Government And Institutions

The federal Energy Department will need to acquire water and land rights before it gets approval to entomb the nation's most radioactive waste beneath a mountain in the Nevada desert, according to a report released Thursday by an the agency being asked to license the project.

U.S. agriculture has a big appetite for freer trade with Cuba.

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker is criticizing a decision to delay full implementation of a rule that bears his name and aims to curb banks' risky investments.

Environmentalists and industry experts expect the first federal standards for waste generated from coal burned for electricity to treat the ash more like household garbage than a hazardous material.

President Barack Obama on Thursday capped a swift and forceful response to an Associated Press investigation by signing into law a measure that bars suspected Nazi war criminals from receiving U.S. Social Security benefits.

Colorado's economy has been on an upswing, and government officials are getting more comfortable asking the state for help with their funding needs after years of budget cuts.

Dozens of supporters of single-payer health care converged on the Statehouse Thursday to voice their anger at Gov. Peter Shumlin's announcement a day earlier that he was scrapping his push for such a program, while critics voiced dismay that the governor pushed the plan as far as he did.

Major insurer MetLife Inc. says U.S. regulators have labeled it as a potential threat to the financial system, a designation that brings stricter government oversight.

California's chief utility regulator is expected to address alleged backroom dealings with the state's largest utility when he presides over his last voting meeting of the five-member commission Thursday.

Oklahoma taxpayers will see a slight reduction in their income tax rate in 2016 after a state panel certified state revenues were enough to trigger the cut.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (KWOH'-moh) is getting heaped with praise by environmentalists and scorn by business for a state ban on deep hydraulic fracturing for natural gas, even as he insists the decision wasn't his.

The Obama administration's move to restore diplomatic relations with Cuba could lead to increased sales of North Dakota crops to the communist island nation, though some issues would need to be sorted out, officials say.

A state panel's approval of regulations for fracking should allow North Carolina lawmakers to take the matter up next year on the schedule envisioned by Republican legislative leaders.

A look at a $1.6 billion road and school funding deal brokered by Gov. Rick Snyder and legislative leaders.

Have you picked a side yet? If not, you'd better think fast, because the battle lines are being drawn and they cut right down the dinner table.

IRS Commissioner John Koskinen says budget cuts just enacted by Congress could delay tax refunds next year.

The Alabama lawmaker who has been the top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee for the past four years ended his effort Wednesday to become the panel's chairman, clearing the way for a colleague from Wyoming to lead the committee when the GOP controls Congress next year.

Dubai's main stock market has gained 13 percent after closing at its lowest point of the year earlier in the week.

A watchdog group is challenging the environmentally friendly "green lumber" certification for Plum Creek Timberlands, one of the nation's biggest landowners and timber producers.

Michigan voters would be asked to approve a 1 percentage point hike in the 6 percent state sales tax as part of an estimated $1.6 billion road and school funding deal announced Thursday by Gov. Rick Snyder and legislative leaders.