Government And Institutions

Illinois' Democratic attorney general on Friday delivered a blow to Gov. Bruce Rauner's efforts to weaken labor unions, saying two of the main ideas the Republican has been pitching across the state would be illegal.

An emerging bipartisan House deal changing how Medicare pays physicians would raise money in part by targeting Medicare providers who are tax scofflaws and by curbing reimbursements for hospitals and nursing homes.

Potatoes that won't bruise and apples that won't brown are a step closer to grocery store aisles.

A much-hailed law that restricted the opening of new stand-alone fast-food restaurants in one of the poorest sections of Los Angeles did not curb obesity or improve diets, a new study found.

A tentative bipartisan House deal to change how Medicare reimburses doctors is running into turbulence in the Senate over abortion.

The producer of the new James Bond thriller "Spectre" denies that the script was changed to get incentives in Mexico.

Ohio officials say nearly 1 million taxpayers have taken a new quiz used by the state to catch phony income-tax returns and most have passed it.

A Treasury official says that if a nuclear deal is struck with Iran, lawmakers should leave congressionally-imposed sanctions in place for years.

Two Russian journalists planning to travel to Moldova to present a documentary on Crimea have been banned from the country for five years, authorities said Thursday.

Lawmakers are considering whether to give thousands of restaurant employees, hotel housekeepers and other tipped workers in Rhode Island a raise.

A Kansas Senate committee on Thursday approved a proposed $15.5 billion budget for the state's next fiscal year that wouldn't balance out without tax increases.

Jamaica has imposed import restrictions on poultry products from various spots in North America in the wake of a big outbreak of bird flu that has infected stocks.

House Speaker John Boehner and his usual nemesis, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, are working together to try resolving the long-running problem of how Medicare pays doctors.

The GOP-led House Budget Committee has given party-line approval to a sweeping balanced budget plan that adds $36 billion to President Barack Obama's request for overseas war funds but with restrictions on the money that are opposed by a sizable bloc of the party's defense hawks.

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

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner, dogged in attempts to eliminate fees paid to unions by workers who choose not to join, has instructed state agencies to divert money from nonunion employee paychecks away from organized labor until a judge settles the matter.

Pennsylvania state government would reap $3 billion a year under Gov. Tom Wolf's plan to expand a 6.6 percent sales tax to include transactions on 45 categories of products or services that are currently exempt, according to figures released by his administration Wednesday.

Senate Republicans are putting down a marker with their budget blueprint, one day after the House GOP unveiled a 10-year plan that boosts the military, makes deep cuts in social programs and targets President Barack Obama's laws on health care and financial reforms.

The governor of Rhode Island is defending a proposed luxury tax for pricey second homes that has been dubbed the "Taylor Swift tax." Gov. Gina Raimondo says she wants to raise nearly $12 million by implementing a statewide property tax on second homes worth more than $1 million.

Lawmakers would have to disclose their outside income and swipe an electronic card to prove they're on the job to claim travel reimbursements under a new ethics reform proposal from Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie.