LaHood promises scrutiny of 'distracted flying'

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood yesterday promised more scrutiny of "distracted flying," a week after a Minneapolis-bound commercial jet overshot its destination airport by 150 miles.

Regional jobless rate rises slightly

The unemployment rate in the Washington region rose to 6.2 percent in September from 6.0 percent the month before, according to government data released Wednesday, even as area recruiters report that for the first time this year they're seeing growing interest in new workers.

A nuclear power boost for bill

Will a heaping spoonful of nuclear power help Congress swallow a climate bill?

Economy is kick-started, but can it motor ahead?

Over the past year, the U.S. government has thrown almost every tool at its disposal toward making the economy grow again. And it has worked, at least for now.

Telecommuters fearing swine flu may clog Web networks, GAO says

As the spread of the H1N1 flu keeps more Americans away from work and school, a federal report warns that all those people logging on to the Web from home could overwhelm Internet networks.

Foreclosures double in Washington area

Home prices up slightly for third straight month

Home prices posted another modest rise in August, according to data released Tuesday, but economists cautioned that the expiration of a home-buyer tax credit and rising unemployment could reverse signs of stabilization in the housing market.

Bill in works to let U.S. dissolve failing firms

House Democrats and the Obama administration are preparing to introduce major legislation aimed at eliminating the devil's choice the government faced last fall, when officials felt forced to decide between spending billions of dollars to rescue some of the nation's most powerful financial firms ...

A maker of electric cars plans to use old GM plant in Delaware

The White House is expected to announce Tuesday a multimillion-dollar deal that will convert a closed General Motors plant in Wilmington, Del., into a factory making electric vehicles.

Business Digest: House panel votes to regulate hedge funds

OVERSIGHT The government would gain far-reaching new powers to regulate, and even shut down, large financial firms that threaten economic stability under a draft bill released Tuesday in Congress.

Sun Belt losing its glow for many college grads, data show

Many college graduates are passing up the Sun Belt and industrial centers, which have been hit hard by the recession, in favor of life in urban, high-tech meccas. Such moves are fueling a resurgence in parts of California, North Carolina and Texas.

N.Y. Fed pushed AIG on contracts

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York said Tuesday that it had no choice but to instruct American International Group last November to reimburse the full amount of what it owed to big banks on derivatives contracts, a move that ended months of effort by the insurance giant to negotiate lower payme...