Government And Institutions

More people sought U.S. unemployment benefits last week, though the increase was from a very low level and the figures still point to a healthy job market.

The Wisconsin state Assembly voted to spend $250 million in public funds on a new arena for the Milwaukee Bucks, a deal that both Republicans and Democrats lauded as good for the state and city.

It's lasted six years.

Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew is telling Congress that he will extend for another three months the authority he is using to take emergency measures to keep from breaching the nation's borrowing limit.

International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde says the world economy is recovering but fragile and "faces some downside risks." In an online press conference, Lagarde describes the United States "a strong performer" and China "resilient" despite a recent drop in Chinese stock prices.

House Speaker John Boehner says he supports a push by U.S. oil companies to ship their crude oil overseas and lift a decades-long ban on exports.

The House and Senate are moving toward passage of a three-month patch to keep federal highway and transit aid flowing to states while lawmakers seek the right mix of policy and revenue to achieve a long-term transportation deal.

Opponents of a Pacific Rim trade deal being negotiated at a resort on the Hawaiian island of Maui are demonstrating against the proposed pact.

It began with a Greek outburst of national defiance against years of budget cuts and quickly turned into a financial nightmare for the country's people.

Altria Group (MO) on Wednesday reported second-quarter net income of $1.45 billion.

The World Trade Organization says Taiwan and Thailand have joined an agreement reached last week to abolish duties on more than 200 technology products.

The U.S. government expects to spend $191 million to pay chicken and turkey farmers for birds lost to avian flu, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Tuesday as he called for Congress to consider a disaster program for poultry producers similar to that for other livestock farmers.

Tribal leaders from a prolific portion of North Dakota's oil-rich Fort Berthold Reservation are scaling back proposed drilling regulations that industry officials warned could slow crude production.

The Senate is moving toward the likely passage this week of a sweeping, six-year transportation bill, but the House is putting off consideration of the measure until this fall.

Dermatologists who treat skin cancer patients urged state lawmakers on Tuesday to approve a bill that would bar anyone under age 18 from using tanning beds, but salon owners accused critics of overstating the risks.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan says the Obama administration wants to expand the Pell grant program to prisoners.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan says the Obama administration wants to expand the Pell grant program to prisoners.

Minnesota booked nearly $650 million in savings by tweaking how it handles subsidized health care programs, state officials announced Tuesday.

Ivory dealers in San Francisco's Chinatown stood in their shop doors next to windows full of carved ivory tusks and trinkets, unfazed by proposed federal rules that the White House says go as far as possible to ban the U.S. trade of ivory from the world's endangered elephants.

Hillary Rodham Clinton dodged questions Tuesday about her positions on trade and the Keystone XL pipeline, telling a New Hampshire voter that if the future of the project opposed by environmentalists remains "undecided when I become president, I will answer your question." Sensing an opportunity, Clinton's rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination escalated their critique of the party's front-runner.