The mother of a 6-year-old boy killed in the Connecticut school shooting used the opportunity to fill in for President Barack Obama during the weekly radio and Internet address to make a personal plea from the White House for action to combat gun violence. Read More
President Barack Obama's budget overtures to Republicans may limit his bargaining power if the GOP ever returns to the negotiating table on a grand deficit-reduction deal.
In essence, Obama's spending blueprint is a final offer, a no-budge budget whose central elements have failed to persuade Republicans in the past. Read More
A German official says Greece should temporarily cede sovereignty over tax and spending decisions to a powerful eurozone budget commissioner to secure further bailouts.
The official said Saturday the proposal is being discussed among the 17-nation currency bloc's finance ministers because Greece has repeatedly failed to fulfill its commitments under its current €110 billion ($145 billion) lifeline. Read More
A judge has ruled that Montana's medical marijuana law doesn't shield providers of the drug from federal prosecution, delivering a new blow to an industry reeling from a state and federal crackdown.
U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy on Friday dismissed a civil lawsuit filed by 14 individuals and businesses that were among more than two dozen medical marijuana providers raided by federal agents last year across Montana. Read More
It's unclear whether farmers in Georgia and Alabama will face a shortage of workers due to tough new laws targeting illegal immigration, but some producers said they have begun changing their plans for planting and harvesting this year's crops.
Some farmers said they might reduce the number of acres they plant or shift to less labor-intensive crops, while others are bracing for higher labor prices and have turned to new recruiting tools to attract workers. Read More
Yu Darvish is coming to America to pitch.
Japan's best pitcher and the Texas Rangers agreed before Wednesday's deadline to a $60 million, six-year contract. In addition to the salary, the Rangers will pay a posting fee of $51,703,411 to the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters of Japan's Pacific League. Read More
Some key numbers to know when filing your 2011 tax returns, according to the Internal Revenue Service:
PERSONAL EXEMPTION:
—Each personal or dependent exemption is worth $3,700.
STANDARD DEDUCTION:
—$11,600 for married couples filing a joint return, and qualifying widows and widowers.
—$5,800 for singles and married individuals filing separate returns. Read More
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has bluntly declared that a harsh downgrade by Standard & Poor's of France's formerly top-tier debt rating "changes nothing" for the eurozone's No. 2 economy.
Sarkozy suggested that a solid market showing for a French debt auction Monday and a reaffirmation from rival ratings agency Moody's of France's triple-A sovereign debt offset the much-ballyhooed S&P downgrade. Read More
French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Monday shrugged off his country's loss of its prized triple A rating for its debt in his first public comments on last week's downgrade. Read More
