Government And Institutions

The Senate Finance Committee has passed an operating budget for Alaska that would not fund public education in advance and aims to prevent Gov. Bill Walker from taking any unilateral action to expand Medicaid.

Delta Air Lines became the first major carrier Thursday to make same-sex domestic partners whole for additional income taxes they owe for health care plans.

Canada's Conservative government will announce a balanced budget on April 21 amid a sharp drop in oil prices and ahead of a scheduled fall election.

Baggage handlers, airplane cleaners and other non-union workers at Philadelphia's airport have called a strike to protest what they say are low wages and unfair labor practices.

Asian stock markets bounded higher Thursday after weak data from major economies boosted hopes for stimulus and a slow pace for U.S. interest rate hikes.

Federal regulators have charged two major U.S. food companies, Kraft and Mondelez, with manipulating prices for wheat and wheat futures in a scheme that reaped more than $5.4 million in profit.

Texas would cut $3 million from programs to prevent HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases and spend that money instead on abstinence education under a contentious Republican-sponsored measure tucked into the state budget Tuesday night.

Rosneft says it has settled a long-standing dispute with now-defunct oil company Yukos, whose owner spent 10 years in a Russian prison.

Following a spate of explosive accidents involving North Dakota crude, the state began requiring companies on Wednesday to remove certain liquids and gases from oil before it's loaded onto rail cars — a move industry and state regulators believe will make for safer shipments.

The Republican-led House passed a two-year, $11.2 billion state budget Wednesday that cuts health services for the elderly and people with disabilities, denies state employees a raise and nearly empties the state's rainy day fund, all to avoid major tax or fee increases.

Gov. Paul LePage's administration and the top Republican in the Maine House unveiled a bill Wednesday to fix an error that caused regulators to slash funding for energy efficiency programs while bringing significant changes to state government, including the creation of an energy commissioner.

A global technology and engineering firm has agreed to pay a $130,000 penalty in the first action taken for an alleged violation of a whistleblower protection rule enacted in response to the recent financial crisis, federal regulators said Wednesday.

Congress will get a little extra time to prevent a threatened 21 percent cut in Medicare payments to doctors.

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

Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday defended the contentious educational reforms he fought to include in the state budget as transformative and said that when combined with a big school funding increase, they make this budget the "most pro-teacher" ever.

Lawmakers plan to vote Tuesday on the final provisions of the state budget, including changes to teacher evaluations and an ethics proposal intended to clean up Albany's pernicious corruption problem.

The head of the Federal Railroad Administration has stumped in New York for increased education and enforcement of safety regulations at railway crossings.

Gov. Dannel P.

North Dakota, whose oil riches have been unlocked by the use of hydraulic fracturing, said Tuesday it will join Wyoming in a lawsuit challenging a new federal rule requiring more information about the process when it's used on U.S. government lands.

A tax attorney who sued for the release of records from Gov. Bill Haslam's administration related to a $350,000 analysis of business tax collections in Tennessee said Tuesday that he likely will appeal a judge's denial of his lawsuit.