US News

The Illinois Senate approved the use of marijuana for medical purposes on Friday, sending the measure to the governor's desk.

A federal appeals court has upheld the 8-year prison sentence given to the longtime girlfriend of reputed gangster James "Whitey" Bulger for helping him during his 16 years as a fugitive.

"If you think it's uncomfortable sitting over there you ought to be a private individual when the IRS is across from you asking you questions" The gallery at the House Weighs and Means Committee Friday had to be called to order after it burst into applause and nearly a standing ovation following an impassioned diatribe against the IRS by ... (more)

Ousted IRS chief Steve Miller and J. Russell George, a Treasury inspector general, take the oath before testifying on before the House Ways and Means Committee on Friday.

Unemployment rates dropped in 43 out of the 50 U.S. states and in the District of Columbia in April from a year before, according to Labor Department data released on Friday.

A handful of states, including Illinois, Delaware, Indiana, Wisconsin, Mississippi and New Hampshire saw their jobless rates rise over the year. Illinois' rate fell in April to 9.3 percent from 9.5 percent in March but rose from 8.8 percent a year before.

Any confrontation over the nation’s debt ceiling is now unlikely until after Labor Day.

The government will hit the limit of how much it’s allowed to borrow this weekend, but Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said in a letter Friday that “extraordinary measures” likely would allow the nation to continue paying its bills without more borrowing “until after Labor Day.”

The Energy Department gave a terminal near Freeport, Tex., permission Friday to ship liquefied natural gas to Japan, providing a new outlet for rising U.S. production of shale gas despite qualms of environmentalists and many domestic manufacturers.

The permit marks another step in the sudden reversal of fortune in the natural gas business. Less than five years ago, anticipating a worsening shortfall in domestic supplies of natural gas, the Freeport terminal on Quintana Island began operations as an import facility.

Refiner Tesoro Corp. (TSO.N) has received formal approval from antitrust regulators in Washington and Sacramento on Friday to buy BP Plc's (BP.L) refinery and other assets in southern California for more than $2 billion.

Tesoro will not have to sell any of the assets anti-trust regulators said, but California officials demanded the company upgrade the refinery it was buying.

Stocks continued their climb into uncharted territory on Friday, racking up the fourth week in a row of gains as encouraging economic data prompted investors to buy shares of growth companies.

The Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index finished at highs, driven by gains in energy and industrial shares. The indexes have pushed to a series of high levels as part of the rally that has lifted equities more than 16 percent for the year so far.

Americans felt better about their economic and financial prospects in early May as consumer sentiment rose to the highest level in nearly six years, an encouraging sign after other recent data had suggested broader U.S. growth is cooling.

A gauge of future economic activity released on Friday also suggested the expected slowdown will be temporary, with the index rising in April to a near five-year high.

After moving higher at the start of trading on Friday, stocks have continued to perform well throughout the session.

The markets have benefited from some upbeat economic data after a disappointing batch of data helped drag stocks lower on Thursday.

The major averages have moved roughly sideways in recent trading, hovering firmly in positive territory. The Dow is up 59.65 points or 0.4 percent at 15,292.87, the Nasdaq is up 16.18 points or 0.5 percent at

The Conference Board said on Friday that its index of leading indicators increased 0.6 percent last month to a reading of 95. The index declined 0.2 percent in March.

The index is intended to signal economic conditions three to six months out.

U.S. public concern over a European probe into possible oil price manipulation escalated Friday as the head of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources urged the Justice Department to join the investigation.

Officials admitted the impact of oil-price fixing could go be much wider than driving up petrol prices, after the European officials raided companies suspected of "colluding" to distort the market.

A Metro-North train heading from New Haven to Grand Central station has derailed and hit a train on the opposite track just east of the Fairfield station.

Metro-North referred to it as a “major derailment” in a press release. The cause of the accident remains unknown, police said.

Emails describing how the CIA's Benghazi attack assessment was edited expose a routine process by meticulous Washington bureaucrats, says a former CIA agent who used to take part in similar exercises.

President Barack Obama's budget would trim projected federal deficits by $1.1 trillion over the coming decade, using nearly $6 in higher revenues for every $1 in reduced spending to achieve it, Congress' nonpartisan budget analyst said Friday.

The Virginia Republican party will gather for its state convention in Richmond this Friday and Saturday to nominate candidates for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general for the November election.

In front of thousands of onlookers, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.

Dozens of tea party groups and other conservative organizations of the kind subjected to improper scrutiny by the Internal Revenue Service operated with small budgets and rarely displayed overt partisan activities, according to an Associated Press review of public tax filings by 93 such activist groups.