Fed signals that a full recovery is years away. 1/26/12 - The Federal Reserve, declaring that the economy would need help for years to come, said Wednesday it would extend by 18 months the period that it plans to hold down interest rates in an effort to spur growth. More

In China, human costs are built into an iPad. 1/26/12 - The explosion ripped through Building A5 on a Friday evening last May, an eruption of fire and noise that twisted metal pipes as if they were discarded straws. When workers in the cafeteria ran outside, they saw black smoke pouring.... More

Today's college freshman hitting the books harder, study says. 1/26/12 - This year's college freshmen are more studious than their counterparts of the past few years, says an annual survey released today on their high school academic habits. More of them took notes in class, did homework and took more demanding coursework as high school seniors, and fewer said they.... More

Washington is America's most literate city, again. 1/26/12 - Say what you want about the nation's capital, but the folks in Washington can read. For the second year in a row, Washington tops an annual list of American's most literate cities. The four highest ranked cities, including Seattle, Minneapolis and Atlanta, are the same as in 2010. More

AWLP to recognize employers with effective work-life initiatives. 1/26/12 - WorldatWork's Alliance for Work-Life Progress (AWLP) announces a unique mark of excellence to recognize organizational success in work-life effectiveness. The new AWLP Work-Life Seal of Distinction will be awarded to employers who demonstrate leadership in workplace practices that help.... More

USDA issues new rules for school lunches. 1/25/12 - School meals will have to offer fruits and vegetables to students every day under standards issued by the United States Department of Agriculture on Wednesday. The meal programs, which feed about 32 million students in public and.... More

Grief could join list of treatable disorders. 1/25/12 - When does a broken heart become a diagnosis? In a bitter skirmish over the definition of depression, a new report contends that a proposed change to the diagnosis would characterize grieving as a disorder and greatly increase the number of people treated for it. More

Christy wants NJ voters to decide on gay marriage. 1/25/12 - Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey said Tuesday that he would veto a bill legalizing same-sex marriage, and he challenged the State Legislature instead to put the issue on the ballot for voters to decide. Democrats, who control the.... More

Obama speech makes pitch for economic fairness. 1/25/12 - President Obama pledged on Tuesday night to use government power to balance the scale between America’s rich and the rest of the public, trying to present an election-year choice between continued leadership toward an economy.... More

Liberal Arts education lends an edge in down economy. 1/25/12 - America’s public school teachers are seeing their generations-old tenure protections weakened as states seek flexibility to fire incompetent teachers, and a few states have essentially nullified tenure altogether, according to an.... More

States weaken tenure for teachers. 1/25/12 - America’s public school teachers are seeing their generations-old tenure protections weakened as states seek flexibility to fire incompetent teachers, and a few states have essentially nullified tenure altogether, according to an.... More

Personal finance stress affecting employee performance, says SHRM survey. 1/25/12 - A survey of employer-sponsored financial education initiatives shows that U.S. workers' money worries are impacting their work performance and retirement savings plans.The survey from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).... More

Appeals court: Minnesota gay marriage case will get trial. 1/24/12 - A lawsuit seeking to legalize gay marriage in Minnesota will go to trial after a state Court of Appeals ruling on Monday overturned the suit's dismissal by a Hennepin County judge. "We have achieved a great victory today," said Peter.... More

Job search not working out for vast majority of teens. 1/24/12 - Anjelica Pickett, 17, has been searching for a job for about a year. Despite making as many as five applications in a day during that time, Pickett, now a freshman at Truman College, said she's scored only one interview, with a.... More

Men struggle for rape awareness. 1/24/12 - Keith Smith was 14 when he was raped by a driver who picked him up after a hockey team meeting. He had hitchhiked home, which is why, for decades, he continued to blame himself for the assault. When the driver barreled past.... More

Political push moves a deal on mortgages inches closer. 1/24/12 - About one million homeowners facing foreclosure could have their mortgage burden cut by about $20,000 each as part of a long-awaited deal taking shape among state attorneys general, federal officials and the nation’s largest.... More

With DNA testing, suddenly they are family. 1/24/12 - Growing up, Khrys Vaughan always believed that she had inherited her looks and mannerisms from her father, and that her appreciation for tradition and old-fashioned gentility stemmed from her parents’ Southern roots. But those.... More

House members call for probe into lap-band safety, marketing. 1/24/12 - Members of Congress are calling for an investigation into the 1-800-GET-THIN weight-loss surgery marketing campaign and the safety and effectiveness of the Lap-Band device. Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Beverly Hills) and two other House.... More

Ethical warning looming in U.S. workplaces. 1/23/12 - If you ever reported something bad at work and got trouble in return, you are not alone. Last year, nearly 8.8 million Americans felt the sting of workplace retaliation — a 33% increase in negative payback from the year before. That.... More

LA PD trying to reduce its costly crashes. 1/23/12 - LAPD officers are involved in an average of one traffic crash a day — they cost taxpayers millions of dollars a year and in some cases result in serious injury or death to other drivers. More

Mandatory elementary school recess in Chicago's plan 1/23/12 - The Chicago Public School system for the first time has spelled out exactly what it wants the next school year’s longer day to look like. It ensures recess for all elementary students, according to guidelines being presented to.... More

Companies see growth, but few new jobs. 1/23/12 - Few U.S. companies plan to step up hiring in the next six months although they do expect the economy to be a bit stronger this year, according to a poll released on Monday. More

Marijuana-based prescription drug looks toward FDA's approval. 1/23/12 - A quarter-century after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first prescription drugs based on the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, additional medicines derived from or inspired by the cannabis plant itself could soon be making their way to pharmacy shelves, according.... More

More lockouts, as companies battle unions. 1/23/12 - America’s unionized workers, buffeted by layoffs and stagnating wages, face another phenomenon that is increasingly throwing them on the defensive: lockouts. From the Cooper Tire factory in Findlay, Ohio, to a country club in.... More

For small business, loan well is still dry. One by one, three banks put the kibosh on Michael Kelner's plans to expand Hardcoat Inc., a decades-old St. Louis Park company that puts protective finishes on aluminum. One of them had him see two loan officers, he said, before packing him off.... More

As price of oil soars, users shiver and cross their fingers. 1/22/12 - When David Harris built his 2,000-square-foot hilltop home nine years ago, he wanted to put in natural gas, but the utility wouldn’t run a line to his house. Like many people here, he was stuck using heating oil. Mr. Harris added a.... More

The iEconomy; how the U.S. lost out on iPhone work. 1/22/12 - When Barack Obama joined Silicon Valley’s top luminaries for dinner in California last February, each guest was asked to come with a question for the president. But as Steven P. Jobs of Apple spoke, President Obama interrupted with.... More

Obama to draw an economic line in State of the Union. 1/22/12 - President Obama will use his election-year State of the Union address on Tuesday to argue that it is government’s role to promote a prosperous and equitable society, drawing a stark contrast between the parties in a time of deep.... More

More than 24,000 employees split a $100 million payout. 1/21/12 - A London shopworkers union says that an employment tribunal has awarded nearly 68 million pounds (over $100 million) in compensation to 24,000 former Woolworths employees. The Usdaw union said Friday that it had won the compensation after successfully arguing that the bankrupt retailer’s.... More

Non-profits provided work during recession. 1/21/12 - There were two recessions during the first decade of the century, but it didn’t hinder the growth of the nonprofit job market, a new study revealed. The nonprofit sector grew by an average pace of 2.1 percent a year between 2000 and 2010, during a period when for-profit jobs declined.... More

Economists cheer higher home sales in 2011. 1/21/12 - Home sales in December reached their highest pace in nearly a year. The gain coincided with other signs that the troubled housing market improved at the end of last year. Analysts cautioned that sales remain historically low and that it will take years for the home market to return to full.... More

Illinois considering cellphone ban for most drivers. 1/21/12 - Two years after imposing a texting ban on Illinois drivers, state lawmakers are considering whether it's time to hang up the cellphones altogether. More

Online protesters win - for now - as Congress postpones bill targeting.... 1/21/12 - Caving to a massive campaign by Internet services and their millions of users, Congress indefinitely postponed legislation Friday to stop online piracy of movies and music costing U.S. companies billions of dollars every year. Critics.... More

Blacks face bias in bankruptcy, study suggests. 1/21/12 - Blacks are about twice as likely as whites to wind up in the more onerous and costly form of consumer bankruptcy as they try to dig out from their debts, a new study has found. The disparity persisted even when the researchers.... More

A specialists' debate on autism has many worried observers. 1/21/12 - A debate among medical professionals over how to define autism has spilled over into the public domain, stirring anger and fear among many parents and advocates of those with the neurological disorder, even as some argue that the.... More

Study hints that statins might fight breast cancer. 1/20/12 - Amid hints that statins -- cholesterol-lowering drugs -- might also play a role in preventing or treating certain types of cancer, new research sheds some light on how these drugs may help stop breast cancer in its tracks among certain women. More

Vitamin D may lower risk of depression in kids. 1/20/12 - Children with low levels of vitamin D may be at higher risk of depression, the Daily Mail reported. Scientists found that children with the highest levels of vitamin D had a 10 percent lower risk of developing depression, according to.... More

Feds target web downloads. 1/20/12 - In what federal authorities on Thursday called one of the largest criminal copyright cases ever brought, the Justice Department and the FBI seized the website Megaupload and charged seven people connected with it with running an international enterprise based on Internet piracy. More

Boston to launch website to track residents' weight loss. 1/20/12 - When Mayor Thomas M. Menino promised Tuesday night to help Boston residents collectively “shed a million pounds this year,” he was serious. The Boston Public Health Commission will launch a citywide campaign this spring, inviting residents to log in to a website where they can record their.... More

New autism study may exclude many, study suggests. Proposed changes in the definition of autism would sharply reduce the rising rate at which the disorder is diagnosed and may make it harder for many people who would no longer meet the criteria to get health, educational and social services, a.... More

Survey: decline in activities leading to HIV/Aids. 1/19/12 - Fewer Americans are engaging in behaviors that raise their risk for HIV/AIDS, primarily because both men and women are changing their sexual activities, according to a new federal report. More

Homophobia starts in grade school, teachers do little. 1/19/12 - Clare Davidson-Sherman, the adopted daughter of Karen Davidson-Fisher, has "several mommies" -- her biological one, her adoptive mother's former partner who has joint custody, and now Davidson-Fisher's legal wife. The 8-year-old has.... More

The 100 Best Companies to Work For 1/19/12 - To pick the 100 Best Companies to Work For, Fortune partners with the Great Place to Work Institute to conduct the most extensive employee survey in corporate America; 280 firms participated in this year's survey. More

Google named Best Place to Work in America. 1/19/12 - Google has a new weapon in the intense war for engineering talent in Silicon Valley: The search giant on Thursday was named by Fortune magazine as the best place to work in America. Google capped a year when it hired about 7,000 people, the most intense growth spurt in the search giant's.... More

First-time jobless claims in U.S. reach lowest level in almost four years. 1/19/12 - Fewer Americans than forecast filed applications for unemployment benefits last week, easing concern that post-holiday firings were on the rise. Jobless claims plunged by 50,000 to 352,000 in the week ended Jan. 14, the lowest level.... More

Consumer prices flat for second straight month. 1/19/12 - Consumer prices were unchanged last month, the latest sign that inflation remains tame. Lower gas prices offset rising costs for food, medical care and housing. The Labor Department says the consumer price index was flat in December for the second straight month. Excluding volatile food and.... More

Anti-smoking efforts often fall short. 1/18/12 - Seven out of 10 smokers say they'd like to quit, and many may already be struggling to stick to their resolution to make 2012 a smoke-free year. If quitting were easy, after all, chances are good that nearly 20% of adults wouldn't.... More

Websites going black to protest anti-piracy bills in Congress. 1/18/12 - What would the world be like without the Internet? Fire up your browser and see what you can't do. In the first strike of its kind, hundreds of popular sites such as Wikipedia, Reddit and Boing Boing were scheduled to temporarily shut.... More

