Government And Institutions

New Jersey's bond rating was downgraded this week over the state's pension contribution shortfall, marking the ninth time since Gov. Chris Christie took office in 2010 that a major agency has lowered its rating for the state.

Top Japan and U.S. trade officials plan to meet this weekend, seeking to close gaps over autos and farm trade before Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visits Washington later this month.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott said Thursday he is suing the Obama administration for withholding federal money for hospitals that serve the poor, saying they are doing so because the state won't expand Medicaid.

Fear that Greece could default and abandon the euro is rattling global financial markets.

Hillary Rodham Clinton says she will be closely watching efforts by the Obama administration to negotiate a broad trade policy pact with Pacific nations that's raising concerns over potential harm to workers.

China's securities regulator is tightening control over lending to small investors trading stocks.

Two Southern California utilities should return at least $648 million to customers because of evidence of secret deal-making in a nearly $5 billion settlement following the closing of a nuclear power plant, a state agency said Friday.

U.S. stocks are heading lower as more big companies turn in earnings.

Top congressional Republicans and Democrats say they've reached a deal to allow President Barack Obama to negotiate trade deals subject to an up-or-down vote from Congress.

A new Kansas law tells poor families that they can't use cash assistance from the state to attend concerts, get tattoos, see a psychic or buy lingerie.

The new mayor of one New Jersey city wants to boost his salary to $72,000 after cutting his predecessor's to $21,000 when he served on the City Council.

A divided state Senate approved revisions Thursday to Michigan's auto insurance law that backers said would curtail costs in the only state to require unlimited medical benefits for those severely injured in crashes and that opponents warned would hurt patients.

A bill preventing deep cuts in doctors' Medicare reimbursements hasn't been signed into law.

The IRS wants $3.2 billion to cover back taxes that it says are owed by a prominent Texas businessman and his late brother who the IRS says hid income by setting up overseas trust funds.

Officials with an Illinois-based industrial shelving company say they're expanding in Gary, Indiana.

The House has voted to make permanent a deduction for state and local sales taxes that expired at the beginning of the year.

Gov. Gina Raimondo vowed in her inaugural address that she would think differently and act urgently to stop the state's decline.

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will serve as a senior adviser to Citadel, the investment firm said Thursday.

Connecticut is stepping up the fight against the trafficking of bootlegged cigarettes from low-tax states into lucrative Northeast markets through New York and Boston ports and along Interstate 95.

The House has passed a bill that would repeal the federal tax on estates.