It would be ironic, if it weren’t so scary. Those who are concerned about the national debt and thereby oppose raising the debt ceiling risk adding dramatically to the debt if they refuse to act. Two leading economic officials made that point in different venues last week. ...

MANCHESTER, N.H. -- Mitt Romney, the leading contender to become President Obama’s Republican opponent next year, had just finished working the room at Blake’s Creamery  here when he paused for a photo with the restaurant’s owner, Ann Mirageas, and decided to tell her a joke.  “I s...

The International Energy Agency reported ... that global energy-related carbon emissions last year were the highest ever, and that the world is far off track if it wants to keep temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius, after which the results could be very dangerous. So what does German...

There is a dangerous idea gaining hold in the Republican Party that a brief default on American debt could be acceptable if it forces deeper cuts by the White House. As the Aug. 2 deadline to increase the nation’s $14.3 trillion borrowing limit fast approaches, the idea — once limited to the fri...

Did you happen to catch the news late last week about the megabucks being spent across Minnesota in response to the budget stalemate in St. Paul?  No, the money isn’t being pooled into funds to help the disabled, elderly and others who seem destined to be hurt most by spending cuts. Neither i...

In the end, the case against Thomas A. Drake fizzled. Originally charged with multiple counts under the Espionage Act and potentially facing decades behind bars, the former National Security Agency employee pleaded guilty last week to the minor charge of unauthorized use of a computer — a misdemea...

The U.S. job creation machine is sputtering, and Washington seems at a loss at how to fix it. The usual recession-fighting tools - spending increases, tax cuts, dramatically easier monetary policy — have been tried. And even if that were not the case, Republicans and Democrats would probably be id...

As the clock ticks toward a possible shutdown of Minnesota state government on July 1, a lot of people are wondering what would really happen on that day. — Would state troopers stop patrolling the highways? — Would the court system continue to try new cases? — Would people still be able to re...

  Mayor McCheese may not be off the hook yet. Gov. Mark Dayton vetoed Minnesota’s “cheeseburger bill.” The bill — officially known as House File 264 — would have prevented consumers from suing restaurants from selling unhealthy food. In other words, had the bill passed, an angry consu...

WASHINGTON — John Edwards committed the perfect crime. He began an affair with campaign videographer Rielle Hunter on the night she waited outside his New York hotel and told him he was “hot” and later produced a child with her. Yet he didn’t suffer for it at the polls. He lost his bid for t...