Recession hits Rust Belt towns hard

In Ohio's fading steel towns, the recession was a final cruelty piled on top of three decades of disappearing jobs.

  Job losses send disability claims soaring

Poll: Obama approval dips below 50 percent

The latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds that only 32 percent of Americans polled believe President Obama's health care plan is a good idea, but a majority backs the troop surge in Afghanistan.

House narrowly approves Democratic jobs plan

Stock futures fall before economic reports

  Stock futures fall following declines in overseas markets after the Federal Reserve indicated it would start pulling back some emergency supports as the economy improves.

  New jobless claims increase unexpectedly

PFT’s Picks: Jags won’t ruin Colts’ perfect season

Each week, ProFootballTalk.com’s Mike Florio and Gregg Rosenthal will break down and pick the winners of each NFL game. See their Week 15 picks.

  Bengals’ Henry is ‘battling for his life’

Scoop: Were Barkley, Jordan models for Woods?

Tiger Woods’ “indiscretions” began with a pair of bad influences, claims one of his former mistresses.

Tidbits: Hudson worried about A-Rod, women

Air ambulances leave some with sky-high bills

  In a country with dwindling health benefits and rising ranks of uninsured, where the rule is to fly first and ask questions later, some patients are finding emergency air flights may save their lives, but also contribute to medical debt they can’t pay.

  Doctors airlift boy with 42 needles stuck in him

Cosmic Log: Alien ‘water world’ found

Science editor Alan Boyle's Weblog: Astronomers say they have detected a planet just six and a half times as massive as Earth — at a distance so close its atmosphere could be studied, and with a density so low it's almost certain to have water.

10 best PlayStation 3 games of 2009

Thousands flock to Aria for glitzy unveiling

  Visitors by the thousands streamed into the newest casino-resort on the Las Vegas strip early Thursday, an influx that casino officials hope will help yank Sin City from its two-year economic funk.

AAA says holiday travel to rise this year