Government And Institutions

Investigators are blaming two IRS workers at a computer center in West Virginia for erasing thousands of emails related to the tax agency's tea party scandal, impeding congressional investigations into the treatment of conservative political groups.

Investors in hospital stocks rejoiced Thursday after the Supreme Court upheld a key portion of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul and eliminated the prospect of a sudden influx of uninsured patients seeking care.

Hong Kong regulators have rejected an application for a budget airline joint venture involving Australia's Qantas and China Eastern Airlines after local carriers objected.

The House has approved the final pieces of President Barack Obama's hard-fought trade agenda and sent them to his desk.

%Figures on government spending and debt% % WASHINGTON (AP) — Figures on government spending and debt (last six digits are eliminated).% %The government's fiscal year runs Oct. 1 through Sept. 30.% %Total public debt subject to limit June 24 % 18,112,975% %Statutory debt limit % 18,113,000% %Total public debt outstanding June 24 % 18,152,638% %Operating balance June 24 % 240,762% %Interest fiscal year 2015 thru May % 159,485% %Interest same period pvs fiscal year % 169,136% %Deficit fiscal year 2015 thru May % 365,156% %Deficit same period pvs fiscal year % 436,384% %Receipts fiscal year 2015 thru May % 2,103,987% %Receipts same period pvs fiscal year % 1,936,739% %Outlays fiscal year 2015 thru May % 2,469,144% %Outlays same period pvs fiscal year % 2,373,122% %Gold assets in May % 11,041%

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

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is releasing thousands of complaints from disgruntled customers of banks, credit card companies and other providers of financial services.

Wyoming lawmakers likely will face tough choices in coming years over how to fund the state's K-12 educational system because of falling mineral revenue, legislative staffers warned Wednesday.

A legislative committee will meet this summer to examine whether the state should pursue an alternative to its health care exchange.

Tribal leaders from an oil-prolific portion of North Dakota's Fort Berthold Reservation say they can't count on federal or state regulators — or their own tribal government — to monitor the boom, so they are moving to do it themselves.

More than a dozen transportation and progressive advocacy groups sharply criticized the Democrat-led Legislature on Wednesday, calling on lawmakers to allocate more funding to NJ Transit so it can evade an expected fare increase.

South Korea's finance ministry says economic growth will slow this year as the outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome saps spending and tourism.

The Senate is preparing to hand President Barack Obama a major victory with final passage of "fast track" authority to negotiate trade deals.

A major health system has banned the sale of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from some of its hospital gift shops, accusing the newspaper of "slanted" coverage, the newspaper reported Wednesday.

The Senate has handed President Barack Obama a major victory by approving "fast track" authority to negotiate trade agreements in Asia and elsewhere.

11:20 a.m. (0920 GMT, 5:20 a.m. EDT) Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has arrived in Brussels to meet with the heads of the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the European Union's executive Commission.

Republicans controlling the powerful House Appropriations panel have adopted a sweeping spending bill that seeks to protect popular programs like medical research, drug treatment and AIDS prevention but slashes education grants and funding for family planning centers and community service programs.

Defying a White House veto threat, House Republicans moved forward Wednesday with a plan to block a key element of President Barack Obama's strategy for fighting climate change.

The nation's top railroad regulator says she will enforce a Dec. 31 deadline for commuter and freight railroads to install safety technology that experts say could have prevented a deadly Amtrak derailment last month.

Exxon Mobil Corp. has been forced to halt operations at three offshore oil platforms because it couldn't deliver to refineries in the wake of a broken pipeline that spilled up to 101,000 gallons of crude on the Santa Barbara coast, the company said.