AT&T Inc. said Friday that its employees approved a new three-year contract covering about 30,000 workers in the Southeast. The new pact calls for pay and pension increases over the next three years and cash payments tied to the company's financial ...

The number of rigs actively exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. increased by 23 this week to 1,396. Houston-based Baker Hughes Inc. said Friday that 926 rigs were exploring for natural gas and 456 for oil. Fourteen were listed as miscellaneous. A year ago this week ...

A rash of ethics lapses has given Democrats an election-year headache: how to convince skeptical voters that they're any cleaner than Republicans they accused of fostering a "culture of corruption" in 2006. From the conduct of governors in Illinois and New York to back-room ...

U.S. Sen. David Vitter has called for federal officials to do a more thorough review of the deaths of several people who lived in homes that contained smelly, possibly toxic Chinese drywall. Federal officials at the Consumer Product Safety Commission said they ...