Websites going black to protest anti-piracy bills in

Obesity in U.S. plateauing at 'unacceptably high rate.' 1/18/12 - America's obesity epidemic is proving to be as stubborn as those maddening love handles and shows no sign of reversing course. Overall, 35.7 percents of adults and 16.9 percent of children were obese in 2009-2010, echoing results.... More

Parties confident of extending payroll tax cut. 1/18/12 - With both parties largely in agreement on a yearlong extension of President Obama’s payroll tax cut, the fight in Congress over the coming weeks will boil down to how to pay for it, and Democrats appeared to hold the advantage as members of the House returned to Washington on Tuesday. Senior.... More

Young, in love, and sharing everything, including a password. 1/18/12 - Young couples have long signaled their devotion to each other by various means — the gift of a letterman jacket, or an exchange of class rings or ID bracelets. Best friends share locker combinations. The digital era has given rise.... More

Money flows to G.O.P. backers of gay marriage. 1/18/12 - Gay rights advocates from Wall Street to Hollywood poured donations into the coffers of four little-known Republican state senators after the lawmakers provided the decisive votes for same-sex marriage in New York last June, according.... More

Supreme Court lets tipped employees sue for more pay. 1/17/12 - The Supreme Court will allow bartenders and servers who make part of their money from tips file lawsuits for more money when they do work that doesn't involve tips. The high court refused to hear an appeal from Applebee's International, which wanted to overturn a lower court ruling. More

Moms: bring breast-feeding back to Sesame Street. 1/17/12 - Every so often something happens to reignite the debate over nursing in public and this time the breast-feeding controversy takes a turn down Sesame Street. More than 7,000 people have signed a petition at www. thepetitionsite.com to.... More

Lipreading skills help babies talk. 1/17/12 - Babies don't learn to talk just from hearing sounds. New research suggests they're lip readers, too. It happens during that magical stage when a baby's babbling gradually changes from gibberish into syllables and eventually into that.... More

Learning to be lean. 1/17/12 - As one of the many outgrowths of the sweeping federal health care law, health insurers and employers must now pay the cost of screening children for obesity and providing them with appropriate counseling. With about one in three.... More

Young U.S citizens in Mexico brave risks to attend school in U.S. 1/17/12 - Weekday mornings at 5, when the lights on distant hillsides across the border still twinkle in the blackness, Martha, a high school senior, begins her arduous three-hour commute to school. She groggily unlocks the security gate.... More

With bill, Washington State shifts its views on gay marriage. 1/17/12 - The bill that would legalize same-sex marriage in Washington State is notable not just for the boldness of its ambition or for the fact that it was proposed by Gov. Christine Gregoire, a Democrat whose last memorable remarks on the.... More

Work-life balance tougher for couples with similar jobs. 1/16/12 - Couples with similar jobs are more likely to have trouble finding a good work-life balance than those in different lines of work, according to a new study. Researchers from the University of Bedfordshire in England questioned 291 academic workers whose partners had jobs in education and 350.... More

Employers hope to curb health costs with nicotine tests. 1/16/12 - A growing number of employers throughout the nation are seeking to curb health costs by testing new job applicants for nicotine use. Those who test positive will not be hired, and health insurance companies may charge a higher premium for current employees who acknowledge that they smoke or.... More

Chicago parents' fight for integration failed, but paved way for change. 1/16/12 - It was a pivotal moment for Chicago’s racially separate and unequal Chicago Public Schools system. But for then 12-year-old Tony Burroughs, the three-week sit-in by African-American parents and students at Burnside Elementary School.... More

Daycare centers adapt to round-the-clock demand. 1/16/12 - Dinner (chicken and mashed potatoes) was long over, teeth were brushed, and a rousing game of Monopoly had come to a close. It was 9 p.m., and the children nestled into bed under blankets emblazoned with superheroes. The tranquil.... More

Study of retail workers finds $9.50 hourly pay. 1/16/12 - Retail workers in New York City earn a median of $9.50 an hour, most are part-time or temporary, and just 3 in 10 receive health insurance through their jobs, according to a new study of the city’s larger retailers. Retail workers in New York City earn a median of $9.50 an hour, most are.... More

Canada's tightening immigration policy may be felt in U.S. 1/16/12 - For years, Canada has had one of the most generous immigration policies in the world, welcoming tens of thousands of asylum applicants who claim to be fleeing persecution in their homelands. But Canada's Conservative government has.... More

What will cost more, less in 2012. 1/15/12 - Falling prices don't always garner as much attention as rising ones, but some items will cost consumers less in 2012. Natural gas prices, for one. CenterPoint Energy's residential billing rate for January is the lowest it has been in.... More

Digitizing health records, before it was cool. 1/15/12 - THE push to move the nation from paper to electronic health records is serious business. That’s why a first look at the campus of Epic Systems comes as something of a jolt. A treehouse for meetings? A two-story spiral slide just.... More

Among the wealthiest one percent, many variations. 1/15/12 - Adam Katz is happy to talk to reporters when he is promoting his business, a charter flight company based on Long Island called Talon Air. But when the subject was his position as one of America’s top earners, he balked. Seated at a.... More

Auto industry goes on U.S. hiring binge. 1/14/12 - German automakers are going on a U.S. hiring binge this year. Daimler Trucks North America, the U.S. truck division of Mercedes-Benz, said it will hire 1,100 workers this year as it adds a second shift and ramps up production at its.... More

U.S. survey finds respondents' stress levels far from ideal. News flash: Americans are stressed out. On a scale of 1 to 10, residents of eight U.S. metropolitan areas told psychologists they rated their level of stress as 5.2, according to survey results released Wednesday. That may not sound so terrible.... More

Downgrade of debt ratings underscores Europe's woes. 1/14/12 - Standard & Poor’s downgraded the credit ratings of France, Italy and seven other European countries on Friday, a move that may have more symbolic than fundamental financial impact but served as a reminder that Europe’s economic.... More

For many Latinos, racial identity is more culture than color. 1/14/12 - Every decade, the Census Bureau spends billions of dollars and deploys hundreds of thousands of workers to get an accurate portrait of the American population. Among the questions on the census form is one about race, with 15 choices,.... More

Unemployment benefit applications jump to 399,000. 1/13/12 - The number of people applying for weekly unemployment benefits spiked last week, largely because companies let go of thousands of workers after the holiday season. The Labor Department said Thursday that applications jumped by 24,000.... More

Internet addiction affects brain like a drink or drug problem. 1/13/12 - Researchers compared brain scans of young people with "internet addiction disorder" with their peers and found damage to the white matter fibres connecting emotional processing, attention and decision making parts. Similar.... More

Inside the Fed in 2006: a coming crisis, and banter. 1/13/12 - As the housing bubble entered its waning hours in 2006, top Federal Reserve officials marveled at the desperate antics of home builders seeking to lure buyers. As the housing bubble entered its waning hours in 2006, top Federal.... More

Synthetic windpipe is used to replace cancerous one. 1/13/12 - Surgeons in Sweden have replaced the cancerous windpipe of a Maryland man with one made in a laboratory and seeded with the man’s cells. The windpipe, or trachea, made from minuscule plastic fibers and covered in stem cells taken.... More

In Canada, marriages of foreign gays are now invalid. 1/13/12 - The Canadian government is abruptly arguing that the same-sex marriages of many foreigners who wed in Canada are not valid, a move that stunned the gay community and could affect thousands of couples. Same-sex couples have been marrying in their thousands in Canada, and lenient rules on.... More

Frequent red meat eaters at higher risk of stroke. 1/12/12 - A high-protein diet might benefit health in some ways, but depending on what kind of protein a person consumes, it could raise their stroke risk too, suggests a large new study that finds eating lots of red meat ups the likelihood of.... More

Study finds no better odds using three embryos in IVF. 1/12/12 - A new study of fertility treatment found that women who get three or more embryos have no better odds of having a baby than those who get just two embryos. They also have a greater chance of risky multiple births. More

Stressed? Call Mom, researchers conclude. 1/12/12 - Moms feed us, read to us, clap the loudest, cry the hardest, sit front row at recorder recitals, write notes in our lunchboxes and promise that the hole in our hearts after a break-up won’t stay there forever. So maybe it just makes sense that the sound of our moms’ voices triggers a.... More

New rock-solid ride for wheelchair-bound drivers. 1/12/12 - If you were hoping to find a way to make the Honda Element even uglier -- I found your dream car on display at the Detroit auto show. The MV-1 (it stands for “Mobility Vehicle – One”) from the Vehicle Production Group looks like.... More

Survey finds rising perception of class tension. 1/12/12 - Conflict between rich and poor now eclipses racial strain and friction between immigrants and the native-born as the greatest source of tension in American society, according to a survey released Wednesday. More

Religious groups given freer hand on employment. 1/12/12 - In what may be its most significant religious liberty decision in two decades, the Supreme Court on Wednesday for the first time recognized a “ministerial exception” to employment discrimination laws, saying that churches and.... More

As USA grays, elder abuse and need for shelters grow. 1/11/12 - They're weak, physically or mentally disabled or both, and often at the mercy of people they depend on the most: relatives and caretakers. They're the nation's fast-growing elderly population, and many are prime targets for abuse —.... More

Pot smoke not as damaging as previously thought. 1/11/12 - Occasional marijuana use does not appear to have long-term adverse effects on lung function, according to new research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Researchers from the University of Alabama at.... More

National satisfaction up slightly at start of 2012. 1/11/12 - Eighteen percent of Americans are satisfied with the way things are going in the United States today, a slight improvement from the latter half of 2011, when satisfaction levels ranged from 11% to 16%. Though improved, the current.... More

Nearly one-third of middle class suffer downward mobility, says Pew study.. 1/11/12 - Nearly one third of Americans who were raised in the middle class dropped down the economic ladder as adults -- and that's before the Great Recession hit. "Being raised in the middle class is not a guarantee that you'll have that same status as an adult," said Erin Currier, project manager at.... More

Stress is the new normal for Americans. 1/11/12 - Americans' stress is down for the first time in five years and at its lowest point since 2007, finds an audit of self-reported stress to be released today. The USA's average stress level in 2011 was 5.2 on a 10-point scale, down from.... More

The perils of traveling while sick. 1/10/12 - Pat Conroy is a road warrior, rarely getting sick as he travels three to five days per week for his job as head of Deloitte's consumer products division. He works out regularly when on the road and tries to eat right. It doesn't.... More

Study finds daily aspirin may cause internal bleeding. 1/10/12 - A daily aspirin may not be worth the risk for people with no previous heart condition. A study of more than 100,000 people by St. George's, University of London, found that an aspirin a day could reduce heart risks by 10 percent. But.... More

Google introduces new, revamped version of its search engine. 1/10/12 - In a move that is certain to sharpen its rivalry with Facebook, Google on Tuesday is introducing a revamped version of its ubiquitous search engine that will dive deeply into the company's fledgling social network, Google+, to find content that is relevant to a particular user. More

When injuries to the brain tear at hearts. 1/10/12 - At a crowded vigil on Sunday night in Tucson, Representative Gabrielle Giffords held her husband’s hand as she stepped up to the lectern to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. It had been one year since a shooting at a Tucson.... More

Nicotine patches, gum, don't prevent relapse, study finds. 1/10/12 - Smokers who count on nicotine patches or gum to help them quit may want to reconsider: A new study finds that these and other nicotine replacement products aren't effective at preventing former smokers from relapsing in real-world.... More

The downs and ups of driving in Los Angeles. 1/9/12 - The southwest border of Beverly Hills runs along Whitworth Drive. In some ways, it is impossible to distinguish where that city ends and this sprawling one begins. The houses are not drastically different and the lawns are manicured on.... More

Obama's immigration proposal gives hope to some in limbo. 1/9/12 - Like many other spouses of undocumented immigrants, Gina Pope constantly worries that her husband suddenly could be deported and that she would be left to raise their two children by herself. Pope, a U.S. citizen, wants to apply for.... More

