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Personal finance

Healthier schools: Goodbye candy and greasy snacks
Goodbye candy bars and sugary cookies. Hello baked chips and diet sodas. The government for the first time is proposing broad new standards to make ...
Review: BlackBerry Z10 is good stab at rebirth
Are you ashamed to have a BlackBerry? It's not exactly a status symbol any more, at least not in the U.S., after it got left in the dust by the iPhone
Some families to be priced out of health overhaul
Some families could get priced out of health insurance due to what's being called a glitch in President Barack Obama's overhaul law. IRS regulations ...
Green thumb? Wash. state looks for pot consultant
Wanted: A green thumb with extensive knowledge of the black, or at least gray, market. As Washington state tries to figure out how to regulate its ...
Fed says growth pause temporary, keeps up stimulus
The Federal Reserve said Wednesday that the U.S. economy "paused" in recent months because of temporary factors and reaffirmed its commitment to try ...
Review: Microsoft Office pricey, but good value
As much as I like Google Docs for word processing and spreadsheets, I find the online software clunky at times. So I was skeptical when I heard ...
US home prices accelerate in November
U.S. home prices accelerated in November compared with a year ago, pushed higher by rising sales and a tighter supply of available homes. The Standard ...
Report: States force jobless to pay needless fees
Jobless Americans are paying millions in unnecessary fees to collect unemployment benefits because of state policies encouraging them to get the money ...
Wash. vows to try to keep weed in state - but how?
So far, no one is suggesting checkpoints or fences to keep Washington state's legal pot within its borders. But Gov. Jay Inslee insists there are ways ...
Money fears vs. real benefits in Medicaid choice
President Barack Obama thinks his health care law makes states an offer they can't refuse. Whether to expand Medicaid, the federal-state program for ...
Consumer alert: new health care markets on the way
Buying your own health insurance will never be the same. This fall, new insurance markets called exchanges will open in each state, marking the ...
Billions in gas drilling royalties transform lives
Private landowners are reaping billions of dollars in royalties each year from the boom in natural gas drilling, transforming lives and livelihoods ...
Health insurance exchanges will transform market
Health insurance exchanges will change the way people buy coverage and will help millions of uninsured people get a private plan. Nearly 49 million ...
New lingo for consumers: health overhaul glossary
President Barack Obama's health care overhaul law has spawned its own jargon. With the law finally about to take full effect, consumers might want to ...
Do penalties for smokers and the obese make sense?
Faced with the high cost of caring for smokers and overeaters, experts say society must grapple with a blunt question: Instead of trying to penalize ...
Sandy blow to NJ: costly work or costlier premiums
Superstorm Sandy landed one final stunning blow to New Jersey on Thursday as the state adopted rebuilding guidelines that come with sticker shock.
Penalty could keep smokers out of health overhaul
Millions of smokers could be priced out of health insurance because of tobacco penalties in President Barack Obama's health care law, according to ...
Why Geithner's Treasury leadership proved divisive
President Barack Obama has saluted the outgoing Timothy Geithner as one of the best U.S. Treasury secretaries ever. He's surely been among the most ...
Changing family dynamic may lead to tax relief
Members of the sandwich generation — caught between supporting elderly parents whose assets are nearly exhausted and adult children without jobs — ...
Expiring credits, deductions extended by Congress
Taxpayers preparing to file their 2012 returns can breathe a collective sigh of relief. The alternative minimum tax or AMT has been patched — ...
Numbers to know when you file your 2012 tax return
Key numbers to know when filing your 2012 tax returns, according to the Internal Revenue Service: PERSONAL EXEMPTION: —Each personal or dependent ...
Financial lobby group warns on emerging markets
A leading lobby group for the world's financial institutions is warning investors not to get caught short in emerging markets if rich-country central ...
Dish Network to close 300 Blockbuster stores in US
Dish Network Corp. says it plans to close about 300 Blockbuster stores across the country, losing about 3,000 employees. Company spokesman John Hall ...
IRS loses lawsuit in fight against tax preparers
A federal judge on Friday barred the IRS from imposing a series of new regulations, including a competency exam, on hundreds of thousands of tax ...
What to watch for as earnings news rolls in
With fourth-quarter earnings seasons hitting its stride, investors are returning to the familiar comfort of cold, hard numbers — the press releases, ...