Bob Frantz in for Jimmy Barrett and Shara Fryer take you through the stories that matter on the morning of 12/31/2018, including: We look at the 18 most mortifying media moments of 2018. ‘This was the year when reporters ... began loosening the usual boundaries governing journalism’; The New Year could well demonstrate President Trump’s brand of Republican economics — tax cuts, deregulation and tough policies on trade with China — really works. In 2018, the president’s policies instigated nearly 3 percent growth, robust jobs creation and rising wages — a combination President Obama’s statism could not deliver. Household incomes got a jolt from personal tax cuts and those temporarily accelerated consumer spending. However, newly rising wages and lower gasoline prices — both enabled by Mr. Trump’s policies — are now giving a fresh boost to consumer spending power. Those should keep cash registers ringing well into 2019. Deregulation is raising labor productivity, and permitting businesses to keep prices in check even as they raise wages. Pulling out the volatile energy food sectors, “core inflation” is flat lining in the range of 2 percent. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has the opportunity to heed President Trump’s call for a more cautious interest rate policy; For now it's just a prototype, but engineers working for Ford in Europe have created a noise-canceling dog house. So when the fireworks start going off with the New Year's celebrations, dogs around the world will have somewhere to hide. An estimated 45 percent of dogs show signs of fear when they hear fireworks - causing distress to owners and their families too. Once microphones inside the prototype kennel detect the sound of the fireworks, a built-in audio system emits opposing frequencies that - in effect - cancels out the noise completely or at least reduces it significantly. High-density cork, ideal for sound proofing was an integral part of the design. It's the same noise-cancellation technology found in the Ford Edge. The result? No more stress for your pet.