The best – and worst run – cities in America. 1/9/12 - Many qualities separate the best-run and worst-run cities. But perhaps the most important is access to jobs. The economies of the best-run cities fall into two categories. They either have a booming industry or are near other major.... More

Private sector gets job skills; public gets the bill. 1/8/12 - Some of Caterpillar’s newest factory workers are training inside a former carpet warehouse here in the heart of tobacco country. In classrooms, they click through online tutorials and study blueprints emblazoned with the company’s.... More

Young, obese and having surgery. 1/8/12 - Though Shani Gofman had been teased for being fat since the fourth grade, she had learned to deal with it. She was a B student and in the drama club at school. She had good friends and a boyfriend she had met through Facebook. She even.... More

New sibling rivalry: caring for parents. 1/8/12 - As Americans live longer, boomer kids face years of dealing with their parents' issues -- and one another. Three times a month, Laurie Efron makes the two-plus-hour drive from Golden Valley to Winnebago, Minn., to see her dad in a.... More

Tweak in a rule will ease path to green card. 1/7/12 - Obama administration officials announced on Friday they are proposing a fix to a Catch-22 in immigration law that could spare hundreds of thousands of American citizens from prolonged separations from illegal immigrant spouses and children. More

Labor Board supports class action for workers. 1/7/12 - The National Labor Relations Board ruled on Friday that employers could not prevent workers from filing work-related group or class actions, essentially banning employment agreements at many companies that require workers to pursue all.... More

Laid off, with retirement almost in sight. 1/7/12 - Achieving financial security in retirement is hard enough for most working Americans. But for those who lost their jobs just as the finish line was within sight, the whole notion may now seem out of reach. Older unemployed people face.... More

Latest job news is good, but not good enough. 1/7/12 - Is it finally over, this ghastly jobless recovery that has hurt so many Americans? That's the tempting question after Friday's report that the economy added 200,000 jobs in December and the unemployment rate fell to 8.5 percent. That's.... More

Americans make up half the world's richest 1%. 1/7/12 - The United States holds a disproportionate amount of the world's rich people. It only takes $34,000 a year, after taxes, to be among the richest 1% in the world. That's for each person living under the same roof, including children..... More

Report finds most hospital errors go unreported. 1/6/12 - Hospital employees recognize and report only one out of seven errors, accidents and other events that harm Medicare patients while they are hospitalized, federal investigators say in a new report. Yet even after hospitals investigate preventable injuries and infections that have been reported,.... More

Physically attractive members of Congress get more TV coverage. 1/6/12 - Maybe looks aren’t everything, but new research suggests that more physically attractive members of Congress get more coverage on network television. Two Israeli professors concluded that members whom a student survey judged to be.... More

Teen fad diets can lead to weight gain later. 1/6/12 - Researchers at the University of Minnesota followed local students over a decade and found that those who tried risky diets in their adolescent years were likely to gain more weight by their 20s. Their findings, reported in the latest Journal of Adolescent Health, show that students who tried.... More

Forecast: 2012 worst year for gas prices. 1/6/12 - To the dismay of drivers across the country, 2011 went down in the record books as having the most expensive gasoline average ever, $3.513 for the year, 72 cents per gallon higher than 2010?s yearly average, according to GasBuddy. Patrick DeHaan, GasBuddy’s senior petroleum analyst, projects.... More

Grads, these majors more likely to get you a job. 1/6/12 - Hey college students, do you want a job? Then you may not want to study architecture or the arts. A new analysis of government data finds that recent college graduates with degrees in fields such as health and education have much lower.... More

U.S. unemployment falls to 8.5% as jobs gain. 1/6/12 - U.S. employers added more workers to payrolls than forecast in December and the jobless rate declined to an almost three-year low, showing that the labor market gained momentum heading into 2012. The 200,000 increase followed a revised.... More

New immigration rule to help citizen relatives. 1/6/12 - The Obama administration plans a rule change to help reduce the time illegal immigrant spouses and children are separated from citizen relatives while they try to win legal status in the United States, a senior administration official.... More

Employee confidence rises in 4th quarter 2011. 1/5/12 - Coming off the heels of November's decline in unemployment to 8.6 percent, employee(1) optimism related to the job market, company outlook and pay raises increased in the fourth quarter of 2011, according to the Glassdoor(R) quarterly Employment Confidence Survey(2) of 2,572 U.S. adults aged.... More

Harder for Americans to Rise From Lower Rungs. Benjamin Franklin did it. Henry Ford did it. And American life is built on the faith that others can do it, too: rise from humble origins to economic heights. “Movin’ on up,” George Jefferson-style, is not only a sitcom song but a civil.... More

Credit-card rates rise to four-year high. 1/5/12 - Credit card rates have risen to a four-year high—this, at a time when the Fed is practically begging banks to lug away free money. Does that mean that card companies are making out like bandits? And where can card customers expect.... More

Private sector hiring ramps up in December. 1/5/12 - Private-sector companies significantly ramped up their hiring in December, according to a report issued Thursday. The private sector added a seasonally adjusted 325,000 jobs during the month, up from 204,000 in November,.... More

Gay couple's names to appear on birth certificate. 1/5/12 - An Iowa judge has ordered the Department of Public Health to issue a new birth certificate listing both members of a same-sex marriage as legal parents of a 2-year-old girl, The Des Moines Register reports. Polk County District Judge Eliza Ovrom issued the order in a ruling in a lawsuit brought.... More

The 23 best countries for work-life balance (we're number 23). 1/5/12 - With the lowest child-poverty rate among developed nations, Denmark was named the best country for work-life balance in a 2011 report from the OECD. All three Scandinavian countries -- Denmark, Sweden, and Norway -- finished in the top seven in the ranking. So famous for their generous social.... More

Romney wins Iowa nail-biter. 1/4/12 - In the closest finish in the history of the Iowa caucuses, Mitt Romney edged out Rick Santorum by eight votes in the first battle for the Republican presidential nomination. A distant fifth-place finish apparently ended the.... More

When 'being yourself' at work spells disaster. 1/4/12 - Russ Eisenstat's research has led him to believe that people who do not feel forced to compartmentalize, people who are "able to bring their whole selves to the job and can connect what they do at work to a meaningful larger purpose" are happier -- and that the companies who employ such people.... More

Hard times waning as recovery may bring bonuses to South Dakota. 1/4/12 - When South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard proposed his $4 billion budget last month, the Republican included something unthinkable in most capitols in recent years: across-the-board bonuses for state workers. As some governors continue to wage war on public employee unions and four states.... More

Forecasters see spending pinch in 2012. 1/3/12 - American consumers are running out of tricks. As the weak economy has trudged on, they have leaned on credit cards to pay for holiday gifts, many bought at discounts. They are dipping into savings to cover spikes in gas, food and rent..... More

Campaign 2012 lends new urgency to economic debates 1/3/12 - Instead of trivialities, this presidential contest is likely to hinge on major philosophical questions about the size and scope of government, as both sides sort through fallout from the recession. Deeply divided, angry and unsettled,.... More

Auto industry: a year of solid gains and more to come. 1/3/12 - As December waned, carmakers were on pace — for the second year in a row — to add more than one million sales in the United States. Analysts from LMC Automotive are projecting sales for 2011 to total 12.7 million, a 9.5 percent.... More

Nowhere to go, patients linger in hospitals at high cost. 1/3/12 - Hundreds of patients have been languishing for months or even years in New York City hospitals, despite being well enough to be sent home or to nursing centers for less-expensive care, because they are illegal immigrants or lack.... More

Study finds link between physical activity and school performance. Physical education may be disappearing from some schools, but a study finds that kids who engage in sports or physical activity may do better academically. Researchers analyzed 14 studies (most from the U.S.) looking at the relationship between.... More

In Iowa, with 5.7% unemployment, it's not the top issue. 1/3/12 - If there is one state where the economy might not be issue No. 1, it's Iowa. That's because the first state to begin presidential candidate selection has emerged relatively unscathed from the housing bubble and financial crisis that.... More

Workplace perks aren't what they used to be. 1/2/12 - Pet insurance, at-your-desk meditation services, jewelry discounts and funeral planning — from the quirky to the somber, workplaces are providing a range of unique benefits in 2012. The options come as many firms try to placate.... More

1st civil unions take place in Delaware. 1/2/12 - More than 400 people, including a U.S. senator, witnessed the first same-sex civil union in Delaware on New Year's Day. Lawyers Lisa Goodman and Drewry Fennell were joined in the union by the Rev. Patricia Downing, rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Wilmington, where the Sunday afternoon.... More

America's best high schools. 1/2/12 - Kimberly Lynch, a redhead with freckles, had a keen interest in sunblock. So much so that she spent the past year developing a new method to test the effectiveness of sunscreens and recently submitted the results to a medical journal..... More

Volkswagen to improve work-life balance. 1/2/12 - To fight the burnout syndrome at work, German automobile company Volkswagen AG has taken a bold move to limit email functionality of some company smartphones after work hours. Every day after 6:30 p.m., employees’ Blackberry.... More

Incorporating happiness into the workplace. 1/1/12 - Rarely do we associate the words "happiness" and "work." They're an unlikely pairing, like "squirrel" and "yummy" or "Kardashian" and "admirable." But because it's the new year and I'm feeling peppy and optimistic, let's connect those.... More

The year of the multitaskers' revenge. 1/1/12 - It's a far different work world today than it was even 10 years ago. Technology and the economy have converged to create a set of priorities and preoccupations that are unique to our times. Here are just a few workplace and employment.... More

In D.C., large rewards in teacher pay. 1/1/12 - During her first six years of teaching in this city’s struggling schools, Tiffany Johnson got a series of small raises that brought her annual salary to $63,000, from about $50,000. This year, her seventh, Ms. Johnson earns $87,000..... More

Can foreign tourists help the U.S. economy? 1/1/12 - Agustina Ocampo is the kind of foreign traveler businesses salivate over. The 22-year-old Argentine recently dropped more than $5,000 on food, hotels and clothes in Las Vegas during a trip that also took her to Seattle's Space Needle,.... More

Washington now has $9 minimum wage. 1/1/12 - Washington on Sunday became the first state to mandate a $9-an-hour minimum wage, weekend media reports say. Washington’s minimum reached $9.04 an hour for 2012 from $8.67 previously, as the state raised the wage floor in line with inflation, Reuters reported. A total of 10 states tie their.... More

World welcomes 2012 with cheers, celebrations. 1/1/12 - Throngs of revelers gathered around Times Square in New York City early Sunday to ring in the New Year amid cheers, glittering confetti and fireworks in one of many festivities worldwide. Crowds erupted in cheers, kissed and hugged as.... More

NYC, world, bid adieu to a tough 2011. 1/1/12 - From New Zealand to New York, the world eagerly welcomed a new year Sunday with confetti-filled celebrations, glittering fireworks displays and star-studded festivities. For one night, at least, revelers gathered and hoped for a better.... More

New Year's Eve celebrations usher in 2012 around the world. 12/31/11 - Millions of revellers across the world are celebrating the end of 2011 and the start of 2012. In New Zealand a firework display off Auckland's Sky Tower at midnight (1100 GMT) saw in the new year. In Australia a spectacular fireworks.... More

Sex education goes directly to youths via text. 12/31/11 - While heading to class last year, Stephanie Cisneros, a Denver-area high school junior, was arguing with a friend about ways that sexually transmitted diseases might be passed along. Ms. Cisneros knew she could resolve the dispute in.... More

The world's most innovative companies. 12/30/11 - It was a fitting way to wrap up the first day of IBM's (IBM ) innovation-themed leadership forum, held in Rome in early April. Guests were treated to small group tours of the Vatican Museum, including Michelangelo's frescoes in the.... More

Cities with the best economies in America. 12/30/11 - It turns out “Don’t Mess With Texas,” is more than just a slogan. At least judging by the state’s ability to rebound from the Great Recession, and its dominance over the rankings in a new report highlighting the.... More

Best big U.S. companies for LGBT employees. 12/30/11 - Chevron, Bank of America and AT&T all got top marks as the best workplaces for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) employees, according to a recent survey by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation in Washington, D.C., the.... More

Factory jobs gain, but wages retreat. 12/30/11 - Manufacturers are hiring again in America, softening a long slide in factory employment. But for a new generation of blue-collar workers, even those protected by unions, the price of employment is likely to be lower wages stretching.... More

Instead of work, younger women head to school. 12/29/11 - Workers are dropping out of the labor force in droves, and they are mostly women. In fact, many are young women. But they are not dropping out forever; instead, these young women seem to be postponing their working lives to get more.... More

What to do with your old cellphones and computers 12/29/11 - If this holiday season was all about upgrading for you -- upgrading to a better computer, phone or camera -- then it's time to think about what to do with your old gadgets. The good news is you have options. The bad news is you may.... More

Abortion, immigration among new laws for 2012. 12/29/11 - Girls seeking abortions in New Hampshire must first tell their parents or a judge, some employers in Alabama must verify new workers' U.S. residency, and California students will be the first in the country to receive mandatory.... More

'Nurse-in' supports public breastfeeding. 12/29/11 - A mother who says she was harassed and humiliated by employees while breastfeeding her baby at a Target store in Texas last month prompted a nationwide "nurse-in" on Wednesday to show support for the public practice. Michelle Hickman.... More

Economists are a bit more optimistic. 12/28/11 - Economists are a bit more optimistic about the U.S. economy as 2011 comes to a close. But only a bit. A CNNMoney survey of 20 top economists finds their fear of the economy falling into a new recession has retreated in the last three.... More

The hormone surge of middle childhood. 12/28/11 - Viewed superficially, the part of youth that the psychologist Jean Piaget called middle childhood looks tame and uneventful, a quiet patch of road on the otherwise hairpin highway to adulthood. Said to begin around 5 or 6, when.... More

Online merchants home in on imbibing consumers. 12/28/11 - After enjoying a few drinks, some people go dancing. Others order food. And for some, it’s time to shop online. “I have my account linked to my phone, so it’s really easy,” said Tiffany Whitten, of Dayton, Ohio, whose most.... More

The high cost of failing artificial hips. 12/28/11 - The most widespread medical implant failure in decades — involving thousands of all-metal artificial hips that need to be replaced prematurely — has entered the money phase. Medical and legal experts estimate the hip failures may.... More

Work-life issues: who will take action? 12/27/11 - Sit on the sidelines of a child’s soccer or baseball game and you will see both men and women handling work issues from their cellphone or iPads while cheering from the bleachers. Today, the workplace goes wherever we go, and these parents are trying to juggle it all.Have employers come to.... More

Pediatricians issue a call to aid children facing "toxic stress." 12/27/11 - The American Academy of Pediatrics on Monday issued a technical report linking "toxic stress" in childhood to a lifetime of mental, intellectual and physical ills. An accompanying technical report reviews in particular detail the.... More

Sears to close 100-120 Kmart, Sears stores. 12/27/11 - Just two weeks after Gov. Pat Quinn signed tax-break legislation aimed at keeping Hoffman Estates-based Sears Holdings Corp. from leaving Illinois, the retailer announced it would shut down between 100 and 120 Sears and Kmart stores.... More

IQ can increase with education. 12/27/11 - Children who have more schooling may see their IQ improve, Norwegian researchers have found. "There is good evidence to support the notion that schooling does make you 'smarter' in some general relevant way as measured by IQ tests,".... More

Women beat men to jobs in Japan's "mancession." 12/27/11 - Three times a week, Seiya Ogawa bikes to an unemployment center in Kadoma, home to Panasonic Corp., looking for work to help pay for his son’s final year at college. “At this point, I’m willing to take any job,” said the.... More

Study: work stress can increase stroke risk. 12/27/11 - Think your stressful job is bad for your health? For 10 percent of you, that might be the case -- particularly when it comes to stroke risk. A new study in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine shows that.... More

New poll shows many think millennials aren't hard workers. 12/26/11 - The co-workers of 20-somethings are less than impressed with the younger generation's work ethic, according to a new poll. The poll of 637 working Americans was conducted last month on behalf of Workplace Options, a Raleigh, N.C.-based consulting firm. More

Housing bust hits home for cities. 12/26/11 - The nation's housing crisis is 5 years old, but the worst of the reckoning for local governments might only now be at hand. Because of the time it often takes for property assessments to reflect falling home values, the bust that began in 2007 has just begun to ravage tax revenue in.... More

Hospital testing unusual PTSD treatment. 12/26/11 - Researchers at the Naval Medical Center San Diego believe that something as seemingly simple as injections of an anesthetic given to women during childbirth may be effective in alleviating the symptoms associated with PTSD. Early.... More

The haves' children are healthier than the have-not's. 12/25/11 - Every Monday, Sycamore Valley Elementary in Danville challenges its students to run a “Smile Mile” together after school. Some parents even run with their children. Photos of the student joggers’ grinning faces are posted in.... More

Snowstorm reportedly holds of 50,000 UPS packages. 12/24/11 - Instead of presents, there might be IOUs under some Christmas trees in Colorado on Sunday. This week's snow storm has delayed the delivery of some 50,000 UPS packages into the Denver area, CNN affiliate KUSA reported, citing a.... More

An uneven job recovery among the states. 12/24/11 - Figures released this week by the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicated that employment fell in five states over the last year. In only two states are there now more jobs than there were when employment peaked before the recession and.... More

Wage floor to be raised in 8 states in new year. 12/24/11 - Eight states will ring in the New Year with a higher minimum wage, under state laws that require wage floors to keep apace with inflation. San Francisco, one of the few cities that sets its own minimum wage above the federal level, is also raising wages for the lowest-paid workers in the new.... More

VW banning most after hours work e-mails. 12/25/11 - On a national holiday, when most of us are enjoying being at home instead of at work, it’s nice to see a work/life balance story coming out of Germany. According to the BBC, car maker Volkswagen has agreed to stop sending email to.... More

Black women joining American military at disproportionate rate. 12/23/11 - The women who serve in today’s military differ from the men who serve in a number of ways. Compared with their male counterparts, a greater share of military women are black and a smaller share are married. Also, women veterans of the post-9/11 era are less likely than men to have served in.... More

Congress set to end payroll tax fight. 12/23/11 - The last partisan standoff of the year could come to a close Friday morning as Congress is set to approve a short-term extension of President Obama's payroll tax cut. Lawmakers are not being called back to the Capitol for the vote..... More

In treating disabled, potent drugs and few rules. 12/23/11 - Something was happening to Katie Strignano. After she was moved into a state-run group home, the 26-year-old woman, who is severely mentally retarded, started gaining weight, drooling, breaking out in pimples and pulling out her hair.... More

Last chance to do some good for charity, tax return. 12/23/11 - This season, Americans are spending $465 billion, according to the National Retail Federation, a staggering amount that is almost equivalent to the gross domestic product of Pakistan. A good portion of that is on gifts. Sunday, of course, is the climactic day of giving, as everything from.... More

Medicare spending growth rising slower, but enrollment will rise. 12/23/11 - Throughout Medicare’s 46-year-old history, monitoring the cost of the government health plan for the elderly has been a bit like the old joke: No one asked if spending would jump. They only asked how high. But in early 2010, the.... More

U.S. Labor Board limits rights to fair elections. 12/22/11 - In a 2-1 vote, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) published a final rule on union elections. The rule will shorten the time employees may learn about union membership before an election, grant the NLRB and its hearing officers significant latitude to decide election issues, and.... More

Squatters say foreclosed homes beat homeless shelters. 12/22/11 - They may lack heat and a consistent water supply, but the vacant dwellings aren't as 'depressing,' as one New York mother puts it. Advocates say the number of squatters nationwide is rising. In New York, slips of paper are pasted to.... More

Save your elite flier status while you can. 12/22/11 - IT’S crunch time for top-tier frequent fliers. On Jan. 1, miles that count toward elite status automatically reset to zero on most airlines. That means fliers who weren’t able to collect enough miles or trip segments to maintain.... More

2012 - Virtual desktops are all the rage. 12/22/11 - As budgets are locked in for 2012 it's time to aggressively expand server virtualization, and for those who have been held back by cost, to consider virtual desktops. It just makes sense to continue consolidation of servers. Most of the largest businesses already have but the lower tiers have.... More

Common traits of long and happy marriages. 12/22/11 - Most of us know that there are no magic tricks to building a solid and happy marriage. As a psychotherapist, I'm asked on a daily basis to provide as many secrets as I can to help couples become more successful at it. This month, the.... More

Is fear of divorce keeping young couples from marriage? 12/22/11 - Marriage, it is sometimes argued, is a feminist institution, put in place to offer legal protection to women from being abandoned by men who wish to sow their seed in ever greener pastures. It’s a slightly antique (and misandrous).... More

Signs point to economy's rise, but experts see a false dawn. 12/22/11 - As the fourth quarter draws to a close, a spate of unexpectedly good economic data suggests that it will have some of the fastest and strongest economic growth since the recovery started in 2009, causing a surge in the stock market.... More

Payroll tax drama leaves Americans at a loss. 12/22/11 - As Americans watch yet another political drama play out on Capitol Hill — this time over whether to extend the payroll tax cut and jobless benefits — they have a question for Congress: Can't you all just get along? For once?.... More

The high cost of eldercare. 12/22/11 - My dad has been experiencing some fairly serious age-related health issues, so I took some time off to come home and help out for a few days. Unfortunately, he’s at a point where my mom can’t care for him entirely on her own, so.... More

Payroll tax hike looms as Congress heads home. 12/21/11 - The House is gone, mostly. The Senate vows not to return. And President Obama is home while his family vacations in Hawaii, hoping for some kind of agreement between the two that he can sign. That was the uneasy state of play in.... More

Seeing terror risk, U.S. asks that some flu facts not be published. 12/21/11 - For the first time ever, a government advisory board is asking scientific journals not to publish details of certain biomedical experiments, for fear that the information could be used by terrorists to create deadly viruses and touch.... More

Unemployment fell in 43 states in November. 12/21/11 - Unemployment rates fell in 43 states in November, the most number of states to report such declines in eight years. The falling state rates reflect the brightening jobs picture nationally. The U.S. unemployment rate fell sharply in November to 8.6 percent, the lowest since March 2009. The.... More

Meet the future of consulting 12/21/11 - It's a chilly but bright winter day in Manhattan, and sunlight streams into the sparsely decorated, industrial-chic offices of PSFK on Bond Street. The elevator opens directly onto the polished, hardwood floor of the company's open.... More

Heart attacks, other emergencies, spike during holidays. 12/20/11 - Steven Polevoi, MD, has seen it all. During his 23-year career, the medical director of the UCSF Emergency Department has done everything from treat traumatic injuries to deliver babies. While medical emergencies occur throughout the.... More

The envelope please: eight high school seniors blog their college searches. 12/20/11 - One attends a Minnesota public high school and dreams of becoming a veterinarian. But she won’t be studying at Cornell University or the University of California, Davis, at least as an undergraduate. She crossed those schools off.... More

After drugs and dark times, helping others to stand back up. 12/20/11 - The taste of cocaine and the slow-motion sensation of breaking the law were all too familiar, but the thrill was long gone. Antonio Lambert was not a young hoodlum anymore but a family man with a career, and here he was last fall,.... More

Teens as young as 14 engaging in group sex, says study. 12/20/11 - A study of girls at Massachusetts health clinics found that one in 13 said they had participated in group sex -- and that the behavior was strongly associated with pornography and child abuse. Although the study, published by the.... More

Co-creation is today's most accepted model for innovation. 12/20/11 - The latest approaches to innovation have evolved into what we call “innovation co-creation (ICC),” where all the relevant stakeholders are participating across the value chain. And this approach is not just about a one-sided.... More

