Broker Regulation

Arkansas lawmakers advanced proposals Thursday to increase funding for teacher insurance, as they opened a special session aimed at reducing rate increases of up to 50 percent set to hit next year.

Regrouping after a feud with Congress stalled his agenda, President Barack Obama is laying down a three-item to-do list for Congress that seems meager when compared with the bold, progressive agenda he envisioned at the start of his second term.

The federal government shutdown may have seemed like a frustrating squabble in far-off Washington, but it crept into our lives in small, subtle ways from missed vegetable inspections to inaccessible federal websites.

The government unlocked its doors Thursday after 16 days, with President Barack Obama saluting the resolution of Congress' bitter standoff but lambasting Republicans for the partial shutdown that he said had damaged the U.S. economy and America's credibility around the world.

Even as the government reopened its doors, congressional budget negotiators met Thursday and acknowledged that their search for agreements on deficit reduction and spending cuts has no assurance of achieving their goals.

The budget agreement Congress reached Wednesday cheered investors and removed the threat of a catastrophic debt default that could have triggered another recession.