Here are some of the contenders for today's biggest...news...of...the...day...

• Lower-than-expected earnings from Bank of America (BAC)...
• Lower-than-expected earnings from Eli Lilly & Co (LLY)...
• An upbeat earnings report from Hasbro Inc (HAS)...
• The efforts by Google (GOOG) to catch up with Baidu.com Inc. (BIDU) in mobile phone search...
• Word that Standard & Poor's is maintaining its negative credit watch on E-Trade Financial Corporation (ETFC) after Friday's earnings report showed a loss...
• A look into what AT&T (T) may say when the company reports earnings tomorrow...
• Optimism on defense stocks as Lockheed Martin (LMT) prepares to report earnings...
• A cash infusion for National City Corp (NCC)...
• A look at how Yahoo's (YHOO) earnings report could impact the takeover bid from Microsoft (MSFT)...
• A look into what Apple (AAPL) may say when the company reports earnings Wednesday...
• The rising cost of food and household goods...
• A look into Sungevity which is called the "the Dell of solar energy"...

While those are all stories worth watching, I think it is obviously clear that the biggest news is this trio of stories -

• Alleged drug dealer calls police to report robbery - "A Long Island man had to know he would be arrested when he called police to report he had just been robbed during a drug deal that went bad..."
• Oregon cop battles 12-foot python to save pet store owner - "A pet store owner is calling a police sergeant a hero for saving her from the coils of a 12-foot Burmese python doing its best to turn her into a meal..."
• Scientists: Even Bigger Quake Could Hit Midwest - "The magnitude 5.2 earthquake that rocked the Midwest on Friday was felt from Kansas to Georgia, and aftershocks could continue for months at this strange seismic zone at the nation's center and even trigger another big quake, a geophysicist said..."

The first story is pretty much self-explanatory while the second is included because of the blurb below...

"...when Sgt. Ryan Nelson rushed into the store, he was ready to kill the snake with his knife. But Rossiter asked him to spare the expensive python..."

As far as the third story goes, this was included for two reasons. One is the obvious - the potential for another earthquake. The other is related to the blurb below -

"A 2007 USGS fact sheet, however, said there is only a 25 percent to 40 percent chance of a magnitude 6 or larger there in the next 50 years. However, a team that includes Michael Ellis of the University of Memphis estimated in 2005 that the odds of another 8.0 event in the region within 50 years are between 7 and 10 percent. These debates about the New Madrid fault are far from resolved, Forte said, with some saying the accumulated stress in area faults is weakening while others say it is not going to dissipate any time soon. 'This is not exactly a well-defined science as yet'..."