First 11 months of 2011 were safest on record for air travel. 12/19/11 - If you suffer from a fear of flying, here's something that might calm your nerves: The first 11 months of 2011 were the safest period for commercial air travel on record. The global accident rate for January through November was 22% better than the same time last year and marked the safest.... More

Which is America's best city? 12/19/11 - Ask most people which city they would most want to live in and usually their answers would be shaped by such realities as proximity to their jobs and what they can afford. But suppose you could choose to live anywhere you wanted.... More

Dual degrees – the road not taken. 12/19/11 - After a sex abuse scandal rippled through the Catholic Church, Boston College’s Carroll School of Management wanted to make a positive change. The school introduced a dual-degree program that coupled an MBA with a master’s in.... More

Big health plans steering members away from Walgreen. 12/19/11 - As Walgreen Co. gets closer to leaving Express Scripts Inc.'s pharmacy-benefit network on Jan. 1, big health plans are steering members toward other drugstores to make sure their medication is still covered. More

MIT expands its free online course offerings. 12/19/11 - While students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology pay thousands of dollars for courses, the university will announce a new program on Monday allowing anyone anywhere to take M.I.T. courses online free of charge — and for the first time earn official certificates for demonstrating.... More

Nearly 1 in 3 will be arrested by age 23, says study. 12/19/11 - Nearly one in three people will be arrested by the time they are 23, a study to be published today in Pediatrics found. "Arrest is a pretty common experience," says Robert Brame, a criminologist at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte and principal author of the study. More

Brief, intense exercise lowers blood sugar, study finds. 12/18/11 - Lack of time is a common reason cited for not exercising, but new research suggests that several short intensive workouts a week may help lower blood sugar levels similarly to longer, more regular exercise regimens. The small, new study found that 30 minutes of high-intensity exercise a week.... More

Obama to let states decide benefit levels under health law. 12/17/11 - Seeking to defuse a potential showdown over a key part of the new healthcare law, the Obama administration moved Friday to let states, rather than the federal government, define which medical benefits insurance companies will have to offer consumers starting in 2014. More

Senate okays short-term extension of payroll tax cut. 12/17/11 - Senators racing for the exits after a year of bitter battles passed legislation Saturday that would extend a Social Security payroll tax cut and jobless benefits for just two months, setting the stage for the next fight until.... More

In a sign of labor recovery, more workers are quitting. 12/17/11 - THE number of Americans quitting their jobs has begun to rise, albeit from a very low level. That is a tentative sign that labor market mobility, which plunged during the 2007-9 recession, has started to recover. The Labor Department.... More

Gingrich push on health care appears at odds with G.O.P. 12/16/11 - Shortly before the passage of President Obama’s stimulus bill in 2009, Newt Gingrich’s political committee put out a video of Mr. Gingrich denouncing it as a “big politician, big bureaucracy, pork-laden bill.” But at the same.... More

Poor lifestyles harming U.S. heart health. 12/16/11 - Americans' heart health is in a woeful state, says this year's report card from the American Heart Association. And it's largely because people just aren't taking care of themselves. In the past three or so decades, women have upped their calorie consumption by 22 percent and men by 10.... More

Congress receives failing marks on fixing U.S. economy in year of gridlock. 12/16/11 - Congress is ending what may be its least productive year on record after government shutdown threats, the collapse of debt-reduction talks and little action to fix the worst U.S. economy since the Great Depression. Just 62 bills were signed into law through November this year. More

Disaster losses hit record levels in 2011 12/16/11 - The disasters that plagued the globe this year will send 2011 into the record books as the most costly year for catastrophes on record. Japan's powerful tsunami, earthquakes in New Zealand, floods in Thailand and a series of severe tornadoes in the U.S. all contributed to $350 billion in.... More

Congress reaches tentative deal to avoid government shutdown. 12/16/11 - Weary of one last round of brinkmanship before the holidays, Congress reached a tentative deal late Thursday on a $1-trillion spending bill that would avert a government shutdown as both parties continued to discuss extending.... More

Like Ivies, Berkeley to increase aid to attract middle-class students. 12/15/11 - The University of California, Berkeley, announced Wednesday that it would offer far more financial aid to middle-class students starting next fall, with families earning up to $140,000 a year expected to contribute no more than 15.... More

As doctors use more devices, potential for distraction grows. 12/15/11 - Hospitals and doctors’ offices, hoping to curb medical error, have invested heavily to put computers, smartphones and other devices into the hands of medical staff for instant access to patient data, drug information and case.... More

Survey says nearly one in five women have been sexually assaulted. 12/15/11 - An exhaustive government survey of rape and domestic violence released on Wednesday affirmed that sexual violence against women remains endemic in the United States and in some instances may be far more common than previously thought. More

Jobless caught in grim vigil. 12/15/11 - Minnesota legislative assistant Christina Hughes lost her job at the State Capitol a year ago. Since then, she's taken the bar exam, used her 401(k) to pay bills and attended countless job fairs while applying for jobs nonstop. Still.... More

Failure rate of U.S. schools overstated. 12/15/11 - When the Obama administration was seeking to drum up support for its education initiatives last spring, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan told Congress that the federal law known as No Child Left Behind would label 82 percent of all the nation’s public schools as failing this year..... More

Wage protection planned for home care workers. 12/15/11 - The Obama administration will propose new regulations on Thursday to give the nation’s roughly two million home-care workers minimum wage and overtime protections after those workers had long been exempted from coverage, according to a White House official who would not be named. More

Teen drinking, smoking, continues to decline, but pot use is up. 12/15/11 - Fewer teens drink and smoke cigarettes than in any time in the last 30 years, but the widespread availability of medical marijuana appears to be fueling a rise in pot use, health experts said Wednesday. More

Half of U.S. poor or low-income 12/15/11 - Squeezed by rising living costs, a record number of Americans — nearly 1 in 2 — have fallen into poverty or are scraping by on earnings that classify them as low income. More

Aid for childcare drops when it's needed most. 12/14/11 - With states under pressure to cut their budgets and federal stimulus money gone, low-income working parents are facing a paradox. Just when they have to work longer hours to make ends meet, they are losing access to the thing they.... More

Those with health insurance rate their own health higher. 12/14/11 - Americans aged 18 to 64 with health insurance rate their overall health far more positively than those without coverage. Nearly 6 in 10 Americans younger than 65 with health insurance rate their health as either "excellent" or "very good," compared with 36% of those in the same age group.... More

Where are Mr. or Ms. right? Matrimony suffers a slump, report shows. 12/14/11 - Is it a hiccup or a long-term bear market for marriage? A new report shows that the share of American adults who are married dropped to a record low in 2009-2010 — to just a smidgen over half of population 18 and older. And the age.... More

What nail-polish sales tell us about the economy. 12/14/11 - Economics is all about consumption. People either spend money now or they use financial instruments — like bonds, stocks and savings accounts — so they can spend more later. A healthy economy is largely a result of a reasonable.... More

U.S. urges ban on texting, talking while driving. 12/14/11 - Ren Bishop is one of many American drivers who texts, tweets and talks on her cellphone while she’s behind the wheel — and thinks it should be up to drivers to use their discretion when it comes to safety. Though she admits.... More

Poor mental health harming productivity, report says. 12/13/11 - One in five workers suffers from a mental illness such as depression or anxiety and these conditions increasingly affect productivity in the workplace as many struggle to cope, a report by the OECD said on Monday. Policymakers need.... More

Alabama is nation's worst for homeless kids. 12/13/11 - A new report by an advocacy group says Alabama is worst in the nation for child homelessness. The study released Tuesday by the National Center on Family Homelessness ranks the state No. 50 nationally for the well-being of homeless kids. More

Profits and questions at online charter schools. 12/13/11 - By almost every educational measure, the Agora Cyber Charter School is failing. Nearly 60 percent of its students are behind grade level in math. Nearly 50 percent trail in reading. A third do not graduate on time. And hundreds of.... More

Are you better off than Mom and Dad? 12/13/11 - Are young people better off than their parents? At least when it comes to income, the answer depends on gender. New research shows today's young women make $1.17 for every $1 their moms earned back in 1980. Young men, however, are.... More

How long should we help the unemployed? 12/13/11 - If Congress doesn't extend unemployment benefits in the next few weeks, millions of jobless Americans will find themselves without a vital safety net in 2012. That's a good thing, some economists say. Lawmakers must decide by the end of the year whether to once again extend the deadline to.... More

The best undergraduate B-schools of 2011. 12/13/11 - When Justin Jensen started getting serious about his college search in 2008, he had a nearly impossible list of things he was looking for in a school. He wanted a program that had a "heavy emphasis" on international experience,.... More

Part-time work is best answer for moms, says study. 12/13/11 - Can part-time work increase the chances of full-time happiness for modern moms? So suggests a new study published by the American Psychological Association. Both part-time working moms and full-time working moms reported better health and fewer symptoms of depression than stay-at-home moms. More

LGBT employees welcome at big banks and law firms, says report. 12/12/11 - The corporate world – especially at law firms and big banks –- is a much better place for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees than it was a decade ago, according to a new report from LGBT advocacy group Human Rights.... More

Hospital will test new approach to end-of-life care. 12/12/11 - Aided by a $9.6 million grant from a Minnesota foundation, Minneapolis' Abbott Northwestern Hospital will test a new approach to end-of-life care for hundreds of Twin Cities patients with Alzheimer's disease, heart failure and late-stage cancer. More

Lawmakers seek passenger advocate after strip search at airport. 12/12/11 - Two New York lawmakers have called for a passenger advocate at airports to immediately act on complaints by passengers over security screenings. U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer and state Sen. Michael Gianaris of Queens want the.... More

Obama winning climate debate as China listens. 12/12/11 - The U.S., long accused of blocking progress in international climate talks, is winning a two-decade old debate about how to curtail global warming. More

San Francisco becomes first U.S. city to top $10 minimum wage. 12/12/11 - David Frias works two minimum-wage jobs to squeak by in one of the most expensive cities in America. Come New Year's Day, he'll have a few more coins in his pocket as San Francisco makes history by becoming the first city in the nation to scale a $10 minimum wage. More

Jobless benefits: what's at stake? 12/12/11 - Millions of unemployed Americans are anxiously waiting for Congress to take up the extension of federal unemployment benefits. If lawmakers don't act, the checks could stop coming as soon as January. More

PepsiCo to pay for employee surgeries at Hopkins in novel arrangement. 12/11/11 - PepsiCo has signed a deal that allows employees and dependents across the nation to get certain surgeries at Johns Hopkins Hospital — a cutting-edge arrangement that could grow in popularity as companies look to provide better health care and contain costs. More

Goodbye textbooks, hello iPad. 12/11/11 - A technology shift is under way. The PC’s promise to transform how learning happens in the classroom is being realized by Apple’s iPad. Students and teachers in grade school through higher education are using the iPad to augment.... More

For anchorwomen, family is part of the job. 12/11/11 - When Megyn Kelly was starting out in television, a prominent TV newswoman told her, “You’re going to need to choose: you can either have a family or you can be a major anchor.” More

New fathers attend daddy boot camp. 12/09/11 - One by one, an army of expectant dads files into Steve Venable's classroom at Northside Hospital near Atlanta, hoping to gain some wisdom from the ex-Marine-turned-"daddy boot camp" instructor. More

How a family of six lives on $50,000 a year. 12/09/11 - Devin Datus, 39, and his wife, Michelle, 36, are raising four kids, ages 9 to 18, in Utah on his military salary. His wife is a full-time student and stay-at-home mom. More

White House taking new steps to help small business start-ups. 12/09/11 - In its latest executive action, the White House announced new steps Thursday to spur start-up businesses and help them access $2 billion in resources. More

New drug combo slows metastatic breast cancer growth. 12/08/11 - A new combination of treatments can help battle some forms of metastatic breast cancer and slow down the spread of the disease, according to two separate studies. More

