Government And Institutions

Standard & Poor's is paying about $1.38 billion to settle government allegations that it knowingly inflated its ratings of risky mortgage investments that helped trigger the financial crisis.

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services downgraded a spate of European banks on Tuesday, saying new regulations make "extraordinary government support" less likely for some banks and harder to predict for others.

Some of the proposals in President Barack Obama's new budget address major concerns of the Republican-controlled Congress.

President Barack Obama says his budget has ideas that Republicans should embrace and urges Congress to approve spending for the Department of Homeland Security for the remainder of the year.

President Barack Obama's proposed budget would provide less money for the nation's underground nuclear waste repository but keep funding relatively stable for two major Energy Department weapons labs in New Mexico.

Companies that are part of Idaho's $2.4 billion dairy industry are no longer at risk of losing their operating permits if caught illegally dumping waste into streams and waterways.

The Republican-controlled House has voted along party lines to repeal the health care law that stands as President Barack Obama's signature domestic achievement, and not for the first time.

House Republican leaders say the House will vote next week on legislation to construct the Keystone XL pipeline and send it to President Barack Obama.

The Hawaii County Council is scheduled to consider an attorney's offer for free legal representation to defend its new law restricting genetically modified crops.

A federal regulator says Corinthian College students will be forgiven a total of $480 million in loans because the for-profit school used "bogus" job prospects to persuade them to pay tuition with expensive private loans.

Colorado lawmakers want to ensure public benefit cards aren't being used at marijuana dispensary ATMs or strip clubs with a bill that cleared its first hurdle Tuesday in the state Senate.

The European Union has launched a probe into tax rules in Belgium allowing multinational companies to slash their bills, following similar investigations in Ireland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

Australian stocks jumped to a near-seven-year high after an interest rate cut Tuesday and Chinese stocks rebounded from a losing streak, leading most other global markets higher as jitters about Greece's new government subsided.

Asian stock markets rose Wednesday after a jump in oil prices helped push U.S. shares sharply higher and Japanese economic data showed improvement.

A Tennessee-based company and three New Mexico hospitals have agreed to pay the federal government $75 million to settle allegations in a Medicaid false-claims case that stemmed from a whistleblower's complaints.

Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills fell in Monday's auction with rates on three-month bills dropping to the lowest level since October.

Sealaska Corp. says it will log this year on two of the parcels it received in December through congressional action.

Around the country, strippers have stepped up their fight for better working conditions.

Gov. John Kasich's state budget plan would continue to fund an expansion of Medicaid as his administration seeks to charge a monthly premium to certain residents on the health care program, state officials said Monday.

President Barack Obama is warning congressional Republicans he won't accept a spending plan that boosts national security at the expense of domestic programs for the middle class.