US News

Oil prices jumped to historic highs this year. Gasoline, too.

Now electricity prices could be headed up.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. warned Thursday that its electricity rates could rise 4.4 percent, on average, in October and another 11 percent in January - the result of high prices for the natural gas that fuels California's power plants. Other utilities across the country have issued similar warnings.

"Spam King" Edward Davidson, who has been missing since escaping from a minimum-security work camp on Sunday, has been found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, apparently after also killing his wife and three year-old daughter in his home town of Bennet, Colorado. An unnamed teenage girl was also wounded.

Home foreclosure filings rose 14 percent in the second quarter, the eighth consecutive quarterly climb, and more than doubled from the same period a year-earlier, real estate data firm RealtyTrac said on Friday.

The government charged an oil trading firm Thursday with manipulating oil prices in the first complaint to be announced since the regulators began a new investigation into wrongdoings in the energy markets.

The Air Force said Thursday that it plans to punish three officers who fell asleep on July 12 while guarding a classified nuclear launch codes device.

Wall Street abruptly ended an earnings-driven rally and closed sharply lower Thursday after a steeper-than-expected decline in existing home sales and worries about the financial sector chilled the market's recent optimism. The major indexes fell about 2 percent, including the Dow Jones industrial average, which lost more than 280 points.

Environmental Protection Agency chief Stephen Johnson has declined to explain before Congress how a conclusion he made last year that global warming put the public in danger could lead to a decision not to regulate greenhouse gases.

Being compared to one of the biggest marketing fiascoes corporate history, New Coke, is certainly telling. That's how Forrester Research views Windows Vista, as detailed in their latest survey on Enterprise Trends, released on Thursday.

The government charged an oil trading firm Thursday with manipulating oil prices in the first complaint to be announced since the regulators began a new investigation into wrongdoings in the energy markets.

The number of newly laid off people filing claims for unemployment benefits bolted past 400,000 last week as companies trimmed their work forces to cope with a slowing economy and fallout from a collapsed housing market.

The Ford Motor Company, stunned by abysmal sales of its most profitable vehicles and a sudden shift in consumers’ tastes, said Thursday that it lost $8.7 billion in the quarter, its worst ever, and would overhaul its North American plants to focus on small cars.

Sales of existing homes fell more sharply than expected in June as the housing industry continued to be bruised by the worst slump in more than two decades.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger plans next week to slash the pay of more than 200,000 state workers to the federal minimum of $6.55 per hour to deal with the state's budget crisis, according to a draft executive order obtained by the Chronicle today.

A chemical tanker split a fuel barge in half on the Mississippi River on Wednesday, spilling thousands of gallons of fuel oil and forcing the closure of a 58-mile stretch from New Orleans southward that could ...

With gas prices hovering around $4 a gallon, my patients are cutting back on medical care.

lower gas prices by curbing speculation in oil

All Things Considered , July 22, 2008 Congressional Democrats who want to lower gas prices by curbing speculation in oil futures saw their legislation survive a key vote in the Senate Tuesday.

In what would be a 3-2 vote split along political party lines, the Federal Communications Commission has finally gotten close to approving the merger between Sirius and rival XM .

Bleak language in Beige Book to describe current conditions, inflation

The dilemma facing Federal Reserve policy-makers went on vivid display Wednesday as the central bank's latest snapshot of the economy showed price pressures intensifying even as growth has slowed over the past ...

Former EPA official Jason Burnett testified that EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson was going to approve the California exemption but was overruled.

Democrats in Congress hope to ignite debate about the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy today with the first hearing on the subject since 1993, when President Bill Clinton said gays could serve in ...