2012 ended for 162 passengers on a Spirit Airlines plane with an unexpected bump.

FISCAL CLIFF

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A last-ditch Senate compromise to avert the fiscal cliff appeared to be in jeopardy with House Republicans slamming the deal negotiated with the White House and demanding more must be done to cut spending.

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The fiscal cliff deal passed by the Senate Tuesday morning would increase deficits over the next decade by close to $4 trillion, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

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It's complex, dense, and filled with compromise. And the deal passed by the Senate to avert the "fiscal cliff" might not even become law, depending what actions the House takes. Here are five things to know about the bill that passed the Senate overwhelmingly in the middle of the night.

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The fiscal cliff compromise passed by the Senate in the early morning hours Tuesday would mute much but not all of the negative economic impact of going over the cliff.

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The rich would see a much bigger tax bill under the fiscal cliff deal that passed the Senate early Tuesday morning, but even they would get some nice breaks.

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Think the fiscal cliff is causing uncertainty and holding back the economy? How about three more cliff-like deadlines over the next three months?

FEATURES AND COMMENTARY

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Some 20 years ago, when Troy Gunter was a new band director, he had the crazy idea that his high school students should someday march in the Rose Parade. It's a lofty goal for any band. The annual march through Pasadena began in 1890 and evolved into a New Year's Day spectacle of music, flowers and football watched by 700,000 along the route and 39 million more on TV.

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Reality for TLC's T-Boz has been a challenge, starting at age 7, when she was diagnosed with sickle cell anemia. Reality called again five years ago when doctors found a brain tumor, which left her partially blind and deaf. "But after losing my sight, hearing, balance and speech, yes, I'm returning," said T-Boz, whose real name is Tionne Watkins. "I had to take three years to heal and fight for everything that I wanted back. T-Boz is sharing the lessons learned from hard reality in a reality TV show that premieres Tuesday night, coincidentally on a network with the same name as her group -- TLC.

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