drupal_set_title not setting $title variable I'm trying to use drupal_set_title() in my node.tpl.php but the text I'm setting the title to is only showing up in the $head_title (html.tpl.php) variable and not the $title variable. The $title variable is still set to the node's title.

This is in Drupal 7. I've used drupal_set_title() multiple times like this in Drupal 6 and it has worked perfectly.

Is this broken in D7?

This is how it is being used in node--news.tpl.php:  

$actual_title = $title; // save for later use
drupal_set_title('News');
By the time you've hit node.tpl.php it's too late to set the title as $head_title has already been set in template_process_html() and the $head_title variable has already been output.

You'll need to use template_preprocess_node() or similar to set your title as desired.