Mark Memmott

Good morning.

It's Inauguration Day in the U.S., and that's going to require much of our attention today. But as always, there is other news.

Our early headlines:

-- Join Us For Coverage Of Inauguration Day; Here's The Schedule

-- Reports: Death Toll In Algeria At 80

Update at 1:50 p.m. ET: Three Americans Were Killed, State Department Says (See Statement Below).

Our original post:

As feared, the reports from Algeria about the number of people killed during last week's hostage crisis at a gas plant are getting grimmer.

Super Bowl XLVII will be a never-before matchup of teams coached by two brothers.

The Baltimore Ravens, led by John Harbaugh, will play his younger brother Jim's San Francisco 49ers on Feb. 3 in New Orleans.

Maybe it should be called the Harbowl, as they're saying on NFL.com.

Good morning.

Though he and the vice president have already taken their oaths of office, President Obama is due this noon to stand outside the Capitol for his ceremonial swearing in and then to deliver his second inaugural address.

The bizarre story of Notre Dame star linebacker Manti Te'o and the girlfriend he now says never existed has exploded on to news sites and TV channels this week.

As it does each Friday, the Supreme Court has released audio recordings of the week's oral arguments.

Which means we can now hear what it was like when Justice Clarence Thomas broke his seven-year silence.

In a move that could head off another bruising battle over increasing the nation's debt ceiling, GOP leaders in the House plan to approve a three-month increase in the nation's borrowing authority next week, NPR's S.V. Date reports.

But, he tells our Newscast Desk, Republicans want to tie a longer-term increase to the passage of a budget that cuts spending.

His report continues:

"The plan comes from Majority Leader Eric Cantor as House Republicans wrap up a retreat in Southern Virginia.

The remains of Urooj Khan, the Chicago man who last July died one day after his $425,000 check from the Illinois lottery was cut, were exhumed today, the Chicago Tribune reports.

A masked assailant threw acid into the face of the Bolshoi ballet's artistic director on Thursday in Moscow in what may have been a "reprisal for his selection of dancers in starring roles at the famed Russian company," The Associated Press reports.

Notre Dame football star Manti Te'o "perpetuated the heartbreaking story" of a girlfriend's death after he supposedly had learned he was the victim of a hoax and that she never existed, The Associated Press writes.

After Part 1 of cyclist Lance Armstrong's confession about doping aired Thursday night on the Oprah Winfrey Network, the Livestrong cancer charity he helped found released a statement that says, in part:

(We updated the top of this post at 8:55 ET.)

An American worker has been confirmed dead at the natural gas complex in eastern Algeria where Islamic extremists seized hostages, the U.S. State Department said Friday evening in a statement.

The State Department identified the man as Frederick Buttaccio, a Texas resident, but did not provide additional details on the circumstances.

Pauline Phillips, known to millions of advice-seekers around the world as the original "Dear Abby," has died. She was 94.

The company that syndicates Dear Abby says on its website that she "died Wednesday ... in Minneapolis after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease."

Good morning

Sorry we're late again with the roundup. We'll try to do better tomorrow.

Our early headlines:

-- In Algeria: Some Hostages May Have Escaped; Military Operation Launched

-- Manti Te'o: Story Attributed To Parents Hard To Reconcile With Hoax Report

As those who care wait anxiously for Part 1 of cycling superstar Lance Armstrong's confessional with Oprah Winfrey, there's word that the International Olympic Committee has asked Armstrong to return the bronze medal he won at the 2000 Olympics.

The IOC's statement says:

If you're trying to make sense of the news that Notre Dame football star Manti Te'o now says he was the victim of a hoax and that the woman he thought was his "girlfriend" never existed and never died, you'll want to read an Oct. 12 story published by the South Bend Tribune.

There were 335,000 first-time claims for unemployment insurance last week, down 37,000 from the week before, the Employment and Training Administration reports.

That's the lowest total for any one week since January 2008.

Events are happening quickly at the gas facility in eastern Algeria where Islamist militants seized a large group of hostages — perhaps as many as 41 of them foreigners who apparently include some Americans — on Wednesday.

He'll always be best known as "the kindly white adoptive father of two young African-American brothers in the TV sitcom Diff'rent Strokes," as The Associated Press writes.

Conrad Bain, 89, died Monday in Livermore, Calif., his daughter says.

At a White House event with children who wrote him letters after the Dec. 14 school shooting in Newtown, Conn., President Obama today said the nation cannot wait any longer to do what can be done to reduce gun violence.

After five days of airstrikes aimed at Islamist rebels, French troops are engaged in their first ground battles with those forces in Mali, according to several news outlets.

Good morning.

Sorry we're late with the roundup. We've had quite a few things to post about already today, as you can see:

-- Before Obama's Plan Is Out, NRA Calls Him An 'Elitist Hypocrite'

-- Inflation Rate Slowed Sharply In 2012; Prices Were Flat In December

Consumer prices rose just 1.7 percent in 2012, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports. That's about half the pace of 2011 — when prices went up 3 percent.

In December, BLS says, prices were unchanged.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar intends to step down at the end of March, his office confirms to NPR's Jeff Brady.

Word of Salazar's plan broke over night. According to The Denver Post, the former senator from Colorado intends to "return to Colorado to spend time with his family."

As the Post writes:

It's been a rough morning for many parents and their children in New York City, where about 8,000 school bus drivers and monitors have gone on strike — meaning about 152,000 students had to get to school some other way.

According to The New York Times:

The appearance Monday of a new iPhone/iPad app called "NRA: Practice Range" is causing controversy. Critics say release of the game one month after the school shooting in Newtown, Conn., was callous. And they're also incensed that it's tied to the NRA, which has pinned part of the blame for mass shootings on violent video games.

Update at 7:35 p.m. House Passes Measure

The U.S. House of Representatives voted Tuesday to approve $50.7 billion in aid for victims of Superstorm Sandy.

The vote was 241-80; the measure now goes to the Senate, which is expected to take it up next week.

Here's more from The Associated Press:

"Northeast lawmakers from both parties have been pressing for the aid for more than two months.