Government And Institutions

The country's largest full-time Legislature will soon have to decide where it will get the money to pay thousands of employees and other costs as its surplus, once more than $300 million, is rapidly dwindling amid Pennsylvania's budget crisis.

Natural gas producers in Kentucky shoulder all the responsibility for paying severance taxes on the fuel and cannot shift some of the tax burden to landowners, the state's Supreme Court said in a divided ruling Thursday.

Former Wilmington Trust president Robert Harra Jr. was ordered released on bail Thursday after pleading not guilty to fraud and conspiracy charges stemming from an ongoing federal investigation into the collapse of the century-old financial institution.

California's health insurance exchange is still sluggish when it comes to resolving customer service problems, leaving many people unable to access health care or finalize their tax returns, a consumer advocacy group said Thursday.

The number of Americans seeking unemployment aid rose slightly last week, yet remained at a low level consistent with a solid job market.

The Labor Department reports on the number of people who applied for unemployment benefits last week at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Thursday.

The man unveiled as principal owner of the warehouses at the center of deadly blasts in Tianjin also is on the board of a state-owned company that is ultimately controlled by the same powerful entity investigating the explosions, an Associated Press review of public documents found.

Top Republican lawmakers said Wednesday they will meet a key demand of Gov. Tom Wolf's to boost public school aid, even if it requires a tax increase, but they continued insisting on an end to the traditional benefit in Pennsylvania's two big public pension systems.

Utah lawmakers on Wednesday voted to build a new state prison near Salt Lake City's airport.

Russian authorities say they are conducting "systematic" inspections at French supermarket chain Auchan following concerns about poor-quality meat.

New York state's financial regulator and Promontory Financial Group say they've reached a settlement agreement over the bank consultant's reports four years ago for Standard Chartered Bank.

Months into the state's budget stalemate, Republican legislative leaders are now willing to fund a pay raise for state employees.

Figures on government spending and debt (last six digits are eliminated).

Michigan legislators took a step Wednesday to help Detroit collect unpaid city income taxes from residents who work in the suburbs, a move linked to efforts to persuade Democrats from the city to back an elusive $1.2 billion road-funding plan.

China's volatile stock market is taking shareholders on a white-knuckle ride, threatening to drive out the small investors Beijing hopes will help pay for reforms of state industry.

Teens who use e-cigarettes are more likely than others to later smoke conventional cigarettes and other tobacco products, a study at 10 Los Angeles high schools suggests.

The Obama administration is proposing to cut methane emissions from U.S. oil and gas production by nearly half over the next decade in an unprecedented step to curb climate change.

Imploring them to "let me do my job," Gov. Bruce Rauner asked Illinois lawmakers Tuesday not to undo his veto of a measure authorizing an unelected arbitrator to decide a potential labor-negotiation stalemate.

In business since the 1960s, Karim al-Aboudi's family has seen Iraq's economy boom with oil wealth and bust through wars and the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, but today marks the worst downturn he's seen in decades.

Republican presidential candidate Scott Walker's plan for replacing President Barack Obama's health care law would extend refundable tax credits to help pay for private health insurance based on age instead of income, restructure Medicaid and allow people to shop for insurance across state lines.