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Comcast, as we reported earlier, wants to buy Time Warner Cable for about $45 billion. The deal, which Comcast confirmed this morning, would bring together the nation's No. 1 (Comcast) and No. 2 (Time Warner) cable companies.

NPR's David Folkenflik filed this report for our Newscast Desk:

"If the deal goes through, Comcast will serve about thirty million American households in cable tv alone

"The news was broken by a reporter for one of Comcast's many television properties — CNBC. Comcast also owns NBC and Universal studios. The purchase would stave off a lesser bid for Time Warner by a smaller rival, Charter, and it would give Comcast more leverage when it negotiates with the parent companies of such major cable channels as Fox News and ESPN over how much to pay to carry their programming.

"Federal anti-trust lawyers at the Justice Department are likely to review the deal, which would mean fewer players competing to win cable franchises from regional and local governments.

"Time Warner Cable itself is a remnant of an even larger mega-deal - the creation of AOL Time Warner — now considered one of the worst mergers in U.S. history."

Fifteen years ago an unwelcome viral visitor entered the U.S., and we've been paying for it ever since.

The U.S recorded its first case of West Nile virus back in 1999. Since then, the disease has spread across the lower 48 states and cost the country around $800 million, scientists reported this week in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

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In America, total student loan debt tops $1 trillion and a four-year college degree can cost as much as a house — leaving many families wondering if college is really worth the cost.

Yes, a new study of young people finds. The study, released Tuesday by the Pew Research Center, looks at income and unemployment among young adults. Paul Taylor, executive vice president of special projects at Pew, says it's pretty much case closed when it comes to the benefits of going to college.

"In a modern, knowledge-based economy, the only thing more expensive than going to college is not going to college," he says.

College-educated young adults make more

Six months after Democratic Mayor Bob Filner left office in disgrace because more than a dozen women had stepped forward to accuse him of sexual harassment, San Diegans have chosen a Republican to take over.

On Tuesday, "Kevin Faulconer was elected by a wide margin over fellow Councilman David Alvarez," our colleagues at KPBS report. "The veteran Republican councilman soundly defeated his Democratic opponent 55 to 45 percent (with 86 percent of the vote counted.)"

The U-T San Diego says Faulconer's victory marks "a new chapter for the city" after Filner's "scandal-plagued tenure." Also, the U-T says:

"A Faulconer victory breathes new life into the local Republican Party by restoring its control of the mayor's office that its candidates have occupied for much of the past four decades. Faulconer also becomes the only Republican mayor of a top 10 U.S. city, making him one of the party's highest-profile leaders in the state.

"The results dashed the hopes of Alvarez to become San Diego's first Latino mayor and its youngest in nearly 120 years."