School drops gender-specific yearbook attire. 12/08/11 - After a two-year court battle, students in a Mississipi school district will wear a cap and gown for their senior yearbook instead of gender-specific attire, The Clarion-Ledger reports. More

New York, California governors press tax hike on rich. 12/08/11 - In the space of a few days this week, the Democratic governors of California and New York have backed a bet that voters will embrace the idea of raising taxes on the rich to solve their states’ budget woes. More

Jobless claims drop to nine-month low. 12/08/11 - The number of Americans filing for first-time unemployment benefits fell to a nine-month low, signaling a bright spot in the tough employment environment. More

Newer economies add more high tech freedom at work. 12/07/11 - Employees in fast-growing economies have more freedom over the technology they use for work than their counterparts in developed countries, and are more likely to see corporate provision of devices as a perk, according to a study. More

Obama promotes gay rights around the world. 12/07/11 - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton challenged nations around the world Tuesday to recognize that "gay rights are human rights and human rights are gay rights," building on an order by President Barack Obama directing all U.S..... More

Night shift work may raise diabetes risk. 12/07/11 - Women whose jobs require them to rotate through day and night shifts may be increasing their diabetes risk, especially if they maintain that schedule over a long period of time, a new study of nurses suggests. More

Anti-abortion groups are split on legal tactics. 12/06/11 - A widening and emotional rift over legal tactics has split the anti-abortion movement, with its longtime leaders facing a Tea Party-like insurrection from many grass-roots activists who are impatient with the pace of change. More

Hospice care, once chiefly a charitable cause, has become a growth.... 12/06/11 - Aunt Midge wasn't really dying, but putting her in hospice care, with free, Medicare-paid hospice visits from a nurse and chaplain, plus an extra weekly bath, sounded like a deal too good to pass up. More

Nearly 75% of women want to breastfeed as long as possible, says study. 12/05/11 - New and expecting parents in the United States are doing all they can to ensure a healthy future for their children - including breastfeeding their babies for as long as they are able, according to the Philips Mother & Child Care.... More

Cuts to first-class mail will slow delivery in 2012. 12/05/11 - Unprecedented cuts by the cash-strapped U.S. Postal Service will slow first-class delivery next spring and, for the first time in 40 years, eliminate the chance for stamped letters to arrive the next day. More

Texting of sexual images by minors not as common as previously thought. 12/05/11 - One in 10 children ages 10 to 17 has used a cellphone to send or receive sexually suggestive images, but only 1 in 100 has sent images considered graphic enough to violate child pornography laws, a new study found. More

Studies show some mental illnesses in children can be triggered by.... 12/05/11 - Cases of children suddenly exhibiting obsessive-compulsive disorder after strep has led to studies that reinforce the belief that some mental illnesses can be triggered by an immune response. More

If troubled kids aren't bipolar, then what is troubling them? 12/04/11 - Experts struggle to identify the causes and proper treatment of children with outbursts. Powerful psychotropic drugs may not be the answer. More

How the food industry eats your kid's lunch. 12/04/11 - An increasingly cozy alliance between companies that manufacture processed foods and companies that serve the meals is making students — a captive market — fat and sick More

Some Asians decline to identify race on college applications. 12/04/11 - When applying to Harvard, Lanya Olmstead, ethnically half white and half Taiwanese, checked only one box for her race: white. More

Facebook to hire thousands of employees next year. 12/03/11 - Facebook has said it plans to hire thousands of employees over the next year and add an engineering team to its office in New York. More

Young savers are already socking away thousands for retirement. 12/03/11 - One day I saw my dad trading on eTrade. It looked interesting so I wanted to do it. I had always saved my allowance money and birthday money, and the first thing I bought was Apple stock -- when shares were only $100. More

Payroll gains improve in U.S. 12/03/11 - Payroll gains in the U.S. improved last month, while an increase in the number of Americans leaving the workforce helped push the jobless rate down to 8.6 percent, the lowest level since March 2009. More

Unemployment rate falls to lowest since 2009. 12/02/11 - The U.S. unemployment rate fell last month to its lowest level in more than 2½ years. More people out of work either found jobs or gave up looking and were no longer counted as unemployed. More

A skills shortage or unrealistic expectations? 12/02/11 - Peter Cappelli says companies are the culprits. In almost no cases are they looking for people right out of school who need training – the affordable candidates. Instead they're looking for candidates with three to five years of.... More

Obama to vie for Arizona as Latino numbers rise. 12/02/11 - Given the openly hostile environment, Mr. Obama would seem to have little chance of winning Arizona’s 11 electoral votes in 2012. More

Older people are larger portion of U.S. population, census finds. 12/02/11 - Elderly people are now a greater portion of the population than at any time since the government began keeping track, with those age 65 and older rising to 13 percent of the population over the past decade, the Census Bureau said. More

For jobless, little hope of restoring a lifestyle. 12/02/11 - People across the working spectrum suffered job losses in recent years: bricklayers and bookkeepers as well as workers in manufacturing and marketing. More

The cost of caregiving to the U.S. economy. 12/02/11 - Not only is caregiving a reality for a substantial number of employees, but this special class of worker is forced to miss an average of 6.6 days of work per year because of caregiving responsibilities. More

Student's death turns spotlight on hazing. 12/01/11 - Before they even arrive at Florida A&M University here, the freshmen who are hand-picked for the famous marching band know all about the hazing, an unsanctioned tradition that goes back decades. More

The best – and worst – run schools in the U.S. 12/01/11 - For the second year, 24/7 Wall St. has reviewed data on financial health, standard of living and government services by state to determine how well each is managed. Based on this data, 24/7 Wall St. ranked the 50 from best to worst..... More

Dads are doing more but moms are more stressed. 12/01/11 - A study of 500 dual-earner families finds that fathers and mothers are spending roughly equal amounts of time doing paid and unpaid work, but mothers are spending nine more hours a week multitasking. More

Vacation study reveals wide work-life disparity across five continents. 12/01/11 - On the whole, European workers enjoy considerably more vacation time, as measured by days given and days taken, than their peers elsewhere. The average employed European earns 25-30 vacation days in a given year, and, with some exceptions, tends to use them all. More

Line grows long for free meals at U.S. schools. 11/30/11 - Millions of American schoolchildren are receiving free or low-cost meals for the first time as their parents, many once solidly middle class, have lost jobs or homes during the economic crisis, qualifying their families for the.... More

Has Facebook become a social utility? 11/30/11 - Facebook's astonishing growth and power has made it the General Electric of the social Web, a network that can force rules and associations upon its users. More

Flexible work hours can be a tough sell. 11/30/11 - One of the questions I most often hear from readers seeking work/life balance is “How do I get my manager to give me flexibility?” More

Flexible working is the future, finds UK's Vodafone. 11/30/11 - Traditional working hours are coming to an end as the line between work life and personal life is becoming blurred. More

Are your employees ready for retirement? 11/29/11 - Around 75% of small business owners feel that America is hitting a retirement crisis because so many people are simply unprepared, according to Nationwide Financials. At the same time, only 20% of business owners say they provide 401(k) or other self-funded retirement plans for their workers. More

Employee engagement nearing all-time low. 11/29/11 - A recent Gallup survey shows that some 71% of American workers are not engaged in their current positions, with 19% of the workforce "actively disengaged." More

More kindergartners in many states are skipping vaccinations. 11/29/11 - A rising number of parents in more than half of states are opting out of school shots for their kids. And in more than half a dozen states, more than 1 in 20 public school kindergartners do not get all the vaccines required for attendance, an Associated Press analysis found. More

As public sector sheds jobs, blacks hit hardest. 11/29/11 - Don Buckley lost his job driving a Chicago Transit Authority bus almost two years ago and has been looking for work ever since, even as other municipal bus drivers around the country are being laid off. More

Retirement rules of thumb don't always apply. 11/29/11 - You may have celebrated the new year in 2000 more worried about whether your computer would work than whether you'd have enough for retirement. After all, you'd been saving diligently, and returns from stocks and bonds were spectacular. More

What to do when you hate your job. 11/29/11 - Few of us make it down the career garden path without eventually landing in a job we absolutely HATE. But then what? More

As the rich-poor gap widens, so does debate about what it means. 11/29/11 - Fewer than 50 miles separate the poorest city of its size in the U.S. from the prosperous suburbs of Philadelphia, a corridor of wealth with few rivals. There's an $80,000 difference between the average household incomes. The poverty rates — Reading's is above 40% — don't even compare. More

With blocks, educators go back to basics. 11/28/11 - Huddled together on the reading rug of a prekindergarten classroom on the Upper West Side, three budding builders assembled a multilayered church with a Gothic arch. More

Pregnancy discrimination lingers in workplaces. 11/28/11 - By now, most employers know enough about the law and gender discrimination to at least avoid the appearance of bias against women, researcher Cynthia Calvert says. More

Sex harassment neither gone nor forgotten. 11/28/11 - Sexual harassment in the workplace is so last century -- or so it seemed until the Herman Cain scandal made national headlines of the sort this hot-potato issue hasn't seen in years. More

Fliers must turn off devices, but it's not clear why. 11/28/11 - Millions of Americans who got on a plane over the Thanksgiving holiday heard the admonition: "Please power down your electronic devices for takeoff." More

70% of middle, high school students experience "slut bashing" or other.... 11/28/11 - By eighth grade, girls have already started to monitor the sexual conduct of other girls, according to researchers, and 70 percent of students have experienced some kind of non-physical sexual harassment, including sexual rumor spreading, also known as "slut bashing." More

U.S., Europe, face another recession, report warns. 11/28/11 - The United States and others must "be prepared to face the worst" as Europe slides toward another recession, according to a gloomy warning from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. More

Virtual schools are multiplying, but some question their educational value. 11/26/11 - A Virginia company leading a national movement to replace classrooms with computers — in which children as young as 5 can learn at home at taxpayer expense — is facing a backlash from critics who are questioning its funding,.... More

Gender issues still linger in the workplace. 11/27/11 - One doesn't have to look far to find that women still have not achieved equal footing with men. Not to pick on her, but our own governor, Mary Fallin - the state's first female governor - recently appointed a 45- member committee to study economic development and job creation, and for some.... More

Employee frustration cited as workplace's silent killer. 11/27/11 - The authors of a new book on employee engagement say that being receptive to the needs of workers is critical during tough economic times, partly to ensure productive employees don’t fly the coop. More

Odd perks help retain employees at companies. 11/26/11 - When it comes to work, it takes more than a steady paycheck to keep workers happy. A recent employee satisfaction survey found that a fun culture was the key to attracting employees. More

UK public sector strike warning sparks union anger. 11/26/11 - The leader of one of Britain's biggest unions has hit back after government warnings over Wednesday's planned public sector strike. The strike over pensions could involve as many as two million people. More

Main Street's turn: small business Saturday. 11/26/11 - Black Friday is over, but 89 million consumers plan to "shop small" on Small Business Saturday, according to a survey by American Express. More

Environmental programs fall victim to budget cuts. 11/26/11 - When lightning ignited a wildfire near Idaho's Sun Valley in 2007, environmental regulators used monitoring gear to gauge the health effects for those breathing in the Sawtooth Mountains' smoky, mile-high air. That equipment sits idle today More

In times of health, insurance seemed optional. Before I became seriously ill, I was skeptical about modern medicine. I saw the treatments as expensive, painful and not always effective. The simple advice of eating right and getting exercise seemed to cure any ailment that I had. More

How to make the case for a pay raise 11/26/11 - So you’ve been keeping your head down, working as hard as you can — glad, you tell yourself, that you even have a job. But you’ve been doing that for several years now. More

Global health fund runs out of money, halts new programs. 11/25/11 - The world's biggest financier in the fight against three killer diseases says it has run out of money to pay for new grant programs for the next two years — a situation likely to hit poor AIDS patients around the world. More

Support builds for a plan to rein in Medicare costs. 11/25/11 - Though it reached no agreement, the special Congressional committee on deficit reduction built a case for major structural changes in Medicare. More

