President Barack Obama blasted Senate Republicans on Monday for blocking a small business assistance bill, calling their opposition "pure partisan politics."

The Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Transportation proposed two new designs for fuel economy labels Monday that would be used on all new vehicles.

Clearwire on Monday unveiled "Rover," a pay-as-you-go 4G network that it hopes will attract new users to its flailing and unprofitable mobile broadband service.

Coal has always been cheap and dirty. And the dirty part was justifiable because it was so cheap. Now, gas prices are dropping, threatening coal's dominance in the North American energy market. Which means gas could take over before coal gets a chance to clean up its act.

The air is quickly coming out of the recovery balloon, and economists have mixed views on how to pump it back up.

Thanks to new law effective last month, colleges and universities are now required to list all course materials online before the start of the semester.

Dear Annie: I just read your column on job hunting with a flawed credit history ("Bad credit, no job?" July 2010). I have an even worse problem. About 14 years ago, when I was a junior in college, I made a totally idiotic error in judgment involving drugs. I was arrested and convicted and did some jail time. When I got out, I finished college -- I was a computer science major with a minor in engineering -- and an uncle of mine hired me as an IT guy in a company owned by my family.

The Bank of Japan announced steps at an emergency meeting Monday to curb the yen's strength and lift the country's struggling economy -- but the move was not enough to satisfy investors.

It may be the end of August, but the summer doldrums aren't over yet.

U.S. stock futures were mixed Monday, signaling a weak open, as investors digested billion-dollar corporate deals and a move by the Bank of Japan to shore up its economy.

Remember how everyone complained that banks weren't doing enough to help troubled borrowers?

Even in the age of DVRs and Hulu, live sporting events like the Super Bowl produce ratings bonanzas. But these days sports divisions at the four major networks confront a future in which viewers -- and advertisers -- move to cable and elsewhere. That poses a challenge for Eric Shanks, 38, who became the youngest network sports division president ever when he was named head of Fox Sports in May.

This article is adapted from "Banktown: The Rise and Struggles of Charlotte's Big Banks" by Rick Rothacker, published by John F. Blair, Publisher (Winston-Salem).

The U.S. Justice Department said Friday that it has closed an investigation into the proposed merger of United and Continental, paving the way for the airlines to unite later this year.

Investors shifted away from Treasurys on Friday, after a better-than-expected report on U.S. economic growth and comments from the Federal Reserve chairman.

For a promotion and entertainment company, Live Nation has had a tough time doing either with much success. Instead, over the last year, it's been battered by regulators, goaded by class action lawyers, sued by rock stars, virtually ignored by analysts, and despised by fans fed up with paying for hidden fees in tickets, only to fork over even more for overpriced T-shirts and beer. Worse still, Live Nation still can't seem to make any money, reporting both unexpectedly large losses and revenue declines earlier this month.

The economy is slowing, the Fed is cautious about the recovery and the world's biggest chipmaker is lowering its sales forecast. But stocks rallied more than 1% Friday.

The financial crisis that destroyed some of the world's biggest banks and sent others to the brink of failure have changed Americans' idea of lending and borrowing. While most still seem to have no problems storing their money at banks small and large, a few trends indicate that everyone from consumers to some of the world's largest companies are straying away from large financial institutions as sources of funding.

A wave of weak economic reports has prompted some Democrats to embrace a short-term extension of the Bush tax cuts -- even for the rich.

Microsoft's co-founder Paul Allen is suing Apple and Google, plus nine other companies, for patent infringement.