Gold

Gold's glimmer took a dusting Friday after the yellow metal's price dropped $26, to just over $1,609 an ounce. Before you sell what's in your portfolio, consider data just released from industry trade group World Gold Council: Last year, China accounted for about 25 percent of consumer gold demand and narrowed the gap with its rival, top gold buyer India. The London-based council said consumption from both countries could rise an additional 11 percent in 2013. Granted, the World Gold Council has a bias.

JULIA MANCUSO got the ball rolling with a bronze medal in Schladming, Austria, on the same day Lindsey Vonn had a season-ending crash. Ted Ligety followed with three golds to earn the title from local media of "Der Koenig von Schladming" - "The King of Schladming. " And Mikaela Shiffrin , 17, capped a historic world championships for the U.S. Ski Team by fighting off a serious case of nerves to win the slalom title. In the end, the U.S. team had the most golds at worlds - the first non-European nation to achieve the feat.

Ted Ligety became the first man in 45 years to earn three gold medals at the skiing world championships by winning the giant slalom in dominating style in Schladming, Austria. The American can match French great Jean-Claude Killy , who earned four golds in 1968, if he wins the slalom on Sunday. Mikael Kingsbury of Canada and Hannah Kearney of the United States won World Cup mogul races at the Sochi Olympics venue. COLLEGES: Penn State released new figures showing the school spent more than $27 million so far on legal fees, consultants and public relations firms to deal with the Jerry Sandusky child sex-abuse scandal.

Point guard Lauren Gold made all 13 of her foul shots and poured in 26 points to lead Abington Friends past visiting Baldwin, 58-47, Tuesday in the first round of the state Independent Schools girls' basketball tournament. Bianca Adams added nine points, five assists, and four steals. In another first-round game, DeAnna Mayza put in a game-high 25 points, including 15 in the first half, to lead Hill School to a 64-44 win over Friends' Central. Hillary Yoy was right behind, adding 22 points of her own. Maria Conyers-Jordan had 20 points for Friends' Central.

It took senior Lauren Gold a little while to get acclimated to Abington Friends when she transferred from Council Rock North. The transition was difficult, and playing basketball for a different school was "weird" at first, Gold said. It was especially weird because for years it had seemed that there was always a member of the Gold family on the North girls' basketball team. First, there was Kristen, now 26, a point guard, and then Erin, 23, a shooting guard who scored 1,000 points for the Indians and played for Wesleyan University.

JENNIFER LOPEZ, Rihanna and Katy Perry did pay heed to the new CBS fashionista-police edict, keeping breasts (mostly) and bums safely under cover, darn. The often "slit down to there" J. Lo let only one shoulder and one very long leg out to play. Still, there was plenty of youthful zip (if not sex appeal) at Sunday night's really big Grammy music awards - one unlikely to be miss-tagged "The Grannies. " While driving at 55 (th annual), it was hard to spot old-timers in the winner's circle - save Bonnie Raitt (in the "Americana" category)

Two years ago, Marco Gigliello shut down his Mount Laurel jewelry store, Reflections of Venice, and opened a cash-for-gold shop along Route 70 in Cherry Hill. Erlton Cash for Gold has jewelry, coins, and silverware on display, but "nobody buys anything," Gigliello said, standing behind the counter of his shop one afternoon last week. He instead makes his money selling gold to refineries. It's a business that, in a sign of the times, has exploded in Cherry Hill. The township now counts 27 cash-for-gold shops, up from five just five years ago. Now the township wants greater authority to regulate those shops, already subject to a state law requiring that they turn transaction records over to police.

The United States team, including Olympic 100-meter hurdler Lolo Jones , won gold Sunday in the combined bobsled-skeleton team event at the world championships in St. Moritz, Switzerland. Jones was brakewoman for Elana Meyers in the women's bobsled portion of an event that also added times in two-man bobsled plus men's and women's skeleton. The U.S. team edged Germany by 0.24 seconds even though the Germans won three of four disciplines on the Olympia track. Skeleton racer Noelle Pikus-Pace was 1.7 seconds faster than German rival Marion Thees to lead the United States to victory with an overall time of 4 minutes, 31.29 seconds.