In New York, Mexicans lag in education. 11/25/11 - About 41 percent of all Mexicans between ages 16 and 19 in the city have dropped out of school, according to census data. More

Work-Life balance is so yesterday! 11/24/11 - Forget the term work life balance – tomorrow’s world is all about ‘work life blending.’ More

Vote on unionizing in-home daycare providers raises questions. 11/24/11 - Gov. Mark Dayton touched off the flurry of activity last week with an executive order calling for providers to vote on whether to be represented by a union in "meet and confer" talks with the state. Republicans immediately said the Democratic governor had overstepped his authority and.... More

Vote on unionizing in-home daycare providers raises questions. 11/24/11 - Gov. Mark Dayton touched off the flurry of activity last week with an executive order calling for providers to vote on whether to be represented by a union in "meet and confer" talks with the state. Republicans immediately said the Democratic governor had overstepped his authority and.... More

Child abuse reports spike after Sandusky arrest. 11/23/11 - In Pennsylvania, calls jumped from about 460 to almost 1,000 per day after the news of abuse allegations against former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. More

For many, turkey without all the trimmings. 11/23/11 - (AP) Some are holding potluck dinners instead of springing for the entire feast. Others are staying home rather than flying. And a few are skipping the turkey altogether.On this the fourth Thanksgiving since the economy sank, prices for everything from airline flights to groceries are.... More

Food banks ask donors for healthier fare. 11/23/11 - The season of giving has started, with schools, churches and businesses kicking off food drives that have become annual holiday traditions. But many food banks are asking donors to think twice before dropping ramen noodles and frosted cereals in donation barrels. More

Holiday workers stack shifts to make ends meet. 11/23/11 - Randee Fosburgh will begin her day at 4:30 a.m., opening the Hickory Farms temporary kiosk that sells meat and cheese gifts. She will finish her shifts at the Piercing Pagoda jewelry store at 8 p.m., and she will sell gourmet desserts at PinkaBella Cupcakes in between. More

Tips to take stress out of big-city business trips. 11/22/11 - Art Manask feels increasing stress as he prepares to leave for a business trip to New York, Boston or Chicago. "The reason is congestion and traffic," says the Los Angeles-based consultant in the hospitality industry who has spent 100 nights away from home this year. More

Screening still a pain at airports, fliers say. 11/22/11 - The lines will still be long and the screening still invasive at airport checkpoints this Thanksgiving. While the government has made some changes to security procedures, many passengers and travel executives contend that the moves do not go far enough. More

Separating you and me? 4.74 degrees. 11/22/11 - Scientists have discovered that the average number of acquaintances separating any two people in the world is not six but 4.74. More

A blow to pinstripe aspirations. 11/22/11 - Being young on Wall Street once meant having it all: style, smarts and too much money to spend wisely. Now, twenty-somethings in the finance industry are losing both cash and cachet. More

Teaching good sex. 11/22/11 - “First base, second base, third base, home run,” Al Vernacchio ticked off the classic baseball terms for sex acts. In its breadth, depth and frank embrace of sexuality, this sex-ed class may well be the only one of its kind in the United States. More

Learning to play the game to get into college. 11/22/11 - There is rarely a minute when Nathaly Lopera, a high school senior, isn’t working to improve herself. Some nights, she has so many activities that she does not get home until 10 p.m.; often she’s up past midnight studying. More

A hard turn: better health on the highway. 11/22/11 - After driving hundreds of miles, the last thing Roy Williams, a truck driver from Denton, Tex., wanted to do was exercise. After a day trapped in the cab, stopping only to gorge on greasy fare at truck stops, who could think of.... More

"Chemobrain" found to be cancer therapy side-effect. 11/21/11 - The condition referred to by patients as "chemobrain" has been noted by many cancer patients, and now a Stanford University study validates their experiences and previous studies. Memory or cognitive problems following chemotherapy are real, the study concludes. More

Thanksgiving travel costs on the rise. 11/21/11 - The average airfare for travel Wednesday to Sunday to the 10 most popular U.S. destinations has jumped 11% over last year, an analysis shows. More

Deficit-cutting committee members set to throw in the towel. 11/21/11 - The Republican and Democratic leaders of a 12-member congressional "super committee" are set to declare defeat in a joint statement to be released after three months of talks failed to bridge deep divides over taxes and spending. More

Cost of having kids now $226,920 11/21/11 - The cost of raising a child has risen over $60K since 2000. Families squeezed by the economy are opting to wait, but tell Christine Romans that biological factors play a role as well. More

Democrats urge Obama to protect contraceptive coverage in health plans. 11/20/11 - A dispute has erupted between President Obama and Democrats in Congress over a proposal to broaden the exemption from new rules that require health insurance plans to cover contraceptives for women free of charge. More

Redefining the union boss. 11/20/11 - Sandy Pope is the first woman to run for the presidency of the Teamsters, against the powerful, three-term incumbent, James P. Hoffa. More

Study finds fetuses do best in a consistent environment. 11/20/11 - As a fetus grows, it's constantly getting messages from its mother. It's not just hearing her heartbeat and whatever music she might play to her belly; it also gets chemical signals through the placenta. If the mother is depressed, says a new study, that affects how the baby develops after.... More

Wisconsin's Walker at heart of emotional worker's rights battle. 11/20/11 - Veterans of Wisconsin's year of political turmoil and recall like to say that this is what democracy looks like. In the Capitol rotunda one day last week, Chris Reeder stamped out a beat with his sandaled feet and led a rousing chorus of "Roll Out the Recall," while joyful demonstrators.... More

Fitness key to fighting dangers of stress. 11/18/11 - Paul Hanft was 45 pounds overweight, generally unhappy, drinking excessively, taking mild anti-depressants, and on medications to lower his cholesterol. Like many others, he struggled with finding the time and energy to change his inactive lifestyle. More

Panel finds climate change behind some extreme weather. 11/19/11 - At least some of the weather extremes being seen around the world are consequences of human-induced climate change and can be expected to worsen in coming decades, a United Nations panel reported on Friday. More

Near poor: older, married, suburban and struggling. 11/19/11 - They drive cars, but seldom new ones. They earn paychecks, but not big ones. Many own homes. Most pay taxes. Half are married, and nearly half live in the suburbs. None are poor, but many describe themselves as barely scraping by. More

Employees petition Best Buy, Target, to push back Black Friday openings. 11/18/11 - With one week to go before Black Friday, a Target employee has racked up 181,000 signatures asking the retailer to abandon its plans to open at midnight, according to the online petition site Change.org More

The oldest old: reaching 90 more likely than ever. 11/18/11 - The rolls of America's oldest old are surging: Nearly 2 million now are 90 or over, nearly triple their numbers of just three decades ago. More

U.S. policy shift gives illegal immigrants hope of staying. 11/18/11 - More than 1,700 illegal immigrants facing deportation proceedings in Minnesota have new hope of remaining in the United States, the result of a federal order issued on Thursday that directs immigration authorities to focus on the most dangerous individuals rather than those with minor.... More

Births drop for third year in bad economy. 11/18/11 - The economy may well be the best form of birth control. U.S. births dropped for the third straight year -- especially for young mothers -- and experts think money worries are the reason. More

Who owns employees' Twitter accounts? 11/17/11 - A mobile phone review site called PhoneDog says that one of its former employee’s Twitter accounts is worth $42,500 per month, and it wants it back. More

Would-be engineers study hardest, says study. 11/17/11 - Business majors spend less time on course work than other college students, but they devote more hours to non-school duties, like earning money and caring for family members. In contrast, engineering students spend the most time studying and the least on outside demands. More

As new graduates return to nest, economy feels their pain. 11/17/11 - Like most of her friends, Hollis Romanelli graduated from college last May and promptly moved back in with her parents. As a result, she didn’t pay rent — or a broker’s fee or renters’ insurance, for that matter. She also didn’t buy a bed, desk, couch, doormat, mop or new crockery.... More

U.S. to review all deportation cases. 11/17/11 - Homeland Security wants to allow severely overburdened immigration judges to focus on those deporting foreigners who committed serious crimes or pose national security risks. More

After CT scans, more surgeries, more costs; are they unnecessary? 11/17/11 - Findings suggest doctors may detect small changes in the arteries on CT scans that lead them to do more invasive, potentially unnecessary, surgeries. More

Women more likely to suffer 'broken heart' syndrome, says study. 11/17/11 - It happens when a big shock, even a good one like winning the lottery, triggers a rush of adrenaline and other stress hormones that cause the heart’s main pumping chamber to balloon suddenly and not work right. More

Key employees believe in the success of their employers. 11/16/11 - Nearly all employees surveyed indicate they will either increase or maintain contributions to their employer's nonqualified deferred compensation plan in the coming year; 78% of those planning to increase contributions said they believe in the success of their employer, an increase of 14%.... More

Justices unlikely to have last word on health care. 11/16/11 - President Barack Obama's historic health care overhaul divided the nation from the day he signed it into law, and that seems unlikely to change no matter how the Supreme Court rules on its constitutionality. More

Congress blocks new rules on school lunches. 11/16/11 - In a victory for the makers of frozen pizzas, tomato paste and French fries, Congress on Monday blocked rules proposed by the Agriculture Department that would have overhauled the nation’s school lunch program. More

11 states seek relief from 'No Child' provisions, in return for raising.... 11/16/11 - Eleven states applied for waivers exempting them from key provisions of the No Child Left Behind law by the federal government’s first deadline, promising in return to adopt higher standards and carry out other elements of the Obama administration’s school improvement agenda, the.... More

New Catalyst study links more women leaders to greater corporate social.... 11/16/11 - A new study conducted by researchers at Catalyst and Harvard Business School (HBS) suggests that what’s good for women is good for business and also for society as a whole. More

Many Americans not financially ready to be a caregiver, says study. 11/15/11 - Many Americans say they are not financially prepared to be a caregiver for an elderly loved one, according to a new survey by Harris Interactive. More

Two decades after Anita Hill: how workplaces are handling sexual.... 11/15/11 - Sexual misconduct allegations against GOP presidential hopeful Herman Cain have put a spotlight on secret settlements, which many businesses are turning to in sexual harassment cases. More

For gay, lesbian workers, Canadian workplaces pulse with change. 11/15/11 - Donna Renn began her career in the military — and in the closet. But today, the 50-year-old IT business analyst for TD is the poster girl for coming out in the workplace. During the five years she served in the Canadian Forces, Renn was terrified someone would find out she was a lesbian..... More

Immigration from Mexico in fast retreat, data show. 11/15/11 - Census figures show that fewer people are leaving and many are returning as a lack of jobs in the U.S. and tighter border enforcement dissuade many who might have entered illegally. More

Hearing loss affects one in five Americans, study finds. 11/15/11 - If you think hearing loss is just an inevitable part of aging, think again. More than 48 million Americans over age 12 have trouble hearing in one or both ears, according to a new study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. And the way we listen to music is partly to blame. More

Calming schools by focusing on well-being of troubled students 11/15/11 - Mark Ossenheimer, principal of the Urban Assembly School for Wildlife Conservation in the Bronx, threw out a name to add to the list of teenagers in trouble. Several teachers and a social worker seated around a table in the school’s cramped administrative offices nodded in agreement. More

Bishops open 'religious liberty' drive. 11/15/11 - The nation’s Roman Catholic bishops opened a new front in their fight against abortion and same-sex marriage on Monday, recasting their opposition as a struggle for “religious liberty” against a government and a culture that are infringing on the church’s rights. More

Whatever Court rules, major changes in health care likely to last. 11/15/11 - No matter what the Supreme Court decides about the constitutionality of the federal law adopted last year, health care in America has changed in ways that will not be easily undone. More

Anti-bullying programs likely ineffective, says Cornell psychologist. 11/14/11 - Thousands of schools have instituted anti-bullying programs, and yet the effectiveness of most programs are untested and are not likely to be successful given our limited knowledge about bullying. More

