Each week Hot off the Wire looks at a variety of stories in business, science, health and more. This week's headlines include:

• Airports ready for holiday crowds.
• Starting a small business is hard. Exiting can be even harder, but planning early is the key.
• McDonald's to expand US value menu as fast food chains battle for bargain seekers.
• Has a waltz written by composer Frederic Chopin been discovered in an NYC museum.
• The 'super year' of elections has been super bad for incumbents as voters punish them in droves.
• Trump has promised again to release the last JFK files. But experts say don’t expect big revelations.
• Donald Trump's latest branded venture is guitars that cost up to $10,000.
• Should women be allowed to fight on the front lines Trump’s defense pick reignites the debate.
• Texas offers Trump land on US-Mexico border for potential mass deportations.
• About 20% of Americans regularly get their news from influencers on social media, report says.
• Betty White Forever New stamp will honor the much-beloved Golden Girls actor.
• Forget driverless cars. One company wants autonomous helicopters to spray crops and fight fires.
• Volunteers came back to nonprofits in 2023, after the pandemic tanked participation.
• New Hampshire shelter faces enor-mouse problem after man surrenders nearly 1,000 rodents.
• NFL issues security alert to teams and the players' union following recent burglaries.
• NBA memo to players urges increased vigilance regarding home security following break-ins.
• WNBA corporate sponsorship deals are growing. But not every athlete is getting their due.
• Today he is a high school football player. Soon he'll be a Buddhist lama in the Himalayas.
• Denmark will plant 1 billion trees and convert 10% of farmland into forest.
• $344 for a coffee Scottish farm is selling UK's most expensive cup.
• Texas weighs Bible-related curriculum for public schools, placement of the Ten Commandments in classrooms faces a legal roadblock, and Ohio religious schools may so.

—The Associated Press

About this program

Host Terry Lipshetz is managing editor of the national newsroom for Lee Enterprises. Besides producing the daily Hot off the Wire news podcast, Terry conducts periodic interviews for this Behind the Headlines program, co-hosts the Streamed & Screened movies and television program and is the former producer of Across the Sky, a podcast dedicated to weather and climate.

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