The details: America’s central bank released documents detailing the what it did with $3.3 million in loans. More transparency at the famously secretive Fed is a good thing.

Shopper splurge

2| Retailers have a good November

The details : Despite high unemployment, robust retail sales last month suggest some economic momentum.

Arsenic and old space

3| NASA: Evidence of new life form

The details: Researchers at NASA announced that they had discovered a form of life that could exist in toxic arsenic, suggesting an increased likelihood of extraterrestrial life.

Ethics watchdogs

4| Groups campaign for Office of Congressional ethics

The details: Ten influential D.C. watchdog groups banded together to support preserving the Office of Congressional Ethics, which might be threatened by the new Congress. The office allows for more public input on ethics charges.

Protein power

5| Researchers identify cause of aggressive cancers

The details: Australian researchers discovered a specific protein was absent in 90 percent of aggressive and untreatable breast cancers. It may be a first step to creating a drug to slow cancer progression.

Metro upgrade

6| Panel OKs new track circuits

The details: The Metro board’s finance committee agreed to spend $10 million to begin replacing malfunctioning track circuits on the Red Line following their failure in the June 2009 crash. Federal safety officials say faulty circuits pose an “unacceptable risk” to Metro passengers.

No lead crisis here

7| CDC official calms residents

The details: The risk of ingesting lead in the District’s drinking water is “fairly minimal,” says the co-author of a nine-year study by the Centers for Disease Control. But experts say homes with children or pregnant women should still have their tap water tested — just in case.

Take me home

8| Ride program expanded

The details: The Transportation Advisory Board’s popular Guaranteed Ride Home program has been extended to Baltimore. Commuters who car pool, take public transit, walk or bike to work get a free ride home if they’re sick, have to work late, or have an unexpected emergency.

Healing house

9| More help for military families

The details: The Fisher House Foundation, which provides temporary shelter for families of wounded warriors being treated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, opened three new residences in Bethesda. The new lodgings will accommodate up to 60 military families.

Diet COLA

10| Panel: No retiree raises

The details: Maryland’s Joint Commission on Pensions recommended no cost-of-living raises for state retirees during periods of deflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index. The proposal is expected to save the state hundreds of millions of dollars by 2015.