vladimir putin has been named the person of the year. putin claims 68% of the vote in the poll doubled his percentage from last year. no one else received more than 4% of the votes. a pentagon task force is under investigation for wasting taxpayer money to send afghan jewelers on training trips to europe and asia. $700 million was given to the task force for business and stability operations in part to help the country s gem industry. in a letter to alco and defense secretary chuck hagel, the question the significant cost of sending local jewelers to places like paris and india, quote, it s not clear to me that the gem program produced any positive or lasting economic development or increased employment in afghanistan. the ig is requesting documents related to the trips with a deadline of christmas eve. finally, what s worse than
path other than common core, i say this, that s fine, but you should be aiming even higher and bolder. . reporter: saying it s okay as long as there are no mandates and local autonomy and flexibility are maintained. parents and politicians are divided over it, but when it comes to education reform, there s no disagreement. the state will prohibit hydraulic fracturing, fracking next year. a long-awaited report cited unresolved health issues and dubious economic benefits of the widely used gas drilling technique, the state has had a ban on oil shale development since 2008. what is worse than being rejected by the college of your choice, the answer is next, on the grapevine. and russian president vladimir putin humbly accepts another honor.