Finch elementary school in Atlanta is closed today after several students and staff were sickened by carbon monoxide.  Firefighters were sent to the school Monday morning after receiving calls about children and teachers who were unconscious. Officials believe an outdated boiler system is the culprit. Finch Elementary has no carbon monoxide detectors, and Georgia law does not require them in schools. Students will report to Kennedy Elementary until Finch re-opens.

Atlanta City Council members approved a measure Monday that would allow them to receive a pay increase. The increase would be around $20,000 and would take effect in January of 2014. Council members say they have not received a raise in the past six years, and the adjustment will help with cost of living expenses. The increase would bring members salaries to above $60,000 annually.  Mayor Kasim Reed has yet to weigh in on whether he'll sign the proposal into law.

The White House is rejecting a GOP offer to keep the nation from going over the "fiscal cliff."  Republican leaders had sent President Obama an offer Monday which included more than two-trillion dollars in spending cuts but no tax hikes on the wealthiest Americans. The Obama administration rejected the offer stating it does provide breaks to the middle-class and caters to upper-class Americans.


Britain's royal family along with the rest of the world is celebrating Kate Middleton's pregnancy. A palace spokesman announced Monday that Kate, wife to Prince William, is carrying the royal baby and has been admitted to a London hospital with acute morning sickness. She is expected to stay hospitalized several days. The royal baby will be born third in line to the throne.

Yahoo! is getting rid of its public chat rooms.  The feature will close on December 14th.  Public chat rooms were very popular in the early days of the Internet, but their popularity deteriorated over the years. A few years ago, Yahoo stopped most users from being able to create their own chat rooms after reports that some rooms were being used for explicit reasons.

Facebook wants to hear from its users on whether they should get a say regarding privacy and data-collection.  The social-networking giant is letting users vote on whether they should be allowed to cast ballots for future data policy changes. The change comes following pressure from regulators regarding Facebook's translucent policies.