AP - The ink wasn't even dry on a settlement with the nation's top mortgage lenders when Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon laid claim to a chunk of the money to avert a huge budget cut for public colleges and universities.
AP - President Barack Obama rolled out a corporate tax overhaul plan Wednesday that lowers rates but also eliminates loopholes and subsidies cherished by the business world. A long-shot for action in an election year, the plan nevertheless stamps Obama's imprint on one of the most high-profile issues of the presidential campaign.
AP - President Barack Obama is reaping political benefits from the country's brighter economic mood. A new poll shows that Republicans and Democrats alike are increasingly saying the nation is heading in the right direction and most independents now approve the way he's addressing the nation's post-recession period.
Reuters - Police investigating a shooting rampage at a suburban Atlanta health club have identified the four victims as relatives of the gunman, who fatally shot himself after opening fire on his two sisters and their husbands.
AP - Authorities are using a court order to determine if a serial cabin burglar in the southern Utah wilderness is using a cell phone to call his family.
AP - Free speech cases before the Supreme Court often lead justices to consider far-fetched scenarios, and Wednesday's argument over a law making it a crime to lie about having received top military honors was no exception.
AP - Jurors in the murder trial of a former University of Virginia lacrosse player deliberated for hours Wednesday whether he battered his ex-girlfriend to death in a drunken, jealous rage or if his intent to talk with her spiraled out of control, leaving her bleeding and dying in her bedroom.
AP - Police on Wednesday investigated the possibility that a love triangle might have motivated a 73-year-old gunman to fatally shoot the 62-year-old treasurer of a remote-controlled airplane club outside a building where the group was meeting.
AP - The gunman who fatally shot two of his sisters and their husbands inside a Korean spa in an Atlanta suburb had been asked to leave and came back hours later, authorities said on Wednesday.
Reuters - Home resales rose to a 1-1/2-year high in January, pushing the supply of properties on the market to the lowest level in almost seven years in a hopeful sign for the housing sector.
AP - Authorities say they are searching for a man they believe kidnapped two young children after offering help to their mother after the family car broke down along an Atlanta-area interstate.
AP - Federal prosecutors investigating the West Virginia coal mine explosion that killed 29 men are working their way up the corporate ladder with criminal charges.
AP - The mayor and police director of New Jersey's largest city said Wednesday the New York Police Department misled their city and never told them it was conducting a widespread spying operation on Newark's Muslim neighborhoods. Had they known, they said, they never would have allowed it.
AP - Washington state may not force pharmacies to sell Plan B or other emergency contraceptives, a federal judge ruled Wednesday, saying the state's true goal is to suppress religious objections by druggists — not to promote timely access to the medicines for people who need them.
KANSAS CITY (Reuters) - Catholic leaders in Kansas City covered up years of sexual abuse of several young children by a priest who led a Christian organization for youth, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday by four brothers who say they were victimized as children. The lawsuit, one of more than two dozen pending in Kansas City alleging abuse by area priests, was filed in Jackson County ...
AP - The dollar rose to a seven-month high against the Japanese yen, a week after the Bank of Japan announced a surprise increase of its economic stimulus program.
Reuters - Supreme Court justices questioned on Wednesday whether the federal government, in making it a crime to lie about receiving a military medal, could next make it illegal for someone to tell lies about an extramarital affair or a college degree.
Reuters - A U.S. judge on Wednesday ordered a Moroccan man to be held on charges that he planned a suicide bombing attack against Congress, believing he was working with al Qaeda militants when in fact his contacts were undercover agents.
The presence of former manager Andre Villas-Boas at Eastlands failed to inspire holders Porto as Manchester City eased into the last 16 of the Europa League with a 4-0 second leg win on Wednesday.
Manchester City produced a strong finish to power into the last 16 of the UEFA Europa League at the expense of ten-man holders Porto, winning out 4-0 on the night and 6-1 overall.
Reuters - The former superintendent of the West Virginia coal mine where 29 workers died in a 2010 explosion was charged on Wednesday with felony conspiracy by tipping off employees to safety inspections and concealing dangerous violations, authorities said.
Manchester City eased past defending Europa League champion FC Porto on Wednesday, beating the Portuguese side 4-0 to wrap up a 6-1 aggregate win. Sergio Aguero opened the scoring after just 19 seconds to stretch City's 2-1 first-leg advantage but the English Premier League leader then had to wait until the 76th minute for its second goal.
AP - A group of protesters affiliated with the Occupy Wall Street movement plans to elect 876 "delegates" from around the country and hold a national "general assembly" in Philadelphia over the Fourth of July as part of ongoing protests over corporate excess and economic inequality.
AP - STIMULATING DISCUSSION: Minutes of their last meeting showed Bank of England rate-setters were divided about injecting another 50 billion pounds ($79 billion) into the economy. Two members argued for a bigger stimulus.
Reuters - Worldwide shipments of business jets and other private aircraft fell again last year, but billings rose modestly in a sign of improvement in a tough economy.
Reuters - The euro zone economy is in danger of tipping into recession, with the services sector shrinking this month along with manufacturing, tempering a wave of optimism after a new bailout deal for Greece struck this week.
AP - Bank of England rate-setters were divided this month on the vote to inject another 50 billion pounds ($79 billion) into the British economy, with two members arguing that a bigger stimulus was needed, minutes to their last meeting showed Wednesday.
Time.com - The greatest threat to any long-term investor is inflation. It not only erodes the value of stocks and bonds, but also depresses economic growth and misleads policymakers
MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) - Manchester City finally got the apology they had been waiting for on Tuesday when striker Carlos Tevez said he was sorry for his behaviour over recent months, setting up a possible return to action at the Premier League club. The Argentine striker also withdrew his appeal against a gross misconduct charge handed to him after he spent three months in his homeland ...
Reuters - The new U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is weighing a crackdown on checking account overdraft fees charged by banks, saying the charges can "inflict serious economic harm" on consumers.
A Nebraska city's attempt to fight illegal immigration with a newly court-approved ordinance appears likely to be more of an inconvenience for legal residents than a deterrent to illegal immigrants.
Reuters - European Union leaders will call at a summit next week for the world's 20 biggest economies (G20) to agree in April to substantially boost funds available to the International Monetary Fund, draft conclusions of the meeting showed.