Government And Institutions

Repeated natural-gas accidents — including a pipeline explosion that killed eight people — suggest that Pacific Gas & Electric Co., California's largest power utility, may be too big to operate safely, the state's top utility regulator says.

Gov. Scott Walker heads to Europe this week on a trade mission featuring private meetings with business and government representatives in Germany, France and Spain, as he ramps up for a likely bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016.

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

A federal banking official took the unprecedented step Thursday of meeting with marijuana business owners, as the pot business awaits word on setting up its own bank.

Mayor Bill de Blasio and U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer rode the "R'' train from Brooklyn to City Hall on Thursday morning, chatting with straphangers, handing out leaflets and, at times, adopting Boston accents as they called for the public to pressure Congress to increase federal transportation funding.

A New Jersey appeals court ruled Thursday that Gov. Chris Christie's administration may not seize money that towns had set aside for affordable housing projects, the latest housing-related court ruling to go against the governor.

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.

A bipartisan group of state senators rolled out a construction budget Wednesday that calls for $3.9 billion in capital spending over the next two years.

As lawmakers consider whether to allow satellite tribal casinos near the state's borders, the Connecticut Lottery Corporation wants permission to offer keno to help diversify its portfolio and protect its revenue stream to the state budget.

The new YouTube Kids mobile app targets young children with unfair and deceptive advertising and should be investigated, a group of consumer advocates told the Federal Trade Commission in a letter Tuesday.

The Vermont Senate on Tuesday advanced a stripped-down economic development package, removing provisions to allow lower-wage companies to qualify for job-creation tax credits and to ease restrictions what some environmentalists have labeled strip development.

A footwear maker that has outsourced work to China says it will restore 100 jobs at its western New York factory with the help of $1.75 million in state tax credits.

New York is tightening the tax credits for cleanup and redevelopment of contaminated commercial and industrial sites called brownfields, generally limiting the rebuilding credits in New York City to less lucrative property.

North Dakota will see another large infusion of federal money this year to boost the development of specialty crops in a state that's already among the nation's leading producers of dry peas, lentils, honey and confection sunflowers.

A national environmental group has launched a $500,000 ad campaign against U.S. Sen. Rob Portman in Ohio, claiming a federal budget amendment he introduced could undercut the enforceability of the federal Clean Air Act.

U.S. health regulators have questions about the data submitted by tobacco maker Swedish Match in its bid to become the first company to market a smokeless tobacco product as less harmful than cigarettes.

The European Central Bank has met its monthly goal of purchasing 60 billion euros in government and private-sector bonds, the first stage of a 1.1 trillion euro ($1.2 trillion) program aimed at boosting the economy.

Supporters of casino gambling are asking skeptical colleagues in the House of Representatives to consider the revenue that would come from a proposed bill to approve two casinos after a grueling House budget process that struggled to find new sources of cash.

Tesla Motors has built a new showroom in Salt Lake City to sell its sleek electric cars, but no one can buy, drive or discuss prices there after Utah officials ruled it violates state laws about car makers owning dealerships.

The South Dakota Democratic Party and at least one union group that successfully pushed for a voter-approved minimum wage hike last year are preparing to join opponents of a lawmaker-approved $7.50 youth minimum wage law who are working to block it from going into effect.