Government And Institutions

The number of people applying for U.S. unemployment benefits declined slightly last week, suggesting that job gains should remain solid.

The quality chief for Japanese air bag maker Takata Corp. is telling a Senate committee that a national recall of driver's side air bag inflators is not necessary.

U.S. stock exchanges will have to keep a closer eye on their electronic trading systems under rules adopted by federal regulators.

Incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is promising the new Republican majority will quickly resurrect Keystone XL pipeline legislation killed by Democrats, potentially setting up an early 2015 veto confrontation with President Barack Obama.

Gov. Deval Patrick's administration ordered nearly $200 million in immediate spending cuts Wednesday while asking lawmakers to approve reductions in local aid and other accounts to help close a state budget shortfall.

Mark Rosekind is a nationally known expert in human fatigue.

Federal regulators studying a deadly New York derailment are considering proposals and recommendations following five accidents related to the Metro-North Railroad.

Nebraska's state tax revenue likely won't grow as fast in the future because of a law passed earlier this year, a budget official told lawmakers Wednesday.

Health officials in a Massachusetts town voted Wednesday to withdraw a proposal that would have made it the first in the nation to ban all tobacco sales.

Kentucky's tax on the sales of gasoline, diesel and ethanol fuels will drop by 4.3 cents per gallon on New Year's Day.

Jurors will decide whether U.S. Bank mishandled customer funds, enabling the founder of a collapsed Iowa-based brokerage to embezzle $215 million, a judge ruled Wednesday.

Washington's health care exchange had problems last weekend as open enrollment began.

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

An economist who said "the stupidity of the American voter" helped pass the complex federal health care law has agreed to finish his work on Vermont's health insurance systems for free, a top state official said Wednesday.

Supporters of a Senate bill to approve the Keystone XL pipeline are still scrambling to find one last vote with the clock ticking.

U.S. stocks are opening mostly higher following some encouraging news from Japan and Germany.

New York regulators say Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ will pay $315 million and two of its employees will be sanctioned for misleading the state about bank transactions that violated U.S. economic sanctions against several countries, including Iran, Sudan and Myanmar.

Open enrollment for the second phase of President Barack Obama's health care law opened over the weekend with less fanfare than the original rollout that was plagued by computer glitches.

A college professor is challenging the use of her union dues to promote the gubernatorial campaign of Democratic Gov.-elect Tom Wolf, adding fuel to a simmering legislative debate over dues deductions from public employees' paychecks.

The outgoing chair of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Tuesday the industry must finish making the safety changes required after a nuclear disaster in Japan, and it faces unresolved questions over how to store nuclear waste as existing plants close.