Red tape hampers care for those who are poor, disabled. 11/14/11 - M.C. Kim had four heart attacks in as many years. Each time, he left the hospital not knowing why his heart had failed. When he tried to enter a cardiac rehabilitation program to learn how to reduce the odds of having more heart trouble, the Medicare office told him to call Medicaid. The.... More

Atheists in U.S. military seek official recognition. 11/14/11 - A small but growing movement complains of religious bias and seeks the same status as Christians, Jews and Muslims. More

Recruiting veterans, Columbia finds an impressive applicant pool. 11/14/11 - Two years ago, in an effort to attract more veterans to Columbia, Curtis Rodgers, a dean of admissions, began recruiting at military bases. Almost immediately he noticed differences between the Marines and the typical 18-year-old Ivy League applicant. More

Israel takes gender fight to buses, billboards. 11/14/11 - The women turned heads as they got on Jerusalem's number 56 bus. Startled ultra-Orthodox Jewish men looked away as the group mounted a challenge to growing gender segregation in the holy city by boarding the public vehicle from the front door and sitting in its first rows. More

Hispanics reviving faded towns on the plains. 11/14/11 - Change can be unsettling in a small town. But not long ago in this quiet farming community, with its familiar skyline of grain elevators and church steeples, the owner of a new restaurant decided to acknowledge the community’s diversity by adding some less traditional items to her menu..... More

Health law puts focus on limits of Federal power. 11/14/11 - If the federal government can require people to purchase health insurance, what else can it force them to do? More to the point, what can’t the government compel citizens to do? More

Jobs benefits for vets break Senate divide. 11-11-11 - The Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly approved provisions from President Obama's jobs plan that found rare bipartisan appeal, including a proposal to give companies tax credits for hiring unemployed veterans. More

Experts say more children should get cholesterol tested. 11-11-11 - More children should be screened for high cholesterol before puberty, beyond those with a family history of problems, according to wide-ranging new guidelines expected from government-appointed experts who are trying to prevent heart disease later in life. More

For the first time, majority of new moms getting paid leave. 11-11-11 - The number of new mothers receiving paid maternity leave has climbed to a majority for the first time, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Thursday, but the news drew tepid reactions from advocates because the benefit remains largely unavailable to younger and less-educated women. More

Heavy drinkers get liver transplants in French study, raising ethical.... 11/10/11 - Some gravely ill alcoholics who need a liver transplant shouldn't have to prove they can stay sober for six months to get one, doctors say in a study that could intensify the debate over whether those who destroy their organs by drinking deserve new ones. More

Aging well through exercise. 11/10/11 - Is physical frailty inevitable as we grow older? That question preoccupies scientists and the middle-aged, particularly when they become the same people. Until recently, the evidence was disheartening. More

India's more perfect union 11/10/11 - This summer, Maruti Suzuki, the largest car manufacturer in India, geared up to release the newest model of its bestselling car, the Suzuki Swift, only to find that its production lines had slowed to a crawl. More

Are older Americans better off? 11/10/11 - The Pew Research Center says they are better off than they used to be, especially relative to the young. The Census Bureau says children are doing better than we thought, but older people are doing worse, especially because of medical costs. More

Health law survives test in court of appeals. 11/09/11 - A federal appeals court in Washington upheld the Obama administration’s health care law on Tuesday in a decision written by a prominent conservative jurist. More

Elections may signal a pause in conservative trend. 11/09/11 - Ohio overturns a law affecting public employee unions while Mississippi votes down a stringent antiabortion measure. Arizona recalls state Senate President Russell Pearce, architect of the controversial immigration law. More

New drugs fuel wave of violence and death. 11/09/11 - A small town in Oklahoma is grieving for two college students who died after using synthetic drugs this spring. In the past year, more than 20 deaths have been linked to the use of products sold under such innocuous names as bath salts, plant food, herbal incense and research chemicals. More

Poll finds U.S. voters deeply torn. 11/08/11 - A new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll has found an electorate that is convinced the country's economic structures favor an affluent elite and is still deeply torn as to whether President Barack Obama or any of his leading Republican rivals can pull the nation out of decline. More

Young men suffer worst as economy staggers. 11/08/11 - Few groups were hit harder by the recession than young men, like Cody Preston and Justin Randol, 25-year-old high-school buddies who didn't go to college. More

Bill Clinton lays out his prescription for America's future. Bill Clinton’s new book, “Back to Work,” is really several books in one slender volume. It’s a lucid one-man rebuttal of the Tea Party’s anti-government agenda. More

A tool to quit smoking has some unlikely critics. 11/08/11 - If you want a truly frustrating job in public health, try getting people to stop smoking. Even when researchers combine counseling and encouragement with nicotine patches and gum, few smokers quit. More

First time divorce rate tied to education, race. 11/03/11 - New research from the National Center for Family and Marriage Research (NCFMR) at Bowling Green State University shows there is substantial variation in the first-time divorce rate when it is broken down by race and education. But, there is also evidence that a college degree has a protective.... More

Census data show wealth gap is widest ever. 11/07/11 - The wealth gap between younger and older Americans has stretched to the widest on record, worsened by a prolonged economic downturn that has wiped out job opportunities for young adults and saddled them with housing and college debt. More

Washington area schools confront the 'gifted gap.' 11/06/11 - The budding scholars in Alexandria’s gifted ­classes are bright and curious enough to make any teacher beam, but these days they’re also an emblem of what the school system calls one of its greatest failures: a lack of diversity among the academic elite. More

Preaching the virtue of spanking, even as deaths fuel the debate. 11/07/11 - The pastoral mood in the hills of Tennessee offered a stark contrast to the storm raging around the country over the Pearls’ teachings on child discipline, which advocate systematic use of “the rod” to teach toddlers to submit to authority. More

Study finds widespread sexual harassment of students in grades 7 thru 12. 11/07/11 - Nearly half of 7th to 12th graders experienced sexual harassment in the last school year, according to a study scheduled for release on Monday, with 87 percent of those who have been harassed reporting negative effects such as absenteeism, poor sleep and stomachaches. More

A hidden toll as states shift to contract workers. 11/7/11 - Like many states and local governments struggling to cut costs, Michigan hopes to replace some government employees with contract workers who will do the same job for less. More

Poor sleep in pregnancy tied to pre-term birth. 11/06/11 - Few women sleep great throughout pregnancy. But a new study shows that poor sleep should be of more concern to doctors and women than is currently recognized because it may be a factor in premature birth. More

Ohio voters look set to dump Republicans' anti-union law. 11/06/11 - An aggressive Republican drive to weaken the labor rights of government workers appears to have crested, at least in Ohio, where voters are expected to throw out a far-reaching anti-union law this week. More

Are we there yet? When families fly. 11/06/11For families, the costs and inconveniences of air travel are compounded. At a time when resorts, cruise lines and tour operators are courting junior guests as if they were celebrity V.I.P.’s, flying with children has become an increasingly costly, “Survivor”-like ordeal. More

Silicon Valley wows educators, and woos them. 11/05/11 - Three times over the last two years, school officials from Little Falls, Minn., have escaped the winter cold for two-day trips to Silicon Valley. Their destination: the headquarters of Apple. More

Top aide to a CEO: her husband. 11/05/11 - Acquaintances say the intensely private Mr. Mark Rometty deserves tremendous credit for pursuing a career that gave him the time and flexibility to support his wife’s ascension to the pinnacle of global business — as, for that matter, do the vast majority of C.E.O. spouses of both genders.... More

Women who stop hormone therapy risk hip fractures, says study. 11/04/11 - A significant rise in hip fractures among women is one result of the decade-long slide in the popularity of hormone replacement therapy, researchers report in a new study. More

Senate blocks $60 billion infrastructure plan, another part of Obama's.... 11/04/11 - The Senate shot down another piece of President Obama’s $447 billion jobs bill Thursday, as a stalemated Congress goes through the motions of attempting legislation to spur economic growth largely as a mechanism to allow each party to blame the other for the failure to act. More

College is cheaper than you think. 11/04/11 - The College Board released its annual report on the cost of college last week, and guess what? It’s going up. Again. Cue the headlines: “College Costs Reach New Highs”; “Public College Costs Surge 8.3 Percent”; “College Tuition Is Out of Control.” More

Bleak picture of poverty is off the mark, experts say. 11/04/11 - When the Census Bureau said in September that the number of poor Americans had soared by 10 million to rates rarely seen in four decades, commentators called the report “shocking” and “bleak.” Most poverty experts would add another description: “flawed.” More

Report shows a mere 80,000 jobs added in October. 11/04/11 - The United States had another month of mediocre job growth in October, the Labor Department reported Friday. Employers added 80,000 jobs on net, slightly less than what economists had expected. More

Marijuana law doesn't affect teens' use. 11/03/11 - Questions on the impact of medical marijuana laws on teenagers' illicit use of the drug have been raised repeatedly by public health officials. One study suggests that allowing marijuana to be sold for medical purposes doesn't harm teens. More

Mayo study unlocking the secrets to aging? 11/03/11 - In a potentially fundamental advance, researchers have opened up a novel approach to combating the effects of aging with the discovery that a special category of cells, known as senescent cells, are bad actors that promote the aging of the tissues. More

With an app, your next date could be around the corner. 11/03/11 - Christina Wang has her date-night routine down pat. She combs her hair, fixes her makeup and then checks her phone, hoping to find Mr. Right, who might just happen to be nearby, right now. More

Fed lowers its forecast for growth, but takes no steps. 11/03/11 - The Federal Reserve significantly reduced its forecast of economic growth through 2013, acknowledging that it had once again overestimated the nation’s recovery from the 2008 financial crisis. More

Biggest public firms paid little U.S. tax, study says. 11/03/11 - Warren E. Buffett, take note. It is not just a few wealthy individuals paying unusually low taxes to the federal government. Corporate America is not far behind. More

Planned layoffs dropped 63% last month. 11/02/11 - There is a flicker of good news on the jobs front: Planned layoffs dropped 63 percent to 42,759 in October from the prior month. There is, of course, a catch. That drop comes after planned layoffs hit a 28-month high in September, according to outplacement consulting firm Challenger, Gray &.... More

Consumer fury forcing banks to kill debit fees. 11/02/11 - Score one for consumers. Bank of America on Tuesday became the latest in a series of the nation's biggest banks to respond to a consumer uproar by dropping fees they'd only recently implemented on debit cards. The nation's top debit card issuer cited consumer feedback in dropping plans to add.... More

Exercise could counter the effects of the 'obesity gene.' 11/02/11 - Having a so-called obesity gene doesn't necessarily doom you to being fat, a study finds — if you stay active. A meta-analysis that included 45 studies of 218,166 adults looked at the effect physical activity had on being saddled with a gene associated with fat mass and obesity, otherwise.... More

A few drinks a week may raise breast cancer risk. 11/02/11 - Some women who drink to their health may want to reconsider. A new study shows that women who routinely have even small amounts of alcohol, as few as three drinks a week, have an elevated risk of breast cancer. More

Cancer screening: how can a test be bad? 10/31/2011 - This month, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force said there's no evidence that routine PSA (prostate-specific antigen) testing saves lives. For the vast majority of men, the panel said, it may cause more harm than good. And last Monday, a study by Dartmouth College cast fresh doubt on.... More

Hotels piling on hidden fees. 10/31/2011 - Thinking of taking a dip in the pool while on vacation? Even if you choose not to, you could get charged $40 just for having the option. Following in the footsteps of the airlines, hotels are piling on a slew of hidden fees for services that used to be free. More

Home prices may be heading for triple dip. 10/31/2011 - According to Fiserv, a financial analytics company, home values are expected to fall another 3.6 percent by next June, pushing them to a new low of 35 percent below the peak reached in early 2006 and marking a triple dip in prices. More

World population grows by a billion in just 12 years. 10/31/2011 - It took only a dozen years for humanity to add another billion people to the planet, reaching the milestone of 7 billion Monday — give or take a few months. More