RECORD PROFIT: Mortgage giant Fannie Mae earned a record $58.7 billion from January through March, helped by a stronger housing market and a one-time tax maneuver.
TAX MOVE HELPS: Nearly $51 billion of the first-quarter profit came in part from tax credits it had saved from its losses on delinquent loans suffered during the crisis. The company also reported earning roughly $8 billion before taxes, largely because of the housing recovery.
PAYING...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Michelle Obama and military mothers had high tea like the British on Thursday.
The afternoon White House affair, hosted by the first lady and Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, was to recognize the women for Mother's Day.
Britain's Prince Harry, who is on a weeklong visit to the U.S. devoted to the wounded victims of war, stopped by to salute them too.
Mrs. Obama thanked the mothers for their...
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A brother of two top leaders for one of the most powerful drug cartels in Mexico was convicted Thursday of buying racehorses to hide illegal drug profits.
A federal jury that deliberated for about nine hours over two days found Jose Trevino Morales, 46, guilty of conspiracy to commit money laundering. Trevino faces up to 20 years in prison.
Prosecutors say his older brothers, Miguel Angel and Oscar Omar Trevino Morales, are the...
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — The Illinois Senate voted Thursday to send a union-supported pension reform bill to the House, leaving lawmakers with two competing proposals for dealing with the nation's worst state pension crisis just weeks before the Legislature is scheduled to adjourn.
The Senate voted 40-16 Thursday to advance a measure sponsored by Senate President John Cullerton. The Chicago Democrat negotiated the plan with some of the state's largest public-employee...
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California's attorney general sued one of the nation's largest banks Thursday, alleging that JPMorgan Chase & Co. used illegal tactics in its efforts to collect debts from more than 100,000 credit card holders.
It's the first such lawsuit in the nation, said spokesmen for both the company and the attorney general.
The lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court says the company filed thousands of debt collection lawsuits...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman says failures by national security agencies tainted investigations into the Boston bombing plotters — and says the scheme could have been discovered beforehand.
Lieberman testified Thursday at a House Homeland Security Committee hearing on the attacks. He says it would hard, but not impossible, for law enforcement to uncover the bombing plot before the Tsarnaev (tsahr-NEYE'-ehv) brothers allegedly set off two blasts...
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A 72-foot-long, high-tech catamaran sailboat capsized Thursday in San Francisco Bay while practicing for the America's Cup races this summer, killing an Olympic gold medalist from England and injuring another sailor, authorities said.
Artemis Racing said Andrew "Bart" Simpson died after the capsized boat's platform trapped him underwater for about 10 minutes shortly after 1 p.m.
Artemis and two other yacht teams, each outfitted...
SANFORD, Fla. (AP) — The neighborhood watch volunteer charged with fatally shooting 17-year-old Trayvon Martin wants the jury at his trial to be sequestered and for panelists to be able to inspect the crime scene.
Zimmerman's attorney filed a motion Thursday asking that jurors be kept in isolation during the trial and that their names and other personal information remain confidential because of the immense attention the case has received.
Defense...
WASHINGTON (AP) — The bipartisan group of senators supporting a plan to overhaul immigration laws has been sticking together today, amid a critical series of early test votes.
The coalition turned back challenges from conservative critics as the Senate Judiciary Committee worked to refine the legislation. It would secure the nation's borders and offer eventual citizenship to millions who are currently living illegally in the United States.
The panel...
Employment in the construction industry bottomed in 2011. Here's a look at the 10 states with the biggest percentage gains and declines in construction jobs since then.
The numbers reflect seasonally adjusted jobs in residential and non-residential construction combined for March compared with the same month in 2011. (Figures for home construction jobs alone weren't available.)
— States with sharpest increases in construction jobs:...
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