’s found passed out in his truck near his New Lenox, Ill., home. He’s charged with DWI.

East Coast: Weather forecasters say the “Frankenstorm” – a combination of Hurricane Sandy and two other big weather fronts all expected to collide beginning this weekend – could pound the entire Eastern Seaboard. New York City is expected to be among the hardest hit, and already officials and utility companies are bracing for massive power outages.

Milestones

Rosneft: Acquisitions propel the Russian government-owned company to the world’s No. 1 producer of oil, surpassing ExxonMobile.

David Stern: NBA commissioner announces he’ll step down in 2014, after 30 years on the job. His deputy, Adam Silver, already has been chosen as his successor.

Sarah Lawrence College: Yonkers, N.Y., school again tops the list as most expensive in the nation. Total cost: $61,236 a year.